> On May 9, 2015, at 7:23 PM, Enbo.Hu12 <[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
>
> How to teach argument ability to design students?
Modeling the sort of argument you want from them is essential. Start out by asking them the sorts of questions you want their argument to answer. Make it clear that talking is a vital design skill.
Early on, I tell my students: You will one day find yourself working for a group that is deciding what to present to the client. You will have done the best work but the second best work will be explained better. The client will be shown the second best work because that will make the best client presentation. Or, worse yet, it will be obvious why your solution is best. Someone else will explain it. Everyone will then associate your great work with the person who explained it.
As they develop, I tell them that the way they talk about their design to clients will determine the design output as much as anything they do while sitting in front of a computer: If you talk about objective goals from the client's point of view, you will be a trusted business advisor--a service provider in the sense of an attorney or an accountant. If you talk about vague, subjective preferences, your will be a service provider in the sense of the person in the drive up window at McDonald's: all you can do is ask "Do you want fries with that?"
> On May 10, 2015, at 8:20 AM, Lubomir Savov Popov <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> I found that most of our students have vocational career plans, but they feel social pressure to go to college and get a degree. Of course, a degree for them is the undergraduate degree. Most of design students rarely go for Masters. But the way, this is typical across all disciplines. Only about 10%-15% of people with Bachelor's degrees continue their studies at graduate/Masters level.
>
> If you look at your problem from that perspective, it is easy to see student motivations. They want the tools of the trade. They are very visual, immediate, and concrete. The Gen Ed courses are an absolutely useless rite for them. Do not bother them with theory, even less with philosophy.
I approach this from two directions.
One is the introduction of theory through the artifacts that interest them. Beginning students especially have a sense of work they view as "working" or "not working" but not why. They are often unable to see that they have ideas because the vital part of what they are doing is buried. Pointing out what is strong and then talking about that in terms of theory connects their success with the notion that there are bigger ideas. Teaching them how to generate ideas keeps them from being stuck with merely technical solutions as their only working method; teaching analysis for it's own sake doesn't connect with their world but teaching analysis as a way of generating work does.
The other is to concentrate on theory that links directly to the reasons they should care about theory. Showing a philosophical dispute in terms of the work it affected gives them a handle on the thoughts and a reason to believe that reading and writing about it isn't just one more silly hoop they have to jump through. The flip side of that is to ask ourselves why we think they *should* care. Many standard readings for design and/or art classes don't stand up to that test. Students read "important" stuff that is considered important because it's the stuff we all read when we were students. If we can't explain what they might gain from reading it, maybe we should reconsider subjecting them to it.
Also, don't underestimate the gulf between your thinking and knowledge and theirs. Ask them questions. Be prepared to explain things that seem clear and to help them make connections that seem obvious. Don't pretend that things are simple and clean but make sure that their school experience isn't the equivalent of watching a foreign language movie without subtitles.
If you can't explain why the ideas you're wanting them to understand actually affect their world, they will have no reason to care.
Gunnar
Gunnar Swanson
East Carolina University
graphic design program
http://www.ecu.edu/cs-cfac/soad/graphic/index.cfm
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Gunnar Swanson Design Office
1901 East 6th Street
Greenville NC 27858
USA
http://www.gunnarswanson.com
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+1 252 258-7006
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