M07-08 · AI + Creative Production & Design

Professional Practice in Creative Production

Builds on CORE-08's freelance foundations to address the specific professional practices of creative production careers. Covers creative rights and licensing (work-for-hire, stock licensing, model releases, font licensing, AI-generated content IP including the 2026 Supreme Court ruling establishing pure AI output is not copyrightable), creative freelance business operations (portfolio curation, platform presence on Dribbble/Behance/Instagram, creative-specific pricing models, agency overflow relationships), creative brief interpretation, multi-project capacity management, and end-to-end project leadership from brief through delivery. Students apply their full creative skill set in a capstone simulation managing concurrent client engagements.

45 Hours

9 Learning objectives

Evaluate Bloom's ceiling (?)

5 Competencies

What You'll Be Able To Do

Learning Objectives

Objectives

Depth

Analyze creative rights and licensing structures — work-for-hire vs. licensed use, standard vs. extended stock licenses, model release requirements, font licensing tiers (desktop/web/app), and AI-generated content IP implications including the 2026 Supreme Court ruling that pure AI output is not copyrightable Analyze
Create a curated portfolio website (8-12 projects) with context (brief, process, result) for each project, optimized for the specific creative market the student targets Create
Apply creative-specific pricing strategies — hourly ($75-200/hr), project-based ($1K-25K), day rate ($500-1,500), and value-based — selecting the appropriate model for each engagement type Apply
Evaluate a creative brief for completeness and clarity, identifying vague direction that requires pre-design clarification to avoid wasted production time Evaluate
Create a capacity management plan balancing 3-5 concurrent projects at different stages, demonstrating parallel production (working on different project phases simultaneously) and priority escalation Apply
Lead a creative project end-to-end: interpret brief, develop concepts, present to stakeholders with rationale (not just "what" but "why"), manage revisions, and deliver production-ready files Create
Evaluate the legal risks in a creative production scenario — unlicensed stock usage, stolen font on a "free" site, AI-generated content without disclosure, posting client work before launch (breaking NDA) Evaluate
Apply agency overflow and creative staffing strategies to build recurring freelance revenue channels beyond direct client acquisition Apply
Create a design review protocol that provides constructive feedback focused on "why" (design principles) rather than subjective preference Create

Levels: Remember · Understand · Apply · Analyze · Evaluate · Create — highest demands most original thinking.

Core Competencies

What You'll Master

Creative Rights & Licensing

Navigating work-for-hire contracts, stock image licensing tiers, model release requirements, font licensing compliance, and AI-generated content ownership — avoiding the legal mistakes that cost agencies thousands.

Creative Portfolio & Business Development

Curating a portfolio website, maintaining Dribbble/Behance/Instagram presence, building agency overflow relationships, registering with creative staffing platforms (Working Not Working, Vitamin T).

Creative Brief Mastery

Interpreting briefs, identifying vague direction before designing, asking clarifying questions that save days of wrong-direction work, and managing the gap between client vision and deliverable reality.

Multi-Project Capacity Management

Balancing concurrent creative projects across different stages, parallel production workflows, raising capacity constraints before quality suffers, prioritizing ruthlessly when overcommitted.

End-to-End Creative Leadership

Owning a project from brief to delivery including concept development, stakeholder presentation with rationale, revision management, production file delivery, and mentoring junior team members.

Portfolio Artifact

What You'll Build

Creative Practice Capstone — Student manages 3 concurrent simulated client engagements over 6 weeks: a brand identity project (brief to guidelines delivery), an ongoing social media retainer (weekly deliverables), and a website design project (design to developer handoff). Includes complete business documentation: contracts with scope/revision/IP terms for each client, invoicing schedule, capacity plan showing parallel production across projects, a curated 10-project portfolio website, and a legal risk audit of 5 creative production scenarios.

Tools You'll Use

Industry Tools, Not Toy Projects

Figma

Primary design tool for UI, social, and design system work across all client engagements.

Adobe Creative Suite

Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, After Effects, and Premiere Pro for full-spectrum creative production.

Squarespace / Cargo

Portfolio website platforms for building a professional creative portfolio presence.

Bonsai / HoneyBook

Freelance business management platforms for contracts, proposals, and invoicing.

Dribbble / Behance

Creative portfolio platforms for showcasing work and building professional visibility.

Notion

Project tracking and knowledge management for multi-client workflow organization.

Loom

Screen recording for client design walkthroughs and asynchronous presentation of work.

Slack

Team and client communication platform for managing feedback loops and approvals.