Steven Heller - Teaching Graphic Design: Course Offerings and Class Projects from the Leading Graduate and Undergraduate Programs

TEACHING

Course Offerings and Class Projects

GRAPHIC

from the Leading Graduate

DESIGN

and Undergraduate Programs

edited by Steven Heller

2003 Steven Heller

All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Convention, Universal Copyright invention, and Pan-American Copyright Convention. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior permission ol the publisher.

07 06 05 04 03 54321

published by Allworth Press
An imprint of Allworth Communications, Inc.
10 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010

Cover and interior design by James Victore Inc.

Page composition/typography by SR Desktop Services, Ridge, NY

ISBN: 978-1-58115-966-0

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Heller, Steven.

Teaching graphic design : course offerings and class projects from the

lading graduate and undergraduate programs /Steven Heller.

p.cm.

ISBN 1-58115-305-8 (pbk.]

1. Commercial artStudy and teaching (Higher]United States.

2. Graphic artsStudy and teaching (Higher]United States. I. Title.

NC1000.H45 2003

741.6071173-dc22

200303015463

Printed in Canada

To Martin Fox, former editor-in-chief of PRINT magazine, who has made a lifelong contribution to design journalism, and to my professional life.

I want to thank all of the great teachers I have had, known, worked with, and those I wish I could have had, known, and worked with: without you there would be no design pedagogy.

Thanks to the contributors to this book: without you there would be no book. I hope that your methods will serve the community in which you practice and the students who you are preparing for a life in design.

Sincere gratitude goes to Nicole Potter, my editor on this (and other) books, for her devotion to this project and those persistent queries that served to improve the entire presentation. Also thanks to Jessica Rozler, assistant editor, and Tad Crawford, publisher, for his continued support. Tip of the hat to James Victore for his splendid design.

Steven Heller

The old Woody Allen line Those who cant do, teach; and those who cant teach, teach gym is not applicable to graphic design education. I dont know of any design schools that even have a gym. I also dont know of many graphic design teachers who became educators because they could not hack it in the work-a-day world.

Teaching is dedicated work, and Ive learned that being a good teacher is not as easy as simply passing on ones knowledge base to others. Some great designers with formidable experience are pathetic teachers. Good design educators must have the ability to relate to students, engender trust, show compassion, and instill ideas, techniques, and abilities.

A teacher must be generous to a fault, but not entirely selfless. A teacher must have the courage and confidence of her convictions, yet know when to bend if necessary. A teacher must create a program that will encourage his students to learn how to learn, and then know when to leave the rest up to them. Incidentally, a teacher must be a mentor, which is easy to say but difficult to be.

I have taught in design and illustration programs for over two decades, but until I became co-chair of the School of Visual Arts MFA/Design program in 1996, I had not realized that I was not the kind of teacher I have described above. Rather, I am a lecturer, and the distinction is significant. Although a teacher must also give lectures, a lecturer is not always a teacher in the Platonic, Socratic, or any sense of the word. Frankly, as an administrator I have to juggle many balls, but as a lecturer all I have to do is stand in front of a class and confidently and enthusiastically convey my material as the students passively listen. They certainly get a lot of information, but I do not take them to the next stage of discovery. Thats the job of a teacher. What I provide is the raw data, while a true teacher uses this material as a foundation for building knowledge and experience. As a lecturer I may leave the students interested, but a good teacher then guides them into immersion, analysis, and critique, which leaves them inspired and hungry for more.

I have watched inspiring teachers teach and it is a grueling mental and physical activity (not to watch, mind you, but to teach). To do it correctly a teacher must balance the requisites of the class, needs of the students, and expectations of the school, and still have a fresh result. An individual educators energy and charisma is essential to the fulfillment of this process, but the syllabus is her blueprint, roadmap, and manifesto rolled into one. I dont have to stress the role of a syllabus to anyone reading this book, but it is nonetheless necessary to emphasize the unsung cumulative importance of this document as a building block in all design education.

In all but one of the earlier volumes in the Allworth Press Education of series, which I have edited, I included sections devoted to syllabi because they provide indelible, concrete examples of the education process. It was also fascinating to read the unique variations on fundamental classes and ideas behind new and innovative ones. In addition, the syllabi in these books were presented as models for any teachers in need of inspiring ideas for teaching their classes. Of course, these syllabi alone are not panaceas for ailing departments; how the teacher presents his material makes all the difference, but the ideas and methodologies in these syllabi from all parts of the world and at all levels of experience can be valuable in structuring pedagogy.

Given the large number of truly winning syllabi found in hundreds of university programs and art/design schools, I felt it would be beneficial to have a volume entirely dedicated to collecting as many as possible in the form that they are presented to students. I was not at a loss.

Divided into three sectionsundergraduate, undergraduate/graduate, and graduateare over fifty such examples of courses ranging from basic to intermediate to advanced to eccentric. The focus is on graphic design studio classes with examples of multimedia (Web, film, and games) courses. Design history and professional practice is also included.

Most syllabi follow the same fundamental structure (introduction/purpose, requirements, weekly breakdown, projects, selected reading, etc.), which is how they appear here. Some are more detailed than others, but I have only edited them to eliminate redundancies. Although all of the syllabi came with examples of student work, owing to space constraints I am showing only a few visuals where necessary.

When asked to submit to this volume, not one teacher balked; in fact, they were all extremely anxious to share their methods with others in the education community. Some critics argue that standardized curricula should be instituted throughout design education, and maybe this idea has merit. But judging from the diverse syllabi, even the most rudimentary type class benefits from a modicum of individuality. While suggesting ways of developing standard curricula, the syllabi presented here indicate that it takes a great teacher to inspire and a great course to expand a students horizons.

Steven Heller