Design Edu Today

Dorelle Rabinowitz, Senior Director of UX for PayPal’s Next Gen Commerce, joins Gary Rozanc for an in-depth discussion about Information Architecture and how it fits into the UX process from the design perspective. Dorelle also discusses different research methods used by Information Architects such as Stakeholder Interviews and A/B Testing, and how that research empowers designers to create better visual design.

Sabella Flagg, an Interaction Designer at Artefact, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how the D.I.Y. mentality and the early web inspired her to become a designer. Sabella goes in depth about how sketching is different from wireframing, and how sketching can save students a lot of time, which ultimately leads to better design. Finally, Sabella shares her insights on the importance of writing and what type of writing courses will best help designers.

Brad Smith founder of Wayward Wild, a product studio and incubator, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how the inherent problem solving skills of graphic and interactive designers can apply to more than visual design. Brad also shares insights into why designers have the problem solving ability and how design educators can further foster that ability by having students focus on the end user, not the visual.

Brad Frost joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the ins and outs of working in virtual teams. Brad covers everything from how to remotely handle client meetings, improving designer/developer collaborations, and keeping a project and its team members on task. Brad also gives insights on abstraction is an advanced level skill and Atomic Design.

RuSean Myers, Senior UX/UI Designer at CentreTek Solutions joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the changes in the design industry such as how HTML and CSS is becoming the new handcraft like silkscreening and letterpress, and how grids need to be fluid, not static. RuSean also talks about how we need to adjust strategies when designing branding and identities to include digital media not just stationery sets.

Christina Storm, Director of Design at Microsoft for Cortana Analytics family: including Azure Machine Learning, Data Factory and Stream Analytics, joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what skills are necessary for entry level interactive designers such as being multi-disciplinary and understanding customer development. Christina also shares how important user research and real life scenarios are at the beginning of a project to help students create better designs. Finally, Christina shares what she doesn’t want to see a portfolio!

Demian Borba, Product Manager on the Experience Design CC team at Adobe joins Gary Rozanc to discuss creating Xd CC from the ground up. Demian hares what they learned from interactive designers to help make them more productive through better tools. Finally, Demian discusses the skills, including empathy and collaboration, necessary to be an interactive designer on an Adobe product team.

Tracey Halvorsen President and Chief Visionary Officer at Fastspot joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the night and day differences between the finality of print design and ever evolving nature of interactive design. Tracey also shares her thoughts on what makes a good, and bad student portfolio. Finally the conversation goes into bringing the business side of graphic design back into the classroom.

Joni Trythall Head of Design at NowSecure joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how she became the multidisciplinary illustrator, designer, and front-end developer. Joni also cover the importance of learning on your own with such a weather of freely available resources. The conversation continues with Joni sharing how she got over the fear of being wrong, and getting students to retain some of their technical training through a regular writing habit.

Melissa Showalter Art Director at Instrument joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the different roles and job titles at a digital agency such as Art and Creative Director, Technology Director and Developer, and Project Manager. Melissa does in depth about the similarities in print and web typography when compared to modernist design. Melisa also gives advice on what educators can do to help students hit their post graduation life running.

Bri Picarri Developer at The Infantree joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what it takes for a student to succeed as an interactive designer including: leveraging multiple internships and the need for self-guided learning beyond the classroom. Finally, Bri discusses how design educators can replicate those skills in the classroom and describes an ideal balance between visual and development skills.

Rita Troyer Digital Designer at Airbnb joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how visual designers, developers, and user experience designers work on large scale projects together. Rita also discusses her personal approaches to user experience design, and how classroom projects can better replicate how interactive designers work in the industry through assigning business goals instead of visual exercises.

Amanda Buck Designer at Happy Cog joins Gary Rozanc to discuss the need for interactive designers to design in the different context user will view your work in. We also discuss the differences in designing in groups at a digital agency versus students designing for themselves in a class project. Finally, Amanda talks about designers fresh out of school needing to have a much better understanding of how typography works on the web.

Julia Zeltser founding partner and Creative Director of Hyperakt joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what she wants to read in an introductory email and resume before she will look at a portfolio and she mentions what she wants to see in the portfolio too. Julia also talks about how to prepare students entering a field which has significantly changed from its print dominant days by focusing on the difference. Finally, Julia shares her design process form initial sketch to website launch.

Michael Ellsworth Co-Founder and Principal of Civilization in Seattle joins Gary Rozanc to discuss how a universal foundations taught by artists poorly fits into a design program. He also discusses the benefits of knowing the history of the profession and how it will make you a better designer. The conversation also covers the rut of interactive design trends such as hero images and symmetrical layouts. Michael also shares his observation about the unfortunate sameness of students portfolios.

Courtney Sabo Designer at Happy Cog joins Gary Rozanc to discuss why HTML and CSS needs to be taught in the very early stages of a graphic design students education to empower them to find their passions within design early on and encourage self-training. Courtney also shares how students can be better prepared for the industry be seeding interactive design principles alongside print design principles instead of separating them into individual courses. Finally, Courtney describes the contents of a good portfolio for both internships and a student’s first job.

Joe Rinaldi President of Happy Cog joins Gary Rozanc to discuss what it is like being a team player at an interactive design agency including how visual designers, front-end and back-end developers work together. Joe shares some tips on how students can better prepare their portfolios to demonstrate process to get a foothold in the industry. Joe also discusses the different methods of user research used to start a new client project.

Jay Fanelli co-founder of Cotton Bureau joins Gary Rozanc to discuss getting started in the interactive design field, specifically how to build a portfolio from scratch. Jay also talks about how print design is different from interactive design because of the multitude of devices a website will be viewed on. Continuing the chat, Jay shares insight on what it takes to succeed as an interactive designer from knowing when to learn from imitating the work of others to knowing the right amount of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. Finally, Jay talks about the CMS behind Cotton Bureau, and how designers are going to be expected to at least know the choices out there to help inform clients.

Ryan Harasyn Vice President of Design, and Zachary Smith Vice President of Technology at Substantial join Gary Rozanc to discuss the differences between websites and products. The conversation goes into the details of the working process at digital agencies, including how designer, developers, and content strategists work together, Ryan and Zachary also discuss Substantial’s two day interview process and what employers are looking for during face to face interviews.

Jason Dziak Experience Director at Context Digital joins Gary Rozanc to discuss working at a digital design agency, from working in teams to conducting user research before designing begins. Jason also talks about how much the interactive design process has evolved from the early days, especially the shift from designing communications to designing tools such as design patterns. Jason also talks about the new design tools such as Sketch and InVision and how those new tools are helping designers.