Teaching Beyond the Curriculum

Abstract

Graphic design is no longer simply about graphics, aesthetics, type and image. In today’s visual landscape, identity, race, class, gender, and culture need to be taken under consideration. With an increased diverse student body—which bring a wealth of knowledge, skills, and experiences into the classrooms—new strategies need to be incorporated to better prepare students for the field of design. Graphic design is no longer just about packaging, advertising, and sales—that is only a portion of the job—designers must ultimately, learn to engage in, think about, and articulate their experiences, so they can better understand clients’ needs. Conversely, the traditional Eurocentric ways of learning are no longer sufficient for a globalized industry. Design students must learn new ways of learning, knowing, doing, being and making. Drawing upon several theories such as Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Gloria Anzaldúa’s Outsider Within Theory—where the basic concept embraces multiple social perspectives while fighting against the material forms of oppression (Anzaldúa, 2007)—and Critical Race Theory, this approach aims to bring depth and complexity into the design classroom. It will explain how community-based learning, intersectionality, and positionality were integrated into exercises. It will share the outcome of the assignments, discuss the limitations and implications of the assignments, and conclude with some final thoughts on the value of using community-based techniques to teach beyond the standard curriculum; and invigorate the design classroom.