Design LabYour high-school game plan
The plan
Your high-school game plan
None of this is required to start — you can start tonight with a pencil. But if design school sounds exciting, here's how four years stack up when you get to choose with a direction in mind.
Art / drawing class. Observational drawing — really looking at objects — is the #1 skill design schools screen for. This is the year it starts being a habit.
Geometry. You'd be taking it anyway; now it's secretly a design class. Proportions, angles, constructions — this is furniture math.
Start the sketchbook. One object a day, and one thing you'd change about it. Ten minutes. That's the whole assignment.
The one non-negotiable
The single biggest thing across all four years is the sketchbook habit — a few minutes, most days, drawing objects and how they could be better. Every other item on this timeline is optional. This one quietly becomes your portfolio.