Design Education Resources

AIGA supports education throughout the arc of a designer’s career, including special programs for educators, a group critical to advancing the profession.

Learn More About AIGA Membership Advise a Student Group

AIGA Design Educators Community Design Teaching Resource Identity teachingresource.aiga.org

AIGA Design Teaching Resource

The AIGA Design Teaching Resource is a peer-populated platform for educators to share assignments, teaching materials, outcomes, and project reflections.

Browse Teaching Resources

AIGA Design Educators Community

The DEC Steering Committee is comprised of 13 dedicated educators providing service and leadership to the Community.

Meet the committee

Dialectic

Dialectic seeks to publish scholarship, analytical study and criticism that will enlighten and inform a diverse audience of design educators engaged not only in classroom teaching experiences but also in differing forms of research and professional practice. It is open access, double-blind-peer reviewed, and the official journal of the AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC).

Access past issues

NASAD and Accreditation

The AIGA & NASAD briefing papers address various aspects of graphic design education and are directed towards a number of different audiences.

Read the briefing papers

Professional Standards of Teaching

A design educator adheres to values that demonstrate respect for students, other educators, academic institutions, the profession, the public, society and the environment. These standards define the expectations of a design educator and represent the distinction of an AIGA member teaching design.

Bibliographies

These bibliographies for design educators and students address an eclectic array of topics: Cognition and Emotion, Cultural Studies, Design Planning, Education and Learning Theory and Interaction and New Media Design.

View the bibliographies

Design Futures

This research project examines seven trends shaping the context for the practice of design. This change in the nature of work calls for new skills and perspectives beyond traditional college-level design education. It is critical that the industry expands its knowledge and expertise to remain economically viable and professionally relevant as it prepares for changing client demands and new opportunities for design influence.

Read the trends

Dialogue

Dialogue is the ongoing series of fully open-access proceedings of the conferences and national symposia of the AIGA Design Educators Community (DEC). Issues of Dialogue contain papers from DEC conferences that focus on topics affecting design education, research, and professional practice, although each conference varies in theme. Michigan Publishing, the hub of scholarly publishing at the University of Michigan, publishes Dialogue on behalf of the AIGA DEC.

Access past issues

Promotion and Tenure

The purpose of this resource is to provide guidance to those involved with Promotion and Tenure (P&T) processes of Graphic Design and Visual Communication Design Educators at US institutions of higher learning. It is not meant to address all possible topics and issues related to the P&T process, but should assist in dealing with issues commonly involved in the P&T process, and will provide suggestions on which policies and procedures may be based, at the discretion of the institution.

Guide to Internships

AIGA believes that quality internships provide an invaluable stepping stone towards professional practice and create continuity within the design profession. We thank those who open their doors to young designers and generously share their knowledge and experience with the next generation of design practitioners.

High School Design Curriculum

This four-unit graphic curriculum has been created specifically for high school educators. Areas addressed include An Introduction to Graphic Design, 2D Design Basics, Design Process, and Typography, as well as a glossary and supporting handouts. Created by AIGA Minnesota with support from AIGA Innovate.

Download the curriculum

AIGA Design Educator Conference

SHIFT 2021

This week-long online event seeks to gather the design education community to take stock of where we are, what we have learned, and what we want to do next. The summit will focus on themes of Teaching, Research, and Community. More information to come for 2021!

Learn More

Additional Teaching Resources

Course Planning

WRITING A SYLLABUS

Published by Jossey-Bass

The Course Syllabus, A Learning Centered Approach, Second Edition

WRITING A SYLLABUS

Chronicle of Higher Education

How to Create a Syllabus

WRITING A SYLLABUS

Steven Heller

Teaching Graphic Design: Course Offerings and Class Projects from the Leading Graduate and Undergraduate Programs

CREATING A RUBRIC

Robin Landa

A Case for Using a Rubric

In the Classroom

CRITIQUE

Karen Cheng

How to Survive Critique: A Guide to Giving and Receiving Feedback—Part 1

CRITIQUE

Karen Cheng

How to Survive Critique—Part 2

CRITIQUE

Yoon Soo Lee

Functional Criticism— How to Have Productive Critiques in the Creative Classroom

TEACHING ASSISTANTS

John Bowers

Handbook for Teaching Assistants

COLLABORATION

Marty Maxwell Lane and Rebecca Tegtmeyer

Collab + Design Ed: Collaboration in Design Education

Student Resources

ADVICE

Chad Hall and Jp Avila

This is Design School

ADVICE

David Airey

Advice for Design Students

ADVICE

Adrian Shaughnessy

How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Emily Ruth Cohen

Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Strategies To Evolve Your Creative Business

PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

Ted Leonhardt

Nail It: Stories for Designers on Negotiating with Confidence

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS

Peachpit

Stand Out

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS

Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit

Flaunt

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS

Simon & Schuster

Build Your Own Brand

BUILDING PORTFOLIOS

Juliette Cezzar

AIGA Career Guide

Select Publications

CURRICULUM / PEDAGOGY

Meredith Davis

Teaching Design: A Guide to Curriculum and Pedagogy for College Design Faculty and Teachers Who Use Design in Their Classrooms

CURRICULUM / PEDAGOGY

Steven Heller

The Education of a Graphic Designer

ASSIGNMENTS

Spector Books

Taking a Line for a Walk: Assignments in Design Education

ASSIGNMENTS

Edited by Linda van Deursen

37 Assignments

ASSIGNMENTS

Steven Heller

Teaching Graphic Design

FOUNDATIONS

Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips

Graphic Design: The New Basics

FOUNDATIONS

Robin Landa

Graphic Design Solutions, 6th edition

FOUNDATIONS

Meredith Davis

Visual Communication Design: An Introduction to Design Concepts in Everyday Experience

FOUNDATIONS

Robin Landa, Rose Gonnella, and Steven Brower

2D: Visual Basics for Designers

TYPOGRAPHY

Jason Santa Maria

A Book Apart: On Web Typography

TYPOGRAPHY

Simon Garfield

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

TYPOGRAPHY

Karen Cheng

Designing Type

TYPOGRAPHY

Robert Bringhurst

Elements of Typographic Style

TYPOGRAPHY

Matej Latin

Better Web Typography for a Better Web

TYPOGRAPHY

Ellen Lupton

Thinking With Type

TYPOGRAPHY

John Kane

A Type Primer

GRIDS

Timothy Samara

Making and Breaking the Grid, Second Edition, Updated and Expanded: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

GRIDS

Josef Müller-Brockman

Grid systems in graphic design: A visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers

THEORY

Meredith Davis

Graphic Design Theory (Graphic Design in Context) First Edition

THEORY

Helen Armstrong

Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field

COLOR

Rose Gonnella and Max Friedman

Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color

COLOR

Rose Gonnella and Max Friedman

Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color

COLOR

Sean Adams

The Designer’s Dictionary of Color

PARTICIPATORY DESIGN

Helen Armstrong and Zvezdana Stojmirovic

Participate

BRANDING

Website Planet.com

30 Stats and Logo Facts

INCLUSIVE DESIGN

Ellen Lupton and Andrea Lipps

The Senses: Design Beyond Vision

INCLUSIVE DESIGN

Kat Holmes

Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)

CREATIVITY

Scott Barry Kaufman and Carolyn Gregoire

Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind

CREATIVITY

Kyna Leski

he Storm of Creativity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)

CREATIVITY

Rosanne Somerson and Mara Hermano

The Art of Critical Making: Rhode Island School of Design on Creative Practice

INTERACTION/INTERFACE DESIGN

Steve King

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

INTERACTION/INTERFACE DESIGN

Jon Kolko

Thoughts on Interaction Design

DESIGN HISTORY

Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit

Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design

DESIGN HISTORY

Steven Heller

Teaching Graphic Design History

DESIGN HISTORY

Phillip B Meggs

Megg’s History of Graphic Design 6th Edition

DESIGN HISTORY

Steven Heller and Véronique Vienne

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design

DESIGN HISTORY

Richard Poulin

Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World

MOTION DESIGN

Editors R. Brian Stone, Leah Walin; Routledge: 2018

The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice

PROCESS

Beth Costello

The Art of the Process: Establishing Good Habits for Successful Outcomes

THE ROLE OF THE DESIGNER

Steven McCarthy

The Designer As…

THE ROLE OF THE DESIGNER

Steven Heller

Citizen Designer

THE ROLE OF THE DESIGNER

Noah Scalin

The Design Activists Handbook

THINKING/WRITING

Steven Heller

Writing and Research for Graphic Designers: A Designer’s Manual to Strategic Communication and Presentation

THINKING/WRITING

Ellen Lupton

Design is Storytelling

THINKING/WRITING

Ellen Lupton

Design Education Resources

AIGA Design Teaching Resource

AIGA Design Educators Community

Dialectic

NASAD and Accreditation

Professional Standards of Teaching

Bibliographies

Design Futures

Dialogue

Promotion and Tenure

Guide to Internships

High School Design Curriculum

SHIFT 2021

Additional Teaching Resources

The Course Syllabus, A Learning Centered Approach, Second Edition

How to Create a Syllabus

Teaching Graphic Design: Course Offerings and Class Projects from the Leading Graduate and Undergraduate Programs

A Case for Using a Rubric

How to Survive Critique: A Guide to Giving and Receiving Feedback—Part 1

How to Survive Critique—Part 2

Functional Criticism— How to Have Productive Critiques in the Creative Classroom

Handbook for Teaching Assistants

Collab + Design Ed: Collaboration in Design Education

This is Design School

Advice for Design Students

How to be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul

Brutally Honest: No Bullshit Strategies To Evolve Your Creative Business

Nail It: Stories for Designers on Negotiating with Confidence

Stand Out

Flaunt

Build Your Own Brand

AIGA Career Guide

Teaching Design: A Guide to Curriculum and Pedagogy for College Design Faculty and Teachers Who Use Design in Their Classrooms

The Education of a Graphic Designer

Taking a Line for a Walk: Assignments in Design Education

37 Assignments

Teaching Graphic Design

Graphic Design: The New Basics

Graphic Design Solutions, 6th edition

Visual Communication Design: An Introduction to Design Concepts in Everyday Experience

2D: Visual Basics for Designers

A Book Apart: On Web Typography

Just My Type: A Book About Fonts

Designing Type

Elements of Typographic Style

Better Web Typography for a Better Web

Thinking With Type

A Type Primer

Making and Breaking the Grid, Second Edition, Updated and Expanded: A Graphic Design Layout Workshop

Grid systems in graphic design: A visual communication manual for graphic designers, typographers and three dimensional designers

Graphic Design Theory (Graphic Design in Context) First Edition

Graphic Design Theory: Readings from the Field

Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color

Design Fundamentals: Notes on Color

The Designer’s Dictionary of Color

Participate

30 Stats and Logo Facts

The Senses: Design Beyond Vision

Mismatch: How Inclusion Shapes Design (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)

Wired to Create: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Creative Mind

he Storm of Creativity (Simplicity: Design, Technology, Business, Life)

The Art of Critical Making: Rhode Island School of Design on Creative Practice

Don’t Make Me Think, Revisited: A Common Sense Approach to Web Usability

Thoughts on Interaction Design

Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design

Teaching Graphic Design History

Megg’s History of Graphic Design 6th Edition

100 Ideas That Changed Graphic Design

Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History: A Guide to Type, Image, Symbol, and Visual Storytelling in the Modern World

The Theory and Practice of Motion Design: Critical Perspectives and Professional Practice

The Art of the Process: Establishing Good Habits for Successful Outcomes

The Designer As…

Citizen Designer

The Design Activists Handbook

Writing and Research for Graphic Designers: A Designer’s Manual to Strategic Communication and Presentation

Design is Storytelling

Graphic Design Thinking (Design Briefs)

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