I interviewed my friend, Kyle, who is studying graphic design.
What are they learning; how do they think; how do they view creativity?
-Learning different aspects of Adobe, most of what he learned was in CS4, In the beginning of the program, most of the focus is on art foundations and everyone has to take foundations courses before they can take design courses.
To what extent do they think programming is an essential skill?
-Definitely essential to what he wants to get into, which is web design. Maybe it's not so important for people who don't plan on getting into web.
What classes are they taking?
-Everyone starts out taking the same things, and you go from there. Since there's no "graphic design" major, you have to major in art studio and have it as an emphasis, so it's still a lot of art classes, but you have to take so many graphic design classes (21 hours) to have it as an emphasis. Currently taking motion graphics.
What programming languages do they know?
-Not many. Basically have just worked with Dreamweaver and the Adobe Bridge.
What do they want to do when they graduate?
-Graphic design and web design since there isn't much of a market anymore for graphic designers who don't know the web side, and web design is a growing career field.
-What sort of projects are they working on?
-Currently working on a motion graphics and animation project about sustainability for a motion graphics class.
How do they feel about collaborating on projects with others?
-It's good to learn how to work well with other people, but it's important to never lose your own sense of creativity and what you want out of a project.