FlipFriddle
04-07-2006, 02:08 PM
Check out this article:
http://news.com.com/Design+software+weakens+classic+drawing+skills/2100-1046_3-6058369.html
I think it rings true in some respects. I didn't attend a well-known design school, SUNY Buffalo's Design Studies dept, which doesn't even exist any more. Still, I felt I got a better foundation of design theory and basics than I might have gotten today because of the departments lack of computers (circa 1992). While I use computers everyday in my graphic design work, I still feel the software is just a tool, like a pencil and sketchbook; a very important one yes. Some recent design grads I've worked with seem to lack some of the basic conceptual skills that are developed from sketching, drawing, and the other traditional arts. This isn't a failure of the students, but I think a failure of the schools: classes become more about learning how to use InDesign or Photoshop, not about design or photography. I think it's a failure of art schools as well, as they have fostered the belief that being avante garde and funky is more important than gaining basic skills first and then turning the students loose on expressing themselves. It pained me to no end when I took an introductory illustration class and the teacher started off with drawing abstract and cubist forms; then later on when we actually had to draw a still life, you could finally see who in the class knew what they were doing; it was a shockingly small percentage. You can't really abstract something until you understand its real form in the first place. Picasso's early work is an example.
Naturally these feel like trends to me and are not examples of every design/art school out there. I just feel like to some degree that computers have allowed us to ignore some of the rough design process since they allow such finished looking work to be created quickly. The culture of "just good enough" has helped foster this as well. I'm guilty of using the software as a crutch some time too usually to meet a deadline, since I know I can bash out something that a client will like and feel is finished, but that I know didn't include much of the design process.
I guess we should just step away from the Wacom tablet occassionally and pick up the old trusty sketchbook and pencil sometimes.
Thoughts? Geez, sorry if I rambled a bit...
http://news.com.com/Design+software+weakens+classic+drawing+skills/2100-1046_3-6058369.html
I think it rings true in some respects. I didn't attend a well-known design school, SUNY Buffalo's Design Studies dept, which doesn't even exist any more. Still, I felt I got a better foundation of design theory and basics than I might have gotten today because of the departments lack of computers (circa 1992). While I use computers everyday in my graphic design work, I still feel the software is just a tool, like a pencil and sketchbook; a very important one yes. Some recent design grads I've worked with seem to lack some of the basic conceptual skills that are developed from sketching, drawing, and the other traditional arts. This isn't a failure of the students, but I think a failure of the schools: classes become more about learning how to use InDesign or Photoshop, not about design or photography. I think it's a failure of art schools as well, as they have fostered the belief that being avante garde and funky is more important than gaining basic skills first and then turning the students loose on expressing themselves. It pained me to no end when I took an introductory illustration class and the teacher started off with drawing abstract and cubist forms; then later on when we actually had to draw a still life, you could finally see who in the class knew what they were doing; it was a shockingly small percentage. You can't really abstract something until you understand its real form in the first place. Picasso's early work is an example.
Naturally these feel like trends to me and are not examples of every design/art school out there. I just feel like to some degree that computers have allowed us to ignore some of the rough design process since they allow such finished looking work to be created quickly. The culture of "just good enough" has helped foster this as well. I'm guilty of using the software as a crutch some time too usually to meet a deadline, since I know I can bash out something that a client will like and feel is finished, but that I know didn't include much of the design process.
I guess we should just step away from the Wacom tablet occassionally and pick up the old trusty sketchbook and pencil sometimes.
Thoughts? Geez, sorry if I rambled a bit...