Backward Design in Creative Courses: Starting with the Outcome

-Cookie Redding, CPAD Faculty

 

What do you want your students to walk away with?

It is one of the simplest questions to ask, but also one of the hardest to answer when you’re designing a course that revolves around creativity, exploration, and process. In many art and design classrooms, course planning often begins with assignments or materials. A favorite project, a tool, a prompt that has worked well in the past. But inverting the process and starting with your intended outcome can help align your course more intentionally around growth, development, and student success. That approach is backward design.

 

What Is Backward Design?

Backward design is a planning model that begins with the end in mind. Rather than building a course around what you want to teach, you build around what you want students to learn and be able to do by the end of the course.

Developed by Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe in Understanding by Design, the model follows three key steps:

• Identify desired results
• Determine acceptable evidence
• Plan learning experiences and instruction

This framework is, of course, not new to educators. However, it is often underused in creative classrooms where outcomes can be flexible or open-ended. The backward approach can actually give more room for experimentation while making expectations clearer and feedback more focused.

 

Why Backward Design Works for Creative Disciplines

In visual art, design, dance, theatre, and architecture, learning is often nonlinear. Students cycle through idea development, material exploration, draft, critique/feedback, revision/iteration, and presentation. What makes backward design helpful is that it supports this natural rhythm.

It centers the process as an outcome.
If your goal is to help students develop an iterative practice, this approach lets you emphasize revision and reflection, not just the final product.

It helps clarify abstract goals.
Creative learning outcomes like developing a personal voice or engaging in conceptual thinking are easier to support when you identify how those goals will appear in student work.

It supports transparency.
When students understand what they are working toward and why it matters, they are more likely to take risks, ask meaningful questions, and reflect on their progress.

 

Step-by-Step: Backward Design for Your Creative Course

1. Start With the Big Picture
Ask yourself: What do I want students to be able to do, think, or create by the end of this course?

These goals can be broad or specific. What matters is that they reflect deep learning and the kind of creative growth you want to see.

Examples might include:

• Use concept development methods to initiate original work
• Reflect critically on personal process and growth
• Apply design principles intentionally in both print and digital formats
• Create a cohesive body of work for critique or performance

 

2. Define Evidence of Learning
Once you know your outcomes, decide how students will demonstrate them. Evidence does not have to mean a test or traditional assessment. In creative fields, evidence can include process journals, sketches, performances, prototypes, or finished portfolios.

Ask yourself: What will show me that students have achieved this outcome? How can they recognize their own progress?

Examples might include:

• A portfolio with reflections that describe conceptual growth
• A performance that incorporates feedback from earlier rehearsals
• A case study of an iterative design process
• A presentation analyzing artistic or design influences

 

3. Plan the Learning Experiences
Now that the goal and evidence are clear, map out the activities, prompts, and lessons that will help students get there.

Ask yourself: What skills, habits, or knowledge will students need to develop this outcome?

This step is not about locking in a rigid path. It is about setting up a structure that supports exploration and creativity within meaningful boundaries.

 

Backward Design Does Not Mean Linear Work

Some instructors worry that backward design feels too rigid or outcome-focused. But in a creative classroom, outcomes do not have to be singular or fixed. Backward design gives structure, not limits. You can think of it as a compass, not a map.

Some of the most flexible and generative courses use backward design to define what success might look like in different forms. Students still have creative freedom, but they understand the direction and purpose of their work.

Sample in Practice: A Graphic Design Course
Outcome: Students will be able to create a multi-page layout using a grid system that communicates clear visual hierarchy.

Evidence: A final two-page magazine spread with headline, subhead, imagery, and body text. This will be paired with a short written reflection explaining layout choices.

Scaffolded Activities:

Week 2: Introduction to grid systems through a cut-and-paste zine activity
Week 4: Peer critique of draft layouts using a shared feedback guide
Week 6: Workshop focused on typography hierarchy and visual alignment
Week 7: Final layout due along with process documentation

This sequence supports the learning outcome while still allowing students to bring their own concepts, themes, and visual voice into the project.

 

Final Thoughts

Starting with the outcome does not mean dictating the end result. It means making space for students to understand what they are learning and why it matters. It helps them reflect, assess their own work, and build habits they will use beyond your course.

In creative learning, where ambiguity and discovery are part of the process, backward design helps keep that openness rooted in purpose. It is not about removing flexibility. It is about designing with intention.