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Design Edu Today is the podcast series discussing what is necessary to be a successful designer in a contemporary, screen-based interactive world.
64 Episodes
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1Heather 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.
Dave Senior, Chief Growth Officer, and Partner at Playground Inc., joins Gary Rozanc to discuss his article “What I learned from 200 design interviews.” This episode goes into the nuts and bolts of the article Dave to answer specific questions about the transition from student to professional and we cover questions such as what Dave needs to see in a portfolio to know that a student can make the shift from print to digital, what format a portfolio needs to be in for in-person interviews, and self-initiated projects.
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.
Maurice Cherry, Content Marketer at Fog Creek Software, and host of the award winning podcast Revision Path joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what he has learned over 5 years and 240 episodes of hosting Revision Path. From ways Design Educators can promote diversity into the classroom to the systemic problems facing black students Maurice shares his insights. In the second half of the conversation Maurice talks about his own design practice, how studying Math and English makes him a better designer and how much the industry have changed in the past 20 years.
In episode 60 of Design Edu Today, Steph Loughran, Art Director at Outstand, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between working remotely on an in-house team versus working at a large digital agency. Along the way Steph talks about the different approaches to responsive web design including her love for element collages. The conversation also covers creating animations and micro interactions and the industries strong preference for Sketch over other layout programs.
Chris Cashdollar, Principal of Cashdollar Design, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss a wide array of topics. The conversation starts off with a discussion on ways to better prepare students for careers as freelance designers such as working with popular CMS templates, the ubiquitous need for writing skills to persuasively promote your work, and the need for internships to augment classroom learning. Along the way, Chris also discusses where designing Micro Interactions fits into the overall design process and the fundamental differences between solo designer software programs like Illustrator and Photoshop and collaboration based programs like InVision and Sketch that reflect how the industry operates today.
Lynn Fisher, Phoenix based Artist and Designer currently working at andyet, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss her unique approach to responsive design. The conversation goes into how CSS properties such Grid give designers the same control over their screen based designs as they have over print design. Lynn also talks about maintaining side projects as a way to learn and grow new skill sets. The conversation wraps up with Lynn sharing her approach to illustration, UX/UI design, and her Freelance work.
Meena Khalili, Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the education of an I-Shaped versus a T-Shaped student. Meena goes in-depth on what skills actually constitute a T-Shaped students including where coding and UX/UI fit on the T-Shaped diagram. The discussion also covers startling statistics from the Department of Labor on the decline of Graphic Design jobs and the exponential growth of Interactive Design jobs. Finally, we end the conversation by discussion how design education can lead the industry, not follow it.
Sam Borowy, Senior Experience Designer at T. Rowe Price, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how students present their work online and in-person during interviews. Sam goes in-depth on how students should prepare each for their specific use including using narrative. Sam also discusses what skillsets she specifically looks for when hiring both user experience and visual designers. Finally the conversation wraps up with a discussion on what skills design educators should be focusing on more. Hit: Responsive Design!
Neil Ward, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Drake University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss collaborations with students in the Art & Design, Computer Science and Journalism departments at Drake to design and develop Android Apps. Neil goes into details on logistically making the collaboration work for scheduling, matching students’ skill levels across departments, and the benefits and pitfalls of the project. Neil also discusses how this project fits into the overall design program at Drake and where UX theory would best fit into a design program.
MiHyun Kim, Assistant Professor of Communication Design at Texas State University, joins Gary Rozanc to share her own questions about teaching interactive design. The questions MiHyun Kim suggested lead to an in-depth conversation about non-traditional ways of introducing coding concepts such as computer games to make learning languages like HTML, CSS, and much easier. MiHyun Kim also shares how she teaches app, user experience, and responsive web design across three courses. Finally, the conversation wraps up with a discussion about dynamic data visualization and if it’s appropriate for undergraduate students.
Yana Sakellion, Associate Professor at the American University in Washington D.C., joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the Student Web Awards and why in an open source industry with a lot of self taught professionals, the there is such a lack of sharing of course material and student work amongst interactive and web design educators. Yana also shares her perspective on the elusive balance of visual design and front-end development training in design programs. Finally, Yana also discusses a variety of ideas including the value of using WordPress templates, where to introduce portfolio courses, and approaches to web design in the classroom.
I’m taking a different approach in the form of a round table discussion between an industry professional and interactive design educators. The reason for the departure in this episode stems from the opportunity of having two interactive design educators presenting at the annual SECAC, formerly the Southeastern College Art Conference, in the same room with an actual practicing designer at a real life agency in Columbus, Ohio. Coincidentally, at the same time, the AIGA Design Educators Community just released a draft version of their Designer of 2025 and I think it’s great to get everybody in the room at the same time and talk about the report If you’ve been listening to the podcast, it’s basically been about what I think we should be teaching and me asking professionals or educators to get their feedback. I think this format gives me a great chance to get somebody else talking about what they think should be taught and then getting interactive design educators and professionals together to say, “Yeah, these are the things we really need to target immediately!”, or “These things aren’t really relevant to us on a day to day basis.”, and follow up from the education perspective, on how do we incorporate that?
In part two of episode 51 RJ Thompson, Assistant Professor specializing in Graphic & Interactive Design at Youngstown State University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the four interactive courses in YSU’s BFA design program. RJ goes into specifics on how each course builds off each other and even empowers students by giving them entrepreneurial skills. RJ also shares how he leverages grants and grant writing to create real world scenarios for student projects.
In part one of episode 51 RJ Thompson, Assistant Professor specializing in Graphic & Interactive Design at Youngstown State University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the four interactive courses in YSU’s BFA design program. RJ goes into specifics on how each course builds off each other and even empowers students by giving them entrepreneurial skills. RJ also shares how he leverages grants and grant writing to create real world scenarios for student projects.
Tim Hykes, User Experience Designer at Wells Fargo Advisor, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between User Experience Design, Interactive Design, and Print Design. The conversation goes into specific details on the common thread between the three distinct professions and how print design educators can bring User Experience Design into the classroom. Tim also shares his insights on how the design industry has radically changed in the past twenty years and that change’s effect on skills like craft and file management.
Gary Rozanc reflects on what he has learned from hosting the Design Edu Today podcast on its two-year anniversary by revealing his top five takeaways including the right amount of HTML and CSS for designers, the new tools for interactive designers, what designers are actually making today, design being a team sport again, and a contemporary process that includes design systems.
In part two of episode 48 Mike Joosse, Partner and Community Director at DESIGNATION, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the ins and outs of UX and UI bootcamps vs. traditional 4 year graphic design programs, and the similar struggles that both face when training emerging designers. The discussion goes in depth on the ideal students for bootcamps, working with real clients on real projects, and built in assessments to keep the curriculum cutting edge.
In part one of episode 48 Mike Joosse, Partner and Community Director at DESIGNATION, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the ins and outs of UX and UI bootcamps vs. traditional 4 year graphic design programs, and the similar struggles that both face when training emerging designers. The discussion goes in depth on the ideal students for bootcamps, working with real clients on real projects, and built in assessments to keep the curriculum cutting edge.
Lauren Meranda Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Judson University joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the different approaches to teaching web and interactive design within a traditional graphic design program. We go into specifics on the difficulties of finding the right balance between teaching visual design, front-end development, and user experience within a limited number of credits and finish up the conversation discussing just how many classes would be ideal to teach the three distinct, but interrelated disciplines.
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