Katherine McCoy, Education in an Adolescant Profession (Edu. of the Graphic Designer)

The Bauhaus idea that design fundamentals should precede applied design has been limited mainly to introductory art and design courses, after which graphic design students move rapidly into their areas of specialization. Once in a specialized graphic design courses, most schools immediately focus students on applied projects that stimulate or imitate professional practice -- a modern version of the apprentice system -- rather than continuing an orderly sequence of fundamental design concepts and methods.

This lack of a formalized method has been almost universal in our art school and university art departments until recently. They typical approach has placed a premium on creativity, a flash of intuition, the Big Idea, and educators have encouraged this, through "samples and examples," as one of our best US educational thinkers has described it. Graphic Design manuals and competition annuals have been most students' only resource. Emulating the work of renowned designers can be seen as a weak continuation of the master/apprentice system without the benefit of personal contact between the student and the master. The Big Idea's reliance on personal intuition and creativity makes it difficult to formalize a codified educational method; educational success is limited to the level of brilliance in both teacher and student.

Following the examples of the great pre- and postwar graphic art pioneers, the Big Idea approach relies primarily on image associations. Drawing on Surrealism, it employs unexpected combinations of images and/or contexts to create ambiguity and surprise--the "picture is worth a thousand words." As this approach is essentially semantic, typographic expression becomes a consideration only when used semantically as an image element, with little attention paid to page structure or systematic message organization. This approach was brilliantly employed by New York advertising in the 1950's and 60's. But as advertising and "serious" graphic design diverged in succeeding decades, this approach became associated with advertising's commercialism. (Polish, German and Japanese poster designers are notable, however, for their continuing powerful use of this imagery...)

Katherine McCoy, Education in an Adolescant Profession (Edu. of the Graphic Designer)