It Depends (see context) includes work by students graduating with a BFA in Design in May 2012.
Throughout their process, designers address questions of context: To which audience is a design being directed? What materials are most appropriate to use in a final product? Where will that product exist?
It Depends (see context) embraces the importance of context. These students demonstrate how they work through the many facets and implications of a problem and how they connect an initial question to a final product. The agility that comes from practicing in this way enables these graduating designers to better navigate the shifting nature of design. The students want to show their friends, families, and the community what they have learned and why they cannot simply summarize what design is in one sentence. Because really, it depends.
The Design Division at The University of Texas at Austin trains students to observe and respond thoughtfully to cultural, social, economic, material, political, geographic, and temporal cues in the environment. The undergraduate program in Design prepares students to function within and between the conventionally defined disciplines of graphic design, product design, and architecture, where they often redraw the boundaries of each field. During their course of study, students acquire a working knowledge of design media and methods, while identifying and refining a process that is appropriate for application across a range of disciplines. This is a comprehensive education that allows graduates from the program to navigate the shifting requirements of their field with greater ease, acumen, and flexibility.
It Depends (see context) includes work by Ryan Adams, Nisha Bhatt, Jennifer Choi, Dakota Cooley, Betsy Cooper, Kelsey Flynn, Shara Kashani, Andrew Moore, Christina Moser, Karina Munguia, Nicolette Perez, Emma Whelan, and Hanyen Wu.
