Opinion: Author and instructor Erika Kendra has ideas for overhauling graphics arts curricula and ensuring that instructors are imparting up-to-date knowledge.Editor's Note: This is the second installment of a two-part series. Click here to read Part 1.
Graphic design programs at colleges, universities, trade schools and even elementary and secondary schools are very popular. Whether the overall economy is good or bad, companies still need to create, package and advertise their products or services, so graphic design will always be an attractive profession.
In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of jobs in graphic design will increase by 10 percent to 20 percent, and the number of desktop publishing jobs will increase more than 36 percent by 2012.
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The problem, however, is that many of the students who finish these graphic design programs—"tomorrow's designers"—are poorly prepared for a professional career, often lacking both technical and life skills.
There are no real standards for graphic design education. At its most basic level, graphic design is a skill with the ultimate goal of accomplishing a specific task—if you go to school to learn auto mechanics, your teacher doesn't just hand you a wrench and say, "Have at it." But in graphic design, that's exactly what a lot of schools do.
Since many schools are now preparing for their fall semesters, I'd like to suggest the following curriculum, which should be required for anyone to graduate with a degree in graphic design.
Proposed Graphic Design Curriculum
General Curriculum Requirements:
• For every course in the curriculum, attendance at every class meeting—like attendance at a job—is mandatory. Missing more than two classes will result in termination of student status.
• Points will be deducted from the final grade for arriving late to any class.
• Failure to submit projects by the stated deadlines will result in termination of student status.
101—Attitude
Throughout this 16-week course, students will learn how to shed any sense of entitlement they might have; how to grasp the concept that they are not the only person in the universe who knows anything about graphic design; how to understand that their answers are not the only valid ones; and how to recognize that they are most probably not going to make six figures in their first week after graduation.
102—Cooperation
The goal of this course is to teach every student how to work as a part of a team instead of as an individual who happens to share cubicle space with a few other designers. Students will learn speaking and (more importantly) listening skills, as well as be required to participate in several hour-long critique sessions, at which they will not be allowed to utter a single "But I…" Throwing anything (including a tantrum) at any point is cause for a failing grade.
103—Output Technology
This course teaches students about the technical requirements of preparing files for commercial print output. Students will learn information and skills that will actually be useful in their professional careers, with specific emphasis on making sure that what they create on a computer can actually be printed. For the final project, any file that is designed with low-resolution images or six different color models will fail.
104—Practical Issues in Graphic Design
In this course, students will learn how to differentiate between personal artwork and graphic communication design; how to create design solutions that effectively solve a specific communication problem; how to create designs that fall within the stated budget for a project; and how to design a project for the intended output medium of the job. Any student who submits a project completed with crayon or similar medium will fail; any student submitting a job with more than two spot colors will have to pay the production costs with an unsubsidized student loan.
105—Effectively Solving Graphic Communication Problems
This course teaches students to approach real-world communication problems, conduct market research and focus groups, and develop appropriate designs to meet the client's needs. To complete this course, students will be required to design several pieces of a marketing campaign for a hotel chain; any design featuring severed limbs will fail to meet the goals of the project.
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200—Software Applications
All generic "computer-aided design" courses are cancelled, effective immediately.
After completion of the required 100-level courses, students will be required to successfully complete at least one entire-semester course in the current version of each software application that is commonly used in the graphic communications industry. Each course will provide students with a detailed explanation of the available tools; an understanding of important concepts related to specific tools; and tips and hints for efficiently working with the tools. The various applications will be taught in the context of real-world graphic design projects so that students will understand not only what buttons to click, but also how and why to use specific tools to accomplish specific tasks.
Next Page: Educating the educators.
In one aspect of my career, I write books that are specifically geared to teaching people how to use graphic design software. In the course of writing these books, we send them out to educators—the same people who are currently teaching graphic design—to be reviewed and edited for technical errors. Among some of the more memorable reviewers' comments are:
• "This chapter [on using the indexing tools in QuarkXPress] is too boring. I'm moving on to the next one."
• "These projects aren't fun enough."
• "There's too much text in here. My students don't like to read!"
Of course, these comments reinforce some of the points that were made in the Art Institutes presentation at the Quark Summit—and also highlight the fact that some educators share students' attitudes, or at least do nothing to change those attitudes.
The simple fact is, not every job will be sexy and earth-shatteringly exciting. Some projects may actually require you to do something that you may not find particularly enjoyable (such as—the horror! —READ). But some of these jobs—especially the ones that are "beneath" other designers—pay very well. If you're too bored to complete your job, don't be surprised if your employer is too bored to pay you.
Another of my favorite review comments is this:
• "I don't know why you're wasting your time talking so much about PostScript. This is useless to us since our lab only uses inkjet printers."
We can safely assume that this teacher's students will be very prepared for their first job at the computer lab in which they were taught, but not for much else. If design teachers are this ignorant of industry standards and needs, how can we possibly expect tomorrow's designer to be well prepared when they enter the workforce?
To avoid the accusation that I think students are entirely at fault for the sorry state of their preparation for the professional world, I would also like to propose the following ongoing education curriculum for graphic arts instructors.
Course 1. Technology Update
This course, offered every two months, is required at least once a year for every instructor. Each session includes hands-on training in the latest releases of all relevant graphic design software, as well as upgrades to operating systems and various utilities that are common in the graphic design industry. Any instructor using software more than two versions old will be suspended until they complete this course.
Course 2. Modern Design Techniques
This course focuses on the importance of teaching modern techniques. Henceforth, introductory graphic design courses may no longer be started with the phrase, "In the beginning, there was Gutenberg." Instructors will be required to undergo multiple brainwashing sessions to remove the phrase, "Before computers were used for graphic design…" from their collective vocabularies. (This statement will be allowed in history classes only.)
Course 3. Designing Student Projects
Teachers will learn how to develop project assignments for students, framing the projects in a context that makes it impossible to create something that might be offensive. For example, ask students to design a piece for a grocery store or a company that sells hiking equipment. If they think graphic violence will improve sales in the produce department (for example), they have failed to understand or meet the goals of the project—or the teacher has failed to explain the underlying purpose of graphic design.
In addition, instructors should be aware that making any of the following statements will be grounds for immediate dismissal:
• "[Application name here] sucks."
• "It's your job to design it, it's their job to print it."
• "PostScript isn't really important; don't worry about it."
• "There are no bad/wrong answers when it comes to graphic design."
Erika Kendra is a freelance graphic designer and writer in Los Angeles.
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