Today I had the opportunity to sit across the table from two extremely influential members of the design community, Bill Moggridge and Norman McNally, with my friend Heather Witkop. The purpose of our meeting was to give them feedback about the various aspects of SCAD and it's undergraduate ID department. I had mostly great things to say about the department particularly it's focus on the corporate involvement in studio projects, fantastic studio/shop spaces, and group project experiences. A weakness I felt needed to be addressed was a lack of interaction between the different class levels. From what I've heard most design schools have mentor programs which is great for younger members of the criculum to learn from their elders. It's also good for seniors come finals and they need a favor ;). I would also like to see a class devoted to the adobe suite in the foundation courses which we generally have to learn the first couple of weeks of studio 1. I think another key aspect which was brought up was collobrative projects between different schools and completelty different majors like marketing.
Aside from giving my feedback about the department, I really enjoyed listening to how Bill and Norman phrased their question and guided the interview process. Their years of experience in user research really showed. They lefted their questions broad in the beggining: what are the strengths and weakness, why did we choose SCAD, etc. They asked why many times and how we would do it different if given the chance. I really wanted to pick their brains for the rest of the day but sadly that oppertunity and the chance to show them my portfolio didn't happen becuase the graduate students where next to be questioned.