Nobody should be surprised that I tend to agree with Gavin's wittgensteinian language approach in that I see "design" not as a single field but rather as a constellation of variously (and variably) related fields. The assumption that the word "design" has a single meaning allows people to "agree" or "disagree" while in separate conversations.
Kathryn (also agreeing with Gavin) on June 27:
> really the work that designers do,
>?organize collaborations-which is why it's often so
> funny that they get paid for their output (to design
> a product of some kind) when in fact they are
>?organizing the way we'll think about something.
A lot of people seem to be much more comfortable paying for a thing than for paying something immaterial. Even clients who would tell you that a conversation with me is the most valuable thing I have to offer will then ask me to stick the conversation on the invoice as part of some piece of design. I'm not sure whether that's so they don't have to explain to someone else or because they can't bring themselves to pay for something immaterial.
Filippo on June 26:
> Insofar as requisite skills for students to learn, I think
> some of them are:
[snip]?
> * teamwork
This applies well and doesn't apply at all to graphic design. That is, there is little teamwork taught or learned in traditional graphic design education. What little there has been has not, for the most part, addressed teamwork in any meaningful manner. One of the reasons is the graphic design faculty rarely has any control over anyone except graphic design students. Teams for large, interesting, complex problems are mixed. A team of all graphic designers is only a step up from a single graphic designer. This really hasn't been much of a problem for typical graphic design practice but if practice is going to expand and adapt and if graphic designers are going to become more central (rather than limited aestheticisers of other, more interesting designers' work), it is vital.
Gunnar
----------
Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville, North Carolina 27858
[log in to unmask]
+1 252 258 7006
at East Carolina University:
+1 252 328 2839
[log in to unmask]
|