This semester, the department of visual arts and design is proud to highlight a project that brought creativity and empathy together through meaningful hands-on work fully supported by an experiential learning fund. In an experimental media studio course, taught by Diana Synatzske, 15 art and digital media students embraced the opportunity to design and build educational puzzle games with a purpose beyond the classroom. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The students taking the class developed small, thoughtful tools designed to support children in foster care. Each puzzle was crafted to be simple, engaging and encouraging, helping young learners stay curious, feel valued and experience a sense of hope through play. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Throughout the project, students strengthened both their creative and technical skills. They approached each puzzle piece as its own design while ensuring it contributed to a cohesive whole. Careful attention was also given to safety and durability, from creating pieces that remain secure during use to selecting appropriate materials such as sturdy wood and non-toxic colors. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
We are especially proud of the way this project brought together artistic skill, problem-solving and a genuine desire to serve others. It exemplifies our commitment to preparing students not only as designers but also as thoughtful creators who recognize the broader impact of their work. Projects like this reinforce the idea that design is not just about what we create but who we create it for and how those creations can make a difference. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This semester, the department of visual arts and design is proud to highlight a project that brought creativity and empathy together through meaningful hands-on work fully supported by an experiential learning fund. In an experimental media studio course, taught by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1006,"featured_media":1940,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":32,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1939","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-department-of-visual-arts-and-design"],"acf":[],"author_meta":{"display_name":"fbarron","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/author\/fbarron\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/255\/2026\/05\/vads-class-300x225.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["Department of Visual Arts and Design<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Department of Visual Arts and Design<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 4 days ago","modified":"Updated 4 days ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2026","modified":"Updated on May 7, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on May 7, 2026 10:57 am","modified":"Updated on May 7, 2026 10:57 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1006"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1939"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1941,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1939\/revisions\/1941"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1939"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1939"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/colfa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1939"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}