What Graphic Design Schools Are Lacking
This morning, I read an article by David Airey, author of Logo Design Love, on what graphic design schools are lacking and how to improve their course offerings.
I was a little surprised to find myself quoted in the article, having submitted a comment to a previous post on his blog, posing this very question.
First-year students should be put through a rigorous programme of calculus, economics, history, composition, and public speaking. The goal would be to produce first a thinker, a professional, a businessperson, and an educated individual. Only then will traditional design “training” begin. And yes, a lot of people would drop out. The phrase “in the real world” would be banned — this school would be very much a part of the professional world.
While the requests for improvements do vary a great deal, there are some recurring threads: more professional involvement including industry-practicing professors, exposure to live briefs, client contact even before graduating, and better training for pricing and running a business. There is also a desire for web design training, presumably from qualified instructors.
What are your thoughts? What are d-schools lacking in their curriculae and what changes would you make?
// a tale of design, the industry, the internet
// 5 Comments »
// 27 January 2010, 11:06
Great question, and many thoughts come to mind. Last year, I recently asked a wide range of industry professionals and fresh graduates on the subject. David’s points ring true.
I’m wrapping up an article about this for CMYK Magazine, with the original question posed here: http://migreyes.com/thoughts.php
// 27 January 2010, 11:34
Yours was one of my favourite comments, too, Prescott. Thanks for contributing.
// 27 January 2010, 12:39
At my school, design students of all disciplines were made to take Physics for Design, but the effort was half-hearted. Students muddled through it and then forgot the logical undertones of that course. In other words, no one dropped because of it — no one said to themselves “Wow, design is very rigorous from an academic point of view. I better learn this stuff or die trying.”
My belief, as I think you see, is that design isn’t respected as a “smart” profession, the same way that law, medicine, engineering, accounting, teaching, etc. are. A university degree should mean something, no matter if we’re designers or architects or biological researchers. The only way to change this is to ensure that everyone who gets his hands on a design degree is a helluva thinker, as well as a designer.
Hell, I’m just trying to make it through the day. I don’t have all the answers.
// 28 January 2010, 01:39
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// 29 January 2010, 12:24
I totally agree with that point too. Having myself studied Media Arts (that included geography, politics, current affairs, art history, history, semantics and communication courses) before studying Graphic Design, I find that most often what helps me come up with a concept or idea for a design project is the stuff that I learned in those “non-design-related” classes. I tended to be so annoyed in my design classes when the majority of students were in awe in front of a fellow student’s work, just because it looked good and was trendy. The whole notion that for a design to be good it needed to be copied from the work we see every month in Creative Review was, unfortunately, what most people (students and tutors, sadly) in my class would see as a recipe for success. I am confident that if they had had a bit more “non-design-related” courses like I had they would be able to see that what makes a design excellent isn’t only the way it looks. A design cannot be qualified as “excellent” if it, even if visually beautiful, doesn’t convey and communicate the message that is intended. So yep Prescott, you’re totally right