The Medium Isn't the Message

Founded in 1882, The Cleveland Institute of Art is an independent college of art and design committed to leadership and vision in all forms of visual arts education. For the past 125 years, the Institute has made enduring contributions to art and education and connects to the community through gallery exhibitions, talks and lectures, an extended studies program and The Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque. LinkWINTER 2008 NEWS FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF THE CLEVELAND INSTITUTE OF ART THE MEDIUM ISN’T THE MESSAGE OOne of Mari Hulick’s first decisions as a newly appointed department head in 2004 was to change the name of her department. Out went Graphic Design; Communication Design in came Communication Design and with it, a new approach to the discipline. at CIA: Strategy First, “I’m very passionate about this. We need to clarify what our profession Media Second is about. It is about communicating ideas,” said Hulick. “The word ‘graphic’ limits the field to print and we do so much more than design for print. We’re rooted in print and print will never go away, but we also design for the web, cell phones and all sorts of PDAs (personal digital assistants); we design trailers and title sequences for movies and television; we design signage and way-finding systems. Anywhere you see words and symbols, you’ve got communication design.” For Hulick and her faculty colleagues, design is strategy, independent of the medium used. “I tell my students that if The New York Times said tomorrow ‘Forget print, forget the web; information is going to be con- veyed through holograms,’ we would teach communication design for holograms. Design is not about media; it’s about a strategic approach to a problem.” That said, the Communication Design Department still offers a design produc- “Design is not tion class, which includes field trips nearly every other week to printing about media; companies, photography labs and design studios. And students still learn to use a traditional letterpress, offset press and it’s about a bindery, so they will appreciate the tactility of print on paper and the tradi- strategic approach tion from which their field evolved. to a problem.” Thinking First Hulick likes to nudge students to think far outside the box — or off the page — TOP: A BOOK DESIGNED BY about ways to communicate ideas. For COMMUNICATION DESIGN instance, last fall her Contemporary Design Studio class experimented pub- GRADUATE BOBBIE FOX ’07 licly with non-traditional means of graphic communication. One student ABOVE: COMMUNICATION DESIGN spelled out the word HUNGER in pieces DEPARTMENT HEAD MARI HULICK of Wonder Bread™ on a campus lawn; DISCUSSES A PROJECT WITH another suspended clear plastic letters ANTHONY ZART ’08 Continued on page 2 RIGHT: A SELF PROMOTIONAL PIECE BY ALEX JUNG ’09 Digital Age The tools of graphic design changed almost overnight with the introduction of MacIntosh desktop computers in the 1980s. Professor Gene Pawlowski ’65, remembers the Institute’s graphic design faculty embraced the change, becoming the first academic department on campus to have computers. “I think we even had computers before the business office because we knew it was going to be a really good thing,” recalled Pawlowski, who has been teaching at the Institute since 1966. Today, students spend most of the first two months of the introductory Design for Communications course exploring their “toolbox:” typography, images and key software programs including Photoshop®, Illustrator®, InDesign® and Flash®. Hulick has also added the web design courses, Graphic User Interface and Information Architecture, to the curriculum. “We’re about design, including web design. We view it as a strategic approach to a problem. What is exciting Medium Isn’t Message “We’re really looking at what we want about being at The Cleveland Institute of Art is that we have the ability to work Continued from page 1 the visitor to see and feel when they walk through our front doors. We’re closely with digital media artists from the from a tree to sparkle in the sun, drift in trying to make the place feel more T.I.M.E.-Digital Arts Department, where the wind and spell the word DAYDREAM. welcoming,” said Anthony Zart ’08. they focus on animation, video game From that highly conceptual and creative That is exactly the “user-focus” Hulick design, sound and film.” project, they moved to a very practical is trying to instill and is a common way-finding assignment in the Institute’s thread the Communication Design Gund Building, where they proposed curriculum shares with the curricula in creating a more welcoming atmosphere both the Industrial Design and Interior at the entrances and improving visitors’ Design departments. ability to navigate through the building. User Focus is Key “The three questions design professionals ask every day are: what is the project; who is it for; and what do I want them to feel. The emotional experience of the user is what matters,” Hulick said. That’s a big change, she notes, moving away from being strictly wedded to a medium and a set of skills and instead espousing a way of thinking. “If a prospective student is vacillating between business school and communication design, I want that student,” she said. “That’s the kind of thinking we need.” Hulick notes that successful graphic designers collaborate with their clients, often working in teams to strategize and create the best solution or set of solutions for a communication problem, whether the answers are found in print or other media. TOP: PROFESSOR GENE PAWLOWSKI ’65 AND HIS STUDENTS REVIEW A STUDENT PROJECT PRODUCED ON A DIGITAL PRINTER AT GREAT LAKES INTEGRATED ABOVE: SCREEN CAPTURE OF WWW.HESSLAND.COM DESIGNED BY COMMUNICATION DESIGN GRADUATE JEREMIAH BONCHA ’06 RIGHT: “INFORMATION DESIGN,” BY KARA MASON ’09 2 Where do Communication Faculty Walk the Walk Designers Work? As in the Institute’s other academic Before graduation, Communication departments, the faculty in Communication Design majors compete for internships Design are all professionals, active in locally and regionally at design firms the field. such as Nesnadny + Schwartz , The Pawlowski, who works chiefly in book Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA) design, said continuing to practice is Cleveland, The Plain Dealer, Case Western “critical” to his ability to teach. “Students Reserve University, The Cleveland Clinic will recognize it if you are not relevant. If and elsewhere. they are questioning either your abilities Anna Robertson ’09, completed an or your knowledge, then you don’t internship at MOCA last fall, designing a belong here. I’m sure they’ll tell me that press kit, flyers and museum store gift when it happens,” he added with a smile. certificates. She said the experience rein- The adjunct faculty members teaching forced her choice of majors. “I chose in Communication Design this semester communication design because it’s a very are Steve Lageson, art director for Wyse practical field, but I’m still doing art, Advertising; Lizzy Lee, senior designer at which is what I love. I know I can get a the Cleveland Museum of Art; Michael job and still make something beautiful.” Lehto, MFA ’07 informational and inter- After graduation, Institute students are active designer; Christopher Ramsay, princi- indeed consistently landing good jobs. pal, Ramsay Creative; and Danielle Rini Nicholas Latkovic ’06 is among a growing Uva, senior designer at MOCA. “We have number of communication designers great faculty. we’ve got some of the working exclusively in interactive design. leading communication designers in He works for a Chicago firm that counts Cleveland now teaching at our school,” Sears among its top clients. Hulick said. “I don’t think I’d be in Chicago right now if it weren’t for The Cleveland Institute of Art,” he said. “I learned how to present myself well in my work and in articulating about my work. The whole critique experience at CIA helped me to become a better speaker whether I’m just talking with someone over coffee or pre- senting my portfolio in a job interview.” Kai-Wei Hsieh ’07 is a junior graphic designer at The Art of Beauty, which manufactures products for salons and spas. She calls on a range of skills honed at CIA to design publications, packaging, brand logos and various collateral materials. “I’m so glad I graduated from CIA. I really learned a lot from my professors,” she said. Many other graduates design publications, including books and magazines; others design way-finding systems or collateral materials, such as posters, post- cards, brochures or even product packaging; still others work in broadcast graphics, designing trailers or title sequences for television or movies. Fewer than 10 percent “Anywhere of graphic designers are in advertising, according to Hulick. “What’s really taking off as a separate field of study is information design, or you see words taking dense information and giving it a graphic application so people can under- stand it. It’s not just graphs and charts; it’s creatively conveying complex infor- and mation and sometimes it’s absolutely gorgeous,” she said. THIS PAGE, TOP TO BOTTOM: symbols, FROM AN ASSIGNMENT TITLED "HOMAGE TO A DESIGNER," STUDENTS CREATED BOOKS THAT SHOWCASE AND CONCEPTUALLY RELATE TO you’ve got THE WORK OF A LEADING DESIGNER OR FIRM. CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: “CAHAN DESIGNS” BY ERIN PILAWSKI ’10, “DUFFY & PARTNERS” BY DIANA PERAITA ’10, “MICHAEL BEIRUT (SMART, communication BOLD)” BY LIZ COHEN ’10, “CARIN GOLDBERG“ BY DAN SCHNEAR ’10, “LITTLE JACKET” BY KATIE PARLAND ’10 design.” KAI-WEI HSIEH ’07 PRODUCED THIS DESIGN TO PROMOTE CLEVELAND’S INGENUITY FESTIVAL “DAYDREAM” BY NICHOLAS BEDELL ’08 AND DANIEL SCHNEAR ’10 3 A KACALIEFF LECTURE SERIES, PUBLIC ART PROJECT, rt will have people talking in posters will be featured in an exhibition Cleveland in the coming months when on view in the Institute’s Reinberger SYMPOSIUM BRING ART AND IDEAS TO CLEVELAND The Cleveland Institute of Art presents Galleries from March 27 until May 3.

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