If you were teaching web design

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LouTheDesigner

New Member
So have any of you had experience teaching web design to students (Intro level course an a university)?

I've taught a few courses in philosophy, upper level, but I now have the chance to teach graphic design.. I have a curriculum set out for me, I'm just wondering what you think of it, as I'm not quite sure where to start,

The curriculum is as follows:

1. 3 credit course in Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign.
2. A basic art course (which I won't be teaching)
3. An introduction to DW and basic coding principles, combined with basic Flash
4. An intensified Flash course that gets into AS3 a bit more.
5. A course in typography.
6. An elective course in 3D development, (Maya and MotionBuilder)
7. A more advanced course in HTML/CSS, where I have the students produce professional-grade sites for homework (the sites are to be made free for organizations and companies -- the organizations being campus oriented ones that are yet to have a site for themselves, like the library)
8. A course in After Effects -- just to familiarize the students should they pursue this career.
9. A final class in which they produce a portfolio site with links to their works, development of business cards, letter heads, etc. (basically getting them familiarized with the "real world" and preparing them for it.

I noticed that none of the curriculum demands that they understand JS or PHP, but it's strongly suggested that they minor in programming (they teach Java there),

I'm somewhat militant against the university's lack of back-end programming. I was wondering what all of you think. Does the layout of courses seem appealing/appropriate to you? What would you change?

I'm going to demand that the students subscribe to lynda.com for training/homework.

BTW, if web design forum were a religion, anna would be Jesus (b/c she's awesome) and PixelPusher would be god. I'm an atheist, but I thought I'd give credit where it's due.

All the best --
Lou
 
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v2Media

v2Media

Member
Web and graphic design are two different beasts, so are web design and web development. This is supposed to be a graphic design course right? One would assume there's an emphasis on the graphic design content and only minor/elective content on the coding/development side.

In my opinion, the curriculum doesn't match graphic design. It sounds like a multimedia design course with an emphasis on technical/development skills. Pure, creative design skills need to be fundamental to a graphic design course - not an optional basic art subject.

When I did a master of multimedia design, a pre-requisite was a bachelor of art fine arts or graphic design. The graphic design students produced far more sophisticated multimedia interfaces and content than the fine art students. The art students simply didn't have the design skills that translated into graphics.

A graphic design course that only includes a basic art subject to cover the creative skills is going to produce a bunch of software jockies and aesthetically challenged folio pieces.
 
PixelPusher

PixelPusher

Super Moderator
Staff member
I think v2Media has a good point here (except the course is for web design not graphic design) and I was thinking a similar thing myself.

Being that you are teaching a intro to web design, I believe it is important to focus primarily on web based mediums and applications. That being said, I dont think they need to learn about After Effects nor InDesign. these two in particular pertain to a different type of course/curriculum.

So if we broke it down...and there will be overlap

Web Design
Focuses on web standards, HTML, Flash, graphic rendering and layout organization skills (typography would fit here)

Applications used: Ps, Dw, Ai, Fl

Graphic Design (more print based)
Focuses on design concepts, color, fonts, layout, printing processes, typography, etc.

Applications used: Ai, Ps, Id

Multimedia
Focuses on motion design, rendering, film, sound, 3D, etc.

Applications used: Ps, Ai, Af, Pr, Sb, Maya, MotionBuilder


Though many of you know, for those that dont...
Ps - Photoshop
Ai - Illustrator
Id - InDesign
Dw - Dreamweaver
Fl - Flash
Af - After Effects
Pr - Premier
Sb - Sound Booth
 
HMI Guy

HMI Guy

New Member
I believe a web designer is the combination of a programmer and graphic designer. Somebody who builds web sites should be familiar with both fields.
 
v2Media

v2Media

Member
I disagree HMI Guy. A web designer should have strong graphic design, design psychology, information delivery and interface design skills. Web designers should also be familiar with the conversion process from graphic compositions to working webpages; not necessarily a working knowledge.

Programming and front end development is the domain of the web developer.
 
L

LouTheDesigner

New Member
v2Media said:
I disagree HMI Guy. A web designer should have strong graphic design, design psychology, information delivery and interface design skills. Web designers should also be familiar with the conversion process from graphic compositions to working webpages; not necessarily a working knowledge.

Programming and front end development is the domain of the web developer.
Click to expand...

Exactly.. That's why the curriculum is a sort of hybrid between what we call web design and graphic design.

-Lou
 
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