Thesis Statement Draft v.3
Dynamic, multi-disciplinary design thinking is the current standard of graphic design collaboration. Teams may consist of graphic designers, scientists, sociologists, engineers and programmers working together toward large scope project goals. Teams research and conceptualize solutions to empathetically reach a specific demographic; yet first-year graphic design professionals are not formally trained to comprehensively understand how people think, interpret and value information during collaboration. As predominant visual learners, a user-centered system that enables graphic designers to create, track, compare and connect team dynamic components will improve team and self-awareness when alternating between multi-disciplinary teams.
“Team Dynamics”
May include: Collaboration or interaction, interpretation, evaluation, valuing, information vs. knowledge, personalities, environment, incentives, team size, culture, etc.
Interview Candidates
Bernard Canniffe
Professor and Chair,
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
MFA, Savannah College of Art and Design
Bernard Canniffe is the former co-chair of design at the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he collaborated with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health on the MICA/JHU Design Coalition, which paired students with neighborhood groups to create meaningful, powerful messages on health and wellness topics. Canniffe’s work has been recognized in Graphic Design USA, How, and Step Inside Design. And through his own practice, Blue Collar Theory, he has made presentations at the Cumulus Design Conference in Portugal, the National Institute of Design Conference in India, Willem de Kooning Academie in the Netherlands, Lees-McRae College in North Carolina, and the P&D Design Conference in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Bob Ireland
EVP Creative Director,
Sharp Think Communications
Bob Ireland spearheads all advertising, graphic design, digital development and corporate identity work for all of our clients across the board. He is very much front and center at the proverbial (he loves that word) strategy table, challenging the Account teams to be as single-minded and end-benefit oriented as possible. You see, he does not believe in “creative for creative’s sake”; rather he strives for work which will spark an emotion inside someone, to get him or her to think, look and react at an idea differently. He wants a rise (in the best sense of the word) out of people, clients and peers. If he doesn’t get one, then the work (in his eyes) has not been a success, whether it was tagline, logo, video concept, event installation or whatever challenge he has been tasked to tackle.
Louis Baker
Professor,
Savannah College of Art and Design
Responsible for developing and nurturing numerous partnerships with corporations and non-profit organizations that have led to the endowment of scholarships, internships, endorsements and real-world work experience for his students; art directed eight winning poster designs for the Liberty Mutual Legends of Golf Tournament; co-owner, creative director and editor of SmART-Report.com, a website created to inform and educate professional and aspiring artists and designers about the latest news and emerging trends in the creative fields of art and design
Jamie Massey
Art Director,
Turnpost Creative Group
Turnpost is a creative direction firm specializing in the design and production of materials and media for advertising, marketing and corporate communications. Our services include strategic marketing, design, development and fulfillment of corporate identity systems, brand awareness campaigns, collateral materials, trade and event promotion, web design and development, multimedia, media planning, public relations, broadcast production and product packaging.
Questions
1. Other than experience, skill level or talent, what characteristics of team collaboration (e.g.: personality types, team size, interpretation, diplomacy or environment) are the most critical when agreeing upon large scope project goals?
2. Which characteristics of dysfunctional team collaboration in a small or large team, are generally viewed as the most common problems?
3. How would you manage creative differences during any stage of collaboration, no matter how large or small the size of the team?
4. Would a graphic designer with 1-to-5 years of industry experience, benefit from visually evaluating, tracking and connecting their individual team dynamic for the sake of future team collaborations?
5. If a visual system enabled individuals to create, interpret, track, change and evaluate other team member dynamics, is it possible to surface issues that are otherwise not fully understood nor addressed?
6. How often is an outside perspective of inside creativity needed when determining successful or dysfunctional team dynamics?
7. Could visually tracking, evaluating and analyzing visual results of team dynamics help inform new management, interaction with foreign cultures, or when needing to diversify team membership for project-specific needs?