When I was getting the AAT in Web and Graphic Design at Clark, one of the most valuable things I learned was from participating in the critiques, especially in the art classes. I hadn't taken an art class in 40 years and all my previous education was in more academic areas. Participating in them with the mindset of, "I'm going to learn from this" rather than, "OW THAT HURT MY FEELINGS!" was really great. It also helped that I thought my teachers were coming from a place of good intentions, which is somewhat harder to ascertain in the real world. I do also think people need to learn better ways to give constructive feedback. Again much harder in the real world. It helps to try to remove oneself from the equation and think about the goal of the project in more objective terms, but that's hard for humans, especially when we don't have much of a cushion these days. Anyway, great post!
When I was getting the AAT in Web and Graphic Design at Clark, one of the most valuable things I learned was from participating in the critiques, especially in the art classes. I hadn't taken an art class in 40 years and all my previous education was in more academic areas. Participating in them with the mindset of, "I'm going to learn from this" rather than, "OW THAT HURT MY FEELINGS!" was really great. It also helped that I thought my teachers were coming from a place of good intentions, which is somewhat harder to ascertain in the real world. I do also think people need to learn better ways to give constructive feedback. Again much harder in the real world. It helps to try to remove oneself from the equation and think about the goal of the project in more objective terms, but that's hard for humans, especially when we don't have much of a cushion these days. Anyway, great post!