I teach a class called “Selling Design” in the MFA Interaction Design program at School of Visual Arts in New York.

Although the class’s name focuses on persuasion, it’s really about learning where great ideas come from, recognizing and fostering our best ideas, choosing the right partners to collaborate on those ideas, and finding and growing an audience/market. Persuasion is a key part of all those phases, but we focus on the entire process.

Guest lecturers from various backgrounds contribute their experiences and insights each week.

My students are amazing. They’re about to become the first group to graduate (is that the word for it?) from SVA’s fledgling program created by Liz Danzico and Steve Heller. Hire them if you can. Watch them make their mark.

Teaching at School of Visual Arts is a small but growing set on Flickr documenting our class—and the nearly two years I spent waiting to teach it. (I’m the last faculty member in the two-year program to actually teach a class, as my class is the last in the sequence.)

Filed under: Community, Design, engagement, Teaching

9 Responses to “Teaching at School of Visual Arts”

1. 
   David Barrett said on 11 February 2011 at 7:56 am:

   The student list unfortunately requires a HTTP auth from the looks of things.

2. 
   Jeffrey Zeldman said on 11 February 2011 at 8:19 am:

   Oops.

3. 
   Jeffrey Zeldman said on 11 February 2011 at 8:21 am:

   Thanks, David. Not as good without the link to the student bio page, but what can ya do? (I thought it was public.)

4. 
   Jason Santa Maria said on 11 February 2011 at 8:45 am:

   Here’s a public link that shows all of the students and some of the work from the courses: http://interactiondesign.sva.edu/students

5. 
   Karol said on 11 February 2011 at 10:01 am:

   It’s a great thing that You do!

   Is there place where I can find some materials from lectures?

6. 
   @bensmithson said on 11 February 2011 at 10:40 am:

   I’m finishing up a master’s program in Emerging Media at Univ of Texas at Dallas. I wish I had spent more time studying design. However, I’ll have lots of free learning time once May (graduation) roles around!

7. 
   Fred said on 11 February 2011 at 10:41 am:

   Yum. School… gotta look into this program.

8. 
   Justin said on 11 February 2011 at 10:44 am:

   Ah man! Why can’t I be young, living in NYC and be taught by Jeffrey Zeldman at a cool new design program!

9. 
   Jeffrey Zeldman said on 11 February 2011 at 4:07 pm:

   Thanks, Jason!

   And here’s video of last night’s class, featuring Rich Ziade (Arc90, Readability).

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