WHY I Taught
I have a list. It got added to every year about graduates from our program at DCAD: where
that student went to pursue an BFA and where they landed in their seeking employment within
the broad field of design. It was an unscientific catalog of creative people. They asked for a bit of advice after leaving our small program. The young designers maintained connections through social media like LinkedIn or Facebook.
that student went to pursue an BFA and where they landed in their seeking employment within
the broad field of design. It was an unscientific catalog of creative people. They asked for a bit of advice after leaving our small program. The young designers maintained connections through social media like LinkedIn or Facebook.
Growing this list seemed an odd validation to the greater academic world but to me, it meant some of the things I learned over almost four decades as a working creative were–and are–still applicable to our students.
My goal was to make a worthwhile impression with future designers. If they ever decide to teach a class or mentor a junior team member some day, they will remember teachers that pushed
–positively–for better results, thoughtful efforts and more empathy to their subject.
–positively–for better results, thoughtful efforts and more empathy to their subject.
TEACHING PHILOSOPHY
I worked hard to see young designers
leave DCAD's small program to pursue a
Bachelor's degree in communication design. To
seek work as an art director's assistant or
gain entry to the field via digital production work. I found mission, inspiration and validation
in the strong foundation that we provided.
These maintained connections through
the resources of social media
or good old fashioned email and really old-fashioned stopping by the College was validation to continued
and successful efforts by those graduates.
The students in our studio spaces wanted to craft
successful solutions to communication problems.
Beginning foundation year design majors seemed to thrive by limiting the specific design brief
or criteria they need to follow, the range of solutions evolved to more clear results.
What was always compelling were the broad variety
students apply in solving problems.
Some empathized with the task to form
immediate connections to what was in front of
them. Others needed the details unpacked
with specific examples or verbalized with
alternative metaphors.
My goals had to accommodate that range: helping the quick-to-the-result artist
to slow down and consider things they may
have missed through prompting
the more deliberative personalities
to embrace that trait, build on it and see the value in their path!
to embrace that trait, build on it and see the value in their path!
A few hoped to remain hidden behind their quiet
persona–they sorted it out in more isolated
learning spaces. Through years of teaching I have noticed that a student who would pose questions
after class didn't necessarily mean inattention.
It may have meant they were working in class in their own way to get to that quiet place to thrive outside of class! The student who
lingers with queries did send alert signals:
additional prompts and in–class interactions were needed to get them to greater levels of handled responsibility.
Another thing I have realized from those years: input from
their cohort as help to form answers may be
how their process works… How I deliver the task as information–clear as it may be to some–will simply not be the case to all students. I stressed this to them, prompting to ask for understanding my admittedly–and documented by our students–quirky and unconventional delivery style. We all need time in development
of anything new.
CRITIQUE
I try to gain everyone’s confidence of the
requirement that questions asked are not only
expected, they are required of professional designers. "I like it" is not enough: tell us why.
It benefits the entire cohort. Through
prodding, cajoling, humor and their future
working–world obligation, I strive to promote the
studio lab and the critique wall as the one place
they mix all learning types together and gain
insight into what it means to be a creative
in diverse working environments.
I ask them
for constructive honesty and mutual respect
for each other’s point of view. With practice
during analytical give and take, we all strive
to evolve the group beyond basic likes and
dislikes. When another student answers with
something that truly enhances the work in
question, a goal has been realized: inspiration
to the designer who can improve their work and
reinforcement to the other who made the
suggestion.
Academic critique is one of the
few places left it seems, where the degree of
understanding by the students is freely on
display at the pedagogical level and at to the
cohort through an open forum of peer review. My years of working world evidence revealed often quite the opposite.
EXPERIENCE
Students that attend DCAD now are different
from the first class I worked with as a full time
instructor back in 2003, or even more so as an
adjunct in 1998. They are more demanding,
less prone to close reading, exposed to industry–
standard software before setting foot in the studio;
the students entering our lab's doors today half
expect a continuation of what happened in a
high school design class, if there was such a class. Digitally adept students may
join a cohort that had only traditional media-
drawing & painting–and no software skills.
Ironically, the more software exposed student
may never have had any drawing from
observation in a formalized class.
My approach was to make our studio spaces feel
a little like their first job. I wanted them to miss the
place even after they were finished with school.
To this end: professional approach, best practices
and industry standards are part of how we began
the transformation of a graphic design major
into a working professional.
The other part was a lot of honesty and humility on
my part. Also, learning to get better at listening.
Hearing what they were saying–not to elicit a response
from my ego–but to hear them
to help them. Transforming themselves was what I found to be a key to their success.
to help them. Transforming themselves was what I found to be a key to their success.
The
AIGA, the professional organization for design and NASAD have a valuable series of ongoing discussions of design
education expectations and outcomes.
Thanks for reading,
John Breakey
Program Chair, Graphic Design / 2003–2022
Delaware College
of Art and Design
Wilmington, DE