The course is built around the concept of «aesthetic intelligence» by Pauline Brown, who for 25 years managed the North American division of LVMH (Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton). In her book, «Aesthetic Intelligence: How to Develop and Use It in Business and Life, ” she argues that aesthetics is not an innate talent, but a skill that can be trained. Brown identifies four capabilities that together constitute aesthetic intelligence: — perception (the ability to notice); — interpretation (understanding the reasons); — articulation (explaining the choice); — curation (selecting and assembling).

However, aesthetic intelligence is not only needed by designers and brand managers. It applies wherever a person makes a decision that someone else will see—from choosing a font in a presentation to styling a playlist cover, from selecting an outfit to structuring a social media feed. We live in a visual culture where we make dozens of aesthetic choices every day—most of them unconsciously. This course teaches how to transform intuition into awareness: to notice, to understand why something is appealing, to explain the choice, and to select the best. Not to become a designer—but to understand how the visual world operates.

— For teens who want to understand design and branding; — For those who want to develop visual acuity and design literacy;

— Understanding the process of creating an artwork: what decisions underpin the choice of material, technique, and form, and how experiment and technology influence the final result;
 — Conducting sensory analysis of the spatial environment;
— Deconstructing a brand’s visual system: identifying and describing color codes, typography, materials, tone of voice, rhythm, and compositional principles;
 — Articulating why a specific choice of color, form, or text is effective for a particular audience and a defined objective;
 — Comparing the aesthetic systems of different brands and styles based on specific visual indicators;
— Formulating a conceptual rationale for one’s own work.

Week 1. Orientation: Learning to See
Recorded Lectures:
— What is aesthetic intelligence. An introduction to Paulin Brown’s concept: the difference between «liking something» and «understanding how it functions.»
— Why the IKEA catalog is not about furniture, but about a system. What can be learned by analyzing mass design.
— How to keep a visual journal;
Studio Practice: Sensory analysis of an object in the studio—object exchange and blind description.Week 2. Interpretation: Understanding Why
Recorded Lectures:
— What is brand coding? How do codes function and create recognition?
— What visual signals are perceived as premium versus mass-market?
— Color as a carrier of meaning. Why the Tiffany blue box works without a logo;
Studio Practice: Rank 10 object images on a «expensive ↔ inexpensive» scale and justify the criteria. Select a color palette for a fictional brand (the instructor sets the condition) and provide a rationale for the choice.

Week 3. Articulation: Learning to Explain
Recorded Lectures:
— How to talk about design;
— How tone of voice works in practice;
In-Class Practice: The student receives an image, writes a product description in various voices (premium, friendly, ironic), and explains the designer’s rationale to the group.Week 4. Curation: Selecting and Assembling
Recorded Lectures:
— Brown’s principles of curation: how to eliminate the superfluous;
— Composition as curation. Rhythm, proportion, negative space, hierarchy;
— Principles for building a portfolio to meet specific goals. What to show, in what order, and how to structure it;
In-Class Practice: Create 3 compositions using a single set of elements. Justify every element that was removed.Week 5. Emotional Map and Project
Recorded Lectures:
— From idea to aesthetic system. On the emotional map and references.
— How to formulate a prompt in a structured manner.
Homework: Invent a project, gather 5–7 references, write the initial prompt, and generate an image using AI.
In-Class Practice: Conceptual and reference reviews. Generation, selection, and prompt iteration. First project critique.Week 6. Curation and Defense
Recorded Lectures:
— Selection: Does the case align with the aesthetic system, does it support the idea, and is the composition cohesive?
— How to write a rationale: Concept → Aesthetic System → Solutions → Justification
Homework: Select final images, write the project description following the structure, and prepare a pitch.
In-Class Practice: Each participant presents their project and answers questions.