Students will launch the Alma Thomas design challenge by investigating how real viewers emotionally respond to color, texture, and pattern in abstract art. Through direct interviews and structured empathy mapping, students will gather firsthand evidence that will ground their individual paintings and the future collaborative mural in authentic user needs.

Students will synthesize interview findings about emotional responses to color and texture into clear, evidence-based problem statements that guide their Alma Thomas-inspired paintings and collaborative mural designs.

Students will generate a wide range of mural concepts inspired by Alma Thomas that respond directly to real viewer needs identified in earlier phases. They will move from divergent brainstorming to structured idea development and convergence, producing annotated concept sketches that clearly connect color, pattern, and emotional impact to documented user evidence.

Students will build and revise Alma Thomas–inspired painting prototypes based on real user feedback, documenting how color, pattern, and historical meaning evolve through testing and iteration before final presentation.

Students will conduct a final validation of their Alma Thomas–inspired mural with a new viewer, refine their presentation narrative using documented user evidence, and present their design journey and final prototype to an authentic audience during the Alma’s Palette Parade exhibition.