Life After Getting a Degree in Communication Design

"If you can get a ticket out of this then go for it" was what led to me flying out to stay with family on the east coast for the summer while I looked at a few colleges. My father had handed me a frequent flyer miles statement at that moment and having flown frequently through my youth (mom works in the airlines) it was hardly an issue to find a way to land a ticket.

I remember looking at a good handful of the colleges that had majors I was interested in such as Tisch of NYU, Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, Parsons School of Design, School of Visual Arts (SVA), and those were about it, the next summer I'd narrowed it down to two that I was interested in applying to, Parsons School of Design and Pratt Institute. Parsons had 2 majors that I couldn't quite decide between, or didn't understand he differences really, and so signed up for a summer course in one to find clarity into which one I would apply to. This was the summer after my senior year and the class led me to apply for the other major, which is the one I graduated with a degree in 4 years later. I did end up both applying to and being accepted at both of the schools and chose Parsons purely on location, I knew I would probably be living in Brooklyn and figured that it made more sense to get both the Manhattan and Brooklyn experience rather than sticking exclusively in one or the other (a decision I occasionally regretted when transporting cardboard chairs and large canvas bags during rush hour on the subway, but appreciated in the long run).

Communication Design is a degree that has a vast number of specialties contained within it. From my school I have friends working to create commercials and short spots for network television, people who have done product package design for major cosmetic companies, who are Art Directors for design firms or medium sized companies, and also a few who like me have diverged into another path with strength that can only come from the kind of tenacious drive that it takes to make it through 4 years of design school. Often when people hear my major they get kind of a confused look on their face and say something like, "Oh, you mean a graphic designer?" and it makes me laugh, "Yes, kind of, but not really" is usually my response.

I believe that from my major, I gained a lot of strength, many people have seen the popular show "Project Runway" which I have only seen a few times when flying on jetblue between New York and Seattle, and I like to use it as an example, of what class was like, but that it was at times more or less intense. Going to a design school you quickly learn the meaning of the word 'critique' and experiencing these at times almost dehumanizing exercises makes you learn about expressing yourself, your concept, your work, and your solution very clearly. It becomes routine to have something you might have stayed up multiple nights perfecting verbally ripped to shreds when presented to the class and instructor.

Praise is something that becomes like melted chocolate to a person starving in the desert...and is often so short lived that it almost isn't taken seriously.

Graphic Design is something that I see when I look into a local magazine, and is really often very do-able by just about anyone who has a computer program in front of them. Everyone has seen logos made out of just a few letters or many some kind of clip art and it frequently is imitated and passes for design. Anyone who has experienced a serious design major surely begs to differ though and can call out the errors in spacing, leading, ligatures, and most of all, concept, in most of these graphics I speak of.

So did my degree make me a design snob? Some would say yes, though I don't think that anyone who knows me would agree. My degree taught me that concept and what the purpose of any piece of design or part of a project is absolutely will establish the success of it. Critiques of design drafts at a firm or agency I believe would make many people shiver with the intensity they involve, there is a reason for every decision made and if there isn't, then the question is "Then why did you make that decision?" "How does it tie into the concept of this piece?" and so forth.

More than anything, I honestly believe that my degree provided me with confidence to do just about anything, I learned that if you can answer all of those questions with confidence and clarity we'll get by and that industries outside of the design industry are not nearly as intense in their requirements. Personally I have leaned toward the entrepreneurial route, I like to find patterns and ways to profit from them. I do well when I understand why I am doing something and how well it ties into my own life requirements, my 'why' for doing the things that I do. I've chosen not to stay in the design world, at least not so fully because I see so much more to life than that, but conceptually I am very much working on staying as in tune with who I am and why I do in face choose to do the things I take part in.