Nicole Roberts MFA Thesis Visual Component Artwork - Savannah ...

70
% of educators
believe courses
should focus
less on polished
portfolios and
more on the
development of
core skill sets.
Existing curricular concepts can be examined in various forms, but most reek of
industry jargon and provide no connection by description of their pedagogical objectives
to the expectations of today’s practice. Elaborate booklets and promotional brochures
about each school are distributed to entice and inform potential students, yet are often
presented as a glamorized hyper-reality of the college experience. The award-winning
catalog Proof, a School of Visual Arts’ publication for prospective students, is an ideal
example. While the school is indisputably amongst the most successful, the majority of
this oversized catalog serves to excite the creative spirit and showcase individual student
work. Very few of the visuals are dedicated to deciphering core curricular concepts in
respect to professional expectations. Upon visiting numerous web sites of collegiate design
programs, it is the norm to see a lengthy list of course numbers provided within a cryptic
matrix of credit hours required. Rarely do they discuss how their educational tenets align
with what leading industry professionals expect from new graduates of the future. With
industry expectations left undefined in information issued to prospective students, how
exactly are they expected to conclusively visualize what they will need upon graduation?
How are they expected to differentiate among design schools under review, when
professional expectations of the twenty-first century workplace are not published?
visualizing curricular concepts
Proof, a SVA publication
to prospective students
50