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The Role of Writing in a Design Curriculum
There is no question that there is value in writing. But to what extent should writing play a role in a graphic design curriculum and what is its educational value? Several years ago my colleagues and I at Oregon State University created a writing intensive course in our graphic design curriculum, as part of a university mandate for the new Baccalaureate Core. It was at this time that I began to think about the relationship between writing and design and to see this relationship in new ways.
The premise of a writing intensive course is that students engage more actively in writing and learning when they are passionate and interested in a given topic. In addition, a significant portion of the grade for the class is based on writing. Addressing writing outside of English classes forces students to see how writing is integral to their discipline. For graphic design students who are studying letterforms and typography, a writing intensive course brings another level of awareness to words, meanings and narrative structures.
The writing intensive course offered at OSU is called “Contemporary Issues in Design” and is a 400-level course required for all graphic design majors. This 3-credit seminar style course explores contemporary culture and issues that affect designers. These topics are examined through reading, writing, discussions and projects. While a ten week course can only touch the surface of many of these issues, it is nonetheless of value for students to realize that graphic designers are obviously influenced by culture and vice versa. The class also questions and discusses ethics and social responsibilities of graphic designers within our society.
My colleagues and I purposely set up this course in a fairly broad manner, that is, whoever teaches the class can decide which topics to explore and how to explore them. For example, I have used both reading packets, and textbooks and have found both beneficial. For example, the series Looking Closer, edited by Steven Heller is an excellent text, as it covers a broad range of topics. This past year I used the book Citizen Designer, edited by Steven Heller and Veronique Vienne, because it spoke more to the theme I was introducing, that of our role and responsibility as Graphic Designers. Other topics I have explored include:
Appropriateness / Ethics
Sustainability Activism and Social Responsibility
Personal Voice/Self Driven Projects
Branding Strategies/Identity
Writing in the Professional Practice
Globalization Technology and Design
One aspect of writing that I have focused on, are the parallels between the writing and design process. It seems that the majority of design students, and possibly undergraduate students in general, are not very confident in their writing skills. I discuss aspects of a writing process much the same way I would a design process. The list below shows how the processes are similar.
designing/writingPreparation/schedule
Ideation: mind mapping, etc.
Research
Conceptual development /ideation
Research
Idea Organization/evaluation
Roughs/thumbnails
Evaluation
Revision
Final project development
Self-evaluation of process
Though this example shows a linear organization, the process will often take a more non-linear route. Conceptual skills are developed in both writing and design through divergent exercises, which enable a student to see a myriad of solutions.
One requirement of the class is that students develop at least one lengthy, formal writing assignment, which typically translates into a research paper about a contemporary design topic. Students spend time researching, synthesizing, analyzing and writing about their topics and I encourage visuals within the paper. I take the students step by step through the writing process, beginning with topic selection, thesis statements, organizing and refining with peer-reviewed rough drafts. This paper of 8 to 10 pages begins the first week of the class and develops throughout the term. There are other writing assignments running concurrently with it, and often these assignments help strengthen the final paper. The research paper can be challenging for the students, therefore last year I developed a new component to accompany it.
After a tight rough draft is reviewed, the students are asked to translate the entire paper into a visual piece. Though they have to use all of the writing from the paper, the final form is up to the student. Some choose to do a series of posters, some a multi-page book while others choose an electronic, interactive format.
This project is beneficial for several reasons. First and foremost, it enables students to work with content that they developed and reinforce meaning through a visual piece. Instead of throwing the paper away at the end of the term, the students show this piece in their portfolios and proudly say they wrote and designed it. Again, we are not trying to make professional writers out of design students, we are simply emphasizing writing as another way to think and learn.
A colleague of mine in the graphic design program, who holds an MFA in creative writing, develops projects with an emphasis on narrative (both visual and verbal) within the realm of fiction. An example of this is a project he gives in which students are asked to choose a consumer product and to forget what the product is and it’s intended function. Students are then asked to use their imaginations to turn the product into something else (a calculator becomes a building, pasta become an army) and eventually write a prose narrative using the newly invented product. Students begin to reinvent narrative structures and this in turn strengthens their design process. A project I developed which further develops language and conceptual skills through writing is called word/image/meaning.
I begin this assignment by asking students to bring in a provocative news article about a current topic. The article need not specifically deal with graphic design, but should deal with a contemporary issue, be it political, environmental, economic or social. After reading the article, students are asked to do a “looping” exercise. Students begin with a 3-minute free-write, meaning they simply write a summary of the article without picking up their pens and worrying about grammar and punctuation. I then ask the students to circle the most interesting sentence from this free-write and use that sentence to begin the next free-write. I follow this with a couple of more looping and free-writing exercises and ask the students to review where they started from and where they ended up. Most are usually surprised that they have moved into an entirely new area to explore in relation to the original article; typically a more interesting and less expected one. I still have not told the students what the final form of this project is. I ask them to create word lists that may relate to the article and also to create image lists relating to the article.
I then explain that the final project will be a “triptych”, consisting of three 10" x 10" panels. One panel will contain a 25-word statement related to the article. The next panel will contain one word which summarizes the concept and the third panel consists of one image that again, is powerful and makes people think about what is being said. Literal images and explanations are discouraged and students are to think about analogies, metaphors and new relationships. This exercise pushes students to delve deeper into divergent ideas through writing and they forgo any preconceived ideas. During the critique, we talk about the order of the panels and why one order may be stronger than another. We talk about the power of words and images. We also discuss possible relationships this topic has to design and ramifications within our culture.
I have also developed a way to bring writing into class discussions through a weblog. This has proved infinitely more valuable and interesting than the typical in class discussion. I pose a question each week based on an article or event and students have to respond at least one time before each class period. The discussions are lively, the writing is direct and clear and this gives me a jumping off point for further discussion in the classroom. In addition, the web discussion gives all students and equal voice, including shy or non-native speakers. Another issue in bringing more writing into a design curriculum is the logistics.
How feasible is it to bring writing courses into an already full curriculum of studio courses? Most graphic design programs are struggling to simply teach the necessary studio courses and find it difficult to integrate a course like “Contemporary Issues in Design.” Fortunately, this course developed out of a university mandate to teach a writing intensive course and we had to make a place for it in our curriculum. Given the demands of a studio-based program, the course might not have developed without this university requirement. Yet, our studio curriculum has not suffered and in fact, this class has enhanced what our students now bring into a studio class. The graphic design faculty uses writing and writing exercises in all studio classes, throughout the entire curriculum. Students discover many more divergent solutions with the addition of writing and it is valued as an integral part of the design process.
In conclusion, confidence in writing can help students think more critically and articulate ideas clearer, in turn, making them more capable designers. The challenge is to find innovative ways to bring writing into a graphic design curriculum, without diminishing the necessary studio component. Writing intensive courses are one such solution.
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I am quite encouraged by the way you have integrated writing into graphic design. This indeed is food for me. I am a christian magazine editor trying to learn more about graphic design. Thank you so much and keep up the good work.
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Thank you for posting your use of writing and its importance to design education. The use of writing and reading is a crucial part of design education that often gets neglected.
To often student and educators focus on making without context or thinking. Your inclusion of writing on contemporary topics of design certainly supports the type of contemplation and problem solving that is important to the conceptual development of young designers.
I find in the courses I teach, the introduction to reading of articles and writing generates a positive response from my students. They enjoy reading about the “new ideas/topics” and being able to sort through their knowledge to find their own place as young designers. The design history courses they take as curricular requirements builds foundation though they do not truly connect with the content because the face of design has developed significantly since our modern masters worked (Rand, Bass, Beall?). Through reading and writing on contemporary issues they connect more to the thoughts, processes and familiarity of the material.
Another thing I find exciting about your course is learning can be achieved through more than lectures by the instructor, making of projects and critiquing of performance alone. This in my opinion is “old school design education”. It is only a portion of the contemporary classroom. Design learning is experiential and shared. By having students write, they are developing critical thinking skills by establishing an opinion (which ofthe every student forgets they have) and presenting of their ideas to their peers (building community). When the dialogue is between two (teacher and student only) not all can benefit. When the entire class is involved in participating in discussion, the obvious is happening, more minds involved, more minds touched, more learning happens.
I commend your scholarship of teaching and learning.
Bill Klingensmith
Assistant Professor of Graphic Design
Rochester Institute of Technology -
I am currently attending the New England Institute of Art and I agree with your use of writing as part of a design program. I will forward this to my school in hopes that they will incorporate the skill of writing with the graphic design field, rather than regular numerous english classes. In order to be a successful graphic designer students must understand that they not only need to be able to express themselves visually, but verbally and through writing as well.
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I am pleased to read your ideas on the incorporation of writing with design. The implementation of effective writing and language skills is too frequently glossed over. And even the best educated English graduate may not have the right sort of connectivity to a particular graphic design project to create the right sort of communication to go along with it.
That being said--how will this sort of training change the job market regarding copy writiers, such as myself? It is difficult for me to imagine an excellent writer ever becoming obsolete, even to a cross trained designer. -
I agree with including writing into communications design curriculum in ways more meaningful than papers which, though they have value in internalizing ideas and concepts, are too similar to previous experience in other subject areas.
In our profession the lines between language and image are quite blurred. Often our visuals are linguistic in that they communicate complex ideas and emotions. The function of verbal/visual language often interchanges depending on our application. Being able to communicate with some precision while speaking, writing and visualizing improves communications on all levels.
We have been working on including writing in assignments. I agree that it is difficult to find the space for a course devoted solely to writing. Already adequate time for visual exploration suffers at the hands of technology and we are still very much a Visual Art. We have asked students to build project boards around stories from their youth which result in the naming and designing of products and packaging. The boards have more to do with emotional or sensory expressions of their stories. We also do things like having students write their memories about the first time they heard a favorite song...and then designing a book that involves their own text, etc. We also ask that they occasionaly write their own creative briefs as well as written justifications or presentations of their concepts. We also ask that they read books and articles and then articulate them visually.
We ask that students keep diary/sketchbooks in all their classes.
I think writing is common to our understanding of emotion, comprehension and expression. Throughout our early learning years it is what we do. Making the connection between our ability to verbally express ideas and concepts and visually express them, I believe, results in more individually diverse and effective communicators. -
Writing clearly is--of course--something every college graduate should be able to do. That many design and art students have difficulty expressing themselves with words is reason enough to emphasize it in design coursework.
However, in my experience, writing is justifiable purely in terms of improving student design work.
When students are compelled to write their own text, they learn to appreciate that words have value and that design and expository structure are similar and must complement each other for a piece to work. They also become more sensitive typographers--because they know the effort that went into the text, they are less likely to set it all in 8-point Impact, for example.
As I have slowly emphasized writing more in my courses, I have naturally been concerned that all that time writing would result in reduced attention to the design part of the assignment. Indeed students may have less time for designing, but that time they do have is far more fruitful. The structure of the written and designed piece can be established simultaneously and more intelligently--and concepts have become more potent and more targeted. In short, students learn how to harness the power of design, but not to the neglect of the power of words.
Jandos Rothstein
Asst. Professor of Graphic Design
George Mason University -
Excellent comments. I totally agree and am thrilled to see a post of this nature. I'm a graphic designer of 10 years and teacher of design for 6 years. After setting thousands of paragraphs of text and messaging you start to get the feel for how important the integration of message and design can be. I think the more a student/designer can get involved in writing the better their overall designs will be. Lets face it, we will NOT replace good copywriters. But we will be more sensitive and be able to help out on the shoe-string budgets. I love and encourgae the idea of getting students to write more of their own copy. Good bye "Lorem Impsum". Nice post!
Todd
Design Dump
www.designdump.com
A resource for Graphic Designers -
I'm so happy to read your article. I currently teach in a design module which requires writing on design issues as part of assessment. Your article has given me a lot of ideas on how to make writing in Graphic Design, more interesting and appealing to students.
Writing is indeed meaningful and it helps us to articulate ideas and understanding of our environment. It also encourages us to engage in research.
Thank you so much for sharing. I'm inspired! -
I was so glad to find a detailed description of an intensive writing course. I would love to implement something of this nature in my own school.
I've been unsatisfied with the direction that my own design education has been taking and am interested in focusing on what makes an effective graphic design education for my senior thesis project.
I feel that the design program has become stagnant and chaotic (if that makes any sense) and I long for some stimulating projects and effective use of time. It seems to me that much of my class time is wasted and I can't help but think that there must be better ways to effectively work with all types of learners, being a more hands-on learner myself, and still work within the guidelines of a project.
Thank you all for your comments and insights. -
One does not want to be overly critical of this article, as it provides a start. I do want to make three points.
1. There is a fundamental distinction between criticism and construction. Particularly on the undergraduate level, the first priority is on construction: building competence through experience, knowledge and meta-knowledge. Critique, which is what the readings and subject matters presented in the article are, is not a substitute.
2. Second, and, I hope this makes my first comment clear, graphic design is as verbal as it is visual, a fact that is generally neglected in curricula. There are specific writing skills that designers need in the course of their work, including technical writing, writing for presentation, informational writing, 'diagrammatic writing’ (as Robert Horn calls it), and writing for instruction to name a few. These have specific characteristics that need to be addressed in a serious, concerted way, not just as comments within projects.
Students must acquire explicit understandings of image/text relationships and explicit strategies for their use, particularly in communications where content is not found in either the sensory or symbolic mode alone but in their combination. Students need to become skilled in the production and use of concept mapping techniques, not just for visualization, but as tools they can use to think-out or analyze problems. Text analysis is a great place to develop these tools.
3. The last point may seem small-minded, but it is inconveniently true and important. The continuing isolation of graphic design from the mainstream (non fine art) intellectual and pragmatic worlds is profoundly to its detriment. By and large, writing within graphic design is insular and mediocre. There are far better places to look for content, and far better models of writing to seek out.
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