Reading Assignment 1 - Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art

Author: Gunnar Swanson
Source: p. 22, 23
Connotation/Idea:

• the majority of graphic design programs tend to be nothing more than vocational training programs
• design does not have a subject matter of its own, it exists solely as a practice in relation to the given projects
• the tendency to stuff the curriculum with vocational skill training, students are robbed of important knowledge that would make them much better designers in the long run

Source: p. 25, 26
Connotation/Idea:

• Liberal arts have lost their meaning as an integrated learning process, and have become a source for broader knowledge
• asking graphic design teachers of their opinions of students that didn’t become designers, the students were considered failures, almost as if design educations sole purpose is to prepare a student for work in the design industry
• most design programs don’t help their students become broader thinkers
  

Source: p. 26, 27
Connotation/Idea:

• the constantly evolving job market suggests that designers wont be doing what they are doing today in fifteen years
• despite this, most programs simply give the students ‘job training’
• the problem is that design teachers are teaching their students on how design was done in the past, and are not preparing them for the possibilities of what design could be in the future
• the best possible thing that a student can learn from a design program should be the skills to become highly adaptable
• design should be about meaning, and how meaning can be created
  

Source: p. 28
Connotation/Idea:

• graphic design is about persuasion
• a good designer knows how to touch the very essence of every human through their work, and not just how to create a pretty thing in photoshop
• design is a very deep subject with a lot of hidden meaning, and simply teaching students how to produce objects is nothing more than vocational training
  

Source: p. 29
Connotation/Idea:

• it has been suggested that liberal courses that are related to the subject matter being studied are offered along with the core course
• an interior design student should have a class available where they can learn about families, marriage, usage of space, human interaction, etc., in order to become the master of their field
• a balance between practical and academic knowledge needs to be established
• generally, students get general knowledge of their subject, and then are specialized into their field, design works the other way
  

Source: p.31
Connotation/Idea:
Design on its own is a strong field of study, but if supported by branches of all other studies, design becomes something much more than just a practice, it becomes a true liberal art.

Reading Assignment 1 - The Landscape of Graphic Design Education

Author: Meredith Davis
Source: p. 2
Connotation/Idea:

• 60,000 salaried designers / 74,000 freelancers
• 16,000 individual design businesses
• 90% have fewer than 10 employees
• 15% of these firms are newly created each year

• 1300+ two-year programs teaching graphic design
• 450 four-year programs in 1974 AIGA listing of schools
• Pratt Institute has 700 undergraduate majors
• Graduating 25 students a year = 43,000+ new designers
• 120 programs in architecture
• 50 programs in industrial design

In the current landscape of graphic design education:

• Professional curriculum controversy
• Shifting professional practices
• Emerging research culture
• Shortfall in challenging literature
• Increasing use of adjunct faculty
• Administrative generation gap

Source: p. 3, 5
Connotation/Idea:

• the role of colleges and universities now engaged in professional education is to develop students with respect to both the discipline and the profession of graphic design
• it takes a very long time to produce a professional designer
• some universities offer professional degrees, but their curriculum is built in a way where important aspects that need to be learned from different perspectives are shoved into single courses and force fed to the students
• the way current curriculum is planned out, students in colleges that offer two year programs are unable to transfer a lot of the credits to university when they move to finish their undergraduate degrees
• colleges and universities need to cooperate and plan out their curriculums together

Source: p. 6
Connotation/Idea:
Over the last two decades:

• Rapid technological change
• Democratization of the means of production
• Extreme highs and lows in the economy
• Public concern for the environment
• Consumer activism

• with the world changing the way it is, design is becoming more and more important in the corporate world
• the graphic design programs adapt to current trends, but because the process is slow, the changes are often very late

Reading Assignment 1 - What is Research?

Author: Leedy/Ormrod
Source: p. 17,18
Connotation/Idea:
What research is not.

• It is not just info gathering
• It is not a just transportation of facts from one place to another
• It is not just rummaging for information
• It is not a catchword used to get attention

Source: p. 18, 22
Connotation/Idea:
What research is.

• Research is a systematic process of collecting, analyzing and interpreting data in order to increase the understanding of the phenomenon being researched.

• Research originates with a question or problem
• an inquisitive mind is the beginning to research
• the ignition point of all research is the questions we ask

• Research requires clear articulation of a goal
• it is important to clearly state the goal of your research
  

• Research requires a specific plan for proceeding
• on top of having a clear goal, you must also have a clear path to follow in order to reach that goal
  

• Research divides the principal problem into more manageable sub-problems
• large problems can often be solved piece by piece
• divide the large problem into smaller ones, and you will reach your goal much faster
  

• Research is guided by the specific research problem, hypothesis, or question
• by simulating many possible outcomes of the research, you may find sources of information that will lead you to your goal
  

• Research accepts certain critical assumptions
• there are often self evident truths that may help guide the research these are assumed, and must be valid in order for the research to have meaning
  

• Research required the collection and interpretation of data in an attempt to resolve the problem that initiated the research
• the data is insignificant until the researcher extracts meaning from it
• without human interpretation, research is useless
  

• Research is, by nature, cyclical or, more exactly, helical
  
• research usually follows a cycle
• first a question is asked, then, the researcher goes through above steps, and after all the data is interpreted, more questions are formed, and the cycle begins all over again