Issue-Based Design Education: Changing the way future communication designers are taught in a global society.

Abstract

Communication design education in the United States takes on various methodologies and teaching strategies. This paper focuses on an alternative methodology called, Issue-Based Design Education (IBDE). Educational experiences in IBDE would encourage meaning making and social responsibility while learning to think critically about design solutions. A discussion on the importance and value of advocacy through design products and surfaces is addressed. The paper will propose that an “Issue Based” methodology, can lead to a stronger understanding of social worth as a communication designer.

The paper draws on the discourse of design scholars who have argued that designers need to be more socially conscious and socially relevant when creating visual products. A discussion on the importance and value of advocacy through design products and surfaces is addressed.

In addition, the paper will provide a case study on IBDE strategies, processes, and final products used in a visual communication undergraduate program at an urban working class university, California State University, Northridge. The paper provides a brief narrative on how IBDE was used during a very important presidential election year, 2008, in the United States and the state of California with the various issues addressed (environmental, social, political, and global). The case study is directly related to this special population of students and cannot be generalised to other populations. This culturally diverse working-class student population found connections to citizenship and purpose in communication design.

Key Words:

• Socially relevant
• responsibility
• social advocacy with design
• social and environmental awareness