CMU Introduction
I've survived my first round of classes. Design Studio and Seminar on Mondays and Wednesdays, and Interface/Interaction Design, Human Factors and Computing for Design on Tuesdays and Thursdays. No classes on Friday.The Design Studio and Design Seminar are at the core of my studies here at CMU. I can tell by the brief exposure I've had to the classes that they're really going to stretch my thinking. We spent half an hour just discussing the potential methods for organizing data. One of my classmates, Cheryl Gach, threw in a sixth organizing principle (random) that broke from Richard Saul Wurman's LATCH approach. Chaos ensued. I've never been part of a group that was interested in discussing theoretical principles of design. It's incredibly exciting.
I'm working as a TA for the Computing for Design class as my assistantship this semester. The class covers Actionscript for Flash MX, which calls for a slight shift in my personal bias against Flash. I'm not abandoning Javascript -- far from it. By design, the similarity between the two languages is striking. That common ground makes Actionscript MX much easier to pick up than it was a couple of versions ago. I think it also makes it easier to teach.
Posted August 27, 2003
CMU Grad Studio