Curious about your educational experiences...

**Red Kittie Kat** · 09-08-2012, 05:45 AM

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<b> · 09-08-2012, 07:04 AM

Originally posted by HawtTuna View Post

To make a long story short, I'm curious about your educational experiences. Did your colleges not allow the use of computers for the first two years? Or anything similar to that?

Many university design programs, including the one I attended, expect students to learn production skills on their own. It's easy to become over-reliant on computers at the expense of other more important skills, and many university programs try to prevent their students from falling into that trap.

Every program is different, but university design programs aren't typically structured around teaching mechanics and technical skills — they concentrate, instead, on teaching students how to think. The appropriate computer skills for today will be obsolete ten years from now, but the actual design skills that require using your brain will be just as relevant then as they are today.

That said, I've also noticed that many university programs lag behind on the whole keeping up thing. Some of them are staffed with tenured professors who are professional teachers first and designers second. They operate in the cloistered world of university politics instead of the business world where designers actually work. Consequently, unless they make a concerted effort to do so, they find themselves outdated. Unfortunately, the top positions in many design/art departments are filled with these outdated people, and it affects how they structure the programs.

skribe · 09-08-2012, 11:57 AM

I love history. The history of design helps put many things in perspective and helps us understand what works and what does not work, and why. But usually professors go way overboard and cover a lot of things that really don't help in any practical way.

I agree with <b> that much of what should be taught is how to think, how to do research, how to use the reference works we have at our disposal, and how to apply what we learn from those things to the real world. In short it helps us learn how to keep learning and bettering ourselves.

**KitchWitch** · 09-08-2012, 12:51 PM

My first two years of college were a foundation program at a community college. I didn't touch a computer. I took courses in drawing, figure drawing, painting, sculpture, design, art history, psychology, composition, the science of color and 3D design. All of those classes were part of a required set of prerequisites in order to continue on to a graphic design degree. Of course, that was twenty years ago.

I think it's great your classes stay away from the computer for a while. Too many students become dependent on computer programs to magically create amazing designs, when they are actually just tools. Programs can be self-taught, but a lot of the other aspects of design need mentoring and feedback.

PrintDriver · 09-08-2012, 01:59 PM

Yup, the first couple years were computer free. Lots of hand drawn stuff, painted, sketched, built in 3D using bristol board and an exacto. The creativity of the students in the class was well rounded and diverse. The minute the computer was introduced, everyone's designs became cookie cutter perfect and all pretty much the same. They were letting their lack of knowledge of the computer programs limit their ideas. You need to be able to see the design in your mind then find a way to beat it out of the computer program. Not let it limit you. Learning to think without using the processes of the wired box will make you a better designer.
While this was a while ago, I think it still holds true today. You see it here in the crit pit. People jump on the ocmputer and are instantly stuck in a rut.

skribe · 09-08-2012, 06:09 PM

As was being asked in another thread, a well written thesis or dissertation on how the computer has negatively or positively affected graphic design would be fascinating.

Mind you I love computers. But I believe they have caused a lot of negative influence on many areas of life and society.

HawtTuna · 09-08-2012, 10:41 PM

Thanks for the replies guys!

I guess I'm just frustrated by the fact that we haven't really done anything in class yet and it's almost been a month. I didn't mean to imply that using the computer was more important than having a strong grasp on basic design fundamentals. I guess I'll just tough it out, thanks again for the replies.

PrintDriver · 09-08-2012, 11:10 PM

Part of your issue is you already have the earlier degree.
Are you in a 4 year program now? Without any transfer credits?
Playing the catchup game with the students in your class, having to take courses to fill requirements where you already may have the knowledge can seem like you aren't doing anything constructive. If you need the classes toward the degree, unless you can talk the department chair into letting you test out of them, you just gotta tough em out. That's how colleges make their money. And for some, it's how they "standardize" their degree students.

**Buda** · 09-09-2012, 02:42 AM

1 month isn't long enough to worry. Trust me, you'll have a long career of computers ahead of you if you go through with design. Relish your non-computer work.

University is about ideas and theories. Software is more the realm of business training. My dean told us that every year they had to battle to get software training approved as part of the course programme because it wasn't considered higher learning. Saying that, we had some software training in the first year of my degree and every year after that.

I wouldn't worry about not being able to use the computer though. It sounds like your school places greater emphasis on design theory than software. Any monkey can learn to use software. But learning to design is much harder.

Most people dabble in Photoshop before they reach design school. They may be trying to unlearn years of computer reliance from their students. A computer should only be 1 tool out of many for designers. Ideas and design doesn't come from computers.

HawtTuna · 09-09-2012, 04:10 AM

Originally posted by PrintDriver View Post

Part of your issue is you already have the earlier degree.
Are you in a 4 year program now? Without any transfer credits?
Playing the catchup game with the students in your class, having to take courses to fill requirements where you already may have the knowledge can seem like you aren't doing anything constructive. If you need the classes toward the degree, unless you can talk the department chair into letting you test out of them, you just gotta tough em out. That's how colleges make their money. And for some, it's how they "standardize" their degree students.

Yeah, alot of credits transferred over but I'm still forced to take some classes I've already taken again. At my old school, we learned alot of about Design Theory as well but we got to apply it as well. I actually did most of my projects by hand there as well. Whereas at my new university, I haven't been able to apply any my knowledge to anything.

I'm fine with not using the computer, at my old college, we always had a choice. I just want to be able to apply my knowledge to something. At my old college, I had just taken Typography and it was one of the most enlightening classes I've had so far and to go back from that to where I am now is a bit frustrating to me.

But I guess I shouldn't complain about it. Thanks again for the replies!

Rachel B · 09-09-2012, 04:50 AM

You need to be able to see the design in your mind then find a way to beat it out of the computer program.

Agreed. BTW computers didn't exist when I went to school.

Curious about your educational experiences...

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