Students will investigate how community members experience identity, art, and social issues by conducting real interviews and creating structured empathy maps grounded in direct quotes. They will practice ethical image sharing, visual storytelling analysis, and collaborative listening to build an evidence base for defining a meaningful design challenge in the next phase.

Students will synthesize their interview notes, empathy maps, and annotated historical photographs into a clear, evidence-based problem definition that guides their upcoming digital collage designs. They will identify patterns across users, craft and critique "How Might We" statements, and produce a design brief grounded in direct quotes and community insights.

Students will generate a wide range of digital collage concepts grounded in real user interviews, then narrow their ideas using user-centered criteria to select 2–3 strong concepts for prototyping.

Students will build and refine low- to higher-fidelity digital collage prototypes grounded in user research, test them with peers acting as representative users, and document specific revisions driven by feedback in preparation for final validation and presentation.

Students will validate their refined digital mural prototypes with a new user, analyze feedback for remaining gaps, and present their full design journey—from interviews and empathy maps to final animated mural—at the Artistry for Activism showcase.