Visually-oriented classes

(From DGr:)

Russell does a great job in teaching basic graphic design (aka visual communication).

However, as I understand it, half of his class is devoted to this area.

My arguement is that this is an essential skill that all of our students require.

Thus, we should offer more than half a class.

Proposal:

We need to provide much more than half a class in (interactive) graphic design

on two fronts: remedial and a standard literacy that is expected of any "designer."

This can occur as classes and as components of classes.

DGr's Context:

Graphic design isn't my current area of research, but as I have stated elsewhere,

undergraduate teaching is NOT supposed to be about one's current research activity,

but about offering core intellectual and practical skills.

My degrees, however, are in graphic design (and photography).

I also worked as a professional designer for 8 years (mostly at and for Apple Computer),

and taught (interactive) graphic design for the past 17 years.

Teaching venues range from the Fine Arts and English/Cultural Studies to Communications and Computer Science,

and involved the creation of transdisciplinary programs that combined gdesign with other disciplines, such as Computer Science.

I'm not saying that to wank, but because I think I have developed methods of teaching the essential aspects

of gdesign to diverse students, particularly to HCI students (and interested faculty).

I am NOT proposing another stream, as this would be divisive and would miss the point that

gdesign is an essential skill that is daily used by our students.

Background context of Graphic Design:

Note that besides Architecture, the preponderance of design programs in university art schools are Graphic Design programs.

The remainder -- industrial design and interior design -- number far fewer.

This parallels industrial demand.

New Context of Graphic Design:

While the emergence of computer-related design (such as web design) has sometimes

led to separate programs, by and large, these new forms of design have been integrated

within the above (so-called legacy) programs.

This is because most designers are concerned with the specificity of differing media forms,

and thus consider computer technology another media form in a long history of others.

Graphic design is generally concerned with communicating through the use and interplay of text and images.

It has and does include: web design (and web architecture in more progressive schools),

information design, interface design, "multimedia," motion-graphics (film & tv ads, animations), film/video titles,

typography (such as fonts for highways and computer screens), branding, packaging, maps, diagrams, and

print (books, journals, posters, annual reports), among others.

Although it is stereotypically referred to as "two-dimensional" design, this is a misnomer,

since it has always included way-finding (signage), (museum and trade-show) exhibit design,

representations of 3D objects and environments, theme parks, airplane & vehicle graphics,

store fronts, and more recently, interactive 3D virtual environments

(especially scientific visualization/ bioinformatics).

Graphic Design in Partnership with HCI

What gdesign brings to HCI is a holistic and contextual view of how visuals "work,"

including symbolic, aesthetic, affective, and cultural aspects.

So, while HCI classes might teach a student how color or the eye works,

gdesign is concerned with how colors or visuals come to mean something(s) in particular contexts.

(Brian, want to discuss qualia?)

IMHO, I think our students have an initial strong training in Russell's class,

but they really NEED more training in areas specific to their daily practices.

Most of our students -- even those whose work is "off the desktop," -- in fact rely heavily

on gdesign to represent their ideas through flash animation, websites, posters, and so on.

Yet they have insufficient training in doing this.

I would like to see our students exhibit the basic understanding of gdesign/visual communication

that, for example, any HCI undergrad at Georgia Tech or CMU does.

Thus, I propose components of classes or classes in the following areas:

• Web Design and Architecture (w/TAD) This is NOT the trade school version, but one that includes

the examination of issues such as: agency, virtual communities, transactions, databases, legibility, and

interaction in the context of ordering and creating meaningful communications and interfaces.

No institution in the greater Vancouver area teaches this kind of university-level course in a design school context.

• Interface Design

This class would cover the design of interfaces, from cell phones, pagers and PDA

applications to desktop applications. It would include and assume interacting with

information and other people through text and images. Rather than merely design a prototype,

students would learn the mechanisms of displays and transmission factors. In addition

to the design of the interface itself, this class would also cover the design of supporting documents,

that is, communicating how the system works.

• Information Design & Architecture (automated)

Design of complex information. An example would be a train station,

including the design of schedules on diverse displays, way-finding

within the station, and associated maps on kiosks and in the trains.

Other information includes: network diagrams, trees, clusters, aggregate data.

The design of then-automatically generated editorial and ad content

(information distribution), document collections (library front ends, amazon, flikr),

social networking database front ends, directories,

scientific documentation & information, manuals, document systems design

(online banking, tax forms, magazines), film/video navigation.

• Information Visualization (or, Visual Analytics) with TAD

This class would examine such issues as: methods for displaying data,

quantities across a space, contours, surfaces, flows, geographic info.

It would also cover such information visualization issues as navigating information spaces.

Basically, it would combine CS with gdesign. It differs fundamentally from

Information Design and Architecture in that its goal is to help users discover

new knowledge (what's the best, the least, the most; the relationship among

data items; from data mining).

• Speculative Design

This course, like graphic design, would belong to all SIAT students.

Its goal is to integrate the concepts from the culture courses in practice.

While many design schools attempt this, results are often mere illustrations of ideas,

instead of enactment of those ideas.

This class will strive for enactment and embodiment of those ideas.

As Ron says, this is orthogonal to ID and is indeed another way to design

that does not follow ID and HCI practices, but is more of a PMA/art class in nature.

Exemplars are: Scofidio & Diller, Dunne & Raby

• Illustration

Comics, technical illustrations,

(From AA:)

Students need practice creating:

• visually communicating ideas/concepts

• interface mockups

• storyboards

• interaction/experience scenarios

• product forms

• info flow diagrams

Using both pencil and paper sketching and more refined versions with drawing programs.

Also, I'd like to see "interface design" (large screen, small screen, controllers, etc) as a separate skill area.

The visual perception side of cognition and HCI should also be built on here ...

not sure it that comes under this category (vs cognition and culture

courses). But just in case -- For example (in no particular order), gestalt

principles of perception, foreground/background, colour, motion, models of

light, luminance etc ...