Master of Design program

Surprisingly, a significant amount of work involved in the Professional Writing major is visual and design-related. “Editing,” “Writing in the Professions,” “Writing for the Web,” and “Print, Layout, and Design” are all classes dealing with the visual just as much as it deals with the written.

These classes and their subject matter are reflective of a growing trend in writing; today’s writers must be proficient in a number of areas in addition to writing.  Consistent 21st writers also have to be editors and designers, especially in my desired field of magazine journalism.

In my reading, I came across a graduate program that offers a degree that blends visual and written communication.

Carnegie Mellon University offers a Master of Design in Communication Planning and Information Design (CPID) (http://www.cmu.edu/hss/english/graduate/mdes/index.html). According to CMU, it “is a two-year professional program for students who want to explore the new arts of communication and the creative potential of the interplay between words and images in traditional and innovative media” and the program is jointly offered by the English Department and the School of Design.

The purpose of the program “is to prepare students for advanced levels of professional employment as communication planners and designers in the areas of print communication, design planning, systems design, dynamic information design, interactive multimedia, and internet communication.”

There are two unique attributes to this program:

1. An emphasis on collaboration: The program stresses teamwork as a way of maximizing learning experience and simulating a real world work environment.

According to CMU: 

“The CPID program provides a balanced mix of collaborative work and individual exploration. Some recent themes of exploration include new narrative structures in new media, visual voice and identity in print and digital formats, visualizing complex information spaces, and strategic planning for communication systems. Recent project sponsors include clients such as Microsoft, EliasArts, Samsung Electronics, the Carnegie Museum of Art, and the United States Postal Service.”

2. A functional consciousness about the cutting edge and staying current in order to give program  grads the best opportunity to be effective in a professional environment.

CMU:

“As we begin the 21st century, however, new technologies are revolutionizing the environment of communication. Computing and new media are appearing at every level of communication design, blurring the traditional boundaries between creation and production, writing and designing, strategy and implementation. With a broader view of the information landscape, writers and designers are expected to tackle the planning of complex communication systems, as well as take increasing responsibility for both the verbal and the visual aspects of their work. The need to relate more complex information to a greater variety of audiences demands that writers and designers expand their individual roles and collaborate in formerly unexpected ways.”

“To better prepare students for the new role they are increasingly asked to play as communication planners and designers, there must be new arts of communication and a new field of research and inquiry. The new arts will combine words and images, sound and motion, using technologies from print to video, from photography to interactive multimedia.”

CMU’s design school is highly praised and respected and this program deserves consideration as I near graduation.