The san francisco art institute is a design, fashion and media arts school providing associates and bachelors degrees in Graphic Design, Fashion Design, Advertising, Fashion Marketing, Game Art & Design, Media Arts & Animation, Fashion Marketing & Management, Multimedia & Web Design, Interior Design and Visual & Game Programming.

I know it well. A fine school. An ex-girlfriend (an extraordinary painter) got her MFA Fine Arts there.

This post, however, is about an MFA in Interaction Design.

I’m sorry to see SFAI spamming blog comments.

Perhaps this is not a shabby educational model – first play wildly, then hone as a grad. Lots of liberal arts students do it, and it works. But it’s about time that a truly technologically aware, intensive program came into being. As much as I love the online nexuses (nexi?) that enable inquisitive young web dorks to meet one another, it’s about time we get a place where we can come together IRL and swap ideas.

I only wish there were more programs like this in the US. 15 is an awfully low number of impeccably primed web talents to be putting out into the design field per year!

It`s my mission next year to provide a solid intro program to designing for the Web. I might step on a few toes but it`d be worth it.

I would love to hear more about Web apprenticeships. That`s something I`d love to do when I have a studio of my own. Here in Switzerland apprenticeships are common, but Web development isn`t very popular and I haven`t been around long enough/talked to the right people yet in order to find out more. When I do, though, I`ll be sure to share.

Web designers are like proverbial needles in haystacks, especially where we live. What strikes us in that everyone NEEDS a website and yet the people who specialize in them are so hard to find -well, maybe not in New York City. Finding web design teachers? IMPOSSIBLE!

We had one professor who taught a web design class and then moved so we have been forging along reading blogs and using online tutorials in what little spare time we have. After too many wasted hours on the internet looking, we believe internships are our only hope – then again, we don’t know anyone to second that. Anyone have a testimonial of web interning they would care to dispense? Is that the way to bridge the gap?

[ I'll sing the praises of small class sizes to my dying day but I wish you took more than 15 students into your MFA program... ]

Like Ashley, my University offers very little in the area of Web Design (and Graphic Design for that matter). In the classes that they do offer, the faculty doesn’t push Web Standards hardly at all. In fact, they will teach bad practices out of ignorance, which to me is worse than trying to teach at all.

I was lucky to seek out alternate education in the form of mentors and eventually landing a full-time job as a Web designer at a local design agency.

Working full-time while also going to school taught me a huge amount but I also realize that there is so much I missed out on. I had to learn many things the hard way by not going to a University that had a Web design program.

Hopefully we’ll see more programs like this pop up and teach Web and Interaction design because it is such a huge need.

I can’t wait to see the designers coming out of these programs.

Our Web program is nonexistent, except for some Flash; I’m putting together a proposal for a series of Web workshops next year. Intermediate Computer Graphics (an Electronic Visualization class, not a Graphic Design class) teaches some Web development, but doesn’t teach to current standards. Or even the standards of five years ago. We have no Web designers as faculty in the entire College of Art and Architecture that I know of — hell, I’m just a student and I’ve become a point person for reworking University sites!

That really says it all, and U. of Illinois is by no means unique in this regard.

Thanks for making a difference, and thanks for sharing here.

All joking aside, I am absolutely determined to get in to this program after I graduate with my BFA in Graphic Design in 2010.

I’m currently studying at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Our Web program is nonexistent, except for some Flash; I’m putting together a proposal for a series of Web workshops next year. Intermediate Computer Graphics (an Electronic Visualization class, not a Graphic Design class) teaches some Web development, but doesn’t teach to current standards. Or even the standards of five years ago. We have no Web designers as faculty in the entire College of Art and Architecture that I know of — hell, I’m just a student and I’ve become a point person for reworking University sites! It’s strange, considering we are in a big city with lots of talent. However, we have a very strong program concerning grids, typography, hierarchy and craft, and very seasoned print design faculty.

This semester I’ve been lucky enough to have UIC send me to Luzern, Switzerland to study. Like UIC, however, it doesn’t seem to have much in the way of a Web program. Only 1 student out of the 50-so I was introduced to was interested in the Web. In fact, I can’t find many Web developers here. The country made 2008 its “IT Year” because at the current education rate, there are not enough young IT workers to replace those who are retiring. Awkward all around.

It does bring up a discussion though, there’s certainly a lack of fantastic usability, interface and web design courses in high schools and even colleges. There’s a couple exceptions, but if you don’t count interactive courses (which are generally teaching flash and actionscript), web design hasn’t blossomed educationally. I suppose it’s not a terrible idea to self teach, but I’d still love to go to a college where I could have guest talks with some of the best designers around. There’s a lot to be desired from just blog posts.

My current plan is to hit Ringling College of Art and Design as a Graphic and Interactive Communication Major. In the four years there, there is only one intro to Web Design course and a new media course, but the heavy emphasis on pure design (and 9 credits worth of Type Design!!) will hopefully help me get a good balance).

Lovely website too.

Airbag Industries designed the site; the Heads of State created the logo.