THE DESIGN BUSINESS, EDUCATION AND PREPARING FOR THE FUTURE
Graphic design is not only a calling, it's a business. And as the practice becomes increasingly complex -with more designers moving online to engage in interactive design, marketing, branding and strategic planning- design educators are struggling to define what a viable design education really is. Graduates are up on the latest technical developments and stylistic trends but often lack effective marketing, business management and communication skills which are vital for success in any profession.
School
administrators have often told me that there isn't enough room within
the requisite curriculum for business-oriented subjects at the
undergraduate level and they doubt whether seniors are even ready to
think about running their own offices. I disagree. If we consider how
most sequestered full-time faculty don't run their own firms, it
becomes obvious that the real challenge of getting and keeping their
clients falls outside of their experience. If they don't function in
the business world, how can they adequately prepare students for it?
Lana
Rigsby, of Rigsby Design in Houston, has no doubts about her position
on this issue. "I think working designers definitely should be
teaching. Our business and the economy are changing so fast that any
teacher who has not been practicing within the past five years is
irrelevant. I also find that people getting a design education in 2000
do not necessarily want to work for someone else, but have a real
entrepreneurial bent. Inspired by the e-commerce revolution, they are
looking forward to inventing a product or launching a web idea, and for
this you need to have business knowledge."
In 1999, in a
conscientious series of briefing papers, the American Institute of
Graphic Arts and National Association of Schools of Arts attempted to
establish guidelines and standards for a fully qualified graphic design
program. However well-intended their suggestions may be, implementing
them has proven to be quite unrealistic. For instance, they voice
strong objections to art schools staffed by working designers who teach
part time. The truth is that with the exception of large state
universities and a few well-endowed private colleges, art schools offer
salaries that are pitifully inadequate. No qualified designer can be
expected to pass up a better job for substandard wages.
Graduate
design programs are now being offered which provide students with the
option of an additional two years of study to focus on a range of
highly specialized theses projects. This is a fairly new development
and the curricula varies widely. Some, like Illinois Institute of
Technology's Institute of Design, are focused on corporate design
management. The Yale School of Architecture and Design graduate program
is highly intellectual and theoretical while the School of Visual Arts
in Manhattan stresses the concerns of the marketplace.
There
is a distinct ivory tower atmosphere at Yale, which is not unexpected
considering its history and reputation. When I brought up the subject
of professional practices, especially marketing, Sheila DeBretville,
Professor and Director of the program told me that she doesn't believe
students should be focused on the business of design. "When people are
in school they don't think about making money," she says. "This is an
investigative, reflective time -a period of formal, conceptual
training- but students may take classes at the School of Management or
anywhere else within the university." Richer and broader than most art
programs with limited academic offerings, the highly selective Yale
program no doubt produces graduates with valuable analytical and
intellectual abilities, but an expensive Ivy League education is for an
elite few and is not a realistic paradigm for design education in
general. This kind of place is not appropriate for everyone and more
instinctive, less intellectual individuals would probably be more
comfortable in a less formal environment.
At the other
end of the spectrum, the School of Visual Arts, located in the heart of
New York City, offers a real world, market-driven education. Steve
Heller, Director of "The Designer As Author" program, describes this as
"an entrepreneurial course where students learn how to turn their ideas
into viable products. As maker/manufacturer of a product, students must
determine what and where the market is, create both marketing and
financial plans as well as learn how to legally protect the
intellectual product in the business world." SVA is about creation and
taking ideas into the marketplace. "Our department simulates a design
firm, not a lab or a school," says Heller. Only two years old, the
program's approach is an exciting experiment that takes advantage of a
big city with vast commercial, manufacturing and marketing resources.
Ideally,
the best graduate or undergraduate design programs are a combination of
both "town" and "gown" philosophies. In San Francisco, the Academy of
Art College Graphic Design program, directed by Mary Scott, offers an
inspiring model. Scott, who moved here from Los Angeles one year ago
after a successful career as a partner of Maddocks & Company,
believes AAC has the right balance. This is an intelligent, practical
program designed to prepare students for a career in today's broader,
multidimensional profession.
"Graphic design students
need some sense of business practices. Computers have now made it
possible for an individual designer to produce the entire project from
start to finish; there is no separation between the thinking and the
making. Designers should not limit themselves to one area of work.
Tibor Kalman's M and Company served as an excellent example by stepping
out of two-dimensional restrictions to create a series of marketable
products. Design is a continuum. It is at the core of everything that
makes human beings respond to ideas, images and objects."
Regardless
of the level of education a design school graduate has, he or she, has
to find work in this business. Talented, disciplined designers with
technical skills plus the ability to create concepts, interact
successfully with clients and manage team projects will be valued
members of established offices, and for people with drive and an
appetite for the market, times have never been better to set up shop.
Schools
need good instructors and mentors with up-to-date experience in the
realities of the design business, and working designers should teach
rather than continue to carp about the shortcomings of job applicants.
The education of young designers should no longer be entirely
controlled by isolated "administrators" and "educators".
If
the design profession is to mature beyond a medieval guild,
professionals will have to be willing to share their knowledge and
participate in the future.
About this article
The above article is reprinted from Graphis magazine 328, with permission.
About Graphis
For over fifty years GRAPHIS Magazine has been the authority on design
and visual communication. A lavish showcase of excellent work from the
world's foremost creative professionals, it is revered for its artistic
presentation, exemplary production qualities, and insightful editorial
content. Graphis magazine features an international collection of
brilliant examples of graphic design, photography, advertising,
architecture, product design, and related areas of creative endeavor.
About Linda Cooper Bowen
Linda Cooper Bowen worked for more than 15 years with a number of
prominent graphic design firms in New York and Los Angeles before
becoming a marketing consultant and writer. She is the author of The
Graphic Designer's Guide to Creative Marketing: Finding and Keeping
Your Best Clients (John Wiley & Sons). Bowen lectures and teaches a
graduate course at Pratt Institute/Manhattan. She frequently writes
about designers and professional practice issues and, in collaboration
with her husband, photographer Sava Mitrovich, is currently working on
The Wall Dog s Mark, a book about early outdoor wall advertising signs.