Design Edu Today

Design Edu Today celebrates its three year anniversary. To mark the anniversary Lauren Spielman and Kelly Stelmack, students in UMBC’s Graphic Design program, take over as co-hosts to ask designers Megan Gileza and Kendall Kiernan of Baltimore area design firm Orange Element questions about working in the industry. Kelly and Lauren asked a wide range of questions about working professionally such as what type of skills are necessary for the different types of design positions, what’s the average turnaround time on a typical project, and what skills do professionals want students to come out of school with. The bulk of the conversation centered around how to work with a client. From interviewing them in the initial discovery meeting to showing process along the way to selling the final design, all aspects of client interactions were covered.

Jay Fanelli, co-founder of Cotton Bureau, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the skills necessary to be a contemporary designer such as designing micro interactions, and design systems (not style guides). Jay also discusses the specifics on the need to produce high fidelity prototypes before getting too far along in the visual design process. Finally, the conversation goes into what a designer’s portfolio should like, what it shouldn’t, and how non visual design choices can say more about the portfolio than the work itself.

Heather Quinn, Professional Lecturer at DePaul University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between skinning and designing, her journey from pre-responsive design to post responsive design, and what she’s teaching in the classroom. Heather also discusses how she is using a grant to help determine the best practices in web design to update DePaul’s curriculum.

Chris Hallahan, User Experience Designer and Design Educator at Kent State University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the nuts and bolts of teaching responsive web design in a single class including different strategies for teaching HTML and CSS, User Experience, and Visual Design. We also touch on how that class fits into a larger curriculum and what an idea set of courses or program would look like.

Bob Gillespie Principal at The Creative Foundation joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the role of design educators in the 9 to 5 workaday design community and if they have enough practical experience to prepare students entering the industry. Bob also discusses what he has identified as the the transcending fundamentals of good design. Finally, the conversation covers the medium of interactive design versus print design and what fundamentals of good design are specific to each medium.