PhD idea - your input please

Halldor

New Member
Dear fellow designers. I've been a graphic designer for almost 20 years and I recently embarked on the somewhat daunting task of doing a PhD in graphic design. I have a lot of freedom in my work, including full control when it comes to choosing my subject of study for my research. Academic design within our field is in many ways in its infancy so I'm spoilt for choice, which has its pros and cons! I've been looking into different ideas, one was to study the effects of using graphic design in children's art classes to enhance their sense of purpose for the visual arts, another was to study the symbolism of logos (why some logos become more symbolically powerful) but the one I would like your input on is the following:

I started studying graphic design in the mid 90s and ever since I have only worked digitally. I am obviously aware of the analogue history of our profession but I have sometimes wondered how it would affect my work as a designer and university teacher if my own knowledge of the analogue processes was greater. So my idea is to do study my own path backwards from digital to analogue, to become more proficient in a few different analogue processes with the aim of asking: is there a place for analogue design methods in today's education of graphic design students?

What are your thoughts? For me personally I think the whole process would be a blast but the big question is how and what I could contribute with to the graphic design profession.
 
sounds like an interesting undertaking, I also lecture in this field and find that many learners do not appreciate the design first then produce next approach. That the computer is just a tool and it is the process of going from idea, to formation to completion that can show your creativity.

before digital you had to finalize the design and construct and use different but similar skills to achieve this. very interesting idea to go backwards.

you could add into the graphic design profession is 'are traditional forms of the design process still applicable in the digital age'
 
Thanks for your reply Simon! I've been working on the research question and it will probably be somewhere along these lines: "Which, if any, traditional/analogue methods of graphic design are useful for the education of graphic design students?" (or something similar). I'm happy to hear you think it's an interesting idea, I've gotten very positive response from the people I've presented it to so far.

Regarding my PhD, it's a 5 year position at a technical university in the northern part of Sweden (in a city called Luleå), in the design faculty. 20% of my position is meant for teaching, the rest for my research and studies. PhDs in graphic design are very rare in Sweden, or almost wherever for that matter. It's an internally funded position so I don't have to worry about financing either, so I feel quite lucky to have stumbled upon that opportunity.
 
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