Abstract:

This paper is about my experience teaching information design [ID] to graphic design students.

In order to teach graphic design students the principles and practices of information design, I created a series of projects for my students at Columbia College Chicago. These projects and my theories about teaching information design are informed by a 4-year collaboration with an international group of faculty and practitioners from Germany, Sweden, Amsterdam, Austria and the US. As grant recipients for an information design student exchange [idX], we developed core competencies in information design.

In addition to the classes taught in Chicago, I also collaborated with international faculty, students and designers in the U.S., Italy and Africa, on two other ID projects. This paper will describe and critique several of those projects, including

• an ID class curriculum, designed and refined over the course of 10 semesters
• project specifications for student and “real work” projects
• examples of work from an international “summer academy”
• evaluation criteria and feedback from students
• conclusions and recommendations

Keywords:

Information design.