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50 Books/50 Covers of 2008 Exhibition December 10, 2009 AIGA National Design Center

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Image Space Object 6 : Tools for Transformation Event March 1, 2010 Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design

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Voice: AIGA Journal of Design

Marking in L.A.: An Interview with François Chastanet by Steven Heller: Gangs use graffiti to leave their mark, but does the writing on the wall tell another story? Heller examines the calligraphic style called Cholo.
21 Writing Prompts for Design Students by David Barringer: Students don’t like to write, you say? Maybe it’s the assignments that are the problem. Barringer proposes 21 ways to inspire student writing.
Answering the Call to Service Design: An Interview with Phi-Hong Ha by Steven Heller: What is service design? Heller asks interaction designer Phi-Hong D. Ha to describe the skills needed and challenges posed by this emerging field.
Blood Types by Angela Riechers: Will the thirst for vampires ever be sated? Riechers examines the many incarnations of Nosferatu, Dracula and their ilk in popular culture and what they say about us.

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Online magazine for K-12 design education: andDESIGN: See the blog here . Post a comment (Nov 17)

Recipient of the 2nd Annual Research Grant Announced: The AIGA Design Educators Community Steering Committee is very pleased to announce the award of our second annual design research grant, determined through a competitive, peer-review process. This grant of $5000 includes scholarship that generates new knowledge, integrates design knowledge into other disciplines as an influential force, or explores new pedagogies through the teaching of design and evaluation of learning outcomes. This year's grant has been awarded to Deborah Littlejohn and Meredith Davis, North Carolina State University, for the project which they describe below: Pedagogy, Culture and Change in Graphic Design Education Design is a profoundly changing field of practice and discipline of study. One of the most important issues for design education today is how to develop instructional strategies that are reflective of the opportunities and sensitive to the challenges of an expanding role for design. The proposed study examines the shifts underway in the design field to explore academic culture in graduate design programs. It will focus on curricular and pedagogic practices to build a theoretical understanding of the relationships between academic design culture, curricular innovation and the particular circumstances of the teaching environment in which instruction takes place. Transformative shifts related to social, economic and technological trends have given rise to a new set of competencies for designers that bring much to bear on the field's traditional knowledge and skills. Three themes were identified in a previous investigation of the different competencies transforming contemporary design practice, including: the ability of designers to understand people and contexts for design through evidence-based research and other empirical-analytic methods; the ability of designers to interpret and utilize interdisciplinary knowledge; and the ability of designers to collaborate in multidisciplinary teams. This study seeks to understand how design programs anticipate, define and meet the demands of preparing students for changing conditions of practice. Several U.S. design programs that represent a broad range of institutional diversity will be selected to take part in this study. Drawing on data from the AIGA Survey of Design Education Programs Results (2008) these programs represent: different structural contexts (private and public colleges and universities) diverse geographic locales years of establishment (newer programs and well established programs) different orientations to practice as defined in the AIGA survey The outcome of this study will go beyond documentation to provide in-depth analytic descriptions of pedagogic strategies emerging in graphic and interactive media design. Although there is a tradition of writing about design education, what is lacking is evidence-based investigations for enhancing the curriculum through empirical research. With few exceptions, mainly outside of the U.S., graphic design remains a generally neglected topic of investigation by U.S. scholars in higher education who, when they do study design disciplines, focus on architecture or interaction design as it is taught in computer science and engineering programs. The proposed study seeks to fill this gap by contributing original knowledge that describes frameworks for curricular innovation at a particularly crucial moment for graphic design practice and pedagogy--one where pressure to change is coming from outside the discipline as much as from within it. Data yielded from this project will contribute new knowledge in pedagogic theory in design and connect the graphic design field to valuable literatures pertaining to curricular innovation. Post a comment (Nov 15)

quick link: writing for design students: David Barringer offers 21 writing prompts for design students. Post a comment (Nov 12)

Promotion and tenure standards for design educators: While the promotion and tenure (P&T) process plays a significant role in the professional life of many design educators, the topic is often ignored in our typical discourse, possibly due to its sensitive nature. We may occasionally hear from colleagues concerning their particular experiences with P&T processes, but little formal discussion has occurred concerning the need for more consistent P&T standards across US institutions of higher learning. Current P&T processes for design educators appear to vary widely from institution to institution. This situation is appropriate to a certain extent, as there are many kinds of schools with contrasting goals and mandates. State universities typically have different missions compared to private art and design schools, or community colleges. Some schools emphasize productivity in research, scholarship and/or creative work, while others stress teaching effectiveness as the main criteria for evaluating faculty. In almost all cases some combination of a design educator's contributions in teaching, research, and professional and/or institutional service are assessed in a P&T process. Yet the details of exactly how a faculty member will be evaluated by their institution are often vague, or in some cases, clearly inappropriate. The AIGA educators e-mail forum often includes messages from colleagues seeking clarification on issues arising from P&T processes. In some instances requests for basic P&T standards appropriate to design educators are made, as none exist in their schools. This situation clearly calls for recommendations on how institutions of higher learning might more effectively evaluate design faculty. The AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC) Steering Committee has undertaken a Promotion and Tenure initiative to address issues and problems typically experienced by design educators. A series of statements addressing best-practices for common P&T processes has been drafted, and will soon appear on-line. A number of other helpful resources related to promotion and tenure issues will also be provided. All members of the Design Educators Community are invited to participate in this initiative by submitting the following items: 1) Samples of institutional and program-level promotion and tenure guidelines: We are looking for good examples of policies concerning promotion and tenure processes used institution-wide, as well as policies and processes specific to promotion and tenure of communication design faculty at the program-level. 2) Samples of faculty promotion and tenure dossiers: We also wish to supply design educators with good examples of past communication design faculty promotion and tenure dossiers used for review by peers internally and/or externally. Dossiers coming from institutions that have also provided the items would be especially helpful, but all are welcome. 3) Web-articles: Finally, any links to articles concerning current promotion and tenure issues, emerging models of faculty evaluation, etc. are requested. Any other helpful resources concerning these general subjects are also welcomed. Please email PDFs and MSWord files pertaining to items one and two, as well as any web-links for item three, to Paul Nini , via nini [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu . Thank you for your involvement in this important initiative. Comments (0) (Sep 10)

quick link: 101 things I learned in school: Tidbits from interaction design school Post a comment (Sep 01)

quick link: top ten: Top ten things every design student should know , from Print magazine. Post a comment (Sep 01)

Design Research Society Design & Complexity conference: Montreal, July 7-9, 2010. Call for abstracts deadline: October 12, 2009. More info here . Post a comment (Aug 26)

What's the effect of the economy on you as a design educator?: The recent merger of the graphic and industrial design areas at North Carolina State University exemplifies how design departments in Universities and Colleges are responding to the economic downturn. Other institutions have cancelled entire degree programs, reduced the number of courses, or furloughed faculty and staff. The DEC Steering Committee wants to hear from directly from you--how is the economic downturn affecting your design institution and you? The DEC Steering Committee seeks to gather your stories and images about how the economic downturn is affecting you as a design educator. What are your anxieties? How is your institution implementing budget cuts? How are you responding to them? What are the emerging opportunities in the chaos? The DEC Steering Committee intention in gathering these stories is to (1) write an editorial on how the design education community is being affected by the economic downturn and (2) prepare a set of recommendations for what we at AIGA can do to help better support design educators in their situations. Contribute early and often! Discussion from the first 30 days will be used to inform both the story and the set of recommendations. Comments (4) (Aug 21)

New Issue of Design and Culture just released: Information about the publication ">here . Table of contents here . Post a comment (Aug 20)

Type Tools for Educators from FontShop: Check out the reference material they provide you can purchase at a small discount ">here . Post a comment (Aug 20)

Design Educator Conferences past and upcoming: Every three years the Design Educators Community Steering Committee selects 4 design educator conferences to each receive $10,000 support grants thanks to the generosity of Adobe. The current cycle (2008-2010) kicked off in Baltimore, fall 2008 with Social Studies: Educating Designers in a Connected World organized by Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips,and Brockett Horne. In spring, 2009, Linda Bracamontes-Roeger, Joerg Becker, Sharon Oiga, Philip Burton, Marcia Lausen, and Matthew Gaynor presented Future History 3: 21st Century Curriculum . Many of the presentations for these events are archived on their sites. Next spring, 2010, Response_Ability will take place in Bowling Green, Ohio. Organized by Matt Davis, Amy Fidler, and Jenn Stucker, Response_Ability "aims to foster an ongoing dialogue and debate about design ethics, sustainability and design education. How can we (should we?) create students who feel a responsibility to their world? How do we, as educators, instill the capacity for our students to become thinking, ethical designers? How do we teach them to look beyond specifying recycled paper at a project's end, but to instead, think creatively in the conception of their project to be wholly sustainable from the start?" In fall, 2010, Object User Context will be presented in Raleigh, North Carolina. ... Organized by Santiago Piedrafita, Meredith Davis, Denise Gonzales Crisp and Kermit Bailey, Object User Context conference will look at the shift from thinking about objects > to thinking about users > to thinking about contexts. "Graphic design, once focused on the creation of objects, now addresses an increasingly complex culture, characterized by information overload and rapidly changing technology. While recent attention to the "needs and wants of users" has made some communication more responsive to the people for whom we design, it often fails to capture the situatedness of communication and its audiences within larger systems. Context-centered design addresses the settings, social forces, systems, and shaping influences of and for design, with particular concern for the issues arising from complexity and the long-term consequences of design action." Watch this site for more information and make sure you're on our mailing list. You can join here and be sure to subscribe the DEC RSS feed . Post a comment (Aug 12)

AIGA President Debbie Millman on Spec Work: quick link to interview on no!spec Post a comment (Aug 11)

ICOGRADA Education Newsletter 07/09: International Council of Graphic Design Associations current EduNews newsletter. Post a comment (Aug 03)

designed for summer reading: Enjoy fellow educator Hollis Willis' book reviews , inspired during a rainy summer trip to Maine. Post a comment (Aug 03)

Connecting industry and web education: WE Rock Tour, Chattanooga, TN, August 5-8, 2009, More information here . Post a comment (Jul 28)

national design policy press: Check out this recent blog post about Design Policy, with ideas about how design can impact the economic climate. Post a comment (Jul 20)

Subscribe to Design Research News: "Design Research News is the digital newsletter of the Design Research Society. Sign up here . Post a comment (Jul 01)

Six Challenges for Design Education: From the Royal Society for encouragement of Arts, Manufacture and Commerce. See the challenges here . Post a comment (Jun 26)

Register for "Make/Think," the 2009 AIGA Design Conference: The DEC will be programming 4 affinity sessions. More information here . Post a comment (Jun 26)

Remind Your Students: "Command X" Application Deadline July 15: "The ultimate live graphic design reality show!" Visit the AIGA Make/Think Command X website for eligibility rules, prizes and application information. Post a comment (Jun 26)

Call for Papers: The Art of Research: Deadline: 10 August 2009 Event: 24-25 November 2009, The University of Art and Design Helsinki More information here . Post a comment (Jun 24)

Eye introduces blog/resources for education: View the blog here . Post a comment (Jun 24)

Add to our collection of images!: We're gathering examples of student work to showcase on our website and share with the community. To add images, look for the "AIGAdec" group on Flickr. Note the style guidelines for crediting images. Post a comment (Jun 12)

Service Design Research blog launched: More information here Comments (0) (Jun 12)

Call for Papers: ICSID Design Education Conference 2009: Deadline: June 20, 2009 Singapore, November 23-25, 2009 More information here Post a comment (Jun 12)

Design Policy Proposals in the works: Following up on Ric Grefe's lead, Dori Tunstall (organizer of US National Design Policy Initiative and member of DEC Steering Committee) sought AIGA design educators' participation in a US National Design Policy Initiative viral video campaign between March 15 and April 15. The initiative collected thoughts from educators about the role design plays in US economic competitiveness and democratic governance, and your personal pledge to support the efforts. The Initiative is working closely with Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum education director, Caroline Payson, to enhance K-12 design education and project based learning. Click here for more information. Comments (0) (Jun 11)

Teaching Design/Designing Teaching: The goal of Teaching Design/Designing Teaching initiative is to link members of the Design Educators Community with faculty members outside the design field in investigations of new teaching and learning practices that emerge in a networked culture. The initiative is twofold, beginning with a plan to bring the unique perspectives and knowledge of design educators to a broader educators' community seeking ways to explore new forms of academic expression. The second stage of the initiative moves in the opposite direction, asking how new teaching and learning practices might impact design educators. In short, this initiative asks what DEC can do to help develop a broader "design literacy" to be adopted as we all explore media-rich forms of expression. And what can design educators learn from that broader field of new pedagogies for teaching design? Please contact Holly Willis for further information: hwillis@cinema.usc.edu Some Resources The Futures of Learning Blog was started by scholars Mimi Ito and David Theo Goldberg as a discussion space for ideas related to new media and learning. The blog follows two areas, namely the adoption of digital and networked media and overviews of the ways in which educational institutions are using new media in innovative ways. "Confronting the Challenges of Participatory Learning," by Henry Jenkins and a team of researchers, outlines new modes of learning in the 21st century, with attention specifically to Play, Performance, Simulation, Appropriation, Multitasking, Distributed Cognition, Collective Intelligence, Judgment and Transmedia Navigation. How can we use these skills in design education? The Horizon Report , published by the New Media Consortium, outlines the technologies destined to impact education in the coming five years. This year, NMC created both a report for higher education, and one focused on K-12. Post a comment (Jun 10)

Community College Initiative: The DEC Steering Committee is interested in learning more about the needs of community college design educators and their students. We're especially interested in how community college participants can best be served by AIGA. Some particular objectives include: - addressing and recognizing strong program content, collaboration with 4-year programs and transfer cooperation; - meeting the creative problem-solving challenges of the industry in balance with the technical training usually associated with community colleges; - and expanding the description of two-year programs to reflect the range of programs that prepare students to fulfill some sectors of the design job market, as well as preparing for transfer to four-year programs. Knowing that community colleges serve a range of diverse students in what is most often an open-entry institution, we are interested in connecting AIGA, CC design educators, and four-year institutions in ways that support the growth of our students and the future of the profession. We invite community college design educators -Â but all are welcome - to contact Mara Jevera Fulmer to share your ideas and suggestions about any of the topics above or other issues related to community colleges and design education. Send email to mara [dot] fulmer [at] mcc [dot] edu. Comments (0) (Jun 10)

DEC conference: "Objects Users Context: Privileging Context in Design and Design Education": Fall 2010 North Carolina State University, Raleigh, NC Graphic design, once focused on the creation of objects, now addresses an increasingly complex culture, characterized by information overload and rapidly changing technology. While recent attention to the "needs and wants of users" has made some communication more responsive to the people for whom we design, it often fails to capture the situatedness of communication and its audiences within larger systems. This conference will address the consequences of privileging context as an organizing principle for design practice and design education. It will challenge longstanding paradigms for undergraduate and graduate curricula and the persistence of value systems that may no longer be relevant in today's society. Context-centered design addresses the settings, social forces, systems, and shaping influences of and for design, with particular concern for the issues arising from complexity and the long-term consequences of design action. Contact: Santiago Piedrafita Conference committee: Meredith Davis, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Santiago Piedrafita, and Kermit Bailey Post a comment (May 25)

DEC conference: "response_ability": Spring 2010 Bowling Green State University, Bowling Green, OH Join the ongoing dialogue and debate about practical implementation and analytical discovery involving (and revolving around) design ethics, sustainability and our role as design educators to think, teach and promote both. How can we (should we?) imbue students with a feeling of responsibility towards their world? How do we embolden them to become thinking, ethical designers? How do we inspire them to look beyond specifying recycled paper at a project's end, and instead, think creatively & strategically at project conception, so as to make it wholly sustainable from start to finish? response. ability. = ideas. educators. Through a series of group discussions, lectures, learning sessions, speakers and workshops, opportunities for a free and open dialogue will be facilitated. Let's share our challenges and achievements, uncover our collective educational shortcomings, identify our collective responsibilities, and discover pathways towards achievable solutions, for the greater good of design and the global design community. Contact: Amy Fidler Conference committee: Matt Davis, Amy Fidler, and Jenn Stucker Post a comment (May 25)

AIGA Student Group Task Force: Are you an AIGA student group faculty advisor? If so, is your group currently, or has it in the past, taken on any projects or initiatives that you think other AIGA student groups would be interested in knowing more about? If you'd like to share information about your activities, please identify your group and/or school and describe the project or iinitiative, and send this information to Sarah Lowe . Post a comment (Apr 24)

U.S. Design Education Institutions Database: DEC Steering Committee members have created a comprehensive strategy document for an online searchable database of design education programs, offering the next generation of students and educators valuable information. We are also currently considering a production budget and timeline. For more information, contact Dori Tunstall or Scott Hutchinson . Post a comment (Apr 24)

Submissions Requested for the Promotion and Tenure Initiative: The DEC Steering Committee is undertaking an initiative to provide a variety of resources helpful to design educators and institutions concerning issues of promotion and tenure. By submitting any of the below items, you give AIGA DEC your approval to make them public via this web-site, and to make them available to other educators to reference and use. Credit to both individuals and institutions will be given for submitted items published on the site. 1) Samples of institutional and program-level promotion and tenure guidelines: We are looking for good examples of policies concerning promotion and tenure processes used institution-wide, as well as policies and processes specific to promotion and tenure of communication design faculty. 2) Samples of faculty promotion and tenure dossiers: We also wish to supply design educators with good examples of past communication design faculty promotion and tenure dossiers used for review by peers internally and/or externally. Dossiers coming from institutions that have also provided item one, above, would be especially helpful, but all are welcome. 3) Web-articles: Finally, any links to articles concerning current promotion and tenure issues, emerging models of faculty evaluation, etc. are requested. Any other helpful resources concerning these general subjects are also welcomed. Please email PDFs and MSWord files pertaining to items one and two, as well as any web-links for item three, to Paul Nini , via nini [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu . Comments (5) (Mar 29)

DEC conference: Future History 3: March 7-8, 2009 Intercontinental Hotel, Chicago The third Future History conference of design educators, held at the Hotel Intercontinental in Chicago, explored current and future curricular challenges and innovations, and their relationship to traditional frameworks of design education. Speakers from across the country and around the world presented on the main stage, while breakout sessions discussed curricular models and issues addressing graduate and undergraduate design education. Learn more about this past conference and download papers at www.futurehistory3.com . Post a comment (Mar 25)

Design Research Database: The Design Research Database initiative is in the early stages of development. It recognizes the importance of research to the growth and development of the design discipline. Unfortunately, the community lacks a resource that provides strong examples of design research. Those involved in this initiative are working to address this lack by developing a design research database.â€¨ We are beginning to assess costs - programming, maintenance, etc. -Â required to see the project to fruition and to develop a list of keywords that are associated with research endeavors.â€¨ We're reaching out to all educators for help and suggestions. If you would like to assist in the development of these resource, or have ideas to share, please contact Stacie Rohrbach at stacie [at] cmu [dot] edu. Post a comment (Mar 24)

NASAD White Papers: AIGA is a member of NASAD and is recognized as the authoritative and representative voice of the communication design education community and profession for NASAD activities that bear on design school accreditation. Following in the footsteps of Meredith Davis' previous white papers, the Design Educators Community Steering Committee is currently developing the following white papers: Two-year Education: Maraâ€¨ Fulmer Role of Liberal Arts in Design Education: Holly Willisâ€¨ Animation and Motion Graphics in Design Education: Holly Willis Interactive Design: TBD For more information, contact Louise Sandhaus . Post a comment (Feb 24)

Promotion and Tenure Initiative: The DEC Steering Committee is undertaking an initiative to provide a variety of resources helpful to design educators and institutions concerning issues of promotion and tenure. Planned for inclusion are suggested practices in promotion and tenure processes; samples of institutional promotion and tenure guidelines; samples of faculty promotion and tenure dossiers; web-articles and a discussion forum. Contact Paul Nini to share ideas or request more information. Send email to nini [dot] 1 [at] osu [dot] edu. Post a comment (Feb 24)

Research Grant Call for Proposals: The AIGA Design Educators Community Steering Committee is pleased to announce a call for proposals for its second annual design research grant. Through a competitive, peer-review process, one grant of $5000 will be awarded annually to provide support for design research. This includes scholarship that generates new knowledge, integrates design knowledge into other disciplines as an influential force, or explores new pedagogies through the teaching of design and evaluation of learning outcomes. Deadline: July 1, 2009 The AIGA Design Educators Community Steering Committee is pleased to announce a call for proposals for its second annual design research grant. Through a competitive, peer-review process, one grant of $5000 will be awarded annually to provide support for design research. This includes scholarship that generates new knowledge, integrates design knowledge into other disciplines as an influential force, or explores new pedagogies through the teaching of design and evaluation of learning outcomes. May 1, 2009, a sub-committee of the Design Educators Community Steering Committee will begin collecting and reviewing grant applications and will continue accepting submissions through July 1, 2009. Once the submission deadline has been reached, the sub-committee will distribute each proposal to two external individuals whose expertise match the proposal topic. The experts will read the proposals and provide the sub-committee with feedback. The information gathered from the peer review process will help the sub-committee choose the recipient of the grant. If you are interested in serving as an expert reader please contact Stacie Rohrbach at stacie [at] cmu [dot] edu. Your participation is much appreciated. Each recipient of the grant will present his/her design research at an upcoming AIGA Design Education Conference. The recipient will also submit to the AIGA Design Educators Community Steering Committee a paper that describes his/her findings in greater detail. The paper will be published on the AIGA Design Educators Community website. In 2008, Maria Rogal, who is an associate professor of design at the University of Florida, received the first annual offering of the grant. In addition to presenting and publishing her research, Maria plans to provide updates on her project throughout its duration and participate in a blog discussion that is based on her work as her project nears completion. Please follow her progress on the AIGA Design Educators Community website over the coming months. For your reference, to see the grant proposal that Maria submitted last year is included on the research grant website click here . Those interested in applying for a grant can review the 2009 guidelines click here . To access helpful articles that describe design research click here . To download the required proposal forms click here . and to submit an application on the research grant website located here . If you have additional questions or comments regarding the research grant please contact Stacie Rohrbach at stacie [at] cmu [dot] edu. Comments (0) (Feb 17)

AIGA Internship Guide: A completed AIGA DEC Initiative . This guide helps students and young designers to make good, informed decisions when searching for internships. The guidelines define internships, explain the opportunities that internships provide, propose strategies for finding internships, describe good practices that hosts and interns should follow, and explain compensation scenarios. View the Guidelines . Post a comment (Jan 24)

DEC conference: Social Studies: Educating Designers in a Connected World: October 17 - October 19, 2008 Baltimore AIGA design educators' conference addresses the social life of design. Graphic designers work with clients, institutions, users, and communities to make things happen in the world. Yet education often focuses on the individual voice. How are we preparing students for a lifetime of working with and for other people? How are our students connecting to the world? Come participate in a relaxed and stimulating weekend of lively discussions, hands-on workshops, and informal activities.â€¨The Social Studies conference is a project of AIGA, sponsored by Adobe Systems. The conference is hosted by the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). â€¨ Click here to visit the conference web site . Post a comment (Nov 25)

Salary Survey: The completed AIGA DEC Initiative . AIGA Design Educators Salary Survey 2008 , developed by Christopher Vice and Dori Tunstall, is the most complete compensation data available for education professionals in the United States covering communication design disciplines. View the full survey . Post a comment (Sep 24)

AIGA Standards of Teaching completed and will be released soon: Design educators find themselves today in increasingly complex roles with responsibilities to students, other educators, academic institutions, the profession, the public, society and the environment. How can a design educator assess the often conflicting interests of those to whom they are responsible? Personal morals and professional codes of ethics built by professional associations can provide guidance, however there has been no code which addresses the often unique dilemmas confronting design educators. So, in its mission to support the activities and responsibilities of the design educator, the Design Educators Community (DEC) has created the AIGA Standards of Teaching. This code defines the expectations of a responsible and well-intended design educator and represents the distinction of an AIGA member teaching design. Comments (8) (Jun 09)

DEC at AIGA Design Conference 2007: Next: The 2007 AIGA Design Conference, Next, focused on just that: "what's the future of design?" As a community of design educators, AIGA DEC plays an important role in the shaping of the future of the practice. Following are the DEC-programmed affinity sessions (with podcasts for each): How Does Design Research Impact Design Practice? Sharon Poggenpohl, professor of design, Hong Kong Polytechnic University; and Liz Sanders, president, MakeTools, LLC; moderated by Meredith Davis, director, graduate and PhD programs, North Carolina State University. What is the role of design research, and of university design programs, in the evolving profession of the 21st century? How is research different from creative practice? And what is "worth doing" among all the possible areas for investigation in the emerging design research culture? This panel will address the growing need for new knowledge as the design profession matures and seeks new areas of influence. Listen to their presentation now! K-12: Where Design Thinking Begins Daarina Abdus-Samad, teacher, Norma Coombs Middle School in Pasadena, CA; Meredith Davis, director, graduate and PhD programs, North Carolina State University; and Doreen Nelson, director, Center for City Building Education (CBE) and professor, California State Polytechnic University; moderated by Steve Hartman, president, Creativille. The education that produces a designer is well-matched to the demands on all adults in the 21st century: creative thinking, problem solving, seeing things in the mind's eye, and the effective use of technology, resources and information. Design education can provide a roadmap for K-12 curricula that leads to essential competencies and thinking skills, regardless of the subject area. Listen to their presentation now! Letting Go of 20th Century Models for Design Education Rafael Fajardo, director, digital dedia studies, University of Denver; Santiago Piedrafita, chair, Department of Graphic Design, North Carolina State University; and Holly Willis, associate director, Institute for Multimedia Literacy, University of Southern California; moderated by Barbara Sudick, associate professor, communication design, California State University. Design is becoming increasingly complex. Is it time to let go of curricular and pedagogical models that begin with simple concepts and to build slowly and progressively towards new models? This session will examine what's next for design education in the 21st century, including cross-disciplinary and collaborative work. Listen to their presentation now! How Should Design Education Prepare Students for a Future of Change Bill Buxton, researcher and designer, Microsoft; and Hugh Dubberly, founder, Dubberly Design office. During the last 30 years, the growing presence of computers and the internet has changed the context of design. New types of jobs have emerged as designers reinvent practice. Both how we design and what we design are substantially different than they were a generation ago. What will the next generation's designers face over the course of their working lives? Today's trends will continue. Processors are still getting smaller and faster. Computers and sensors are included in more and more products. And soon, almost everything will be on the network, while the network itself gets faster. In addition to the changes we can predict, we should expect some we cannot imagine yet. How should we respond to the changes of the last generation and those of the next? What does preparation for practice mean in a world where the future constantly changes? What can a design education provide that will endure? Listen to their presentation now! Post a comment (Nov 25)

DEC conference: Intent / Content: May 31 - June 3, 2007 Nashville, TN In the twenty-first century design will gain its meaning and significance from the new knowledge we generate. The core content of our conference is generated through scholarly investigation and is comprised of discovery, integration, application, and teaching. Discovery as the pursuit of new knowledge which is created through investigation and inquiry. Integration as the synthesis of advancing knowledge coming from design and other disciplines. Application as speculation about how the new knowledge might be deployed within the social issues of our times. Teaching as conveying the new knowledge in innovative ways. Through main stage presentations, breakout sessions, and poster displays the intent of design education scholarship will be further explored. Conference chairpersons (representing all four Tennessee AIGA chapters: Chattanooga, Knoxville, Memphis, and Nashville): Seth Johnson, Deborah Shmerler, Val Sloan, Cary Staples and Rebecca Targâ€¨â€¨ www.intentcontent.aiga.org Post a comment (Sep 03)

DEC conference: Schools of Thoughts III: What's so graphic about graphic design? Educating in the age of ubiquitous media: March 9-11, 2007 Art Center College of Design, Pasadena California The goal of this event incite and inspire dialogue -- discussions among rather than tales from. To make an explicit connection between making, thinking, writing, innovating within design education.â€¨Southern California is a center for communications media: television, film, and music production, web production, video gaming, public entertainment and cultural spaces, to name the more obvious. These ubiquitous industries coupled with branding concerns and ever penetrating advertising (to say nothing of an emerging "do-it-yourself" ethic) is dramatically changing the terrain that graphic designers navigate. In such a territory, discreet disciplines that generate the work -- graphic design, advertising, interactive and motion design, environmental and exhibition design, and even writing content -- seem increasingly difficult to discern. How is education meeting these challenges? How is design and other curricula teaching students to sort through the tangle of options and prepare for a career, or more likely careers, within them? Specifically, what belongs in a graphic design curriculum, or is a graphic design curriculum becoming a quaint notion? Conference chairpersons: Louise Sandhaus, Petrula Vrontikis, Denise Gonzales Crisp, Terry Lee Stone and Scott Hutchinsonâ€¨ Schools of Thoughts 3 website Post a comment (Jun 25)

DEC conference: Massaging Media 2: Graphic Design Education in the Age of Dynamic Media: April 4 - 6, 2007 Boston, MA Massaging Media 2 features keynotes, workshops, breakout sessions, and the chance to speak with colleagues from around the country wrestling with the challenges and opportunities dynamic media poses to graphic design educators. Conference Chairpersons: Brian Lucid, Joseph Quackenbush, Heather Shaw www.massagingmedia.org Post a comment (Jun 25)

2006 National Survey of Design Education: A completed AIGA DEC Initiative. As a service to the design education, professionals who are seeking to hire graduates and to prospective students, AIGA has prepared the first-ever national survey of design education programs. This authoritative comprehensive directory of programs helps deliver an understanding of the nature of the programs currently existing. Download the survey here . Post a comment (Mar 24)

DEC conference: The Design Frontier: Graphic design education in small programs and nonurban regions: December 1-3, 2006 Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design, Denver, CO Many U.S. graphic design educators are blazing trails on the frontier in the country's smaller graphic design programs, often in regional towns without big professional graphic design communities and AIGA chapters to provide adjunct faculty, professional role models, student internships, and entry level jobs. This conference will focus on this special condition, and bring these dispersed graphic design educators together to build educational networks and interact as a community.â€¨â€¨The program content will focus on the needs and accomplishments of these maverick educators, including the challenges and possibilities of dispersed conditions and small faculties, trans-disciplinary and intercollegiate courses, professional collaboration, best practices, community outreach, problem solving tools, long-distance communications, scholarly development, networking strategies, student and faculty exchange programs, curricula for small faculties, internships and placement methods, sharing visitors, distance learning, and online resources. The program will feature several main-stage speakers interspersed with several sessions of educator papers chosen by a peer review committee. A concluding panel discussion will involve all participants. A website will archive the conference proceedings and begin an ongoing forum for discussion, collaboration, and sharing.â€¨ Conference chairpersons: Fred Murrell, Michael Mages and Katherine McCoyâ€¨ www.designfrontier.org Post a comment (Feb 25)

DEC conference: Revolution: Philadelphia: June 3 - Saturday, June 4, 2005 Sheraton Society Hill, Philadelphia, PA The conference brought together over 250 design educators from 30 states in the US, along with attendees from the UK. The conference sought to address struggles and shifts taking place in design education today and to question what we teach, how we teach, and why we teach.â€¨â€¨The content of the conference included main stage speakers Ellen Lupton, Hillman Curtis, Jan Abrams, and Meredith Davis, with Steven Heller as moderator. There were also 16 paper presentations and 16 hour-long discussion groups on a broad range of topics, as well as, 4 presentations of student projects. Much of the content from the conference is now available online at the conference website. Organized by Frank Baseman and Laurie Churchman Chair of Papers: Nancy Mayer Please visit: http://revolutionphiladelphia.aiga.org/ Post a comment (Sep 25)

DEC conference: Schools of Thoughts II: Poised Toward the Futures of Graphic Design Education: March 4 -6, 2005 â€¨Art Center College of Design, Pasadena, Californiaâ€¨â€¨ Schools of Thoughts II offered a lively and stimulating opportunity for graphic design educators to gather, reflect on, and celebrate design pedagogy today. The event kicked off with renowned writer, Wired magazine editor, and design aficionado, Bruce Sterling, considering the significant influences that inform and shape the current context of design.â€¨â€¨The following day, a diverse spectrum of respected voices addressed how design research, design history, critical studies, and, most importantly, the intelligent practice of creating visual form, play crucial roles in shaping contemporary design education towards relevant professional practice. Panels, lead by prominent educators, elaborated on main stage topics, as well as other significant themes such as graduate education, community involvement, and professional practice. Organized by Louise Sandhaus and Petrula Vrontikis. For more information, visit the web site http://schoolsofthoughts.aiga.org/ Post a comment (Jun 25)

DEC conference: FutureHistory II: October 2004 Chicago The first in the series of national AIGA design education conferences, this gathering of design educators from over 40 educational institutions included general sessions, breakout discussion groups and juried paper presentations. Post a comment (Nov 25)

DEC conferences 2002â€¨â€¨: With the generous support of MeadWestvaco, AIGA produced a series of regional design education conferences: Connections: Graphic Design Education Summit 2002 April 2002 | Minnesota â€¨â€¨ TEXTure: Reading/Writing/Sensingâ€¨ April 2002â€¨ | Boston FutureHistory I October 2002 | Chicagoâ€¨â€¨ Educating the Design Educator â€¨ October 2002 | San Franciscoâ€¨â€¨ Schools of Thoughts I October 2002 | Los Angeles Post a comment (Nov 25)

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