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white space Teaching Philosophy
I can summarize my teaching philosophy in one sentence: I believe in teaching process.

A process is not about memorizing, it is about learning, body and mind discovering each other and coordinating a response. I love to teach process because I want to take fear out of the students. I want to assure them that they are students and mistakes are a requirement, but also that they should not stop at the mistake, that they should also learn to recuperate and continue working. Through process as learning they would make mistakes fast and they would recuperate from them even faster, hopefully to the point that they would never think about their process as mistakes, rather as steps of exploration necessary to reach their final goal.

When I think about process I think about my peers, back in our foundation classes, unable to advance in their drawing because they could not allow their hand to make a fast sketch and then work over it as many times as necessary to get a polished product. It was then and there that I learned, through their frustration, about the fear of the pencil, the fear of making mistakes in order to produce. These fears, I noticed, were transferred later to the computer, when we were taking our graphic design courses.
It was sad to observe a lack of exploration, a limited capacity to polish, and a rigid fear of the software. A fear of the computer similar to their fear of the pencil. I reached to the conclusion that it was not the medium that was creating fear or frustration, the problem was that students wanted to achieve their intentions in their first try. Process was never taught to us. One fear overlapped on top of others, and many of us never felt comfortable making mistakes or exploring.

I insist to my students that they are more than artists. As they become Graphic Designers, they are also becoming social scientists. I stretch the need to know people psychologically and socially (micro and macro realms) and study how culture shifts do to changes in ideologies, fashions and group needs. I encourage interdisciplinary explorations. By understanding other sciences we understand the graphic arts as well. Every class that I have taken brings me back to graphic design in one way or another and complements the understanding of my discipline. I have also learned that an interdisciplinary background will help the student relate better to employers, clients, and to non-art social circles. I believe that this would be a strong advantage for other designers as well.

When it comes to design, I enforce three words that I have incorporated in my own work and in my life: simple, direct and consistent. Experience their design capacities beyond the computer lab. As graphic designers, we follow and lead visual culture, we should also know every trade of the discipline to be well-rounded individuals and through this, stronger graphic designers.

Finally, I see graphic design as a tool, as the last step of a process to create a single and unique product. I use my multicultural background to spice my own work. At this point of my career, I understand that there is something unique in me. I am lucky to have people, like my professors, who encouraged my own voice and style. Thanks to that support, I search and encourage uniqueness in my students as well. I was once a young student and I know how easy is to be attracted to follow the trail of what is popular or in-style. It might be hard for the student to find his or her own voice, but nothing compares to the discovery of one’s own design style. I consider this the last step of the process. When teaching processes, the student learns to continue this process. By teaching process, I teach them to learn and once they start, the process never ends.

FOG, November 2006

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