According to the school, these smart design students don't know a whole lot about blogs (and the media in general) and should. Good for them, we say, as everyone knows that the first rule of any successful landwar is to establish and control the means of communication. We're going to visit the design store, check out the faculty designed furniture and give a full report on Monday. If you are getting bored, check out Alec over at la.apartmentherapy.com, he's been on a tear for the past few days.
Yay, RISD, my alma mater!!!!
i grew up in providence. Be sure to check out the antique and curriosity shops on wickeden st. I love the one near the top of the street with all the metal stuff.... AND my fav. place to eat is this total hole in the wall asian place called apsara... i am sure the kids at risd will know where it is......
RISD is my alma mater too! they definitely need a good technology class there...sad how many artists dont know photoshop or even decent internet skills....
I love what, how and why RISD teaches.
Design is not about software.
So many ads looking for designers say you must have photoshop and several other software programs including AutoCAD. IMHO, a design school that doesn't offer courses in computer design is not completely preparing their students for a good job in today's market.
I'm a RISD student- And though I am critical of my school on many accounts, I must say that we do indeed have a great computer design curriculum. Design is not about software, however, we can play that game too. Proud to say all my classmates and I are fluent in the Adobes as well as many CAD programs.
USING it in curriculum, I agree with the need.
TEACHING it AS curriculum I think is a waste of the true opportunity of a design education.
To me, it would be like spending money on a Journalism degree, when half your time was spent learning Word.
Hey Allie--
Great to hear. What's your major? Did you hear Maxwell speak?
Enjoy your time at RISD... it is a very remarkable place. And remember to always "ask the big questions"! And take as many writing classes as you can. Okay I'll stop now. I sound old. :P
Ok, let me ask this then - should computer design be taught in int. design schools? I have seen ads for jobs that are insistance that the person MUST be proficient in CAD. I've taken 2 CAD courses at Pratt even though I've already gone thru NYSID. I won't tell you how long ago that was but when I was there they only had one CAD course and it wasn't even offered until the third year. I'm still not that great at AutoCAD but at least I have some knowledge of it now but only because I made an effort to take the classes over and above my interior design degree.
The conversation with Maxwell at RISD in the grad seminar, The Media: A Critical Review was fabulous. He was also joined by Meaghan O'Neill from treehugger.com. Point of clarification, the media we were discussing was the press...print, broadcast, blogs, online magazines. It is a course designed to examine the press, it's influence, how it works, it's point of entry into the discussion of contemporary culture. Blogs are most certainly on the forefront of something truly amazing in engaging a mass dialouge! It would be great to hear what people think of the contemporary press, design journalism, criticism and the coverage of design as a whole within the media. Who are some of your favorite design writers and magazines?
Speaking in general as an academic, if you want students to emerge from your program with a skill, you have four choices:
1. Require that they know the skill before entry.
2. Teach the skill.
3. Make the skill necessary to passing, but expect students to acquire it on their own time.
4. Positively forbid students to use that skill, so they'll cultivate it as rebellion.
In an ordinary college environment, I'd lean toward teaching the skill, but of RISD, I know nought.
Whether a college is ethically required to prepare students for the work world (that is, practical get-the-job skills as well as the underlying theory of big ideas) is a truly thorny question. I lean toward incorporating practical skills, but that has something to do with the students I've taught.
I was in the Media: A Critical Review graduate seminar at RISD on Friday with guests Maxwell and Meaghan O'Neill from treehugger.com. I am one of the students who had little experience in the world of blogging. I was interested in the development of both apartment therapy and treehugger for their ability to deliver newsy bits of info with speed but I am concerned about what it does for the future of art and design criticism. These sites provide platforms for anyone to act the role of critic. I wonder if this adds to or dilutes from the future of design criticism? In a world of conspicuous consumption what should the role of these sites be?
I am also a RISD student that was part of the class on Friday and didn't really "get" blogs until Meaghan and Maxwell visited and they were lovely and explained it to me so here I am!
Chelsea--
Outrageously good questions (but we expect nothing less from RISD!)
But not sure why there is doubt about the future of art and design criticism because of blogs... why do you assume bloggers are less credentialled than their print counterparts at magazines, TV stations or newspapers? Why is the assumption that a Leonard Maltin or a Ruth Reichel is more qualified (or qualified at all) to present opinions about their respectives fields of expertise than someone who loves or is interested enough by a specific world to dedicate their time to building a blog around it, but does it solely in the ether of the internet?
As far as the opinions expressed by blog readers (or the platform for all to serve as critic, as you phrase it), so what? And why does that dilute things? Does Zagat's (driven by popular opinion) or customer reviews on Amazon undermine the system of the food or literary critic? (And if so, so what?) I think it's primarily just dialogue, and generally, the same model as "letters to the editor," just in realer-than-real time...
I think the worlds of art and design (criticism) spend waaaay too much time "talking to themselves", and both thrive on-- and rely upon-- the self-imposed exclusivity to keep prices high and these worlds self-created/controlled. So I see blogs (when it comes to art and design "criticism") to be just another outlet, another opinion, another voice, another frame of reference... All of which is good (imho). And the fact that it allows interaction and actual dialogue makes it even better. Not to mention that it's also a way of equalizing the playing field more toward the consumer, without which, like it or not, there'd be no art or design worlds at all...
Plus I think TRUE Design is and should be democratic in its thinking... so giving people the outlet to react to it is not a bad thing and shouldn't be perceived as such.
But also, I think equating this (or any other design-centric blog) with "criticism" is not quite right. This site is no more intended by its creators to be "criticism" than the "What's Hot!" page in any shelter magazine published today. I think it potentially represents a specific "curatorial view" of things, but, hey anyone's entitled to do that. And blog technology allows them (or you or me) to do just that.
And I think niche blogs like AT attract and keep only those who love the topic, live and breathe the category, and are potentially much more educated, credentialled and "worthy" of the conversation than one might realize.
Plus, they're great fun, excellent diversion, and addictive as hell. :)