Graphic design involves shaping how information is presented through visual communication. It is used in many mediums like television, marketing, print, and web design. The author teaches students to find their unique creative voice by cultivating their inner artistic instincts and refining their personal style, rather than imitating others. Students are encouraged to appreciate the process of design and not just the finished product. Developing one's own style takes time but is crucial for producing meaningful graphic design work.

1. graphic design is involved in every
aspect of information. What type
of information we see, how we see it,
where we see it, and why we are
seeing it. Graphic design is in
television, marketing, print, video
games, web design, signage —the
list goes on and on. Graphic design is
what I call “The Art of Communication”.
It is simultaneously a tool and art form
that is used to deliver information to a
viewer in such a stimulating way that
captures their attention, and the result
of that product is graphic design.
Description of how I teach…
In teaching graphic design as a com-
municative art form, I teach students
how to find their “voice”. All of us as
individuals have a distinctive way in
which we see the world. The nature of
our biology, the nurture of our
environment results in the way we all
express ourselves. It determines what we
wear, how we wear it, and what colors we
choose to wear. This inner voice is always
telling us what we like from what we don’t
like. What elements are appealing to our
eyes, to what we find repulsive. It is this
“voice” that I try to cultivate in students
when approaching graphic design.
“Good graphic design effects
how a thing looks. Great graphic
design affects how you feel.”
Conception of teaching and Learning…
Students are always questioning them-
selves of what they have to bring to the
table, with so many designers that have
gone before… How can they create a
distinctive voice? A lot of times students
are imitating a particular style, or approach
when they are searching for their own style.
For them it can become a tough journey
to overcome, because everyone already
has their own style, but they don’t respect
it, or don’t listen to their own voice. They
hate their own work; they get tired of seeing
what their work looks like because they
want it to look like someone else’s work that
they admire.
I try to teach that it’s easy to dismiss their
own style, because nobody sees the world
the way they do. So when they are seeking
out someone else’s style to emulate,
The Art of
CommunicationA personal approach
to teaching design
by Dennis Hall

2. it’s a disservice to their entire upbringing, heritage, and
genetics. They already have within them the unique
talent, and expression of what we all are in search for
—a fresh approach. They just need to listen to their
voice, but it just takes time to chisel away the roughness
of their own style and refine it. It’s always been there
underneath; it just needs to be excavated, brought to
the surface. This is what students should really focus on,
instead of “I wish my work looked like his or hers.” The
crucial aspect of learning graphic design is to learn how
to refine your own look, listen to your own voice, appre-
ciate how you work and then they will have developed
their own style at that point, because it’s been living
within them their entire life.
Justification for why you teach that way…
Today’s designers are growing up with the quick and
instant message, from Instagram to memes. The inunda-
tion of these kinds of graphics creates more messages
that you will discard than keep. So what has evolved
is there is more credence given to the product and not
the process. This creates the belief that it can be done
quickly, because of the instant gratification of producing
something first. The lack of appreciating the process,
of arriving at producing art creatively is a process that
takes time.
Good graphic design effects how a thing looks. Great
graphic design affects how you feel. It’s the difference
in seeing something and saying, “Oh, that’s cool!”
Whereas, a great graphic design piece can become
cultural iconography, such as the presidential campaign,
in Obama’s “Hope” poster. If a student wants to produce
great graphic design that will speak to his or her genera-
tion, encapsulate a thought, idea, or moment they must
delve into the time to creating the many varying thumb-
nails, the dizzying types of colors that can be applied,
the appropriate inclusion or non-inclusion of images and
properly choosing the many differing typeface before
finally posting an image.
To familiarize my students with this process, I introduce
them to the steps involved in working an idea from incep-
tion to completion at the beginning of the semester.
I allow all opinions to be heard using direct communica-
tion to quell any confusion, giving students the opportunity
to offer constructive criticisms and invite critiques by their
classmates. This allows students to develop his or her
self-editorial process, which is so crucial in finding their
own voice. DH
Learning from the best…
In my secondary education, I had the availability to
learn graphic design from three of the most inno-
vative and generous designers working today. Ina
Saltz, art director, designer, writer, photographer
and professor at The City College of New York
whose areas of expertise are typography and edito-
rial publication design.
Angela Riechers, an art director, who’s created
concepts and page layouts for everything from
Harper’s Magazine to iPad apps for O, and the
Oprah Magazine while teaching undergraduate de-
sign and architectural history courses at the School
of Visual Arts, the City College of New York and
New York University.
Alex W. White, designer, lecturer, professor, and
author of seven books on graphic design and ty-
pographic practice, theory, and philosophy whose
clients include magazines and advertising agen-
cies, professional associations and schools located
across the U.S. and in several foreign countries.
Drawing from those learning experiences has been
critical in enabling me to develop goals for student
learning, explore various teaching methods and
to examine the best means for evaluating student
learning.
Dennis Hall with student