CLASS 03 | FEBRUARY 21 | DESIGN EDUCATION TOMORROW

 

 

CLASS FOCUS

Some perspectives and considerations on design education for tomorrow by some provocative and stimulating thinkers/writers/designers.

 

READINGS:

The following readings present 3 distinctive looks at where design education might go. Each argues, speculates, or reports based on their particular concerns, interests, areas of research, and indvidual experiences. All of these individuals is fairly young and represents fresh veiwpoints coming from a new generation of design thinkers and all represent a legacy of the kind of thinking that CalArts fosters — directly (Anne and Deborah as CalArts alumna) or indirectly (Stuart).

 

A note from Stuart Bailey regarding his 3-part reading: "the three parts have titles deliberately designed to form a long composite sentence, Towards a Critical Faculty / (Only an Attitude of Orientation) / From the Toolbox of a Serving Library. the first is mostly a collection of excerpts which amount to an overview of past, present future art/design school models, as well as an attempt to work out what "design thinking" is supposed to mean. the second tries to identify the sort of qualities/skills a new approach might work toward, and mostly consists of my paraphrasing a handful of thinkers from other fields. and the third amounts to a proposal for what we did (or meant to do) in Banff last summer, a reconsideration of a Bauhaus-proxy foundation course based on deconstructing a Photoshop-proxy toolbox."

1. "Towards a Critical Faculty," A short reader concerned with art/design education compiled by Stuart Bailey for the Academic Workshop at Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York

Winter 2006/7

2. "(Only an Attitude of Orientation)," Another pamphlet concerned with art/design education compiled by Stuart Bailey

as a sequel to “Towards a Critical Faculty”

Edited and published by Off

ice for Contemporary Art Norway,

Oslo, winter 2009/10

3. "From the Toolbox of a Serving Library," A third pamphlet concerned with art/design education compiled by Dexter Sinister in conclusion to “Towards a Critical Faculty” Published by The Banff Centre and The Serving Library, Summer 2011

 

 

4. Anne Burdick, "The Future of Design Education, PRINT, April 2011, issue 98

5. Anne Burdick, "Design Without Designers," talk presented April 29, 2009 at the School of Design Strategies at Parson The New School for Design, New York

 

The following academic paper by CalArts, alumna and current PhD in Design, looks at graduate design education in terms of theory of education as an "ecology of habits" that focuses on the design of the teaching environment. The paper is based on the outcome of a study she did of 4 different prominent U.S. graduate design programss. This paper also a rare example of research completed by someone from within the field of design rather than an "outsider" look in or at "us."

6. Deborah Littlejohn, ""Anticipation and action in graduate design programs: Building a theory of relationships among academic culture, professional identity and the teaching oenvironment in design education" delivered at Hong Kong Doctorate in Design Conference, 2011

 

 

GUESTS:

Stuart Bailey and Deb Littlejohn

 

STUART BAILEY graduated from the University of Reading in 1994, from the Werkplaats Typografie in 2000 – and co-founded the ongoing journal Dot Dot Dot in the same year. His work circumscribes various aspects of graphic design, writing and editing, most consistently in the form of publications made in close collaboration with artists. Since 2002 he has worked with Will Holder under the compound name Will Stuart on a broader range of more performative projects. Since 2006 he has worked together with David Reinfurt as Dexter Sinister. He currently teaches at Otis, LA.

 

DEBORAH LITTLEJOHN is a design researcher and educator. Her interests are located in the intersections of design education, digital technology and emerging teaching practices, focusing on areas such as: the integration of emerging technologies in design curricula; innovation in design pedagogy; and knowledge mapping. Deborah’s research focus began at the University of Minnesota Design Institute in her role as Resident Design Fellow. She holds an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (1994) and a PhD in Interdisciplinary Design (2011). Working with author Meredith Davis under contract with Thames & Hudson, Deborah’s most recent completed project was the design of a college-level textbook in graphic design theory (forthcoming Fall 2012).