Acknowledge the Screen
As students of the Rhode Island School of Design, we firmly believe that we can no longer ignore the role of the screen in graphic design.
In order to be effective visual communicators, we must embrace a desire to understand all contemporary mediums, whether physical or digital. We no longer recognize a division between the “print designer” and the “web designer”. We see only designers, who must understand not just issues of form, hierarchy and color, but also of interaction, movement and experience.
We propose to bring the realm of screen design into the RISD curriculum, in both practice and discourse. It is only through this shift that students may develop a methodology for creation that can be applied not only to the page and its inherent stillness, but also to the screen and its inherent change.
The screen can no longer be ignored.
Micah Barrett & Ian Storm Taylor
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Passive learning is not an education.
If you aren’t engaged in your own education, how can you expect someone else to be? There’s nothing stopping you from exploring web design in the assignments we are given every day.
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function learn{ whining.stop(); }
Complaining to each other won’t change our curriculum. If we want to alter the course of our education we need to offer solutions, not just point at a problem.
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Ignoring the screen won’t make it go away.
Refusing to design for the screen will not limit its prevalence in our lives. If we are to subvert how the web is used to deliver information, we must understand it. It’s our responsibility as designers to make technology more human, and it’s this program’s responsibility to foster an environment with faculty that will critique user experience and dynamic design methodology.
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Would you rather get an A or a salary?
We are constantly asking to be taught to design for the screen, but few of us are willing to put in the work to learn it on our own time. It’s time to let go of the desire for a perfect report card and embrace an education.
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<strong> we are becoming irrelevant </strong>
It’s our responsibility as students to be aware of the world outside of risd. If we are to graduate from this program with the hopes of working as designers, we need to make it our priority to address interactivity. We can’t wait for the faculty to do it for us.
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.print { form: fixed } .web { form: fluid }
In an environment where the user decides the dimensions of the canvas and the size of its elements, the designer cannot think in static terms. Faculty must give students a proper forum to tackle these design challenges.
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HTML, CSS, PHP, DNS, FTP, DOM, HTTP, URI, SQL, PNG, WTF?
A designer doesn’t need to code, but they need to know the medium. Understanding web technologies will make your designs more appropriate, in the same way that understanding printing techniques and paper types does in print. It’s time the fundamentals were taught.
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Ignoring the screen won’t make it go away.
Refusing to teach design for the screen will not limit its prevalence in our lives. To subvert how information is delivered on the web, students must be taught to understand the medium.
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In the 21st century web design is not an elective.
The web has rapidly become a primary means for communication. Yet, at risd the web is largely ignored save for a few electives. To stay relevant this program needs to integrate discussions and practice of design for the web into the core curriculum.