Dan is a California-born, beach-loving guy. You can tell by his shirt. But don't let that fool you. He is really fond of markers, and he longs for the days when he did 20 marker comps per 24 hour cycle (clue: he never slept). He will drill you in the "art of the rough" until you are marker-crazy too. Despite his shirt, Dan has decades of design experience and gives students an understanding of the creative process, plus the design basics and layout essentials they need to succeed.

No one is quite sure where Ron comes from, but he often uses wildlife topics as teaching tools so speculation is that he was born deep in the rainforest or the Everglades. There was also a childhood visit to the Moons of Swiff, which gave him superpower lightning-speed abilities. He's quick — in a bicycle race or in critique. He can pin down design issues and suggest potential software solutions in seconds. He draws on his experience in the world of print to teach the Commercial Print class, plus InDesign, Photoshop, and Flash.

What can you say? Brian's been in the Hollywood scene as an animator for the Simpsons. That certainly left an imprint — he now only exists in dramatic silhouette. He is a passionate sort of guy, so don't name your files incorrectly. But he knows how to tell a great story through both video and animation. He will work you hard until you get what you need to storyboard your ideas and make them come to digital life.

Michael has that other-worldly feel to him, so he might originate from coordinates as yet unheard of — or Indianapolis. He's got "essence of design" embedded in his code and a very professorial beard, which definitely qualifies him to teach. He secretly delights in watching your website explode. Then he calmly sits down as if life on earth will never end and lets you know how to fix it — or not. If anyone can get you to comprehend the divs and the tags of web design, it is Michael Ganschow-Green.