Yesterday I was part of a communications exercise where we had to tell a story. I told the story of how a single conversation with my Mom in the middle of the night made it possible me to attend design school (Pratt). In short, I stated that had that conversation never happened—I wouldn't have been in that meeting room sharing my story to them. Which made me think of this post as well as the power of a single conversation. So here it as again—and thank you Mom for helping me pursue my dreams.
Originally posted on 9/25/2006
For every Ying, there needs to be a Yang. A while back, Design Observer re-printed, “The Top 10 Things They Never Taught Me in Design School.”
by New York-based architect Michael McDonough. It’s a great read and
all too true—sadly schools of any type don’t often prepare us for the
real world. But what about the things we DO learn in D-school (Design
School)? How are we influenced during this pivotal moment in our
lives? And does it carry over into life after D-school? What about
values that are instilled in our developing hearts and minds?
I was fortunate enough to attend Pratt
for the better part of three and a half years. I received a very unique
education which consisted of pioneering the usage of computers in
design, cooking fillet mignon in the classroom, welding in workshops,
and even posing in the buff for a figure drawing class (I'll explain in
face your fears). I learned a great deal about urban living in the
middle of some pretty rough neighborhoods (got mugged at gunpoint in my
second week). But I also learned how privileged I was to be able to
receive this kind of education in one of the greatest cities on the
planet.
What I learned in D-school has served me well to this very day.
Here are a few highlights. All of the images included in this post
were created during my time at Pratt.
What I Learned in D-school:
Work really hard.
Pratt’s Mantra was “Be true to your work, and your work will be
true to you”. This phrase has been branded deep inside my soul. And
we lived it daily at Pratt—the proof was in the amount of lights on
during the night. Everyone stayed up late working on projects because
we believed in what we were doing. Same goes for me today. If I
believe in the work, there is nothing I won’t do to see it through.
Compete.
When we pinned up our projects in front of each other in
the classrooms—make no mistake, we were competing. We were competing
against each other because there was mutual respect for our fellow
students. We sharpened each other’s skills this way. If we were going
to put something up on that wall, in front of our professors and each
other—it had better be good. If it wasn’t, or at least didn’t have
the potential to be—we had let ourselves down.
Take criticism.
Having your work up on the wall, in front of your peers taught me
how to take criticism. Yes, my work was shredded to pieces by
professors who studied under the likes of Milton Glaser. Sometimes I
took a beating. But I always dusted off and picked myself up. I
learned early on how to take criticism and use it to make a better
product. D-school taught me how to listen and value the opinions of
others and become better for it.
See things differently.
My visual communications professors constantly challenged us to
look at things differently. To never be satisfied with our first
ideas—they were merely stepping stones to something better. When I
facilitate ideation sessions, I remember these lessons. The first
ideas can sometimes be really good—but the more ideas build upon each
other, the better the chances of ending up with something wonderful.
Embrace new experiences.
I learned how to use computers early on when much of the
design world was cutting and pasting away. If I wanted to do something
like create an animation—it might mean learning a new program, doing
things like creating 3-D models. I didn’t know any of this stuff
before coming to Pratt, but I left there with a "learn by doing
attitude" which enables me to put myself in the shoes of users—do what
they do, and a desire to experience things for myself.
Face your fears.
A group of students who wanted to get better at figure drawing
agreed to meet one a week after class to continue drawing. There was
only one problem. We didn’t have models. So we modeled for each
other. I really didn’t want to get up in front of my fellow students
with nothing but my bare assets—however I did want to learn how to draw
better. So I got up on that platform—in full view of my classmates.
But once I did it, I felt a sense of accomplishment in staring down my
fears—and to this day, it takes a lot to rattle me. After all, once
you do something like that—even the most demanding work experience
seems tame in comparison.
Build something.
The mask I designed here was created in one evening. But before I
started working on it, I had to show a sketch to my professor. The
initial sketch didn’t do the actual mask justice—my professor wasn’t
very impressed at the idea until he saw the execution. This taught me
the value of executing ideas rapidly. Sometimes people need to see,
touch and feel to believe.
Have Fun.
Having fun is probably THE most important thing I learned in
D-school. One of my projects was to design a better “choking victim
poster”. So I thought, why can’t a poster about choking be fun? And
with a little inspiration from Keith Haring,
I did just that. Work doesn’t have to feel like work—I had a lot of
fun at Pratt staying up all night working on projects. My roommates and
I would wake each other up in the middle of the night if one of us was
working, just to get feedback. We had fun with our work and with each
other. We didn’t take ourselves too seriously. All things that should
ring true in our serious corporate settings (but don't always).
I guess that’s about it. And if you think about it, you really
don't need to go to Design School for any of this—but for me, it did
the trick. And the funny thing is that if you look at this collection
of thoughts and images, you see very little which directly corresponds
in a literal fashion with my actual practice in digital experience
design (at least not how it’s practiced today). There are no flows,
sitemaps or personas. These are skills I had to learn on the job.
Marketing, user-centered design, copywriting—these were all developed
through real work experience in the field. However I still tap into
the core values I leaned at D-school. Maybe what it comes down to was
being influenced. But as we know, a little influence goes a long way.
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