Geoffrey Fried
Professional Title: Professor of Design
Areas of Academic Focus and Expertise:
Graphic Design, Design Methods and Strategies
Area of Work and Concentration at Lesley: Design and Typography
Representative List of Recent Courses Taught:
Design Senior Studio; Design Senior Seminar; Language of Design; Typography 1, 2, and 3; Design Portfolio; Design Discourse
Education: MFA, Graphic Design, Yale University (1982); BA, English, Carnegie-Mellon (1973)
Representative List of Recent Publications / Exhibitions:
Presentations:
- "New Contexts/New Practices," coauthor (panelist) at AIGA National Design Education Conference; North Carolina State University, Raleigh (2010)
- Chasing Infinity,” presentation to the International Association of Societies of Design Research; Seoul, Korea (2009)
- “Craft to Concept: Thoughts on the Scholarship of Teaching,” keynote presentation at Intent/Content, an AIGA National Design Education Conference; Nashville, TN (2007)
- “What About the ‘Design’ in ‘Graphic Design?’ A Cognitive Evolutionary Approach,” presentation at Schools of Thought 3, an AIGA National Design Education Conference, Pasadena (2007)
Former Chair of Design Department (1994-2007); Also taught at BU, RISD, and Northeastern University.
Design is a method of thinking, acting, and being in the world. Teaching itself is a kind of design problem. In design we deal with issues of defining goals, generating ideas, and devising strategies and tactics to achieve specific objectives. A curriculum, a course, a specific day in class, or a particular assignment are all opportunities to define objectives for the students and to develop activities that will meet various learning goals. Design also requires an understanding of the context of a problem and empathy with the people involved – both client and audience. In teaching, it is most important to understand and respond to each individual student.