• by Steve Smith , Staff Writer @popeyesm, April 1, 2011

The first time I worked on a Mac, back in the mid 1980s, I think I must have spent the entire first afternoon playing with typefaces. The initial rush of power and flexibility that came with digital publishing was enormous back then. Days were spent fidgeting with layouts. The standard office joke that met the rise of Apple-inspired desktop publishing was that more time was being spent on form than function. No joke. We were all learning to be rudimentary designers and becoming aware of the aesthetics of information delivery. Curiously, we never really recognized that design was now a fundamental skill in the digital age. We never made the leap of teaching design (or HTML, online publishing, etc.) to students just as we were teaching them writing. After all, isn't digital publishing a new grammar?

So it is refreshing to see that photo/video library Corbis Images is partnering with The Art Center College of Design in Pasadena to put online an "Always On" video series that brings design lectures to the rest of us. These "Talks by leaders in art and design" will bring both straight lectures and panel discussions online at regular intervals. The first lecture is from Associate Professor Heidrun Mumper-Drumm on comprehensive design with a special emphasis on environmental sustainability. The lecture covers both principles as well as hands-on tutorials for designers. While the materials seem pitched to professionals, it does seem to have something to offer for anyone who wants to think a bit harder about the design work that now is a part of all digital creative production.

Upcoming episodes will cover "Transmedia Design" that combines space, time and behavior into projects and "Lies" a discussions among writers, designers and artists about the interplay of narrative with visual media. Speakers will include sci-fi novelist Bruce Sterling, futures researcher Jason Tester, landscape artist Andrew Hem and designer Fiona Raby. Corbis says that throughout 2011 it will contribute a dollar to the effort for every order placed at CorbisImages.com. The funding will support further videos in the series.

The series is being promoted by designer Kit Hinrichs, principal at Studio Hinrichs, who also designed for Corbis their 24/7/365 calendar in print and online.