IT'S UNAVOIDABLE: With copious offerings across all manner of design disciplines—everything from craft to architecture to fashion—Design Week Portland can seem overly dense and inside-baseball if you're just jumping in. (It doesn't help that we've been waiting to see a search function added to the DWP website since 2014!) But there's good stuff in there. Don't know where to begin? Here are some user-friendly picks for the week ahead.

SAT APRIL 16

7 pm: Sounds like Design Week Portland's taken a cue from PICA's Time-Based Art Festivals past, and with good reason: This year, DWP's opening party presents "unique activations" from more than 12 participating DWP spaces and agencies throughout Revolution Hall. Revolution Hall, 1300 SE Stark, $10

SUN APRIL 17

10 am-5 pm: Drop in on the Seventh Annual Letterpress Printers Fair hosted by Portland Printers Alliance at the Bison Building, where you'll be able to page through the work of local printers and bookmakers, or even put your own print-making skills to the test with "live printing with a steamroller, and hands-on demonstrations," plus drinks and snacks to fortify your Gutenbergian aspirations. Bison Building, 421 NE 10th, free

MON APRIL 18

8:30 am: Yes, waking up early is indisputably terrible. So we'd only urge you to do it voluntarily for delightful breakfast lecture series Creative Mornings. The Design Week edition features local developer Kevin Cavenaugh, the man responsible for the Burnside Rocket and the Ocean's tiny restaurant zone. For more on Cavenaugh, see our interview with him. The Gerding Theater at the Armory, 128 NW 11th, free

TUES APRIL 19

4-9:30 pm: Portland bird jokes are as old as Portland beard jokes, but don't let that dissuade you from WeMake's DWP event tonight. Though previously known as Put a Bird On It, they've toned down the name—it's now just an open house "for birds and people," featuring 41 custom bird houses from local makers, to be auctioned off to benefit arts education for elementary- and middle-schoolers. Also: drinks, tunes, and "live silk-screening" provided by Golden Rule Design. Tillamook Station, 665 N Tillamook, free

WED APRIL 20

5-9 pm: The product design program at the University of Oregon's School of Architecture and Allied Arts hosts an event tonight for DWP that's literally just called "Monsters!" Defined thusly: "Any creature so adorably ugly or monstrous in shape, color and character. Come learn some basic pattern and sewing skills and make a little creature to bring home!" That's right, this is a workshop in MONSTER DESIGN AND CRAFT, led by Susan Sokolowski at the White Stage Innovation Lab. University of Oregon in Portland White Stage Block, 70 NW Couch, $20, register by Thurs April 14

THURS APRIL 21

4-8 pm: "We are good at giving lip service to failure—'fail fast, fail forward'—or safely discussing failure in hindsight," reads the event text for PNCA/Collaborative's The Power of the F Word. "This lip service suggests an understanding of failure, how it helps shape our design and an intentionality about its use, although this is rarely the case." The event's "walk-through on failure" takes this tip-toeing approach and shatters it, with something like a master class in the untapped creativity of failure. PNCA Bridgelab, 511 NW Broadway, free

FRI APRIL 22

6 pm: "What would society gain from having more women and people of color in code, and how do we get there?" This is the question mined in Robin Hauser Reynolds' documentary CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, which screens tonight, followed by a Q&A with Reynolds. Instrument, 3529 N Williams, free

SAT APRIL 23

7 pm: Design Week Portland comes to a close the same way it started: with a party. Head to Rejuvenation for DWP's closing party, which doubles as a chance to see the work of local designers invited by the Interior Design Show West. Rejuvenation, 1100 SE Grand, free