A Recent Design Lecture, An Opportunity to Doing It Better

I recently lectured to a class at Harrington College of Design. The class dealt with �Design Issues� and was taught by Alma Hoffmann. I was referred to her by a mutual colleague, Jeffrey Jensen, who happens to also be a fan of Design Feast. After my poor presentation to a �Design Ecology� class at the Art Institute of Chicago, I had no inclination to do the �lecture thing.� But when the opportunity came to present to Alma�s class, it was a strong hint to reconcile my bloated overpass to the �Design Ecology� students.

Before, I aimed for broad coverage of topics, resulting in a thin lecture and diluted focus. This time, I strived for a compact set of topics that were essentially tips. Tips on being and staying creative; some about being and staying professional. Graphic designer Frank Chimero said, �Tips are easy. And shallow.� Frank�s absolutely right. This was why personal experience backed up each of my tips. The sole hierarchy dictating these tips was when I wrote them. Tips can drip a lot. They were kept to a handful such as these:

• Honesty is the best policy.
• Not engaging the web is stupid.
• Defending your thinking is hard.
• Referrals rule.
• The cool people are those who build an audience
  and care about them.
• Good designers write.
• Honoring your spouse, parents and loved ones is more important than anything.

The format of tips enables a presentation. It proved to be in an ice-breaker in what to share in a lecture. Making them sound enlightened was an easy temptation. I gave into it, resisted, then backed out and honed in on ones that were worded in a straightforward way.

To supplement my presentation, I brought along one of my rare design books for show-and-tell. It never hurts to bring in presentation-props. In this case, the prop was Bauhaus teacher Herbert Bayer�s �World Geo-Graphic Atlas� published in 1956. The book�s wealth of information-design demonstration mesmerized the audience. Like the Q&A following the lecture, the object provided another Q&A in itself.

Afterwards, I solicited feedback directly from the audience. One student replied: �Personally I thought you did a great job. Thorough reinforcement of the concepts and practices you presented.� Alma expressed, �It was WONDERFUL!!!�

The only gripe dealt with my pace of delivering the presentation: ��you pushed right through your 10 tip title screens, was trying to keep notes and some of them just flashed before I could get them down.� Slowing down is hard once one gets into starting the presentation and talking it through. I�ll try to treat transitions as pauses in the next opportunity to speak to an audience who proved captivated this time.

Speaking of the audience, Alma�s class consisted of only two students. I assumed that there would be more. But I�m glad that this assumption was debunked. No matter the size of the audience, whether the members consist of two or two thousand, each deserves the presenter�s complete attention. One�s lecture, including the Q&As and props, is only a success when the audience is a success.

---

Please consider supporting Design Feast
If you liked this lovingly-made write-up, show your appreciation by helping to support my labor of love�Design Feast, which proudly includes this blog. Learn more.