Rethinking Design Education 2016

What is the value of a designer versus an art director? Is it wrong to hire other people to do the work for you in school? What are you supposed to learn in/after school?

Things get really heated as Chris Do continues the discussion about what should be taught in design school w/ Art Center instructors Allison Goodman and Petrula Vrontikis.

01:35 What does it mean when someone else does your work in school?
02:40 Allison predicts Chris' response. Does she get it right?
07:00 What do you teach lower term students? Can they be trained as art directors that early?
05:00 How would you feel about someone that hires other people to do the work?
06:00 Art direction is not just a fancy title.
07:40 Making is a part of the thinking process.
08:50 The mentality of an immigrant. Education as a means to avoid blue collar work.
09:40 What does it really mean to be an art director?
10:25 Why making is dangerous. What do we have to do as educators to arm design students in 2016 to have a fighting chance in the global design community?
10:50 How much hands on work do you do as a creative director?
11:45 What is your time worth? What are you worth?
14:20 Graphic design is a discipline with broad applications.
14:51 Is there value in "brick laying" aka making design?
15:25 You don't have to learn everything in school.
16:05 Education has become transactional in some schools.
16:45 Makers vs. manifesters.
17:15 Can creativity be taught?
19:00 Students need to be introduced to topics that are "beyond" traditional graphic design.

Blurb: Helen Jean Taylor book
by Allison Goodman

How Design Conference Atlanta– Petrula Vrontikis
@vrontikis

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—
Credits:
Executive Producer– Chris Do
Hosts– Chris Do
Director– Aaron Szekely
Cameraman– Aaron Szekely, Andrew Truong
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Editor– Aaron Szekely
Show Open– designed by William VanSkaik, animated by Bara Kwon
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[Ferj]

As someone currently studying to becoming a designer (and future entrepreneur), I'm really enjoying and learning a lot from these high-level discussions. I also love the production quality of your videos as well. Cheers :)

[leiryseron_]

I've spent years searching for a school that teaches me how to THINK, as opposed to just how to make, and I've finally found it on this channel. Thank you The Futur! Keep up the amazing work you're doing.

[zachwooddesigns]

For everyone at The Skool Network, thanks for making these videos. From the producing to the content, from the points of view to the opinions. They are all integral and have re-inspired me. Keep up the good work.

[mrsaulybanez]

To lead effectively, one must know the backbone of doing the task. All roles must be appreciated as a structure could not function without the base and vise versa. And this applies to any industry not just in the creative field. And I feel that its more fulfilling to look back at the times when you were stacking the bricks realizing that you are now managing to build mansions for someone else.

[germgeneration]

After getting your response, I took some time to look into your work. Huge amount of respect for what you've done, what your doing and were you are heading. Keep hustling an getting the word out there.

[WMCLComputers]

When I watch your videos I want to cry and scream, because I see myself reflected in every topic. My Father invested tons of money in my Graphic Design school and even though I consider my self a really creative individual I never got to make money out of what I used to love... The I moved to IT because they pay better for people fixing things... and now design and IT none of those two are paying... because school doesn't teach you how much are you worth as creative individual or as a professional they are just creating massive cheap obedient workers... We need more people like you to empower designers to expand their mind set and be the entrepreneurs they should, to be able to make a living... that you don't get it at school.

[BenGKaiser]

Yikes, this is tough!
But i think I would land on the importance of learning how to solve problems and developing your own skills can do that!
But after you know how, then you can hire out till your heart is content. Know what your skills are and where to hire out is important!

[robertnardello]

Being someone that is currently moving from freelancing to growing a design agency, your entrepreneurial stance really resonates with me and affirms the direction I'm going in. Really appreciate the video!

[CarloLlacar]

these two were my former instructors and despite the intent of this discussion, they taught me more about business than I expected. this is a great topic. we should def implement these ideas in a high level design education

[deansignon]

As a communication design student, I really appreciate the insights into design from design intellectuals :) so thanks for the high quality content!

I personally see it as an issue of efficiency especially in the developed economies/world where everything is so fast paced and only getting faster. From what I can see, Chris is really setting design in real life context and talking about how design is advancing from graphic design to communication design. (Graphic designers being the “makers” and communication designers being the problem solvers.)

I don’t doubt that there may be excess demand for directors because if the economy has increased need for design and then there would be need for increased design productivity. Cue larger scale projects and now we need more/improved designers and yada yada yada. I think Chris is proposing the idea that we now need more art directors than “makers” so why not educate more people in that area? However, I strongly believe that both the “making” and the “thinking” should be present within one unit of labour i.e. the people who think it make it. Isn’t visual language highly intuitive and emotive? I really think that ideally the makers should be the ones communicating with the client themselves in order to achieve better solutions. I just can’t get over the fact that some designers don’t even interact with who the design is for? But then I guess specialisation prevails for a reason.

Being the idealistic and unexperienced youth that I am, I can’t help feeling slightly sad at how ‘machine-like’ (for lack of a better word) the production of design is portrayed here. It’s kind of like more specialisation within a production line rather than before where it was like a family economy (not literally of course it’s just an analogy to show development).

(Funnily enough though, many students in my course, including me, are struggling with the “making” part because the syllabus is so problem solving oriented. While we learn to make solutions in class we depend on self-motivation at home to figure out how the software works and to improve our technical skills.)

[StillOnTrack]

These were really great conversations. The opposing views and different ways of looking at things were really good to hear and watch.

[effvc]

This was very interesting to watch Chris. It resonates with me a lot because slowly over the past 6 years, I have been transitioning from a to an entrepreneur. I used to only offer highly custom websites built on the cutting-edge tools and languages. Yes, I sold a few of them, but now I look at everything from a business perspective. I'm out there networking, selling, and growing my company. Delegating tasks to others and keeping a great relationship with the clients I bring in.

Many of my friends over the years have been other designers/developers from all around the world and I used to be on the same page as them. But now I view everything so differently and I'm hiring those designers/developers to do the work I used to do and instead putting myself out there and building the business. Going to companies, seeing what their problems are, and coming up with a solution. And then from there, developing a vision and delegating the work.

It's not a job for everyone, and I do miss design/development from time to time, but there is definitely a bigger picture here. This video was great, it was two extreme different sides playing devils advocate. I side with you Chris, entirely, but I also think that not everyone is cut out for the business of design, nor will that even be what makes them happy.

[sandersanderson]

I can with 90% certainty know that watching a Skool Network video will not be a waste of my time. If anything, I may just learn how to judiciously maximize my time going forward.

Great as always. Congrats. This one was especially stimulating as I'm learning to let go and delegate in order to grow.

Would you guys consider doing a video on expanding the sales efforts of a design studio, how to find quality sales reps, and other ways to keep the studio project pipeline full?

I believe this would be an especially awesome topic to address.

[handykawara]

Interesting, from business owner perspective i'm more aware about what my employees(graphic designer) can achieve through looking at their porto's, not by their capabilities of assembling a team like an art director/creative director do. it's pretty simple actually, you should deliver what your promise, when i looking for graphic designer, i want graphic designer with its set of skill, not a creative director, art director, or any director, i will mention that in my job assignment if needed. I'm graphic designer myself and also doin art and getting into art world circle for my creative outlets, those makers, designers you guys mention in video, i never considering as a art. Artist(visual artist) its kind a different subject/entities, graphic design operates on a different level, i'm also facing that kind of dilemma in the art circles, i should prove myself as an artist, its something you earn, not what you proclaimed. lots of graphic designer getting a little harsh treatment from art world, the boundaries are getting thinner(on a surface, technique, method etc), but the dichotomies are getting stronger(objective, philosophy, ideologies, functionality) i'm also agree with you at this one, graphic designer aren't artist, go play with your idealism somewhere else, not in the business world, unless by being some sort of idealist will suitable with the concept you are selling :P. Believe me, graphic design lies in commercial practical arts zone, if its cant communicate, if it can't persuade, if its cannot selling anything, if it's not helping the advertisement or marketing objectives, then its a bad/failed graphic design. I'm agree with you chris on encouraging the entrepreneurship mentality in student, but in the academics system that kind of its like your encouraging them to cheat, or skipping the process of learning at the young age. I know its hard to do business when you think and act like a graphic designer, thats why we go to another school to study about business.

[tamonline]

Finally, FANTASTIC discussion! I love how respectful and deep the conversation got this time. These professors knew their stuff, had an opinion and backed it up. Chris countered, not to prove a point, but to expand the discussion around the topic.

My only disagreement is the either/or approach. It should be what skills need to be developed + for which kind of people and when do they need to learn it. So I really appreciated it when Allison said something like "I teach in the freshmen year and this is what they need to learn then." This is not binary. True creatives need to have that flexibility to think in shades of grey and have multiple skill sets.

Creatives need to be holistic: idealistically practical or work with practical ideals.

[aLittlePal]

I listened to the collective podcast recently, the guest is the man Chris himself. The beginning part of that podcast clears everything for me about why Chris wants to do the things he wants to do.

For me, there are two things...
First, Chris came from a great family. Before they went to the USA, they are in the mid toward higher place of the society, that means Chris has a good DNA and a smart brain;
The second thing is the fact Chris went through almost a whole section of the human society, from the bottom labor class to a good middle class, a world class designer, this experience, as a whole package, to me, is what I believed makes Chris different.

That is important, the one who spent their entire life living as a person without moving (or be moved) the class they belong to, only sees a certain part of the world, the one who only sees the poverty or richness is really really limited in terms of their mind and perspective.

Because of that life experience, it became a part of the reason that makes Chris want to do what he wants to do.
He has the vision and motivation to lead and change the current state of art education, but he is also foolish and stupid enough to take the risk saying something never before heard and very less of people truly understood its meaning, not everyone realized that.
It is the smart brain and great eye, along with the rich and wide life experience that makes him able to spot this problem, and he is honest and selfless enough to take the risk to stand up and say something about it, out loud.

This is really harmful to your professional image, but Chris still chooses to do it. This is something I can only see if you put a child from an upper-class family to the very bottom of the society and see him hustle himself way up, can you feel the fire of passion inside him?


Chris is a rare asset to our society, the poor people could not break through the limitation of their body (the brain, in this case), they just can't understand, but the rich people who never experienced the full spectrum of the human society will never get the motivation to do anything about it because they don't have the information in their mind. People like Chris is quite lonely, to be honest.

[BoldBreak]

This subject matter is very complex. Posing the question ‘Are you a “bricklayer” or an art director?’ is a fantastic title to get a heated debate started but it's not a black and white subject matter. Designers can blindly fall into the role of just churning out cheap shallow ideas without any ownership of the work being produced.
I’ll provide a personal account from my experience. It’s anecdotal but it has value in the discussion:
Art directors can be an incredible asset to a project when they have practical knowledge of production. The best Art directors are open and trusting. Working with the Art direct who only plays to their own strengths provides a fluid setting where it’s just about making the best work possible.
Too often do Art directors come out of design school to quickly realise that being a ‘bricklayer’ in an agency is tough work and start to veer their creative services toward being an Art director. Now they sit in the creative hot seat. No time is given to build a foundation which helps understand the nuances of production. Without being too harsh the Dunning–Kruger effect comes into play. The pseudo confidence of thinking “I have the foundations in design and I’m creative” starts to become the tug of war between the designer and self-proclaimed ‘Art director’.
There is more promise for an army general who fights side by side with their soldiers than one who doesn't understand the nuance of the terrain and small problems which are accumulating by the second.
Saying this Chris shines light on the point of designers being more business focused. A topic near and dear to my heart. Taking the thinking habits of top Art Directors opens up the ability to digest a convoluted brief and render into work that goes beyond the clients expectations. This offers the client more than “just make this”!! Conceptual problem solving is an underrated skills by some designers.
To summarize, we should look more to the bricklayers who show the potential to Art Direct. The old agency mentally is slowly dying. Designers with the ability to Art Direct have a craft behind their ability to conceptually problem solve. Does this double the productivity? Plenty of top tier studios with hybrid teams have shown the ability achieve incredible results from harnessing the architect who is also a bricklayer.
Putting all the value in the concept over the production is shortsighted both are equally important. The best work comes from thinkers who can also design.

[CinematographyDatabase]

This is an amazing break down of the current state of the design industry. I see the same thing happening in the cinematography industry. I'd love to interview you on my podcast to talk about the similarities in our industries

[AngeliqueGeorges]

I see the points being made here, but I also see a huge hole in the theory. Art Directors will still always need 'Makers' to do the work. These 'Makers' still need college education, they still need to pay off their college debt. You can call it a glorified trade, but like it or not it requires a certain skill acquired through expensive training and dedication. We can't have Art Directors without people to manifest their work. Who will do the work if there isn't sufficient value placed upon it? The industry may be in a decline, but the 'Makers' are the foundation upon which it stands. Without the foundation it will surely crumble.

[marcodemilia]

Good talk Chris!
It's interesting what you are saying but I'm not 100% with you.
In my career I learnt how to laid bricks, I know how much time it takes for doing that and I learnt that I'm not great of doing that and moving more to the UX side of the things.
Personally I'm great in solving problems and communicating to people feelings and vision but I'm less great in designing compelling amazing things and even worse in doing business.

I've met in my life a lot of business people that know how to make money but they don't really know how the design process works. They don't know what's the difference between RGB and CMYK, they don't know what's the difference between raster and vector and I think this is important. That people are amazing in making money but shit in managing designers and time.

I really think design is changing a lot and I think the hardest bit is finding people that tell you where is going but I think we need schools teaching the basic rude dirty job of designing and then there is The Skool that teaches you the next step/level.