The Launch will be uniquely focused on making. Every session, every participant will make something — with goals of lowering our own barriers to entry, freeing ourselves from overthinking, and using group accountability to encourage each other to create for the sake of creating.

Each participant will also launch a low-stakes, high-joy personal project to an audience while exploring questions like:

• What is a “launch?” What is a “project?” What is an “audience?” Who do we make things for? Who would we rather make things for?
• What inspires us as humans vs. as workers?
• What would we make if we didn’t overthink? How do we get out of our own way?
• How do we personally and collectively find joyful creative flow?

Participants do not need to have a personal project in mind before signing up. Some examples of low-stakes, high-joy personal projects from previous Launch courses:

• A crocheted outfit for a kitten.
• A Spotify-wrapped-style mobile experience based on a year's worth of Fitbit sleep data.
• The first in a seven-part dinner party series where guests eat and wear only one color.
• A zine about sex positivity inspired by a tweenage fascination with the Nars Orgasm collection.
• A weekly series of Hallmark movie haiku reviews.
• A Matisse-ification tool for redesigning iconic visual artifacts of the 21st century inspired by the print that is in seemingly every StreetEasy staging photo.
• A pop-up restaurant menu based on ingredients from the course’s collective pantry.
• A microblog of useless car facts.

This course is for you if:

• You make things or would like to make things in any medium.
• You ever feel stuck or like you’re not sure which (if any) personal projects to pursue.
• You’re looking to inject more spontaneity, community, and intention into your creative practice.
• You’re interested in exploring creative work outside of its commercial value.

This course is not for you if:

• You are hoping it will help you seek VC funding or a spot on Shark Tank (although “an illustrated zine ranking episodes of Shark Tank based on how much an actual shark would enjoy them” would make an incredible Launch project!)

• Build community through creative play while also holding each other accountable for collective making.
• Challenge assumptions about what we make and who we make it for.
• Practice getting creatively unstuck by stepping outside of comfort zones and frameworks of commercial value.
• Embrace imperfection and run toward the strangeness.
• Launch an experimental personal project!

Every session will include at least one “burst of active making” to lower our individual barriers to creation.

Week 1 – Intention & Soft Structure

We’ll explore new frameworks for making, develop our individual and collective goals, and discuss possibilities for unlearning.

Week 2 – Attention & Ideation

We’ll learn the value of sharing our joy, practice ideating without editing, and rethink what makes a “good” idea.

Week 3 – Finitude & Selection

We’ll embrace the freedom of finitude, hone our ability to scale ideas up and down, define our projects, and work toward less overthinking—more making.

Week 4 – Obstacle & Action

We’ll reflect on internal and external gatekeepers, subvert the crit process, and uncover tools to turn obstacles into flow states.

Week 5 – Reception & The Meaning of Done

We’ll reframe “reception,” explore what “done” looks like to each of us, and collectively troubleshoot/plan our final project stretch.

Week 6 - Celebration & Reflection

We’ll present our projects, discuss the importance of rest and celebration, and establish means of support for the future.

• Frog & Toad Are Friends
• On Being with Krista Tippett”
• The Creative Independent
• How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy
• Learning By Heart: Teachings to Free the Creative Spirit
• Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management For Mortals
• Walking around outside

Olivia Crandall is a writer and illustrator based in Los Angeles. Her work — largely focused on how pop culture impacts and reflects the way we live — has been featured in places like Vulture, Gossamer, Dirt, and InStyle. She loves embarking on low-stakes, high-joy personal projects of her own, like a long-running book review archive, a nonsensical newsletter, a collaborative map of the cats in her neighborhood, and an ongoing experiment to see the most absurd thing she can convince New York Magazine to let her publish. When she’s not doing all of those other things, Olivia is also an Associate Creative Director at Butchershop.

Index scholarships are designed to benefit underrepresented groups, BIPOC members of our community, and those for whom the class price is not accessible. These need-based scholarships will go to the candidates who best demonstrate why they should be chosen for the free spot to our class based on the following criteria:

• Belong to groups that are traditionally underrepresented in the graphic design and creative industries
• Do not have jobs that would pay for these courses as professional development
• Cannot independently afford the class at list price
• Share our value of intentional community

The number of selected applicants chosen is subject to the discretion of Index and the instructor, but every course will select at least one. Apply for a scholarship here. Applications close April 2nd.

We get that things come up, but we rely on headcounts in our programs to survive as a business. If you request a refund...

More than 4 weeks before class begins → 100% refund
More than 2 weeks before class begins → 50% refund
Fewer than 2 weeks before class begins → No refund

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