Students will launch the La Catrina and El Catrín doll project by analyzing authentic visual references, practicing quick pose and costume sketching, surfacing assumptions about audience and cultural meaning, and setting initial design directions for the Old Town Gallery exhibition.

Students will gather firsthand and reference-based evidence about Día de los Muertos symbolism and exhibition audience needs, test assumptions through community input, synthesize patterns into an empathy artifact, and draft an initial artist statement direction for their La Catrina and El Catrín doll concepts.

Students will turn research and empathy findings into a focused design brief, generate multiple La Catrina and El Catrín concepts, build and test low-fidelity prototypes, and document two feedback-driven revision cycles before moving into refined construction.

Students will refine their La Catrina and El Catrín prototype pair through targeted critique, representative-user validation, and stakeholder-facing planning. They will strengthen costume details, pose, symbolism, and emotional storytelling, then prepare an exhibit plan and artist reflection that trace design choices back to research, feedback, and audience needs.

Students will install and present their finished La Catrina and El Catrín doll sets for a public audience at Old Town Gallery, then complete a final evidence-based reflection comparing early concepts to final outcomes and documenting how audience and critique feedback shaped their exhibition choices.