About Sessions

This book was created by Sessions, the first online school of design. Every chapter is adapted from a course lesson and a project that a Sessions faculty member developed. The book features samples of student work too.

Sessions was founded in New York City in 1997 by a team of educators and design professionals from three continents. The objective was to create a design school that could offer a flexible, student-focused, and (above all) high-quality online education to students from all over the world.

Like many dot-coms, Sessions was launched out of a small New York City apartment. Over the next six years the school grew and grew, attracting a distinguished faculty of experts and thought leaders from the design industry to develop courses and teach. The goal was to create a network of design professionals that could rival any serious art schoolteachers who were immersed in current methods and techniques, pros who could give students critiques based on real-world experience.

Figure 0.11. The virtual campus of the Sessions.edu online school of design.

The Sessions educational model blends Internet technology with the signature attributes of a traditional art school education. All courses are asynchronous, project-based, and instructor-led:

• Students can log in at any time to study, complete exercises, and interact with an online community of design students and instructors.

• Projects simulate the challenge of a professional project, giving students the opportunity to learn and apply software and design skills on the job.

• A faculty of industry-leading designers and educators offer critique and feedback in an online learning environment.

Sessions went live in 1998 with just three courses. Today Sessions offers more than 60 courses and programs in graphic design, Web design, multimedia, digitals arts, and business marketing design. It has delivered 25,000 courses to students from 90-plus countries. In 2001, Sessions was nationally accredited by the DETC (Distance Education and Training Council) and licensed by the New York State Education Department, the first online school in its category.