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Deep or Wide : Between Education and the Design Profession

I tend to argue with myself. It usually ends peaceably unless it’s out loud on public transportation. As these last days of summer fade into the school year, I find I am at odds with myself once again.

Educators serve two masters: to the student and the profession. With limited time and budget, teachers struggle with the choice: teach the person, or train employees. In schools of industrial design, this issue is particularly relevant. The field has become so broad that schools struggle to provide enough depth. The technical burden of the software alone could fill a four-year course of study. Factors like technology and globalization are changing the role of designer at a break neck pace. Where design historically concerned itself with manufactured things, today’s designers are routinely employed to also develop strategies, interactions, and experiences. Are design programs teaching enough of the skills that designers really need, or are we simply training the designers of tomorrow in the techniques of today? Read More …

Practice Noticing Stuff and Telling Stories

To be a better design researcher, hone your ability to observe the world around you. Keep a regular log that you add to at least weekly (daily would be ideal). Document the strange, the curious, the weird, the awesome and the funny. Learn to keep a close eye on the artifacts, signs, designs, behaviors, products and experiences that you encounter in your everyday life.

Put your observations on the Internet. Maybe no one will see them, but the discipline of taking your observations out of your own head and publishing them in a sharable form will force you into telling a story. As much as design research is about observing others, there’s something very personal about how and what we see, and developing that voice will serve you well. Collect stories and retell them in your own way, emphasizing the perspective you want others to take away. Read More …

Portfolio Preparation Tips and Suggestions

These days you need to go beyond the ordinary to make your portfolio stand out. Here is an overview of what to do and how to excel.

A strong portfolio opens doors, a weak portfolio closes them. Your portfolio is often the only thing a person sees before deciding whether or not to contact you, and in many cases you may not be present to explain it (particularly on-line portfolios). There are fundamental qualities that all outstanding portfolios share, and a variety of principals and techniques that can help take your portfolio from average to excellent. If at all possible, your portfolio should be appropriate to the situation and reviewer, and all portfolios should show creativity, skills, range, thought, and ambition. It is the overall combination of these, plus that “special something,” that makes one designer stand above the others. Read More …

A Brief Guide To Design Education

For potential design students, selecting the right program is no easy task. There are many factors that will guide your choice of school, not all as obvious as location, size and cost. What you might not find in a guidebook are a description of the department’s focus, record on placing graduates and faculty details. Much of this can only be learned from school visits and conversations with faculty and current and former students. Most important is to understand your own interests, as much as possible, so that as you learn about each department you will know whether it’s the right place for you. Your design education is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and you want to get the most out of it, so selecting the right program is crucial to your success. Read More …

College Decorating - Turning a Small Space into Home Sweet Home

Heading off to college is an exciting time that brings along many new experiences — budgeting money, being independent, doing your own laundry and having to live your life within the confines of a dorm room or small apartment.

Many college students are used to living in a home with a large den, a spacious kitchen and a bedroom with tons of closet space. When they head off to school, they’ll need to adapt to a new living style and embrace the idea of combining many rooms into just one or two small spaces. Read More …

George Brown-School of Design

Toronto has Canada’s largest concentration of design businesses and is one of North America’s four top centres for design. We reflect this context by developing programs that foster excellence in design thinking, design culture and design business. Developed to focus imagination and hone critical thinking, our programs assist students in applying the latest technologies for a career in design. Our unique educational approach combines academic programs with authentic-task projects.

With over 50% of Canada’s design studios, advertising agencies and new media companies, Toronto rules Canada’s design world.

The School of Design at George Brown College is a member of ICSID (the International Council of the Societies of Industrial Design) and ICOGRADA (The International Council of Graphic Design Associations). In addition, the School provides the Secretariat for ACID (the Association of Canadian Industrial Designers) and CSEA (the Canadian Society for Education in Art).

“As a graduate of the Graphic Design program, I can attest to the value of the design education I received at George Brown College. The School of Design is connected to industry and has developed new courses and programs that integrate design and business. The vision for the future is innovative and exciting.”

The Hip City List: Study Interior Design in Toronto

Looking for a lively, hip, and in-style city that will inspire you as you work on your interior design degree? Toronto will exceed your expectations. Located in Ontario, Canada, Toronto is a growing city of over six million people. Toronto is the largest city in Canada, and with a multitude of museums, parks, boutiques, and galleries, an aspiring designer will never get bored in Toronto.

Toronto: Style in the Great North

There is a reason millions of Canadians, Americans, and people from around the world flock to Toronto. With unparalleled diversity, warm people, and endless entertainment, you’ll never be bored in Toronto. Toronto is the economic capital of Canada and is also one of the safest cities of its size, making it a great place to get an interior design degree.

Toronto has a lot to offer the style- and design-minded. A few highlights include:

· Fashion Center: The designer boutiques of Yorkville, Eaton Centre, and Bloor Street offer styles on par with Paris, Milan, or London.

· Design Exchange: The Design Exchange rotates exhibits of contemporary design in the fields of graphics, architecture, and interior design.

· Doors Open: Doors Open is an annual event that allows Torontonians to explore the interior designs and heritages of buildings in the city, allowing people to view history through interior design styles.

Interior Design Schools in Toronto

Toronto is home to top interior design schools. Toronto design schools offer degree programs in a variety interior design fields, including:

· Two-Year and Three-Year Diploma in Interior Design

· 2-D Art & Animation

· Apparel/Fashion Design

· Graphic Design

· Residential Design

Interior design schools in Toronto give you the option to watch professional designers at work and get practical experience before you starting your career.

POSSIBILITIES 08 - The Temasek Design Show

Possibilities [pos-uh-bil-i-tee]

1. Potential

2. Something possible

3. The state of fact of being possible

DESIGN is very much a part of our daily lives - our living spaces and the products we use, what we wear and how we communicate with each other. Virtual is very real for those who use digital interfaces to connect with each other or sift through information and make it knowledge. Popular entertainment is essentially designed media technology capable transporting us to the realms of imagination. DESIGN can open vistas of possibilities and has the potential to make our lives easier and happier.

Temasek Design School creates an environment to provoke exploration and cross disciplinary solutions. Collaboration among the various diplomas opens up these possibilities for the students. Because real life is not neat, distinct and pre-sorted the school’s curriculum pushes students to make connections and find synergies to drive new ideas and concepts. This year’s graduating students will show you some of those vistas… it is about Possibilities!

POSSIBILITIES 08 Infinite Interpretations 13-15 march 2008