The Academic Path

This is not to say that all academic web design programs are without merit; just that most of them are. There are, however, a few high-quality institutions with good programs. For instance, Hyper Island, SVA’s Interaction Design program and Carnegie Mellon’s Interaction Designprogram each offers a solid curriculum, but there aren’t too many others that do. If you look at what these institutions and programs offer and what they demand, you get the sense that they’re serious about delivering on the promise of their course descriptions.

You may have noticed that the few quality design programs are largely graduate programs. There is a good reason for this, and it indicates their importance as simply part of a good education: these programs are specialized, and as such do not constitute a foundation degree. I highly recommend that any aspiring designer interested in academic education first acquire a basic liberal arts degree or equivalent before pursuing one of these specialized programs. Education should initially be about preparing you as a responsible, competent human being. Skipping that in favor of specialized interest smacks of fetish, and it won’t prepare you for any profession.

The most important lesson an aspiring design professional can learn is to take responsibility for his or her own education. Your education is up to you. Your teachers and professors can’t “learn” you anything. You have to learn it, internalize it, and make it your own so that you apply your understanding intuitively in practice. What’s more, it is not your teachers’ job to prepare you for life or to give you the entire syllabus for what is required. Their job is to point the way toward the path you should follow. Period.

Each individual component or topic that your teacher/professor includes in a course syllabus is but the surface of great depths or the opening to a deep rabbit hole. What should be understood (and seldom is) is that your mandate is then to fully explore those depths on your own or with others outside of the classroom. The full lesson will not be spoon-fed to you!

Your education is not what you receive in class, but rather what you discover in further study. If you fail to recognize and act on this fact your education will be entirely inadequate. As one working to become a professional, an overall assumption of responsibility is the position from which all of your activities and choices must come; starting with the fact that your education is your responsibility.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16