ahandrewh teaches IAT-235information design

Welcome to IAT-235

Thank-you for joining the Fall 2025 version of Information Design! I — Andrew Hawryshkewich (your instructor) — and your teaching assistant (TA) — Mehrun-Nisa Raja — are very much looking forward to meeting you soon. Just some quick reminders before our class next week.

Course overview

To make sure you understand what you can expect of Information Design I recommend reading through:

• The course syllabus gives an overview of course expectations.
• The course illness policy in case you need to miss a class due to illness.

The schedule for the term will likely change before our first class as I am finalizing the best balance for the lecture/lab combo.

Communicating with the class

Please make sure any communications in the class follow our Email and conduct rules outlined in the syllabus.

Outside of lectures and lab times will have three main options for communicating about the course:

Email

Please allow up to 2 business days for responses though we will typically reply much sooner. We may be able to answer questions about software or code via email or course chat depending on the complexity. We do not provide design critique via email or course chat. Please arrange a meeting or attend office hours for design critique or complex software or code questions.

To make our responses faster, please include the following in your email:

• Your full name.
• The course number (IAT-235).
• Your lab number.
• A clear question.

Course chatroom

We are using Discord this term for our 'course chat'. To join please:

1. Sign up for the service (linked through Canvas).
2. Once signed up you can access the chat through the Discord apps.

Do not post student IDs or other personal information to Discord.

Lecture

There will be time during most of our lectures to accommodate questions or support.

To prepare for our first class

Please make sure to have the following ready to go for our first class:

Please be prepared to take notes by hand

Laptop and phone use will not be permitted during lecture time without prior permission. Please come prepared to take notes by other means.

Please bring a sketchbook and pen

The style of sketchbook and pen are of your choosing, but you will need some space to generate ideas over the course of the term and regularly in lecture.

Questions or concerns?

Of course should you have any questions or concerns please do not hesitate to email Andrew or email Mehru and we will respond as quickly as possible.