Meeting & Agendas

Dinner was served from 5:30-6 pm Russell Toynes called the meeting to order at 6:07 pm.

Gail Bayeta welcomed everyone Advisory committee members included: • Crystal Glover, Asterisk Group, Sr. Graphic Designer • Oen Hammonds, IBM, Talent Manager • Anne-Charlotte Patterson, Southern Combustion Creative. Graphic Designer • Stephanie Romero, Door Number 3. Graphic Designer, Advisory Committee Vice Chair • Russell Toynes, Studio Dzo. Creative Director; Advisory Committee Chair • Chris Visit, Frank+Victor Design, Principal, Graphic Designer (Anita Lam, Fjord, Art Director was unable to attend.) ACC Administrators, Faculty & Staff present included: • Thomas Nevill, Dean, Arts and Digital Media • Gail Bayeta, FT Faculty/Department Chair, Visual Communication • Andrew Saldaña, FT Faculty, Visual Communication • Breanna Whitener, FT Faculty/Assistant Department Chair, Visual Communication • Alida McCullough, Administrative Assistant, Visual

Gail thanked members for coming, and explained the role of advisory committee members, including: • Evaluate program goals and objectives to assure that students are employable at the end of the two-year program • Identify industry leaders to provide students with external learning experiences, employment and placement opportunities • Assist in professional development of the faculty (IBM has been very helpful with this) • Assist in promoting and publicizing the program to the community, business and industry • Represent the needs of students from special populations

About ACC Gail described on the diversity of students in Visual Communication classes,. Students range from early high-school to returning adult learners who are changing careers in their 40’s. Gail explained the roles ACC plays in the community, including: developmental education, to prepare students for college-level work continuing education, both professional and casual academic transfer, for students planning to move on to other colleges workforce education, to prepare students for entry-level positions. Visual Communication classes are considered workforce education. Departmental Updates • Highland Campus: shared a concept drawing and floorplan for the VisCom space at HLC (expected move-in: Fall 2020). Described the Graphic Design/UXUI shared space, and talked about how the new flexible labs, modeled after the IBM design space, could facilitate a studio model of teaching. Also, team rooms for students to work in small groups, as well as an open mixing space, will be available. • Area of Study: ACC has been reorganized into areas of study, and VisCom is part of the Arts, Digital Media and Communication area, with Tom Nevill as Dean. The area also includes Art; Business, Government and Technical Communications; Communication Studies; Creative Writing; Dance; Drama; Game Development, Animation and Motion Graphics; Jewelry; Journalism; Music; Music Business, Performance and Technology; Professional Photography; Radio-Television-Film. In 2020, these programs will be housed at Highland, bringing these departments together on one campus for the first time. • Enrollment Data- showed enrollment numbers for graphic design majors as holding pretty steady for the past 5 years, with an average of 205 AAS majors and an average of 29 AAS degrees awarded each year. Discussion: Why the low number of completers? Dean Nevill stated that it was typical for community college. ACC is trying to employ the best practices from other schools to improve the completion rate. Also, new tools are coming available to track and assist students. The college advising model is also changing, but it may take a few years for improvement to become obvious. Russell T. noted that many students have jobs and families and take several years to complete the program. Also, some students find jobs before they complete their course work, and that information is not captured. The idea of creating short certificates to teach a set of skills was mentioned. This could boost the completion rate. • Program Cost: Approximate total cost to earn the AAS at ACC is $6334, as compared to $5,500/semester at a public university, and over $15,000/semester at a local private university. ACC provides a very accessible education, with no portfolio review required in order to enter the graphic design program. • Instructional Program review: Visual Communication is currently working on our 3-yr program review. Advisory committee members may be asked to take part in, or suggest other colleagues to assist in, two events to take place in late Nov., or early Dec. Austin Competency Analysis Profile (ACAP): VisCom is seeking workforce input by conducting ACAPS in all three degree areas. Industry professionals will meet on a Saturday, go through program learning outcomes, and compare these to the skills required for the job title. Strengths Weakness Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Viscom plans to conduct a SWOT soon.

Breanna Whitener showed student work from a gallery on the VisCom web site. She explained that the portfolio class is the last on the degree plan. Each portfolio student presents their work from previous semesters to be reviewed at the beginning of the semester by industry professionals, who offer constructive feedback and suggestions. Students then select projects to rework, and the class culminates in a show at the end of the semester. Russell T. said that this is often where students find themselves, concentrate on what interests them most, and bring work up to a higher level. Oen said that he’s noticed that many students are great storytellers but can’t produce the work, and others can produce but can’t tell the story. To be successful, they should learn to do both. They need to be pushed, not hand-held; and that should be happening long before the Portfolio class. Gail noted that UX has moved their Portfolio Design class to the middle of the degree plan, to allow students to develop case studies throughout the program, not just at the end. This could be developed for the Graphic Design students as well. Russell agreed, said that students need to think critically, start to take ownership of their portfolio at midpoint. Oen: for some students this could be a wake up point. If they can really see other’s work, their competition, that could be a real wake up call. Gail: What work would they be able to show since they haven’t started their studio classes yet? Chris: at TX State, they have a midpoint show, where even if students don’t have any work to show, they can see what they should be producing or working towards. Portfolio Show: The portfolio show has been held at the end of the semester, one weekday evening, from about 6-9 pm. Although the past few shows have been at the Highland Campus, outside the ACCelerator, we will no longer be able to use that space due to noise and traffic concerns when students are taking finals. Show location option discussion: Stephanie and others felt that a downtown location would encourage more agency participation. Other suggestions included: starting around noon and running into the evening; reserving separate time periods for industry and friends/family (students want to show their families what they’ve spent years working on, but they also need to get jobs, and potential employers aren’t able to view the work through the congestion); getting an agency to host and sponsor (requires insurance clearance); having alcohol available; having a beer sponsor; having an invitation-only event downtown for professionals; avoiding scheduling on the same day as the Texas State show. Other locations to investigate include: • HLC Building 4000 is now available and a good option. • Austin City Hall • Austin Public Library Gail mentioned that for any off-campus location, ACC requires insurance certificates. Andrew asked which students should go and view portfolio show. He suggested that maybe students could be assigned a project that would require them to go to the show. Gail said that Design Concepts would be a good choice, since everyone takes that class. However student schedules would prevent many from attending. Stephanie related that she did not know what to expect in Portfolio class until a couple of weeks before she started it. She did not realize that she should be doing the best possible work in each class instead of expecting to make it better in the Portfolio class. Gail & Breanna agreed that a better way to forecast the class should be devised.

Reaction to AIGA Designer 2025 report The general consensus was that the report was written by educators, not by working graphic designers, and that many seasoned professionals would not be able to meet the standards the report suggested for college students. Instead, committee members said that they are looking for designers who are good storytellers and problem solvers; don’t just rely on software tools; show up on time; are able to meet deadlines; can communicate cohesively via email, on the phone, and in person. They should be aware, not just of what they like, but also why, and be able to articulate those reasons. They should be able to think critically, and ask questions. It’s very important that they be able to make the right choices and then present them to the employer or client. They should be able to pitch work in a strategic way. Just pitching to each other is not sufficient- they need to have good pitches to emulate. Stephanie said that she feels it’s important for students to have more opportunity to show and articulate their work, learn to pitch work, express ideas in a strategic way, and understand the creative brief. Block Classes Gail shared two ideas of block classes to facilitate integration of skill sets: • Advanced Study Studio Model class 16 Weeks / 4 week blocks Students rotate every 4 weeks to take on various functions: • Client / Studio relationship • Creative Design Team • Illustration, Photography, Print/Web/Radio/TV Production & Media Team • Administrative, budgeting, billing, time and talent tracking, estimating Discussion: Committee members suggested that this course could require multiple instructors with expertise in particular areas. It would be a good way for students to see if they prefer a certain area of the design and production process, understand the different roles, and also provide a better understanding of how they are part of a team Student Design Studio Sponsored projects Internal clients Discussion: Oen mentioned that at IBM Bootcamp, he saw that the more real the project, the more invested the participants are. Real deadlines, real risks, increase investment. In-house work and non-profits could be potential clients. But the question is, how to fit this into the curriculum? Curriculum Review Semesters 1 & 2 are spent learning to use the software tools and basic design principles. Committee feedback: suggest not teaching software just from the book, but integrating design with software classes, and make projects more creative. Basic Illustration: Russell asked if this class is still needed. He said he had not used his improved drawing skills since he took the class. But other committee members agreed that there’s great value in being able to sketch out ideas. Andrew reported that he is currently changing the projects, with more emphasis on thumbnails, basic shapes and poses, and applying perspective to products, and less time drawing models. He said that he could direct the class more toward design. Russell suggested that it could be taken concurrently with Design Concepts, to take ideas to sketches. Others said that it would be beneficial to learn to sketch quickly, removing roadblocks to communicating ideas. Media could include Sharpies, notepads, even iPads, and explore different materials for later use. Gail asked if the course should have a different title. Some suggestions included Design Ideation and Design Sketching. Gail said that she and Andrew and Breanna would meet to talk about the possibilities and devise a plan. Digital Publishing 2: Committee members suggested moving DP 2 to the 3rd semester, and providing more creative leeway for students on at least one project, while maintaining the same learning outcomes for all. The need to teach and emphasize the use of software keyboard shortcuts was also brought up. Discussion: how does a visual designer differ from graphic designer? Does it exclude print? Should we offer a Visual Design degree? Oen: At IBM a visual designer is really an interface designer, who can do HTML and CSS, then hand off to a back end designer to make connections. Visual designers work alongside UX designers. Russell: It’s a graphic designer who can also export to non-print applications. Stephanie: It’s someone who can do wireframes and front end design. Chris: Some people are trying to add value, say that a visual designer is worth more than a graphic designer. Gail said that an ACAP for the Visual Designer job title could be conducted, and if it seems like a good fit, a Level 1 certificate could be developed, followed by a Level 2 certificate and AAS. Committee members felt that there could be a demand for courses to update and upgrade skills, as an alternative to expensive, time-intensive boot camp style training. This need could be met by credit courses, CE seats either integrated with or separate from the credit courses, or customized training. The plan is to explore a degree featuring a blend of graphic design and UX design courses, to allow students to create portfolios that hire like IBM, Amazon, Facebook. Committee members stated that each company or agency has its own philosophy- IBM is more UXUI, others may be more focused on graphic design. Although students still need a print/basics foundation, it’s also important to be able to translate those skills to different media. Next steps: 1) Conduct ACAP for Visual Designer job title 2) Review feedback 3) Bring results and proposals back to the advisory committee Adding a Studio Model course to the degree plan Members discussed the layout of the current degree plan, and where it might be possible to harvest some credit hours in order to add a Studio Model class without exceeding the 60 credit limit. Tom suggested changing to a 1-credit version of EDUC 1300, but it was later realized that those 3 credits must be from the General Education pool, which excludes the VisCom-specific courses. However, other ideas included reducing Design Concepts and/or History of Communication Graphics. There were no items to vote on, so the next steps are for faculty to process the feedback from the committee and ACAP, come up with a plan, and meet again to discuss.

Crystal Glover seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 8:24 pm.