Re: The role of information design in education?

Paul,

Beautifully put.

As it happens one of my thought-streams this week has taken me into  
the world of Cicero, the Roman republican hellenistic philosopher,  
Senate politician, legal practitioner, and student and practitioner  
of rhetoric. And contributor to our knowledge base about mnemotechnics.

You mentioned Karen Schriver, and she is well versed in the teaching  
in American universities of Rhetoric. I think that in Europe today  
the concept of Rhetoric is hugely undervalued. Maybe Socrates is to  
blame, but there is the idea here in Europe that people who study  
Rhetoric are just studying how to tell lies more convincingly.

There's also the snobbery of "better to study how it is done, than to  
learn how to do it better". If you study English in an English  
university, you will be encouraged to pick apart how the writers of  
the past have written, but not how you can write better yourself. The  
latter seems to be left to the dodgy shelves of business paperbacks  
together with the "One-Minute Manager" and such.

I think one could draw an enlightening parallel between learning how  
to use (spoken or written) language most effectively, and how to use  
visual design most effectively. In some cases it is done to persuade  
with rational argument and an array of facts, in some cases with mood- 
music and an array of colourful ambiance, and quite often with a  
mixture of both.

Does that help?

Conrad


On 26 Apr 2010, at 17:28, Paul Linnell wrote:

> Graphic Design is such a broad subject that information design  
> would both
> fit within, but also connect with broader subject areas that  
> traditionally
> fall outside it - such as writing and science.
>
> One of the problems with Graphic Design, as it is taught in some  
> arts-based
> faculties, is that it can emphasis what Karen Schriver refers to as  
> the
> 'romantic' tradition, which is more about the expression of inner
> convictions, intuition and less to do with graphic rhetoric, rigour  
> and
> external problem solving. On the other hand, many non-designers are  
> able to
> apply the rhetoric of visual communication to solving visual  
> information
> problems, but sometimes also lack the visual sensitivity and  
> judgment to
> make the solution elegant, beautiful and attractive.
>
> Much of what underpins information design should also be taught as  
> graphic
> design - basic graphic literacy, use of positive/negative space,  
> information
> hierarchy, designing from a semiotic / semantic perspective, the  
> usability
> and meaning of formats, etc. This is all graphic rhetoric which can be
> learnt and applied, as well as sometimes being intuitive.
>
> Information Design would work as an option after this stage, where  
> students
> can develop and apply these tools to real information communication  
> and
> problem-solving concepts, where others might go towards persuasion  
> design or
> interactive design, for example.This has as much to do with a  
> student's
> aptitude and personal direction. From my experience, many graphic  
> designers
> are either secret/frustrated artists or architects! Information  
> designers
> tend to be more at the 'architecture' end of the scale (systems and
> problem-solving), rather than the 'art' end (personal expression and
> interpretation).
>
> Paul Linnell
> De Montfort University, Leicester, UK
>
>
> On 26/04/2010 16:09, "Jasso Lamberg" <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> Hello all
>>
>>
>> I am preparing a presentation where I am comparing information design
>> and more traditional fields of design, such as graphic design. This
>> lead me to ponder upon the role of information design in education.
>> I'd like to hear your thoughts and experiences on questions such as:
>>
>> -Should information design be taught as a separate program alongside
>> graphic design, photography etc?
>> -Or should information design be incorporated into existing programs,
>> such as graphic design?
>>
>> -On what level should it be taught? Should it be available as an
>> "academic major" in the undergraduate studies?
>> -Or is it better to first train students as graphic designers and
>> such, and leave information design for the graduate level?
>>
>>
>> Perhaps these are questions that you have already discussed earlier,
>> but I'd really like to get an up-to-date image of the current  
>> situation.
>>
>>
>> Regards,
>>
>> Jasso Lamberg
>> Lahti Design Institute / Finland
>>
>>
>> ___________________________________________________________________
>>
>> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>>  [email protected]
>>
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>>
>> For all Information Design matters:
>>  http://InformationDesign.org
>>
>> Problems? Write to:
>>  [email protected]
>> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> ___________________________________________________________________
>
> Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers:
>  [email protected]
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
>  http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe
>
> For all Information Design matters:
>  http://InformationDesign.org
>
> Problems? Write to:
>  [email protected]
> ___________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________

Use the following address to post a message to all subscribers: 
 [email protected]

To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your options, visit:
 http://list.InformationDesign.org/mailman/listinfo/infodesign-cafe

For all Information Design matters:
 http://InformationDesign.org

Problems? Write to:
 [email protected]
___________________________________________________________________