Drawing on Ideas: Diagramming to encourage critical engagement with texts and contexts in Higher Education

We work on the Graduate Diploma Graphic Design course at Chelsea College of Arts, challenging learners to consider their motivations, purposes and aspirations as designers.

We recognise that (graphic) design is not just about design - it relates to sociology, philosophy, education, linguistics, communication, and a whole range of other fields of inquiry...

We encourage learners to engage with these fields, exploring - among others - rhetoric in persuasive communication, notions of critical consciousness, and the interplay between values
and actions...

We open spaces - physical and (meta)cognitive - for critical and creative inquiry/ies, aiming for these to be experienced as open and non-hierarchical, with all ideas, interpretations, questions and uncertainties valued and valid.

We encourage diagramming as a way of engaging with unfamiliar and, at times, abstract texts and concepts. As diagramming is a familiar and comfortable form of expression, we have found
this creates a 'safe space' where learners are in control of how/what they choose to express. We use these diagrams as a catalyst for shared dialogues about understanding, and applying, the concepts being explored.

In this short presentation, after a brief overview of our ‘approach’, we will share examples of learners’ diagrams – and the contexts they relate to. We will showcase examples of how learners have independently developed ‘diagramming’ into an approach to critically engaging with other texts and concepts. We will also share some feedback from learners, reflecting on the impact this has had on their learning and critical understanding of design and related fields.

Part of Art Practice and Critical Pedagogy: Critical Approaches to Art and Design Teaching: Protests from Inside the University