First Class Session
In class, Topics in Graphic Design we will be learning major points in the Design field. We will be exploring various Design trends, how technology plays a role in todays communication world, examining work of major 20th century designers, and various other topics between the Advertising and Graphic Design fields. We will also be understanding more about working in the field, what we are expected to achieve in the new job, what major duties we will be in charged of as well as how our role as Graphic Designers can make a change in the world.
Today in class we spoke about different ideas we all had regarding to what Topics in Graphic Design meant for us or what we expected to learn in class. For me, learning how to analyze work and how to incorporate new trends in our designs is a major key in the field. However in order to work in the field one must know what the duties are, what the job offers, how the job benefits us as designers and what we will be gaining from that experience. Similar to that idea, other students spoke about what they wanted to learn in class, many of us agreed that learning how to be stable at the job site is a must, for example, learning what the pay for our design work should be.
In class we also watched two TED talk videos, the first video titled Doodlers, Unite! by Sunni Brown talked about the act of doodling. The word doodling in the 17th century referred to a simpleton or a fool. In the 18th century the definition of doodling changed to swindle or to ridicule. In the 19th century its definition changed to a corrupt politician. However in modern days the definition of doodling has changed to, to make meaningless marks, to do something of little value, substance or import, or the most common one, to do nothing. Currently the world sees doodling as an act of doing nothing which looks bad in a person. In schools doodling is inappropriate because someone who doodles is a student who’s being distracted from class and not paying attention to the lecture. But people don’t know that doodling is a powerful tool we all need to remember because it can help ourselves think and remember what we are learning at that time. I believe that doodling can be a tool to help us remember important information as well as it can be some sort of distraction to something we are trying to avoid. Speaking for myself, I do not doodle often because listening and writing down important facts is very helpful for me to remember them.
The second video titled Chip Kidd: The art of first impressions – in design and life talks about his book covers designs and other design that express clarity or mystery. Clarity, meaning something that gets to the point, something that is blunt, honest, sincere, most important something that is clear and understandable. Mystery however is a lot more complicated, it demands to be broken down or as he says “decode, and when its done right, we really really want too.” Mystery offers details but not as much as clarity, mystery wants to drag your attention and makes you look more into what is really happening.
Overall the class Topics in Graphic Design will be very helpful for our careers. I think we will learn a lot from this class. At first I thought this class was similar or continuation to the History of Graphic Design class we had before but after learning what the class is actually about I am looking forward on learning how technology plays a role in the communication design field, how advertising and graphic designing compare to one another, and how to be prepared for a job in my career.
