Chris Lawson is a web and print designer with fifteen years professional experience spanning the industry transition from photo-typesetting and paste-up, to desktop publishing to the world wide web. Lawson grew up in Toronto, has lived and worked in Montréal and since 1992, in Ottawa. Chris has been an instructor in the Ottawa School of Art's cyberarts program since 1998. In his courses, he attempts to blend technical knowledge with aesthetic theory and uses everyday design examples to illustrate the ongoing tension between the artist's desire for originality and unique expression, and the designer's need to communicate. Chris encourages students to evaluate design for both its artistic merit and its functionality and to apply those criteria to their own work. He believes strongly that students learn best when their hands are on the keyboard; he has planned his "hands-on" curriculum accordingly.