Access and Fit
Access
Creative Office Hours are open to current Penn students.
Appointment availability is capacity-based, with priority scheduling available for VIP-X, VIP-Community, Food Innovation Lab, and other designated Venture Lab cohorts when required by active program milestones.
Appointment availability is capacity-based, with priority scheduling available for VIP-X, VIP-Community, Food Innovation Lab, and other designated Venture Lab cohorts when required by active program milestones.
Best fit
Office hours work best when you bring one defined question, decision, or piece of work in progress. No prior design, marketing, production, or entrepreneurship experience is required.
Outcome
Use DDS guidance to advance a communications or creative milestone connected to VIP-X, VIP-Community, the Food Innovation Lab, or another Venture Lab experience.
Questions We Can Work Through
How can I explain the idea, problem, solution, and value in a way my audience can quickly understand?
Which customer, user, partner, funder, or stakeholder should this message prioritize and what matters most to them?
Do these visual choices support the strategy, feel consistent, and communicate the right impression?
What should I create, which channel or format fits the goal, and what action should the audience take next?
How should I connect customer insight, product value, proof points, and launch priorities into a clearer market-facing story?
What message, audience, assets, shot list, or preparation do I need before pursuing a photo, video, audio, or studio session?
Bring your experience to the questions students are asking now.
Help a Penn student move from uncertainty to action by contributing focused office hours through the Digital Design Studio. Share practical perspective, ask the questions that sharpen the work, and help students identify a realistic next step.
What you may support
Brand strategy, positioning, customer communication, product marketing, growth, campaigns, content, creative direction, design, storytelling, media, production planning, or another aligned area of professional expertise.
What the role involves
Provide one-on-one or small-group guidance within an approved format; review the question and available materials; offer inclusive, actionable feedback; and stay within the educational scope and boundaries established by Venture Lab.
Why contribute
Make your expertise immediately useful, strengthen Penn's entrepreneurial and creative community, and help emerging founders and contributors build better judgment, not just better deliverables.
FAQ
Book a focused session, bring the work or decision in front of you, and leave with feedback you can put into practice.
Who is eligible to book Creative Office Hours?
Creative Office Hours are open to current Penn students. Appointment availability is capacity-based, and DDS may reserve or prioritize selected times for VIP-X, VIP-Community, Food Innovation Lab, or other designated Venture Lab cohorts with active program milestones. Production-studio reservations and equipment access follow separate eligibility and onboarding requirements.
What kinds of questions can I bring?
Bring a focused question about brand clarity, audience and positioning, visual direction, design feedback, content, campaigns, storytelling, product marketing, launch communication, or production planning. The booking intake will help route the question. If another Venture Lab resource or program is a better fit, DDS may recommend that pathway.
Do I need a completed venture, project, or design before booking?
No. You may bring an early idea, a work in progress, or an existing asset that needs refinement. You do not need prior entrepreneurship, design, marketing, or production experience. The session will be most useful when you can identify one decision, question, or piece of work to examine.
How long is an appointment, and is it virtual or in person?
The available duration and format are displayed when you book. Your confirmation will provide the final appointment length, Tangen Hall location or virtual-access details, arrival instructions, and any session-specific requirements.
How should I prepare?
Complete any preparation included in your confirmation, identify one priority question, and bring a laptop or tablet, relevant links, current materials, examples, audience context, and the action you want the work to support. Completing a related DDS worksheet in advance can help the session focus on decisions rather than background collection.
How do I reschedule or cancel?
Use the rescheduling or cancellation instructions in your confirmation as soon as your availability changes. Releasing the appointment promptly allows another student to use the time. Repeated missed appointments may affect access to future capacity-limited sessions.
Is the information I share confidential?
Creative Office Hours are an educational advising service, not a confidential professional engagement. Share only the information needed to receive useful feedback, and do not submit legally privileged, regulated, restricted, or highly sensitive personal, customer, business, or research information through the booking form or session materials.
Can I book more than one appointment?
Repeat appointments may be available when additional feedback will advance a new decision or stage of work and scheduling capacity allows. Apply the agreed next steps before rebooking, then identify the new question or evidence you want to review.
What is the difference between office hours, workshops, and studio reservations?
Office hours provide focused feedback on a specific question. Workshops build a shared skill through a structured group learning experience. Studio reservations support eligible production activity and require separate access, onboarding, and preparation.
Attending office hours or a workshop does not automatically authorize studio or equipment use.
Attending office hours or a workshop does not automatically authorize studio or equipment use.
What You Can Leave With
Creative Office Hours provide education, critique, and guided problem-solving. They are not a done-for-you agency service, production booking, approval process, unlimited project engagement, or guarantee of a particular business or campaign result.
A clearer decision
A sharper understanding of the audience, message, creative direction, or priority that should guide the next stage of work.
Actionable feedback
Specific observations, questions, and recommendations tied to the material or challenge you brought to the session.
A practical next-step plan:
A short sequence of actions, owners, or experiments that helps move the work from discussion into execution.
The right resource or referral:
A relevant DDS worksheet, workshop, digital resource, Venture Lab program, or next support pathway when another format is better suited to the need.
Not sure where to begin? Start here.
Start Here Mondays connects Penn students with Venture Lab staff for personalized guidance on programs, resources, and opportunities across the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Whether you are exploring an idea, building a venture, looking to join a team, or simply curious about entrepreneurship, we’ll help you understand your options and identify a practical next step.
Explore Venture Lab programs, advising, workshops, funding opportunities, competitions, innovation spaces, and other resources. We can also help you determine which opportunities align with your interests, goals, and current stage.
Meet virtually with a Venture Lab team member for a focused, one-on-one conversation. Share what you are exploring, ask questions, and receive recommendations based on where you are now and what you want to accomplish next.
Venture Lab offers many ways to participate and you do not need to navigate them alone. Start Here Mondays gives you a clearer entry point, directs you to the right people and resources, and helps you move forward with confidence.
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