I believe that as a professional I should be both academically educated, as well as self-taught at what I do.
There seems to be a massive amount of information that a design professional needs to know. If a potential professional just shows up to school to complete all the academic requirements necessary for a degree - and by extension a job - then he or she is wasting not only his or her time, but the university and the employer.
To illustrate my point, there is an article by Bradley Gauthier that tells of his experience in college and how universities teach outdated information, especially where technology is concerned. It is estimated (by people who study this kind of thing) that the average graduate leaves the university with information that is four years outdated. If the potential professional is only learning from the classroom, then he or she is seriously unprepared for the world in which he or she is about to enter.
What I have done to combat this personally is I subscribe to many a design blog. These blogs are written and updated by organizations and designers I trust, and as a group are on the forefront of my discipline of graphic design - branding and identity design in particular. Also my professor Scott E. Frandsen has woven into the curriculum of the class, a self learning module that must be documented by the student.
Essentially, if there is something that I want to know more about, then I create a goal for myself on what I am going to learn outside of class. I then document the research I did, as well as what I was able to produce, and ultimately how comfortable I am with my new understanding of what I have just learned. It's designed to be simple, and each goal I create should be finished within the week.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
Aside from the opening sentence, I suppose I could sum up that it is the professional's responsibility to make education a habit. If I love what I am doing, then I love to learn how to better myself at it. That makes sense to me.
To illustrate my point, there is an article by Bradley Gauthier that tells of his experience in college and how universities teach outdated information, especially where technology is concerned. It is estimated (by people who study this kind of thing) that the average graduate leaves the university with information that is four years outdated. If the potential professional is only learning from the classroom, then he or she is seriously unprepared for the world in which he or she is about to enter.
What I have done to combat this personally is I subscribe to many a design blog. These blogs are written and updated by organizations and designers I trust, and as a group are on the forefront of my discipline of graphic design - branding and identity design in particular. Also my professor Scott E. Frandsen has woven into the curriculum of the class, a self learning module that must be documented by the student.
Essentially, if there is something that I want to know more about, then I create a goal for myself on what I am going to learn outside of class. I then document the research I did, as well as what I was able to produce, and ultimately how comfortable I am with my new understanding of what I have just learned. It's designed to be simple, and each goal I create should be finished within the week.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand.
Aside from the opening sentence, I suppose I could sum up that it is the professional's responsibility to make education a habit. If I love what I am doing, then I love to learn how to better myself at it. That makes sense to me.
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.
The above quote reviews a little of what was discussed in my last blog post - professionals take responsibility for themselves. Indeed, it is up to the student to learn anything or nothing at all.
Education is not something you’re given, but something you must steal. It’s not something you get, but something you pursue. Constantly. Whether one is a designer, an attorney, a senior chef, a young stage actor, or a practicing physician; there’s a word for professionals who have stopped pursuing an education: obsolete.
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