Before me is a potluck spread out on a vast table; each dish representing a design educator’s pedagogy. I, too, am contributing a pedagogical plate to the table but am unclear as to what dish I am holding, warm within my hands. It was never my intention to teach in higher education and, like many designers who find themselves in a classroom, I was never formally taught how to teach.

This collection of reflections explores the influences, processes, and ingredients that have contributed to the formation of how I teach graphic design. Some of these have been life coaching, LEGO® bricks, playfulness, graduate school, experiential learning, imagination, metaphor, mindfulness, and so on. Though these thoughts have been formed into this book, consider them not as a summary, but as my introduction to that which is design education.