GRAPHIC DESIGN EDUCATION
In light of this tendency toward professionalism, it may seem counterintuitive that I suggest that we not only increase the augmentation of design training with more liberal studies, but also reconsider graphic design educations a liberal arts subject.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE LIBERAL ARTS
Aristotle defined the liberal arts as having four points. First, they are not mechanical. Second, they are not utilitarian, i.e., they have intrinsic value; even if extrinsically useful, their pursuit is useful in and of itself. Third, if an area of study is undertaken as a liberal study, there must be no specializing that would restrict the mind. Finally, liberal arts study must be undertaken for its intrinsic value, not merely to earn a living or to impress others.
COLLEGE EDUCATION TODAY
On the whole, design schooling has not helped students become broader thinking people who can help shape a democratic society. The tools for analysis and Insight of many disciplines have broad extra -disciplinary application for understanding the world. The tools of graphic design do not seem to serve much purpose beyond a graphic design career. Graphic design education is not, for the most part, education. It is vocational training, and rather narrow specialized training at that.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR A CHANGING VOCATION
Most four-year graphic design programs try to teach something beyond "entry-level skills," but preparing students for their first job is often seen as practical education.
GENERAL EDUCATION AND ADAPTABILITY
The correlation between general education and adaptability makes a belief in general education for designers widespread, although hardly ubiquitous.
GRAPHIC DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART
Art and education can both benefit through the perspective of a field that is about expression and the mass dissemination of information
DESIGN AND SCHOLARSHIP
Clearly, most design programs would include a significant concentration on skills. This would hardly be unique to academia-language programs do not hesitate to have students conjugate verbs.
Buchanan has suggested rhetoric as the closest available model for design. 14 Rhetoric, as a field of study, is both the practice of verbal persuasion and the formal study of persuasive verbal communication.
The formal procedures of rhetorical study should be applied to graphic design to the exclusion of all others. Grammatical l, semiotic, theatrical, anthropological, psychological l, physiological, philosophical , and political perspectives also need to be considered.
DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART VERSUS DESIGN PLUS LIBERAL ARTS
Research into issues of typography and understanding, for instance, generally misses the questions a designer would ask. (Broad categories, such as sans serif typefaces, are often assumed to be homogeneous, alternative design solutions are rarely considered, etc.)
BALANCING SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING
A primary task of design education is to find the balance between skills training and a general understanding that will benefit students, the field of graphic design, and working professionals.
Design as a professional practice has often bridged fields as diverse as engineering, marketing, education, and psychology. Design as an academic study can
In light of this tendency toward professionalism, it may seem counterintuitive that I suggest that we not only increase the augmentation of design training with more liberal studies, but also reconsider graphic design educations a liberal arts subject.
THE HISTORICAL CONTEXT OF THE LIBERAL ARTS
Aristotle defined the liberal arts as having four points. First, they are not mechanical. Second, they are not utilitarian, i.e., they have intrinsic value; even if extrinsically useful, their pursuit is useful in and of itself. Third, if an area of study is undertaken as a liberal study, there must be no specializing that would restrict the mind. Finally, liberal arts study must be undertaken for its intrinsic value, not merely to earn a living or to impress others.
COLLEGE EDUCATION TODAY
On the whole, design schooling has not helped students become broader thinking people who can help shape a democratic society. The tools for analysis and Insight of many disciplines have broad extra -disciplinary application for understanding the world. The tools of graphic design do not seem to serve much purpose beyond a graphic design career. Graphic design education is not, for the most part, education. It is vocational training, and rather narrow specialized training at that.
VOCATIONAL TRAINING FOR A CHANGING VOCATION
Most four-year graphic design programs try to teach something beyond "entry-level skills," but preparing students for their first job is often seen as practical education.
GENERAL EDUCATION AND ADAPTABILITY
The correlation between general education and adaptability makes a belief in general education for designers widespread, although hardly ubiquitous.
GRAPHIC DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART
Art and education can both benefit through the perspective of a field that is about expression and the mass dissemination of information
DESIGN AND SCHOLARSHIP
Clearly, most design programs would include a significant concentration on skills. This would hardly be unique to academia-language programs do not hesitate to have students conjugate verbs.
Buchanan has suggested rhetoric as the closest available model for design. 14 Rhetoric, as a field of study, is both the practice of verbal persuasion and the formal study of persuasive verbal communication.
The formal procedures of rhetorical study should be applied to graphic design to the exclusion of all others. Grammatical l, semiotic, theatrical, anthropological, psychological l, physiological, philosophical , and political perspectives also need to be considered.
DESIGN AS A LIBERAL ART VERSUS DESIGN PLUS LIBERAL ARTS
Research into issues of typography and understanding, for instance, generally misses the questions a designer would ask. (Broad categories, such as sans serif typefaces, are often assumed to be homogeneous, alternative design solutions are rarely considered, etc.)
BALANCING SKILLS AND UNDERSTANDING
A primary task of design education is to find the balance between skills training and a general understanding that will benefit students, the field of graphic design, and working professionals.
Design as a professional practice has often bridged fields as diverse as engineering, marketing, education, and psychology. Design as an academic study can
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