Interesting discussions around the curriculum and if it’s helpful for students once they graduate. Do we provide students with the skills that are needed for employment?
This is something I think about quite a lot with regards to my students. There is a lot of emphasis on conceptual rigour rather than practical skills such as developing their eye for typography and layout which is what they will need when getting into graphic design practice. Conceptual development and critical thinking is important, but I believe students should leave our course with the ability to create critical work, but also have the formal skills sought after by employers.
(example of a practice with strong technical rigour)
We have been thinking about how to bring this as part of the course by offering a series of workshop within the course that emphasises these graphic design skills titled GCDPro. Talking to my students I get the sense that there is an appetite for this, especially for students who don’t have graphic design background.
(example of a critical design practice that “bends the rules” of conventional design)