Focusing Your Research Efforts
by Paul Leedy
Research can be an amazing thing. Not only are we gaining knowledge about a particular thing that we wish to study then draw conclusions about it, but we are also introduced to all the other aspects about this particular thing and how it is interrelated to so many different parts.
It's truly mind-boggling how vast and interconnected everything is.
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Method Designing
Method Designing: The Paradox of Modern Design Education
by Jessica Helfand
Emotional honesty. I like this phrase and it is one that stood out to me in this reading. I feel that Helfand struck a chord in saying that and that as designers were are indeed similar to the actors and actresses of the world; that we need to truly understand our part and be able to feel it deep down enough to engage and audience.
"If such self-love leads to more honest communication, to more novel form-making, to more meaningful solutions, then so much the better. But for designers, such self-knowledge can not be a method. It is simply a motive."
by Jessica Helfand
Emotional honesty. I like this phrase and it is one that stood out to me in this reading. I feel that Helfand struck a chord in saying that and that as designers were are indeed similar to the actors and actresses of the world; that we need to truly understand our part and be able to feel it deep down enough to engage and audience.
"If such self-love leads to more honest communication, to more novel form-making, to more meaningful solutions, then so much the better. But for designers, such self-knowledge can not be a method. It is simply a motive."
Investigating Design
Investigating Design: A Review of Forty Years of Design Research
by Nigan Bayazit
Design has evolved and changed over the past 40 years. As has research. The research has to keep up with the change of design, technology and society to work and to use that researched data to draw a conclusion.
The history of design research with reference to design methodologies, as well as design science, is a wide and comprehensive subject that needs additional extensive research. Design research and its relevance to design methodology, as well as scientific research, are reviewed. Most design research studies were made in architecture because of the requirements of the societies after World War II. Scientific developments during the war, and the shortage of resources in postwar societies obviously necessitated and gave impetus to the creation of new ways to solve existing problems. Future studies in various design disciplines may benefit from the experience and progress in disciplines concerned with building as well as engineering.
by Nigan Bayazit
Design has evolved and changed over the past 40 years. As has research. The research has to keep up with the change of design, technology and society to work and to use that researched data to draw a conclusion.
The history of design research with reference to design methodologies, as well as design science, is a wide and comprehensive subject that needs additional extensive research. Design research and its relevance to design methodology, as well as scientific research, are reviewed. Most design research studies were made in architecture because of the requirements of the societies after World War II. Scientific developments during the war, and the shortage of resources in postwar societies obviously necessitated and gave impetus to the creation of new ways to solve existing problems. Future studies in various design disciplines may benefit from the experience and progress in disciplines concerned with building as well as engineering.
Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art
Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design and Knowledge in the University and the "Real World"
by Gunnar Swanson
"Design should be about meaning and how meaning can be created. Design should be about the relationship of form and communication."
Some points by Swanson in this reading were interesting. When he is speaking about pasteup artists and how current graphic designers are immersed in the land of Adobe, that they are going to be left behind when technology shifts. In a way, I understand what he is saying and that all graphic designers should have general design knowledge and not rely on their tools because their tools will constantly be changing, but I also feel that he contradicts himself later when he speaks of graphic designers as being adaptable.
As a graphic designer and a graphic design student, I feel that I have the base-skills that a graphic designer requires (and I am also learning more with my years at OCAD) but at the same time I feel like in this day and age, we have been taught to adapt to the changes in technology. I feel that the majority of us are now no long technologically challenged. When Adobe updates from CS3 to CS4, we all adapted to the changes, we understood what was new and where older options had been moved or combined into.
So yes, I agree that designers definitely need to have the general skills that all designers should have, but we shouldn't necessarily just rule out technology like it's this big bad thing that is going to ruin us and our opportunity for careers.
After all, designers are idea engineers. Technology cannot come up with ideas, only human brains can.
by Gunnar Swanson
"Design should be about meaning and how meaning can be created. Design should be about the relationship of form and communication."
Some points by Swanson in this reading were interesting. When he is speaking about pasteup artists and how current graphic designers are immersed in the land of Adobe, that they are going to be left behind when technology shifts. In a way, I understand what he is saying and that all graphic designers should have general design knowledge and not rely on their tools because their tools will constantly be changing, but I also feel that he contradicts himself later when he speaks of graphic designers as being adaptable.
As a graphic designer and a graphic design student, I feel that I have the base-skills that a graphic designer requires (and I am also learning more with my years at OCAD) but at the same time I feel like in this day and age, we have been taught to adapt to the changes in technology. I feel that the majority of us are now no long technologically challenged. When Adobe updates from CS3 to CS4, we all adapted to the changes, we understood what was new and where older options had been moved or combined into.
So yes, I agree that designers definitely need to have the general skills that all designers should have, but we shouldn't necessarily just rule out technology like it's this big bad thing that is going to ruin us and our opportunity for careers.
After all, designers are idea engineers. Technology cannot come up with ideas, only human brains can.
What is Research?
What is Research?
by Leedy/Ormrod
"Data, events and observations are, and in and of themselves, only data, events and observations- nothing more. The significance of the data depends on how the researcher extracts meaning from them. In research, data uninterpreted by the human mind are worthless. They can never help us answer the questions we have posed."
This statement stood out to me the most in this entire reading. The earlier points about schoolchildren coming home and saying that they did "research" at school, yet research is a term that is loosely thrown around. This statement to me says the most about what research actually is. Research is not only investigating something, but it is also drawing your own conclusions and meanings behind the information that you have just found out. Research is analyzing, interpreting, and then posing new questions that would involve even more research. Research is a never-ending process; it is an endless cycle.
by Leedy/Ormrod
"Data, events and observations are, and in and of themselves, only data, events and observations- nothing more. The significance of the data depends on how the researcher extracts meaning from them. In research, data uninterpreted by the human mind are worthless. They can never help us answer the questions we have posed."
This statement stood out to me the most in this entire reading. The earlier points about schoolchildren coming home and saying that they did "research" at school, yet research is a term that is loosely thrown around. This statement to me says the most about what research actually is. Research is not only investigating something, but it is also drawing your own conclusions and meanings behind the information that you have just found out. Research is analyzing, interpreting, and then posing new questions that would involve even more research. Research is a never-ending process; it is an endless cycle.
The Landscape of Graphic Design Education
The Landscape of Graphic Design Education
by Meredith Davis, AIGA
In the first section of this reading, Davis speaks of the balance between Graphic Design studio study and Liberal Arts studies. She states that, "What is needed is the development of liberal arts curricula that distill the over arching concepts of the discipline and provide instruction that asks students to reflect on these concepts in deeper ways, recognizing that the opportunity to understand them... Faculty must ask what truly constitutes a liberal education in design and invent challenging but realistic missions for pre-professional curricula." I agree to a point with what Davis says. Yes, while attending OCAD I feel that there is a certain feeling of a requirement to take liberal studies classes like English, Humanities, Sociology, etc, but at the same time I feel that a lot of time spent in these courses are not overly directed toward a conclusion.
As an example, I registered for an English class in the summer. Perhaps because it was a condensed version of the course being it summer, but it felt repetitive and directionless. There was plenty of reading and plenty of writing, but no actual goal of trying to hone a particular skill such as writing cohesively.
However, the liberal studies that are offered at OCAD can be very interesting. I find them nicely tailored for Art and Design students in a sense that a lot of the subject matter is Art or Design based. Such as art history, studies in Canadian literature and the arts, and even the art of materialism and consumer society.
So, in a way, I agree with Davis' statement about how liberal studies and arts need to be developed for students to have a better understanding of the "real world" and post-graduation.
Skipping down to the near-end of this reading, Davis begins speaking about her acquired work to re-create new Graphic Design textbooks. "I’ve asked Lorraine Wild from Cal Arts and Martha Scotford from NC State to author a new history of graphic design that takes the next interpretive step in the lineage begun by Phil Meggs. Departing from the 'famous people and their equally famous objects' approach, the book will ask questions OF history as well as ABOUT history." I'd like to just state my own ideas about the re-creation of graphic design books and texts; I feel that books are indeed necessary and carry through time information that can be passed along generations.
However, with the introduction of technology and the ever-growing state that is graphic design I don't think that re-creating books is really going to accomplish much. Because when you think about it, by the time that the book is written, designed, edited, approved and published, something is new and improved in the design world that will not be included in that book. With the rapid advancing state of technology, the only thing that can really keep up is technology.
by Meredith Davis, AIGA
In the first section of this reading, Davis speaks of the balance between Graphic Design studio study and Liberal Arts studies. She states that, "What is needed is the development of liberal arts curricula that distill the over arching concepts of the discipline and provide instruction that asks students to reflect on these concepts in deeper ways, recognizing that the opportunity to understand them... Faculty must ask what truly constitutes a liberal education in design and invent challenging but realistic missions for pre-professional curricula." I agree to a point with what Davis says. Yes, while attending OCAD I feel that there is a certain feeling of a requirement to take liberal studies classes like English, Humanities, Sociology, etc, but at the same time I feel that a lot of time spent in these courses are not overly directed toward a conclusion.
As an example, I registered for an English class in the summer. Perhaps because it was a condensed version of the course being it summer, but it felt repetitive and directionless. There was plenty of reading and plenty of writing, but no actual goal of trying to hone a particular skill such as writing cohesively.
However, the liberal studies that are offered at OCAD can be very interesting. I find them nicely tailored for Art and Design students in a sense that a lot of the subject matter is Art or Design based. Such as art history, studies in Canadian literature and the arts, and even the art of materialism and consumer society.
So, in a way, I agree with Davis' statement about how liberal studies and arts need to be developed for students to have a better understanding of the "real world" and post-graduation.
Skipping down to the near-end of this reading, Davis begins speaking about her acquired work to re-create new Graphic Design textbooks. "I’ve asked Lorraine Wild from Cal Arts and Martha Scotford from NC State to author a new history of graphic design that takes the next interpretive step in the lineage begun by Phil Meggs. Departing from the 'famous people and their equally famous objects' approach, the book will ask questions OF history as well as ABOUT history." I'd like to just state my own ideas about the re-creation of graphic design books and texts; I feel that books are indeed necessary and carry through time information that can be passed along generations.
However, with the introduction of technology and the ever-growing state that is graphic design I don't think that re-creating books is really going to accomplish much. Because when you think about it, by the time that the book is written, designed, edited, approved and published, something is new and improved in the design world that will not be included in that book. With the rapid advancing state of technology, the only thing that can really keep up is technology.
Friday, January 15, 2010
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