Launch Orientation
You’re officially part of the Lake Hazel Designer Residency.
Launch is designed to help you gain practical interior-design experience, strengthen your professional skills, and build a portfolio that demonstrates what you can actually do.
This is not traditional coaching, and it is not another course you watch from the sidelines. You’ll complete design assignments, receive professional feedback, revise your work, and develop portfolio-ready projects.
Lake Hazel Designer Residency
Path 1 — Launch Orientation
Your home base for completing orientation, understanding the residency, and preparing for your first professional design assignment.
Start your orientationBegin here
Your First-Week Checklist
Complete these steps before beginning your first assignment. Your progress is saved on this device.
Your workspace
Your Launch Tools
Squarespace Member Site
Your home base for orientation, curriculum, assignments, resources, templates, critique schedules, and announcements.
You are hereFacebook Community
Use the private group for conversations, questions, announcements, inspiration, encouragement, and critique reminders.
Join the Facebook CommunityDesignFiles
Create mood boards, product boards, room designs, client-style presentations, and sourcing lists. Canva may also be used when allowed.
Open DesignFilesClickUp
Submit completed assignments for review, scoring, critique selection, revisions, and portfolio approval.
Submit an AssignmentFrom brief to portfolio
How the Residency Works
Receive or Select an Assignment
Assignments may include mood boards, furniture and finish selections, sourcing, space planning, presentation boards, material palettes, lighting concepts, kitchen or bathroom selections, and real Lake Hazel tasks when available.
Some assignments are educational practice. Others may support active Lake Hazel projects.
Complete the Assignment
Your work should be polished enough to present to a real client.
- Follow the project requirements and stated budget
- Use appropriate products and materials
- Check product availability
- Credit collaborators when applicable
- Meet the deadline and present professionally
Submit Through ClickUp
Your submission may require a JPG or PDF, editable presentation link, source document, design concept, client description, style, palette, materials, estimated budget, and questions for the reviewer.
Attend the Weekly Critique
Learn what is working, what needs improvement, how professionals communicate decisions, and how to make presentations more client-ready.
Not every submission will be discussed each week. Work is selected based on topic, learning value, timing, and available meeting time.
Revise Your Work
Review the feedback, make corrections, proofread, resubmit through the assigned process, and clearly label the work as a revision.
Request Portfolio Approval
Completion does not automatically grant publishing permission. Written approval is required before using Lake Hazel-related work in your portfolio, website, social media, or marketing.
Weekly learning
Design Critiques
Launch includes one weekly group design critique. Bring your current assignment, one or two specific questions, notes from earlier feedback, and a willingness to receive constructive feedback.
Critiques are professional learning environments. Feedback should address the work—not the person who created it.
Submission tracking
Assignment Statuses
| Status | What It Means |
|---|---|
| New Submission | Your assignment has been received |
| Awaiting Review | It is in the review queue |
| Selected for Critique | It may be discussed during a group critique |
| Revision Requested | Changes are required |
| Resubmitted | Your revised work has been received |
| Approved | The assignment requirements were met |
| Portfolio Approved | You have permission to display the work |
| Not Approved | The submission did not meet the requirements |
| Paid Assignment Complete | An authorized paid task has been completed |
Evaluation rubric
How Your Work Is Evaluated
Each category may be scored from 1–5.
| Category | What We Evaluate |
|---|---|
| Design Concept | Clarity and strength of the overall idea |
| Client Alignment | How well the design serves the intended client |
| Function | Practicality, usability, and space considerations |
| Visual Cohesion | Coordination of colors, forms, finishes, and materials |
| Product Selection | Suitability, scale, quality, availability, and budget |
| Technical Accuracy | Measurements, specifications, and construction awareness |
| Presentation | Organization, hierarchy, labeling, and professionalism |
| Budget Awareness | Whether selections realistically fit the stated budget |
| Originality | Evidence of independent design thinking |
| Responsiveness | How effectively critique feedback was applied |
Know before you submit
Residency Standards & Policies
Portfolio and Co-Branding Rules +
Approved assignments may qualify for portfolio use. Approval may require Lake Hazel co-branding, accurate description of your contribution, collaborator credit, removal of confidential details, delayed publication, or use of approved images only.
Never describe yourself as the sole designer of a Lake Hazel project unless confirmed in writing.
Design concept created by [Member Name] through the Lake Hazel Designer Residency. Project direction and review provided by Lake Hazel Design.
Paid Lake Hazel Tasks +
Launch may provide opportunities for paid tasks on active projects, but membership does not guarantee paid work or a specific number of assignments.
Before beginning, receive written confirmation of scope, deliverables, deadline, compensation, revisions, ownership, and portfolio permissions. Never assume a task is paid unless compensation is confirmed before work begins.
Community Standards +
- Communicate respectfully and meet commitments
- Protect client confidentiality
- Accept feedback professionally
- Submit original work and credit collaborators
- Do not share another member’s work or copy designs
- Ask questions when instructions are unclear
- Represent Lake Hazel professionally on firm projects
What Launch Includes +
Launch includes
- Practical design assignments
- Weekly group critiques
- Portfolio-development opportunities
- Design curriculum
- Templates and AI prompts
- Community access
- Consideration for paid tasks
Launch does not include
- Individual business coaching
- Guaranteed employment, clients, or income
- Guaranteed paid assignments
- Automatic portfolio permission
- Professional licensing or legal certification
- Unlimited one-on-one review
For business coaching, pricing systems, contracts, client workflows, and sales training, advance to Path 2 — Build.
Academic and Professional Integrity +
Every submission must represent your own contribution. AI may be used for permitted brainstorming, editing, research organization, or presentation support. You remain responsible for verifying measurements, codes, products, pricing, availability, and accuracy.
I certify that this submission represents my own design work. I have identified any collaborators and have not presented another designer’s work as my own.
Assignment 01
Personal Design Identity Board
Create a professional mood board that introduces your design perspective.
Include
- Your name and a short designer statement
- Preferred design styles
- A coordinated color palette
- Five to eight key materials
- Furniture, lighting, or architectural inspiration
- Three words describing your approach
- Your ideal client or project type
- A short explanation of your choices
- Proper image and product credits
Submit
- One presentation-ready JPG or PDF
- Editable presentation link
- Source list
- Portfolio-use request, if desired
Final orientation step
Orientation Acknowledgment
Before continuing, confirm that you understand the following:
- Launch is an experience-based residency, not individual business coaching.
- Assignments and paid work are not guaranteed.
- Client and project information must remain confidential.
- All submitted work must be original and collaborators identified.
- Lake Hazel-related work cannot be published without written permission.
- Revisions are part of the professional design process.
- Community and critique standards must be followed.