With motion- and time-based media becoming commonplace in design school curricula, traditional definitions of graphic design are growing obsolete. Some undergraduate educational institutions are aggressively scrapping old ways of teaching in favor of novel approaches that combine new media and teaching methods. The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California, is one school at the forefront of change, and Nik Hafermaas, its chair of graphic design, has been a key player in kicking up some academic dust. Before coming to Art Center in 2005, Hafermaas, 41, was running Triad, an exhibition design firm in his native Berlin, and teaching environmental design at the University of Arts Bremen. Since graduating from the University of Arts Berlin in 1989, Hafermaas has moved nimbly across various design disciplines, wedding virtual dimensionality with traditional 2-D and 3-D visuals. At Art Center, Hafermaas is emphasizing that graphic design has left the page to conquer space, motion, and interaction. He has created a classroom environment that requires students to work outside of their milieu, and he is fostering a new balance between aesthetics and social relevance through more emphasis on research, ideation, and projects that establish greater ties with the industry through leadership. This, he hopes, will raise students' creative excitement, dedication, and social interaction. In this interview, Hafermaas discusses his approach and the results he has seen after two years.
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