interview summaries & quotes

Thanks to everyone who has been generous to lend their time and share their insights!

Key Questions

Answers:
Industry/Design professional
"I think design will continue to be more and more collaborative. For communication designers that will necessarily constitute a shift towards more information design or using their skills to devise new systems for living rather than selling goods."
"I find the exchange with students enriching and challenging. I love design; I can't think of a better place to share that passion and my experience."
"I believe design can change the world. It's a responsibility and a gift."
"Engage with clients in the process and build trust."
"Collaboration with othe designers and multi-displinary work."
"We have skills in design the way business people don't. We solve in different ways and it benefits business through co-creation and general design process. Everyone brought to the table to reap something and that is where design is going."
"In the next 5-10 years, I see design going into co-creation, collaborative process, industry users, social networking, everything is instantaneous, travel has become instant pictures and blogs, barriers to understanding are broken down. We are much more focused on top of the Maslow's hierarchy - fulfillment."

Faculty/Administration
"Students that are driven and constantly on the look out for opportunities, networking with classrooms and students, running freelance businesses, actively managing their portfolio. If you think you are lacking industry projects, work on non-profit projects - they are fantastic opportunities if the students take an initiative."
"Enterprenures in Residence is soon to come in January 2009, which the students can take full advantage of."
"A transitioning system. To break down the walls between inside and the outside. Companies doing pro-bono projects and students getting guidance from outside designers."
"Education will give students a chance to experiment."
"Why are students not using resources such as the GDC, events and networking?"

Students/Alumni
"Working while in school will give you a head start. Put a portfolio and website together while you're in school. And finish your program/degree. Don't give up on your last year!"
"Plans after graduation - travel, continue studies, get a design job."
"Skills and merits as a designer - passionate about the project, know a alot and able to do a bit of everything, think different, be creative."
"Useful resources - insights from deisngers that you can't find from books, peole are afraid of a challenge."
"You don't choose to be a designer."
"I want to design to create a pure flow in this world and broadcast a healthier message."

research on design education

AIGA Boston Presentation
Toto, I’ve got a feeling we’re not in Kansas anymore…
by Meredith Davis

Assumptions (about how design is to be taught)
• Students learn best through experiences that move from simple to complex
• Every student should be doing the same thing at the same time
• Individual performance and control of outcomes are among the highest priorities
• The computer is an extension of traditional tools and media
• Underlying principles of “good design” are universal
• Graduate education in design should follow the model of the fine arts and be about refining
visual skills
Trends
• Increasing complexity in the scale of design challenges
• Thinking about the people for whom we design as participants in the design process
• Emergent and remix technologies; designing social interaction
• The importance of understanding community
• The demand for new knowledge base that supports new practices

AIGA Design Education
Plain Talk about Learning and a Life–in Design
Sharon Helmer Poggenpohl

Thoughts on Education:
"Students gain a preliminary understanding of the contemporary world (albeit in a very abbreviated fashion) and a basic design education. They learn about history, science, and literature on the one hand, and perception, composition, problem solving, and design making, on the other."
"Successful undergraduates can do little more than complete their course of study with a strong foundation and a vision for the future."
While at the Workplace:
"Entry into the design profession might be seen as a reduction in scale; it shrinks the world, with its enormous, perhaps unattainable possibility, to an office or a studio with practical problems to solve and work to be done. It provides a place for growth and development of visual and practical skills, perhaps a safe place from which to view the technological change, globalization, and interdisciplinary work that defines the profession today. Additional learning opportunities are often available to those who find mentors and become active in their local design communities."
"For some, work becomes less challenging, problems seem more routine, and a deeper satisfaction (previously experienced) is missing. Some will work through this circumstance, some will change jobs as a means to reinvigorate their growth, and some will leave the field altogether. Others will seek out a graduate program in design... it is a crucial moment in the designer’s professional life. "
New Problems for Graphic Design Today
"If we wish to consider ourselves designers of experience, then our work must be accessible to more points of view and engage communication in a more holistic way. It requires an understanding of exchange between objects and people, and people with each other."
A Full Life in Design?
"design was much more than a job, or even a career — it was a perspective on life. It was a way of being alive in the world. "
"find ways to keep learning, to nurture creativity and curiosity, to continue to question and reflect on design process and actions and the culture in which we all live."

Research

Educational Institutions (greater Vancouver)
Capilano IDEA
Langara Communication & Ideation Design
Kwantlen GDMA

Design Affiliations/Organizations
GDC (Canada)
AGDA (Australia)
ICOGRADA (international)
AIGA (USA)
Design Indaba (Capetown)

Collaborations & Resources
:output
design:related
Standford d.school
Design21
desingerID

In search of a connection

My analysis of the two distinct ways we connect with eachother. Facebook, a strong social phenomena via Internet. C3, a non-profit organizations that works to connect two culture together and bring people together.
What methods do these mediums use to connect people together?

Facebook
Facebook is a social utility that connects people with friends and others who work, study and live around them. People use Facebook to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they meet.

Worldwide daily visits to MySpace and Facebook (Comscore June 2007)
MySpace: 28,786,000 (72% growth)
Facebook: 14,917,000 (299% growth)
http://www.studiox.tv/english/marketing_services/viral_video_facebook_marketing/

C3 Society
C3 Society is a non-profit society that was inspired by the desire to build bridges between the Korean and Canadian communities. We are part of an interdependent network of people who make up our rich and diverse society.
C3 provided cultural events such as Camp Korea, Leadership conference, Korean Pavillion at VICF and other fundraisers and events to encourage connection between Korean and Canadian communities.
http://www.c3society.org

What are other way for people connect together?

brainstorming

Bridging the gap between the design education, the design firms and the design students

Existing Gaps in the Field
Currently there is a disconnection in the design community between the student, education and industry. There is no powerful forum or resources that connects all parties together. There are miscommunications and misguided perceptions that make weak connections between the parties. I believe that there are greater opportunities that can be explored that can deepen and broaden this relationship.

Possible Solutions
GDC and the various local advertising and design meeting events are a start of creating that connection between the students and the industry. Coop, internships and job shadowing are good resources that creates the connections between students and the industry, often facilitated by the education system. Possible solutions will include a medium that can connect between all parties, with the potential to grow and an accessible resource center. It will also need to be motivational for all parties to be involved.

Opportunities
By bridging the gap between the student, faculty and industry it will create an opportunity to strengthen the local design community. This project has the potential to provide resources that can be exchanged freely, an opportunity for design grow and experiment into new horizons through collaborations and free flow of ideas.

first day

first day to blogger . . .
Grad Project Summary to come.

Past Grad Project Research

past ECUAD grad exhibition catalogs




Note: Has anyone noticed that Photobooth (on Mac) takes mirror images?