Graphic Comm Design vs Industrial Design

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Cincinnati
1

<p>I'm hoping to get info regarding the Graphic Communication Design program at UC DAAP and also understanding what it is (and is not) compared to majors that seem similar, such as New Media Design, Digital Media, Motion Graphics, Animation... etc. </p>

<p>DS1 knew very early on that he was meant for a career in Industrial Design. However, DS2 is intrigued about ID, but seems to gravitate more towards design that is 2D, computer-based, print, etc. DS2 isn't into drawing/painting, but can spend hours on Adobe Photoshop and wants to learn Adobe After Effects. </p>

<p>It seems that Interaction Design will continue to grow, and I noticed there is a concentration component in the Graphic Communication Design program, but I'm confused as Interaction Design is also a component of the Industrial Design field, but is not mentioned in the ID Program curriculum.</p>

<p>What are the similarities and differences in the Programs and Career Fields?</p>

<p>The Industrial Design Program at UC is #1, but how about the Graphic Comm Design Program?</p>

<p>Are both fields similar in job outlook and salary?</p>

2

<p>Hello Ma’am. I will be entering DAAP this fall in the Graphic Communication Design (GRCD) Program. I have done quite a lot of research (using quite a lot of unusual methods, I must say) on the Graphic Design program at DAAP. If one of your children is also entering the program… we will probably be future “all-night-design buddies”. (From what I hear, we will be working our behinds off!). So I can’t wait to meet him or her!!</p>

<p>So here is what I have gathered from all my research.</p>

<p>Like you hinted at, the term “graphic design” as pertaining to college majors, varies from college to college that one can only understand what they mean by reading through the curriculum.</p>

<p>Words such as New Media Design, Digital Media, Motion Graphics, and Animation continually pop up as names of majors or courses within majors, that it can leave one confused (I know it did me).</p>

<p>Bearing in mind that all four have foundation courses in general design principles, here are the differences between New Media Design, Digital Media, Motion Graphics, and Animation:</p>

<p>New Media Design – This is most closely associated with Web Design and Graphical User Interface Design (i.e. How an application for an iPhone looks and how it responds to user input such as touching, sliding, tapping, and holding. So it naturally involves animation). A major in this would include learning how to code in web languages like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. </p>

<p>Digital Media – This includes the components of New Media Design, in addition to incorporating sound and animation. This however is much more coding oriented than New Media design. As a consequence, if a student were to enroll in such a course they would be open to career paths in game development and design, audiovisual editing, along with animation, all of which a New Media Design graduate may not be able to do.</p>

<p>Motion Graphics- Out of all the four this is the one I am most uncertain about. I would suggest Ma’am, that you have a look through the works under “Motion Graphics” in [Online</a> Portfolios on Behance](<a href=“http://www.behance.net%5DOnline”>http://www.behance.net) to form your own idea about what Motion Graphic is. What I am certain of though is that It is mostly more video oriented than the four. But I am yet to come across a university that has a major in this. Its usually a course within a major.</p>

<p>Animation – This course is the one that has the least to do with “traditional” graphic design. It evidently follows general design principles, but since it is heavily engulfed in 3d media, it isn’t usually included in graphic design courses. It can be said that animation is the digital counterpart of sculpture, just as graphic design is the digital counterpart of drawing/painting. So being good at sculpting or just working with 3d media will definitely help in being successful at animation. Also… I know previously I mentioned animation in the New Media Design format. That kind of animation and this kind of animation are different. The one pertaining to New Media, has to do with simple animation like how a loading icon rotates on a website, or how when you click a button it dynamically “pops” itself inside a webpage. This kind of animation (the one that forms most of this paragraph) is more in depth, and has to do with 3d modeling and the motion of those 3d models. Graduates of such programs can go on to work on animation films like Shrek, Madagascar, Toy Story and the like.</p>

<p>Previously, DAAP used to have two separate programs, Digital Design and Graphic Design, which they merged into the now GRCD course. From what I understand (correct me if I am wrong) Digital Design included Motion Graphics and Animation, while Graphic Design taught design that was applied to physical media (paper, product packaging, business cards posters.etc). I think this was done because they were trying to separate between designing for publication and designing for computer. But as time has, the line between Digital Design and Graphic Design (Graphic design being the mother of the two) is continually being blurred. This is because Graphic design skills are immediately transferable to digital design. I am not so sure the same can be said about digital design to graphic design. But nevertheless, this is what I believe has led to DAAP merging the two majors</p>

<p>I am not sure if you had a look yet at the GRCD curriculum, but here is the link:
<a href=“http://daap.uc.edu/content/dam/daap/schools/design/docs/GRCD_curriculum.pdf[/url]”>http://daap.uc.edu/content/dam/daap/schools/design/docs/GRCD_curriculum.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>The names of each course, don’t exactly tell what the course is about. For a detailed explanation of each course go to this link: [Registrar[/url</a>]</p>

<p>Then select “Graphic Communication Design”. After that you should be able to click on each course and read a short paragraph of what each is actually is about.</p>

<p>From what I have gathered from the above links, here is what the GRCD course is and is not, in a jiffy:
WHAT IT IS

  • A broad overview on design as whole (an overview that is necessary for any career in design)
  • Then it teaches graphic design skills that are all transferable to print design, web design, and design for video (time-based design).
  • In the fourth year of the program, students choose which area they want to branch of into: Interaction design, time-based design, and Print design.
  • Has skills that are directly transferable to New Media, Digital Media, and Motion Graphics.</p>

<p>WHAT IT IS NOT

  • IT IS NOT a Foundation for an animation career. Although there is time based design which touches on 3d modeling, it is still a more video oriented course than it is a “How-to-make-a-Pixar-Animation-Movie-Like-ToyStory” course. However, one can always go to graduate school to learn animation (which is the path many graphic design people take before becoming animators). If at all, one wanted to study an undergraduate design major apart from animation before studying animation for grad school, he/she should probably get into industrial design. This is because industrial design will teach you how to use 3d modeling software, which is crucial aspect of animation.</p>

<p>Here are links of past students work, that you might want to look through, to get a feel for what the Graphic Communication Design Program is like. The works should give you an idea of the skills your child would come out with if he came to UC:

<p>About Rankings…
The graphic communication design program is highly ranked. That is all that was stated by UC DAAP.</p>

<p>Rankings is tricky thing especially when it comes to DAAP. According to Wikipedia (although the information is not sourced) it is in the top 20 programs in the US. Now, apparently the Industrial Design program is number one in the US. It is also said that architecture and interior design are ranked either first or second in their respective fields (I can’t remember). However these rankings were made by a magazine known as DesignIntelligence which writes on Interior, Industrial, and Architetural design ONLY. Not Graphic Design. So its not like, graphic design is lower than the other programs. But then again, I have never been to or visited DAAP and sat in the classes. So I cannot be certain. I can only speculate.</p>

<p>USNews, perhaps the most popular college ranking body, does not list any of the DAAP programs in the top design programs in US. (There is a hypothetical reason I have for this which I will come to shortly). So if we were to use USNews rankings as the final verdict, none of the DAAP programs are listed there. If we were to use DesignIntelligence as the final judge for the ranking of DAAP programs, it wouldn’t be fair for graphic design, since DesignIntelligence doesn’t rank graphic design courses at all. Check this link to see this is true [Big</a> Shifts in Design School Rankings for 2013 - DesignIntelligence](<a href=“http://www.di.net/articles/big-shifts-in-design-school-rankings-for-2013/]Big”>http://www.di.net/articles/big-shifts-in-design-school-rankings-for-2013/). Considering that there is no other ranking body for graphic design programs apart from USNews (all others derive their rankings from USNews) and that no DAAP major makes the USNEWS list, it would be wrong to think that graphic design lesser ranked than other DAAP majors. </p>

<p>Before I get into why DAAP aren’t in USnews, I would like to point out something about USNews rankings on design programs. All the rankings for design schools are ONLY for graduate schools. If I am not mistaken, there are NO rankings for ANY undergraduate design schools whatsoever. This explains why the industrial, interior, and graphic design didn’t make it on USNews list, since DAAP doesn’t offer those majors at graduate level (there is only a very general major known as “Master of Design”, which because of its general title, I doubt would make any ranking list).</p>

<p>Nonetheless, if we were to assume that USNEWS rankings by some miracle somehow reflects the quality of the undergraduate design majors of their graduate level counterparts, the we must all be aware of one thing. UC doesn’t require portfolio. All design schools listed on USNews all require portfolio. I personally believe UC’s approach of not requiring portfolio is effective, because they like to pick out most academically talented students (the cut off gpa being 3.5). For me personally, I would much rather be in an environment of people who are hard-working and intellectually stimulated, than a group of people who may not be the brightest people, but use their naturally gotten exceptional artistic gift to cruise through art/design school without flexing a muscle! But then again, it looks like USNEWS doesn’t share my views. I am not saying the rankings are completely irrational (because Yale graphic design grad school is ranked number 2 and I am darn sure, most of the students there are super-bright!). However all of this paragraph assumes that USNEWS considered undergraduate sections of the schools mentioned in the list. I don’t believe this is the case because Yale doesn’t have a undergraduate graphic design program. This leads me to conclude that the USNEWS ranking is not at all a clear indication of the aptitude of undergraduate design schools.</p>

<p>So to put it simply, at the undergraduate level, there are no rankings for graphic design schools. One must look at other factors to tell how good a school is, such as GPA and SAT of incoming freshman class, and ranking or popularity of the overall school of design. All criteria of which DAAP and the GRCD program score highly on. What about Coop? Apart from Rochester Institute of Technology, I don’t think there is any other graphic design school that offers coop. Don’t hold me to this, as I am not sure, and will need to check up on that. With all that being said, I would strongly consider UC DAAP Graphic Communication Design Program on your child’s list of “Graphic Design Schools I Want To Go To”.</p>

<p>I apologize for not seeing your question earlier, Ma’am. I am sorry it took so late for your question to be answered. I hope my response helped and was in time for it be of any use in your child’s college decision. </p>

<p>Hope you have great day, Ma’am!
Bolarint</p>

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<p>Bolarint -
Thank you for taking the time to detail all your research about the design industry in such a thorough response! You seem like a very enthusiastic and determined individual that will really excel at UC DAAP! Your parents must be really proud of you! Yes, my oldest son will be a Freshman in DAAP ID this Fall, so you will probably meet him in a Foundations class! In talking to a few friends currently at DAAP, he has heard that it is a lot of hard work, but they all love it because they are spending time learning and doing what they enjoy.</p>

<p>What you’ve shared will be very helpful for my younger son. He is just a Freshman in high school right now, so he has plenty of time to explore different majors and careers in design! What you’ve laid out is a great starting point for him!</p>

<p>I wish you all the best in your future years at DAAP!</p>

4

<p>momofdesignkid-</p>

<p>Am glad to be of help! Thank you very much for the kind compliments…
I wish your two kids best of luck in their academic careers!!!</p>

5

<p>My daughter graduated from UC a few two years ago in Digital Design. I just wanted to add a few things to Bolarint’s excellent post.</p>

<p>Digital design delves more into web design and some motion work, which involves motion on the computer. UC felt that the distinctions are blurred between graphic design and digital design, which is probably the case. Digital Design also involves some elementary animation training.
Traditionally the graphic design curriculum was primarily primarily print. There were several reasons given for the merger of the curriculum. The given and ostensible main reason was that the skills inculcated on both disciplines overlap and should be understood by both majors(graphic design and digital design). Let’s face it, with print being phased out, knowing web design and graphic design as it applies to web design is becoming increasingly important.
However, personally, I am not sure this was the real reason. The head of the Digital Design program was Oscar Fernandez, who was a graphic design major from Yale. While Oscar was very knowledgeable about graphic design subjects such as topography, most students felt he lacked sufficient understanding of Digital Design subjects. There also were budget cuts ,which might have also helped cause the merger in order to save money.
Graphic Design is still primarily about print, although with the merger, the students can get some web design experience and some cell phone application experience, although the latter would be mostly conceptual since UC doesn’t teach coding for cell phone applications. The digital design folks will be getting less training in the digital design area as compared to the original digital design curriculum but will get more graphic design training. It is hard to tell if the merger will be beneficial to the students. However, much of their experience can come from good internships, which UC is known for.
Finally, I do want to add that UC is NOT the place to learn animation. Yes, there are animation courses that can be taken,but they are few and far between. My daughter ended up wanting to specialize in the parts of the animation pipeline and had to go to grad school for this. Thus, Bolarint is correct about saying that those interested in animation would need to go on to grad school. However, I have to give credit to the UC curriculum since it exposed my daughter to a broad array for digital and graphic disciplines. It is an excellent background for a lot of graduate study in the design arts and for animation.
Sorry for the wordiness of my post. I just wanted to get a few thoughts across.</p>

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<p>Thanks again, Taxguy, for sharing your daughter’s experience with us as well as your insights/observations as a parent! all very helpful info!</p>

<p>As my son starts this Fall, I hope I can also share and help those interested in finding out more about what the design program is like at UC in the years to come.</p>

7

<p>I can’t specifically speak to the GRCD program, but I can add my thoughts about the DAAP program in general. DS3 is just finishing his Soph year…started as an Arch major, but switched to ID. I think he is getting a tremendous education at UC. It’s true…those DAAP kids do work their fannies off. It’s hard to comprehend how many hours they spend on their projects. Right now as I type this, he is in the middle of the infamous DAAP “hell week”. I guess he can sleep this summer…right?!</p>