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Design & Craft

Design Literacy

Learn to see what a label and price tag leave out: material grade, process, tolerances, labor, functional details, visual coherence, repairability, scarcity, and brand story. Fineas Jackson's Chasing Beauty series supplies memorable objects, while focused field guides unpack linen, wool, denim, silk, leather, fasteners, blades, and cookware directly in the lessons. Museums, design institutions, manufacturers, and research sources supply the evidence needed to test each explanation.

49 lessons ~5 h 2 courses

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Who it's for

Curious buyers, makers, and design lovers who want a practical way to explain why similar-looking objects can cost differently, what makes a design work, and when a premium is useful, emotional, or mostly market-made.

Course 1 of 2

Chasing Beauty: How to Read Design & Value

Begin by separating cost, price, quality, and personal value; learn to read materials through object-level field guides, inspect production and functional details, then practice making a defensible design judgment with a side-by-side object dossier.

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Unit 1

Price Is Not Quality

3 lessons · 21 min

  1. 1 Cost, Price, and Value Are Different 7 min Start
  2. 2 Where the Money Goes 7 min Start
  3. 3 The Lookalike Test 7 min Start
Unit 2

Materials Are Specifications

3 lessons · 20 min

  1. 1 Fiber Is Not Fabric 6 min Start
  2. 2 Grade, Yield, and Finish 7 min Start
  3. 3 The Right Material for the Job 7 min Start
Unit 3

Material Field Guides

5 lessons · 30 min

  1. 1 Linen: From Stem to Shirt 6 min Start
  2. 2 Wool: Microns Are Not a Suit 6 min Start
  3. 3 Denim: Beyond the Selvedge ID 6 min Start
  4. 4 Silk: Filament, Weave, and Weight 6 min Start
  5. 5 Leather: Hide, Tan, Surface, and Cut 6 min Start
Unit 4

Production Field Guides

3 lessons · 17 min

  1. 1 Zippers: Precision in a Chain 5 min Start
  2. 2 Kitchen Knives: Steel, Heat, and Geometry 6 min Start
  3. 3 Cookware: Layers, Thickness, and Control 6 min Start
Unit 5

Garment & Gear Field Guides

5 lessons · 30 min

  1. 1 Fisherman Sweaters: Gansey, Guernsey, and Aran 6 min Start
  2. 2 Knitwear: Cut-and-Sewn, Fully Fashioned, and Seamless 6 min Start
  3. 3 Cut & Shape: Ease, Sleeves, Gussets, and Silhouette 6 min Start
  4. 4 Hiking Shells: Waterproof, Breathable, and Built to Move 6 min Start
  5. 5 Straps: Webbing, Buckles, Stitching, and Load Paths 6 min Start
Unit 6

Leather, Upholstery & Handwork

4 lessons · 25 min

  1. 1 Leather Cost Anatomy: Animal, Hide, Yield, and Time 7 min Start
  2. 2 Leather Straps: Belts, Bags, Edges, and Saddle Stitch 6 min Start
  3. 3 Upholstery Inside Out: Frame, Springs, Foam, and Cover 6 min Start
  4. 4 Handmade, Artisan, and the Economics of Lost Skills 6 min Start
Unit 7

Clothing & Footwear Construction

5 lessons · 33 min

  1. 1 Dress Shirts: Cloth, Collar, Seams, and Fit 7 min Start
  2. 2 Tailored Jackets: Canvas, Fusing, Pressing, and Balance 7 min Start
  3. 3 Footwear: Lasts, Uppers, Soles, and Repair 7 min Start
  4. 4 Down Insulation: Fill Power, Fill Weight, and Baffles 6 min Start
  5. 5 Buttons, Buttonholes, Snaps, and Rivets 6 min Start
Unit 8

Everyday Precision

4 lessons · 24 min

  1. 1 Umbrellas: Canopy, Ribs, Joints, and Wind 6 min Start
  2. 2 Eyeglasses: Lenses, Coatings, Frames, and Fit 6 min Start
  3. 3 Pens: Ink, Balls, Feeds, Nibs, and Tolerances 6 min Start
  4. 4 Small Edge Tools: Razors, Clippers, and Scissors 6 min Start
Unit 9

Details Have Jobs

3 lessons · 21 min

  1. 1 Decorative Details That Used to Work 7 min Start
  2. 2 Constraints Become Form 7 min Start
  3. 3 When Function Becomes Style 7 min Start
Unit 10

Coherence Makes Beauty

3 lessons · 21 min

  1. 1 How an Object Explains Itself 7 min Start
  2. 2 Proportion, Rhythm, and Hierarchy 7 min Start
  3. 3 How Icons Stay Recognizable 7 min Start
Unit 11

Judgment You Can Defend

3 lessons · 24 min

  1. 1 Expensive, Overpriced, or Worth It? 8 min Start
  2. 2 Brand, Scarcity, and Story 8 min Start
  3. 3 Capstone: Build a Design-Value Dossier 8 min Start

Course 2 of 2

Architecture

How buildings stand up, the great styles, Nordic and Wisconsin buildings, and reading a building.

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Unit 12

How Buildings Stand Up

4 lessons · 23 min

  1. 1 Columns, Beams, and Arches 5 min Start
  2. 2 Domes and Vaults 7 min Start
  3. 3 Trusses and Frames 6 min Start
  4. 4 Steel, Concrete, and the Skyscraper 5 min Start
Unit 13

Wisconsin Buildings

4 lessons · 18 min

  1. 1 Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin 4 min Start
  2. 2 The Prairie School 4 min Start
  3. 3 Wisconsin Barns and Round Barns 5 min Start
  4. 4 The Wisconsin State Capitol 5 min Start
Unit 14

The Great Styles

Coming later

  1. The Greek Orders
  2. Roman Engineering
  3. Romanesque and Gothic
  4. Renaissance and Baroque
  5. Neoclassical and Victorian
Unit 15

Nordic Building

Coming later

  1. Stave Churches
  2. Log Building and the Farmstead
  3. Nordic Classicism and Functionalism
  4. Alvar Aalto
Unit 16

Modern and Beyond

Coming later

  1. The Bauhaus and Modernism
  2. Le Corbusier and Mies
  3. Reading a Building on Your Street