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.