Concept & Audience

Personal preference.
Is there a right and a wrong way to go about the design process? Sure, there are good habits and bad, ways to be more efficient, more thorough, and more varied, but is there really a correct and incorrect?
The article makes some good points: in order to be successful designers, we have to be aware of our audience, client, and in turn, the concept. Our concepts can be derived from things like images, other websites, music, literature, packaging, friends, family, anything. What we do with the inspiration is our choice and it is necessary to remain consistent with our concept, client, and audience. If a designer doesn't relate with their audience, they become unsuccessful without research, as in the case with N'SYNC in this article.

Define "New Media"

"New Media" as a college degree may seem too broad or too narrow, but is it really the name of the program that signifies all it does? Is it really the title of something that contains all the ins and outs of the program dictating what is taught? Sure, the name should have some relevance, but what's the big deal?

There's two different kinds of web design in my mind. There is the visual layout, the pretty side. Then there's the structure, the underlying map. To combine the two gets tricky, as they mentioned in the AIGA article, but to separate them is trickier still. The visual side of web design is what I tend to think Graphic Designers do. The structure, coding, and mapping belong to the Programmers. It is hard, I think, to excel in both. Sure, one should know about the other, so as to do their jobs more completely. But there are two positions for a reason. Two jobs, two halves to a project, two sides of the brain.

I would think that in a business setting, there would be two different people performing the two side of the equation, not one who you hope can excel at both arenas. In a school setting, sure teach both, but perhaps separately. It is hard for designers, I think, to separate themselves from the "pretty" aspect and branch out into this mathematical coding world. And probably vice versa, but who knows.

And The Survey Says:

How interesting to read about all the developments within the design/web industry. Though it isn't documenting an actual change, this survey records to me some of the major distinguishing factors between today's media and that of the future.
What are the ratios between men and women in the web workplace going to be in a decade? Will men still be the majority, for instance?
The survey is in-depth and informative, but overall doesn't seem to prove a point other than serving to document statistics. Is there truly a point to the whole thing then?
I'm not sure.