CLASS 04 | FEBRUARY 28 | ACADEMIA + INSTITUTIONS

 

 

FOCUS

On a more practical turn from our last discussions we'll turn to the subject of the "the institution" and institutionalized practices of professional design education.

 

As emphasized in this class, keep in mind, that graphic design education isn't one thing, but many different ideas with some similar notions. Different graphic design programs base their curriculum on particular philosophies and values type of intstitution, and anticpated roles for graduates, among other considerations. What are the different types of institutions and what are some of the shared practices of many institutions such as Promotion + Tenure, Peer Review, Faculty Assessment that directly impact design educators?

 

READINGS:

1. AIGA Design Educators Community Statements on Promotion and Tenure of Design Educators, Posted November 30, 2010

2. AIGA Professional Standards if Teaching

 

 

PRESENTATIONS:

1. Paul Nini: Overview of Promotion & Tenure and how the university system works; issues for design educators. Download his presentation here.

 

2. CalArts alumni, Silas Munro, Jen McKnight, and Pirco Wolfframm on their personal experience as academics/educators comparing notes on:

- Why you chose to become a design educator

- What you feel CalArts contributed to helping you become a successful educator

- What skills/knowledge you felt you needed to develop to become a successful educator.

- What are the challenges to teaching you're currently facing

 

Download Silas' presentation here.

Download Jen's presentation of her student's work here, as well as, links to the UMSL design website and Rebecca Lee's motion project. (She asks us to note about the UMSL website, that "this project was done in 4 weeks by a group of around 8 students, and what they could scrounge quickly, so I will not vouch for all the portfolio work on there.")

Download Pirco's presentation of her student's work from the Pratt Graduate ComD Program MFA exhibition here. A description of the Program can be found here, and clarifies different between MA and MFA branches. Also you'll find ua sample of a 4-week restaurant research/concept/design assignment by MICA undergrad student, Mary Galloway here.

 

 

BIOS:

 

Paul Nini, Professor of Visual Communication Design, The Ohio State University and Department Chairperson. He has also served as past Graduate Studies Chairperson, and Coordinator of the Visual Communication Design undergraduate program.

His writings have appeared in a variety of publications, and he has presented at numerous national and international design and education conferences. Recent writings available on-line include:

"In Search of Ethics in Graphic Design."

"Typography and the Aging Eye."

"Across the Graphic Universe: an Interview with John Berg."

He has been a faculty member at Ohio State since 1991. Prior to that time he taught as a Visiting Lecturer in Visual Communication Design at both the Institute of Design (IIT) and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He has also recently taught as a Visiting Lecturer in the Graphic Design Program at the University of Cincinnati.

He is a former board member of the Graphic Design Education Association, and former editor and designer of the IDSA annual education conference proceedings. He currently serves as a member of AIGA's Design Educators Community Steering Committee. He was also recently honored with the Ed Grauer Award for service to the Columbus Society of Communicating Arts (CSCA).

 

Jennifer McKnight, Associate Professor in Studio Art at University of Missouri–St. Louis. She earned her BFA at Washington University in Printmaking and her Masters in Graphic Design at California Institute of Arts (CalArts).

Her work is recognized in publications such as Print Magazine, :Output, and “Becoming a Graphic Designer: A guide to Careers in Design” by Steven Heller and Theresa Fernandes.

Her design writing is published in the AIGA National Education Archives, Redaction Magazine, No Tasarim, as well as in Means by Which we Find our Way, edited by David Gardner and Andrea

Wilkinson and Robin Landa’s Graphic Design Solutions 4th ed.

Projects include work for Touhill Performing Arts Center, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Saint Louis City Museum, Humane Society of Missouri, and Molloy College. Her posters

have been exhibited nationally and internationally. Exhibits include the 2010 Golden Bee International Poster Biennial, Moscow. Her posters are and have been published in the Messages

to the World exhibition catalogue, Shanghai, and the 4th and 5th United Designs catalogues. http://jenmcknight.com/

 

 

Silas Munro is the Design Director at Housing Works, a healing community of people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS, headquartered in New York City. He oversees graphic design and branding for varied audiences, from marginalized individuals to socially-conscious retail activists who support the fight to end AIDS and homelessness.

The work of Munro’s firm FROM THE DESK OF: has been recognized by AIGA, ADC Young Guns, AR100, ID, and Print magazines. His writing is published in GOOD, Novum, Otis Magazine, CalArts Pub, SpeakUp, and by the Walker Design Blog.

Munro is an adjunct faculty member in the graphic design department at Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA).  He has been a critic, lecturer, and teacher of graphic design at Art Center, Boston University, California Institute of Arts (CalArts), North Carolina State, Otis, RISD, the School of Visual Arts, and York University in Toronto. He has been Designer-In-Residence at North Carolina State and Design Fellow at the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. He holds a MFA in Graphic Design from CalArts and a BFA in Graphic Design from RISD.

www.silasmunro.com

www.housingworks.org

blogs.walkerart.org/design

http://www.vcfa.edu/low-residency/graphic-design/faculty/Silas-Munro

 

Pirco Wolfframm, Adjunct Associate Professor, Pratt. She has worked in diverse professional environments, for clients ranging from global juggernauts to niche and has honed her skills for 15 years spanning 3 continents. While her solid footing lies in brand- and identity-development across platforms, she happily indulges in research based methodologies, that form the basis of her senior level classes in Undergraduate ComD. She also teaches Thesis II classes in the MFA program.

Her work and design-writings have been published internationally.

Pirco holds a diploma in Visual Communication from the Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach (Germany), a MFA/Graphic Design from CalArts (USA) and is the recipient of several grants. http://www.pircosphere.com/

 

 

 

 

 

ASSIGNMENT FOR NEXT WEEK:

MARCH 6: SOME RESEARCH

 

 

There will be no class meeting next week as I'll be doing as Program Assessment at Chapman College in Orange. While I'm gone, you'll be working independently on the following 2 assignments.

 

March 7: Draft

March 13: Completed

 

ASSIGNMENT 1

Following are some questions to consider in order assess who you are as an educator. The goal of this assignment is begin to shape a portrait of who you are as an educator: Your values and your interests/expertise as a designer.

Consider each question and your response carefully. Include the question with each response.

 

1. Why are you interested in becoming an educator?

2. Consider an educator from your past — either in your K-12 or higher ed experience. What qualities made them particularly successful?

3. What qualities and “expertise” makes you suitable and qualified as an educator?

4. What qualities make you distinctive as an educator?

5. How do you define Graphic Design as a discipline?

6. How do you see the value of design education today?

 

 

ASSIGNMENT 2

Each of you has either chosen, or been assigned, 3 programs to investigate. I have set up a Google spreadsheet that will serve as a database for the research each of you are doing so that we are able to compare programs. We will concentrate on those programs that identify themselves as offering “Graphic Design” or “Visual Communication Design.”

The following model is based on “Sample Survey Prototype” for proposed Design Education database developed by Christopher Vice (CalArts alumna) and Dori Tunstall.

 

INSTITUTIONAL INFO

Name of Institution (University of Minnesota)

Location (Twin Cities)

College or School (College of Design)

Department (Dept. of Design, Housing + Apparel

URL

Nature of Institution (public, private, profit, non-profit)

Other “design “programs on the campus? If so, in which College or School? In what Department? (Interaction Design, School of Engineering, Computer Science Department

 

UNDERGRAD PROGRAMS

Year program founded

Degrees Granted (BA, BFA)

Majors (graphic design)

Required courses: (information design, coordinated placement, advertising design planning and strategy, experience design)

Number of students enrolled

Foundation year?

Number of years to complete?

 

GRAD PROGRAMS

Type of Degrees Granted (MA, MFA)

Majors

Program Character (Specialized Practice; Invention of Visual Form)

Number of students enrolled

Time to Complete

 

FACULTY

Tenure?

Academic Year (structures by semesters or quarters?)

Number of full-time faculty teaching in the Program?

Part-time or Adjunct?

Number of full-time faculty within tenure system (Assistant Professor; Associate Professor; Professor)