Strong response to Summer classes prompts ADMCi’s School for Digital Craftsmanship to increase offerings and expand locations
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Chicago, July 17, 2013 /PRNewswire-iReach/ -- The American Design and Master-Craft Initiative (ADMCi) reports its first two classes in user-centered design sold out in both Chicago and St. Louis this Summer. The School for Digital Craftsmanship is adding more classes to its Fall program in order to meet demand. The complete course catalog is available at www.ADMCi.org.
Career-switching professionals and recent design school graduates snapped up the Summer classes nearly as quickly as they were made available, revealing pent up demand according to founder, Jim Jacoby. “Current undergraduate programs appear to be missing the boat here. The average professional can’t wait to get through graduate programs in order to build similar skill sets,” Jacoby advised. “And, unfortunately, accredited programs in this field are often out of touch with real-work experiences.”
In Chicago, ADMCi is expanding the number of classes and where they are held. Applied Interaction Design (the first class provided this Summer) will be offered again in the Fall. Additionally, the curriculum is expanding with the second class in its Foundations series, Applied Customer Journey Design. Essentially these two classes satisfy a designer’s ability to produce quality user interactions and customer journeys. Classes are currently hosted at an agency, Manifest Digital, in the historic Jewelers’ Building where unique classrooms provide a comfortable learning environment.
Extending the user-centered design offerings, the program is opening Applied Mobile Device Design as well as Applied Content Strategy. For mobile, the offering satisfies a long-standing gap in the market where businesses were forced to begin development before having sorted out usage and design issues. This class will solve for those needs and is co-authored by Dan LeBoeuf, the lead user-centered design authority from Fueled, Inc. a Chicago/New York mobile design shop.
Applied Content Strategy and Management will provide students with the skills to manage and create programs that source and sustain content from multiple authors and through multiple platforms (mobile, website, broadcast, etc.). This course is co-authored with published experts out of Manifest Digital.
ADMCi staff, including founders Jim Jacoby and Carolyn Chandler, are holding office hours and custom sessions at the popular tech incubator, 1871 (www.1871.com), located in the Merchandise Mart building in Chicago. “The start-up community is hungry for user-centered design skills because they’re proving differentiation in product development,” Carolyn Chandler notes. Having taught with the Starter League since their inception two years earlier, she is keenly attuned to the Chicago startup scene.
St. Louis operations are also expanding. “Response was particularly strong here,” notes Jacoby. “A significant number of employers are seeking this skill set and educational offerings in this niche are limited. We’re turning out skilled practitioners in 1 to 2 quarters, depending on their baseline skills when entering. That’s dramatically faster than any programs available today.” Both Applied Interaction Design and Applied Customer Journey Design classes will be offered in St. Louis this Fall. “We’re thrilled with the Nine Center,” Jacoby added. “They’ve welcomed us with open arms and a number of staffers have joined the program to learn with us.”
Response from additional geographies has also been strong. A number of influential practitioners in user-centered design have stepped forward to start partnerships that are expanding programs in new markets. ADMCi is offering 2-week intensives in San Francisco and Milwaukee, with an additional offering in St. Louis. Perhaps most surprising has been the international draw. Madrid has been added to the roster of host cities in partnership with the leading user-centered design firm there, The Cocktail (http://the-cocktail.com/en).
Perhaps the strongest reaction to the program offering has been from staffing and recruiting firms who are feeling the pinch between employers and high-demand talent in the market. In addition to rallying around the existing program, recruiters admit that the language of user-centered design is new for many of them. As a result, 3-day bootcamps were developed and are being sold on-demand in a number of cities across the country.
“We’re excited to reveal the full curriculum map currently under development,” Jacoby concludes. “We expect to be able to help establish a standard leveling and titling tool for professionals and employers in the market soon. We’re working with a number of industry luminaries to build it out.”
Media Contact: Jim Jacoby, The ADMCi: School for Digital Craftsmanship, 312-589-6801, [email protected].
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About ADMCi: The American Design and Master-Craft Initiative (ADMCi) is reinvigorating pride in craftsmanship, with a particular focus on the business of digital design and related markets. It does so through a number of programs, in particular through education in user-centered design delivered in leading cities throughout the country. More information on ADMCi and The School for Digital Craftsmanship can be found at www.admci.org.
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