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A
Model For A New Design Course
A. B.
Sobchak
Graphic Design has traditionally been defined as visual communication on the printed surface. Today, graphic designers can choose to work in a variety of disciplines and communicate across multiple mediums and dimensions. As an educator teaching graphic design in 2002, how do you approach this paradigm shift in visual communications? How do you introduce the multiple disciplines a graphic designer can work in? How do you develop a course to teach the designer to visually communicate not only in 2-d, but across multiple dimensions? What projects can you give to help the student explore and understand visual communication in the 3-d and 4-d environment? Today, graphic designers graduate from programs which predominantly focus on print based visual communications, yet find themselves applying for and being hired for jobs which work in 3-d and 4-d mediums such as packaging, signage, wayfinding, web sites, interactive, multi-media, animation, environmental graphics. As the market and graphic designers continue to metamorphose, an expanding number of graphic designers are required to visually communicate across diverse mediums, dimensions and surfaces. Current design programs tend to offer software-focused courses (Flash), emphasizing the software application versus the ideology of communicating across diverse mediums and dimensions. The paradigm shift taking place in graphic design requires a new awareness in thinking and designing for 3-d and 4-d surfaces and understanding how to visually communicate in these expanding environments. As educators, we need to find ways to introduce these diverse disciplines into the classroom, as well as the ideology, conceptual process, materials and methodology required for designers to communicate across 3-d and 4-d environments.
This presentation introduces Design3, a new course model constructed to address the above issues in graphic design education. This presentation includes an introduction to course structure, course objectives, project models, historical references and resource materials, as well as discussion of how to approach teaching design across multiple dimensions and the importance of developing and integrating courses of this nature into current design programs.
This new course model, Design3, introduces the diverse disciplines and dimensions a graphic designer can work and communicate in. This course focuses on the art of visual communication as a whole, across various mediums and dimensions, considering form, function, context, behavior, interaction, time and space. Students examine methods and learn how to expand their thinking to visually communicate in 3-d and 4-d mediums. Students explore the materials and methods which are specific to communication in the each dimension. Projects allow students to explore visual communication in 3-d and 4-d mediums, as well as communication across multi-dimensional environments. This course examines the differences and similarities which exist when communicating in 2-d, 3-d and 4-d environments. This course model is intended for senior level graphic design students with a strong foundation in traditional graphic design methods who are interested in exploring and communicating across multiple dimensions and working with diverse materials.