Cat Normoyle

My teaching is centered on communication design, interaction design, typography, and the critical use of tools and technologies. I approach design as an iterative, systems-oriented practice in which form, content, context, and audience are deeply interconnected. I emphasize design as process, grounded in experimentation, critical reflection, and play. Projects span physical and digital artifacts, visual systems, and interactions and environments.

Teaching & Student Work

Beyond the Surface: Transforming Typography into Embodied Experience

While typography is often associated with flat pages and screens, designers and artists have long explored how language and letterforms can become spatial, embodied, interactive, and performative experiences. Scholar Johanna Drucker argues that visual and typographic forms are not neutral containers for information, but actively shape interpretation and perception through

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June 8, 2026 No Comments
Interactive-Immersive Experiences

Creating mixed realities and designing for the “physdigital” experience in graphic design

Graphic designers work with materials, tools, and systems in all kinds of ways. Being hands-on with both analog and digital tools helps students expand how they think about design and what’s possible in their practice. This project was co-taught across two senior-level studios in a cross-classroom collaboration. My colleague, Megan

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August 23, 2024 No Comments
Interactive-Immersive Experiences

Now & Next Exhibition showcases typographic futures with augmented reality (AR) and immersive, interactive experiences

The Now & Next project asks students to consider current and emerging themes in typography to design a poster that communicates their perspective on where type is now and where it is headed next. Students examine intersecting issues such as technology, accessibility, inclusion, representation, and style to frame their perspectives

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March 6, 2024 No Comments

My teaching philosophy is grounded in collaborative and community-based learning models and positions making as a form of design inquiry. I emphasize shared authorship, reflection, and situated knowledge in the classroom, encouraging students to understand design not only as a set of skills but as a relational and cultural practice.

Principle 1: Embodied Knowledge

I view design as an embodied and situated practice rooted in lived experience, perception, and context. Students bring diverse cultural, technical, and disciplinary perspectives to the classroom, and I encourage them to draw on these differences in their learning and work. I also ask students to remain open-minded and reflective, considering how assumptions and biases shape our understanding of others’ needs, interests, and lived experiences in design projects.

Principle 2: Life-long Learning

Because design tools and media continue to evolve, I emphasize adaptability and learning through practice. Students learn how to explore tools critically to understand how they shape visual language and interaction. I model curiosity by sharing my own explorations with emerging design tools and creative technologies and invite students to learn alongside me. This mindset prepares students to move fluidly between media, platforms, and scales while maintaining a strong design voice.

Principle 3: Community-based Learning

I approach the classroom as a community-based learning environment grounded in collaboration and lateral, non-hierarchical structures. While I bring expertise and guidance, I am not the sole source of knowledge; students are invited to contribute their experiences, values, and perspectives as shared authors of the learning process. Through collaboration and co-creation of goals and outcomes, the classroom becomes a more inclusive, diverse, and equitable space for collective learning.

Principle 4: Redistribution & Sharing of Power

Design education can easily become hierarchical, particularly when working across multiple tools and media. I work intentionally to flatten these dynamics by inviting students into conversations about project framing, research questions, and evaluation criteria. I offer multiple ways for students to demonstrate learning drawing on universal design principles. Transparency in assessment and dialogue around goals and constraints help students take ownership of their learning and build confidence in their design decisions.