Keywords: visual communication; Discipline; Major; Art research; Design science
With China's reform and opening up and the establishment of the socialist market economic system, the design education in colleges and universities in China obviously lags behind the actual needs of social and economic development and the practical activities of modern design. This problem has not been fundamentally solved for a long time, and the contradictions have become more and more prominent. The education of visual communication design is particularly obvious. It is the need of social and economic development in China at the present stage and for a long time to establish an educational system of visual communication design as soon as possible, which is suitable for the combination of traditional culture and modern science and technology and conducive to the efficient development of productive forces. www.dolcn.com
1. Premise: Art design has the necessary conditions and sufficient reasons to be a first-class discipline.
The Catalogue of Undergraduate Majors in Colleges and Universities promulgated by the Ministry of Education 1998 is basically the same as the catalogue of disciplines and specialties that awarded doctoral and master's degrees and trained graduate students in the previous year. It consists of twelve disciplines: philosophy, economics, law, education, literature, history, science, engineering, agriculture, medicine, military science and management. There are two "major categories" of disciplines and several "specialties" under the major categories of disciplines. This classification is the product of the long-term influence of the planned economy model and the ideological emancipation. Lack of necessary scientific basis, the level is also relatively chaotic. Classifying art as literature and sports as education is obviously a lack of understanding of the uniqueness of these two disciplines. Yin Dingbang, a famous design educator, sharply criticized this at the beginning of 1999: "Design is a comprehensive specialized subject, which has the characteristics of both natural science and humanities. In this regard, the traditional discipline division norms are too rigid and pedantic. " ①
Perfecting the socialist market economic system is an important task put forward by the 16th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. The central government also proposed that the strategy of rejuvenating the country through science and education and the strategy of strengthening the country through talents should be thoroughly implemented during the Eleventh Five-Year Plan period, and the strategic basis of scientific and technological development should be to enhance the ability of independent innovation. Scientific Outlook on Development is in line with objective laws, seeking truth from facts and practical development concept, and the reclassification of disciplines can not continue to follow the old road of planned mode. The classification of disciplines under the socialist market economy system should be "instructive" rather than "mandatory". Each school should determine the setting of majors and departments according to its own discipline construction and market situation, and should not be bound by discipline classification. However, we have to see that subject classification still plays a particularly important role in China at this stage. Because subject classification is often the basis of the plan, it directly affects the setting of institutions, majors and degrees. Therefore, education reform must first touch on the sensitive issue of subject classification. The idea of discipline classification reform put forward by Dr. Qian Yingyi, a famous economist, is both scientific and in line with China's national conditions: "I suggest that the discipline classification be revised as follows, retaining the 12 category, but re-dividing it. At the level of basic disciplines, it is divided into three categories: (1) natural science (that is, neo-Confucianism in the current classification); (2) Social sciences (including economics in current classification, politics and sociology in law, psychology in education, etc.). ); (3) Humanities (including literature, history and philosophy in the current classification). On the practical subject level, it can be divided into eight categories: (4) Engineering; (5) agronomy; (6) medicine; (7) law; (8) pedagogy; (9) management; (10) military science; (1 1) art; (12) sports. " (2) Determining art as a first-class discipline at the level of practical discipline is to face up to the uniqueness of art discipline scientifically and is conducive to discipline development and international exchange.
The professional catalogue of 1998 has 12 disciplines and 7 1 secondary categories, which reduces the number of professional categories from 504 to 249, with a reduction rate of 50.6%, and the number of professional categories of other disciplines in the art category is only reduced by half. However, with the reform and opening up, seven majors, such as decorative art design, dyeing art design, ceramic art design, interior and furniture design (part), decorative art design, environmental art design and clothing art design (part), which are urgently needed for China's industrial development, have merged into "art design".
No matter with China's reform and opening up, the development of these majors in recent years and the needs of society, even if they are "reduced" synchronously with other disciplines, there is no need to turn seven majors into one. Schools have no choice but to recruit students and organize teaching in accordance with the "professional direction". This kind of "reform" is a complete retrogression, and it is ignorance or indifference to the formation and development of modern design majors in the world for more than 100 years. Because of the confusion of professional characteristics, it has a very serious negative impact on the majors that have just been absorbed and introduced from the west and should have developed rapidly, or on the specialties with distinctive characteristics in China's long tradition, such as ceramics, dyeing and weaving, and has greatly dampened the enthusiasm of professional teachers. Faced with this situation, there are still "professionals" singing hymns with their eyes closed, so that the Ministry of Education has approved the addition of off-catalog majors and pilot majors in some colleges and universities every year since 200 1. Up to now, the number of majors has exceeded before the "reduction", but these seven majors have not been renamed.
It is precisely because "art design" is only a major that the Ministry of Education has recently formulated the "Guidelines for the Planning and Application of National Textbooks in Colleges and Universities in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan", and there are only two courses (Introduction to Art Design and Trends of Modern Art Design) for the art major. However, exhibition design and product packaging design have always been regarded as disciplinary courses for visual communication majors, and there are several other disciplinary courses for art design majors, but they are all planned in engineering. The classification of disciplines is unscientific, and the disadvantages brought by the merger of design majors are manifested in many aspects.
Seven majors that should not be merged were merged, but decorative design and technology education, fashion design and technology education, exhibition art and technology were approved. Is it possible to "narrow" the professional scope of training teachers, but "broaden" the professional scope of training professional designers? "Exhibition Art and Technology", why doesn't anyone think the name is narrow? Over the years, many graduates majoring in decorative (visual communication) design are also engaged in this special job. Why can't the discipline of visual communication design offer this major or professional direction for a long time? Design major is closely related to related and developing technologies from the moment it appears. Before the west 100 years ago, the education of visual communication design was to train students according to the knowledge structure (including art and technology) required by the specialty.
It is true that in the past 20th century, apart from natural science, the development of art design and many humanities and social sciences was more manifested as the intersection with other disciplines. However, the cross-blending development of art design specialty and other disciplines should not be confined to the interior of disciplines, and the mutual influence and promotion of these majors is formed in history. The development of art design majors should and must reflect the intersection and integration of other disciplines and majors related to it, and cultivate talents needed by all walks of life to adapt to the rapid development of art design. "Clothing design and engineering", "packaging engineering and design" and other majors came into being to meet the needs of today's and future market segments. But at present, these majors rely on engineering, which is a waste of time. The fundamental way out for the progress of local industries in China lies in "China Design", and it is not enough to be satisfied with "Made in China". "Design" is different from the concept of "manufacturing". The former is the exploration of unknown fields and the discovery of new images, forms and possible creativity, while the latter is only the batch processing and reproduction of these exploration and discovery results. It is important for designers who meet the requirements of "China Design" to understand and be familiar with relevant industrial technologies, but the cultivation of designers' creativity is the first. Online design. China
2. Prospect: The increasingly subdivided workplace needs all kinds of compound professionals who combine industrial and technological progress.
"Broaden professional scope and enhance adaptability" is a fashionable argument in recent years, and it may also be an excuse to mislead children. Nowadays, the development of all walks of life is changing with each passing day, the specialization division is becoming more and more detailed, and the requirements for professional ability are getting higher and higher. Each major is developing in depth in the cross-blending with knowledge in related fields. Schools should predict the demand of the talent market. The academic system of a university is fixed, and even if students are diligent, their energy is limited. For each major, educators should make clear what knowledge students must master and be familiar with before graduation. We should not use the so-called "wide caliber" to remain unchanged and change. Students can't let themselves go, and personal interests can't replace the study of professional knowledge. Otherwise, it is irresponsible to the students whose world outlook is forming and the limited educational resources. "Facts have proved that the expanded new professional catalogue can't fully meet the needs of the society for specialized talents, because the society still recruits and uses talents according to industries (so-called narrow majors). So in recent years, more than 200 out-of-catalog majors have been born. Most of these off-catalog majors are narrow-caliber majors with strong advantages and characteristics. The practical results show that this is correct. " A report in the Beijing News on April 30th, 2005 is very intriguing: pure "new majors" born to adapt to the rapid development of emerging industries are more attractive. Credit management, intellectual property rights, online games, grape and wine engineering, with the increasing segmentation of social jobs and the changing needs of the workplace, these professionals are gradually becoming an indispensable part of society.
I don't know the original intention of "broadening professional scope and enhancing adaptability", but I think the key lies in whether it is correctly understood and implemented. To do a good job in beverage packaging or advertising design, of course, you must know something about food science and engineering. As early as 1990, Gao Zhongyu, a famous design educator, pointed out: "Visual expression in visual communication design cannot be separated from certain commercial needs, so it is very important to understand the relevant market background." (4) However, it takes energy to do this, so many students "broaden" nearby: seeing that batik has a good effect from dyeing and weaving, they design batik packaging and advertisements; See the beautiful wall hanging from the decoration specialty, design packaging and advertising for the wall hanging; Learn about Jingdezhen and ceramics from the ceramic specialty, design the packaging and advertising of artistic ceramic products or exhibitions. The "goods" in the homework can be described as chaos. Do you think the major has been "broadened" and "infiltrated"? This is "consanguineous marriage". Moreover, the contribution of these products to GDP is not great, and because of the characteristics of their products, the role of packaging advertising is not great, at most, it is beautiful. Only fast-moving consumer goods, homogeneous goods and enterprises with fierce market competition need high-level visual communication design such as packaging and advertising.
Visual communication design plays a very important role in improving the competitiveness of enterprises in China, and develops very rapidly in the process of crossing with many disciplines. It should not be taken for granted that it is similar to decoration dyeing. The differences between different majors in art design are also obvious. Through horizontal comparison, a three-dimensional judgment can be obtained. However, any doctor can make a general diagnosis of human diseases, but there are 7 medical majors in two disciplines and 29 undergraduate majors are not fully counted. Of course, human health is the most important thing, and detailed research is needed. Every doctor is willing to find an expert, and certainly no one wants to find a doctor who "broadens the scope of his specialty and enhances his adaptability". Visual communication design is also very professional. It is not only to complete a design draft that is not as big as an oil painting or as big as a mural. It involves at least tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of copies, which directly affects the sales of customers' products and the rise and fall of enterprises.
Let's take a look at how the management class, which is also a new discipline in China, is divided into majors, and we should get some enlightenment from it. There are only four management disciplines in this discipline, but there are at least 30 undergraduate majors. Including management, information management and information system, industrial engineering, engineering management, business management, marketing, accounting, financial management, human resource management, tourism management, administrative management, public enterprise management, labor and social security, land resource management, agricultural and forestry economic management, rural regional development, engineering cost, commodity science, auditing, e-commerce, logistics management and international business. How come no one dares to say that many courses of these majors are the same, and they can't be called majors, but only professional directions?
Whether the mainstream of university education should be "professional education" or "general education" is still in dispute. In fact, professional education and general education are not diametrically opposed. Professional education should be based on general education in order to make students' professional ability better. Some universities' visual communication majors do not even offer courses such as "the history of visual communication design", but they are keen on "general education". Isn't this putting the cart before the horse? It is also unrealistic to oppose entry and stamina. "Aauto Quicker is the first choice for corporate recruitment. If you are slow, you can't do it. Enterprises should not only interview talents, but also have a probation period. It's just that the map is fast, the stamina can't keep up, and the professional position is unstable. On the other hand, if you are slow to get started, you won't have much stamina or even grab a position, and you won't have a chance to play your stamina. " Continuous learning is a lifelong task for people with lofty ideals, and it is impossible to master the knowledge used for a lifetime in a limited number of years. The mainstream of university education should be to cultivate students' ability to grab a position and the quality of pursuing progress when they graduate, that is, to focus on cultivating professionals needed by the increasingly subdivided workplace. Online design. China
3. Future: Visual communication design is a multidisciplinary discipline formed by interdisciplinary.
Mao Zedong pointed out in On Contradiction: "The distinction of scientific research is based on the special contradiction of scientific objects. Therefore, the study of a contradiction unique to a certain phenomenon field constitutes the object of a certain science. " ⑥ Twenty years ago, China's modern design and local modern and contemporary art appeared at the same time, and people gradually realized the difference between design and art. In fact, as early as 200 years ago, Kant (I Kant, 1724- 1804) clearly pointed out that there are two kinds of beauty, namely, freedom beauty and dependence beauty, and the latter contains the purpose of the object. Purpose is a priority aesthetic principle, which is close to function. ⑦ "The use of pure painting is appreciation, and the use of practical goods is effective as required." The design should be beautiful, practical, considerate and people-oriented. Visual communication design is a need, not just decoration. "For print advertising design, the most important point is the transmission of information." Pet-name ruby "
The word visual communication design, 65438-0960, became popular in the west. With the introduction of China's reform and opening up, it gradually replaced "decorative design". In fact, since then, visual communication design has developed into a subject type including many majors. At that time, no one was sure to realize the rapid development of images, computers and other technologies, but felt that the term graphic design and the design content it represented could not cover the design of some new information media such as emerging images, e-books and multimedia. At present, the establishment of many new majors is based on this reason that reflects the cross-disciplinary development.
Although all majors of visual communication design are "design for people" and "design for informing". Attending due to the differences in problem-solving methods and methods, different knowledge structures are required, so new majors will inevitably appear and develop. Just like the same diagnosis, due to the differences in solving problems, there are differences between clinical medicine and stomatology, and there are professional subdivisions of stomatology and prosthodontics; Because of different ways, clinical medicine and traditional Chinese medicine are two disciplines, and radiation medicine and clinical medicine also have professional differences. Are art students all geniuses? Can they master everything in the same academic system? The overall level of design industry and design education in China has been stagnant. It can't be said that people who are engaged in art-related majors, especially traditional arts and crafts, always only see the nature of each major, because some people can't see the development of visual communication design clearly from the appearance. Visual communication design is not only based on modeling, patterns or visual forms, it is essentially different from decorative arts or various paintings. Although they are all visible, visual communication design is more visual than communication function. Because of the shackles of the old discipline classification, most design researchers still can't cross the gap between natural science and social science and conduct three-dimensional research on design.
In the field of art, it is close to the understanding of * * *, but in other fields, it has produced the cognitive deviation that design is pure science and technology. From the initial stage, "design" is attributed to the rigidity of the category of "art", until the other side of "design" is found to be technical, scientific and practical, and the "art" born from the same root is abandoned. Today, industrial design holds a bachelor's degree in engineering; The marriage of clothing design and textile engineering, in fact, the relationship between dyeing and weaving design and textile engineering is closer; Environmental art design firmly grasps the thigh of the building; The direction of packaging design specialty derived from visual communication design specialty is put into the embrace of packaging engineering, and advertising design will be taken away by Cora, a growing advertising science; The major of visual communication design, known internationally as graphic design (translated as graphic design), has always had a very close relationship with printing, and it has every reason to be included in the discipline of printing engineering; Book design is also reasonable in publishing and editing ... Art design will become a "new" and "old" "cross-discipline". China is and will be in the primary stage of socialism for a long time, with underdeveloped productive forces and unbalanced development between urban and rural areas. Western developed countries have entered the information society for many years, and now we are in the primary stage of industrialization and informatization. Design education should try to "innovate" on the basis of carefully studying and summarizing the experience and lessons of the West 100 years.
Visual communication design can not be regarded as a part of industrial design specialty, nor should it be regarded as a part of advertising discipline, nor can it be equated with decorative art, although they are inextricably linked. It is necessary for the healthy development of visual communication design to establish its two disciplinary positions and corresponding professional orientation. This is also a concrete action of "persisting in taking economic construction as the center and solving problems in progress by means of development and reform". Online design. China
Modern visual communication design education in Europe and America has a history of 100 years. Visual communication design "plays an important role in modern design, and its influence on modern material civilization can be comparable to that of architectural design, urban planning design and industrial product design, and it is an extremely important part of modern design." ⑾ Visual communication designers have always been respected, and French poster designer Jules Cheret had a great influence on the poster design at that time. The French government awarded him the Legion of Honor on 1890. Visual communication design should not be regarded as traditional and conservative because it is mainly based on mechanized mass printing production. At present, the scope of visual communication design has crossed the boundaries of film and television, which has played a very positive and active role in multimedia design. At the same time, its tradition and category still exist, and its development speed is amazing under the technical premise of computer aided design. Contemporary printing has entered the era of digital printing technology and continues to develop. Only by closely combining with the development of printing technology can graphic design not be eliminated by history.