053: A Design Educator’s View on Front-end Development, Portfolio Courses and More with Yana Sakellion

Heather Quinn, Professional Lecturer at DePaul University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between skinning and designing, her journey from pre-responsive design to post responsive design, and what she’s teaching in the classroom. Heather also discusses how she is using a grant to help determine the best practices in web design to update DePaul’s curriculum.

Dave Senior, Chief Growth Officer, and Partner at Playground Inc., joins Gary Rozanc to discuss his article “What I learned from 200 design interviews.” This episode goes into the nuts and bolts of the article Dave to answer specific questions about the transition from student to professional and we cover questions such as what Dave needs to see in a portfolio to know that a student can make the shift from print to digital, what format a portfolio needs to be in for in-person interviews, and self-initiated projects.

Design Edu Today celebrates its three year anniversary. To mark the anniversary Lauren Spielman and Kelly Stelmack, students in UMBC’s Graphic Design program, take over as co-hosts to ask designers Megan Gileza and Kendall Kiernan of Baltimore area design firm Orange Element questions about working in the industry. Kelly and Lauren asked a wide range of questions about working professionally such as what type of skills are necessary for the different types of design positions, what’s the average turnaround time on a typical project, and what skills do professionals want students to come out of school with. The bulk of the conversation centered around how to work with a client. From interviewing them in the initial discovery meeting to showing process along the way to selling the final design, all aspects of client interactions were covered.

Maurice Cherry, Content Marketer at Fog Creek Software, and host of the award winning podcast Revision Path joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what he has learned over 5 years and 240 episodes of hosting Revision Path. From ways Design Educators can promote diversity into the classroom to the systemic problems facing black students Maurice shares his insights. In the second half of the conversation Maurice talks about his own design practice, how studying Math and English makes him a better designer and how much the industry have changed in the past 20 years.

In episode 60 of Design Edu Today, Steph Loughran, Art Director at Outstand, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between working remotely on an in-house team versus working at a large digital agency. Along the way Steph talks about the different approaches to responsive web design including her love for element collages. The conversation also covers creating animations and micro interactions and the industries strong preference for Sketch over other layout programs.

Chris Cashdollar, Principal of Cashdollar Design, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss a wide array of topics. The conversation starts off with a discussion on ways to better prepare students for careers as freelance designers such as working with popular CMS templates, the ubiquitous need for writing skills to persuasively promote your work, and the need for internships to augment classroom learning. Along the way, Chris also discusses where designing Micro Interactions fits into the overall design process and the fundamental differences between solo designer software programs like Illustrator and Photoshop and collaboration based programs like InVision and Sketch that reflect how the industry operates today.

Lynn Fisher, Phoenix based Artist and Designer currently working at andyet, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss her unique approach to responsive design. The conversation goes into how CSS properties such Grid give designers the same control over their screen based designs as they have over print design. Lynn also talks about maintaining side projects as a way to learn and grow new skill sets. The conversation wraps up with Lynn sharing her approach to illustration, UX/UI design, and her Freelance work.

Meena Khalili, Assistant Professor at the University of Louisville, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the education of an I-Shaped versus a T-Shaped student. Meena goes in-depth on what skills actually constitute a T-Shaped students including where coding and UX/UI fit on the T-Shaped diagram. The discussion also covers startling statistics from the Department of Labor on the decline of Graphic Design jobs and the exponential growth of Interactive Design jobs. Finally, we end the conversation by discussion how design education can lead the industry, not follow it.

Sam Borowy, Senior Experience Designer at T. Rowe Price, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how students present their work online and in-person during interviews. Sam goes in-depth on how students should prepare each for their specific use including using narrative. Sam also discusses what skillsets she specifically looks for when hiring both user experience and visual designers. Finally the conversation wraps up with a discussion on what skills design educators should be focusing on more. Hit: Responsive Design!

Neil Ward, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at Drake University, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss collaborations with students in the Art & Design, Computer Science and Journalism departments at Drake to design and develop Android Apps. Neil goes into details on logistically making the collaboration work for scheduling, matching students’ skill levels across departments, and the benefits and pitfalls of the project. Neil also discusses how this project fits into the overall design program at Drake and where UX theory would best fit into a design program.