Beyond text books – real lessons from college
Take a moment and read this letter from Jeff Freedman from Small Army
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Shortly after graduating from UNH in 1990, one of my favorite professors invited me to speak with two of her classes about my new career in advertising. I had just started working as a Media Buyer at Hill Holliday, and was excited to share my experiences (and, of course, brag about my cool new job – especially since an ex-girlfriend was in one of the classes). The first class went great. I wowed the students with the millions of dollars of buying power I had, working with brands like Lotus, Wang and Hyatt Hotels; how I was being wined and dined by people from The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine and Sports Illustrated; and how I was spending most evenings at Celtics, Bruins and Red Sox games with free tickets from my newfound media friends. (I, of course, neglected to mention my huge mid-teen salary). After the first class, I had lunch with the professor, who further complemented me on my amazing position, and then we went to the next class for a repeat performance. At the end of the presentation, one of the students asked, “So, how much did UNH prepare you for what you are doing today”? I paused, smiled, looked over at my ex, and said something like, “Well, honestly, most of the things I do now, I learned on the job.” Since that day, I’ve not only regretted my response, but the way in which I approached the entire experience. It was not my best teaching moment. So, a few weeks ago, when I had the opportunity to return to UNH and speak with the incoming Freshman class at UNH’s Paul School of Business, I presented a very different (and more meaningful message). The fact is that, without UNH, my advertising career would be very different (or, likely, non-existent) . College prepares us for the real world in many ways – but some of those are difficult to see at that time or, in my case, even for a few years after). So, for those college students (or recent graduates) who are wondering how their days in college will help them in a career in advertising (or most any other industry), here are a few things to consider: 1. The toughest part about most careers (especially advertising) is getting in the door. 2. An internship IS school. 3. What is in text books is only part of the lesson. 4. Every day is an opportunity to build lifelong relationships. So, take a moment to thank your alma mater for all it’s done for you. It likely has much more to do with your success than you may give it credit. I’m glad I finally had the opportunity to re-visit my alma mater, and look forward to many more great conversations at UNH. Go Wildcats! Jeff Freedman |
Fashion Design Workshop teaches Youth Designers to find creative inspiration in “anything and everything”
As part of Youth Design Academy, our fist-year Youth Designers enjoyed a terrific workshop led by MassArt Fashion Design student Christian Restrepo, whose extraordinary, award-winning clothing designs have been showcased at the ICA, in Boston Magazine, and many other venues and publications.
The workshop took place in MassArt’s Fashion Lab and began with Christian showing his designs and talking about what inspires him. “The designs Christian showed us were very interesting and different. I learned that you can be inspired by anything and everything,” said Youth Designer Tara Rahman, a junior at Boston International School. Students were wowed by the theatricality of Christian’s work and by the resourceful, often painstaking methods he employs to construct his designs into real clothing to be modeled and photographed.
Christian’s presentation challenged the students to think about fashion in a new way—as visual story-telling and “wearable art” that needs to be bold, daring, dramatic, and original in order to get attention and compete in today’s crowded high-fashion market. Jessica Villar, a Youth Designer from Brighton High School, echoed Tara’s sentiment. “I learned that anything can be a great idea,” she said, “like when Christian used the bottom of a frying pan in his dress design!” Yes, Christian did, in fact, incorporate an image of a frying pan into the design of a gorgeous gown; after he cooked his breakfast one morning, he was struck by the interesting combination of colors and textures left in the frying pan, so he photographed it, printed the photograph on fabric, and designed the rest of the dress to harmonize with it.
“What I really LOVED about the workshop is that we got to do our own designs. It was really cool and GREAT!” said Janet Diaz, another Youth Designer from Brighton High.
The students were assigned to each design a “collection” of three looks on a common theme, employing many typical steps in the design process—defining the brief, creating a mood board, sharing their ideas and sketches for feedback, exploring a range of tools and materials, and finally presenting their work in critique format for discussion. “The project we did was helpful because we got to learn about the process and the work it takes to just make one design,” said Tara.
Although time was short, the students took up the challenge to mine their own interests and look towards what is important to them outside the world of fashion as inspiration for their clothing designs. Janet, for example, made great use of various materials available in the MassArt fashion lab, cutting up fabric swatches and collaging from old magazines, to explore and communicate her vision of clothing inspired by the colors and textures of the beach in her native Puerto Rico. “I’m very proud of my design, “ said Janet, “and Christian was an awesome teacher! I would really love to work with him again!”
“The Fashion Design workshop was a great way to engage our students to think more about what what they see—not just the ‘how’ but the ‘why’ of fashion design,” says Alisa Aronson, Youth Design Education Specialist. “Moving from uncritically following trends to thinking more deeply about their individuality and how they can express their uniqueness by being resourceful, imaginative, and using the design process to create their own looks is empowering.”
The chance to learn more about the world of fashion is of strong interest to many of today’s teens. Youth Design provides a variety of opportunities for students to explore fashion design process, learn about careers in the field, and express themselves through this medium while building a range of transferrable skills.
Youth Design thanks Christian Restrepo for inspiring the students with his fashion designs and his teaching, and also MassArt Fashion Design faculty Sondra Grace and Meg Young for working with Alisa to plan and coordinate the workshop.
YD + TROY Boston: Playing a Role in the Topping Off!
Being a part of the Youth Design/Troy Team was a great opportunity. I have never painted a beam (actually ever) that would be a part of a new development and actually see it get placed into the building! I felt like an iron worker, with my hard hat on and my brush in my hand. I had a creative experience with my YD designers and mentors getting to express my take on “movement in my city” Boston. I created a visual using the (MBTA) logo.
I think I can safely say that we all had a great time and felt productive that day, being able to be included at a top-off ceremony. Period. Although I am from Dorchester, I can’t wait to see when TROY Boston opens.
- Lynne Kortenhaus and Nadalia Rowe prepare to start painting the beam.
- The Youth Design Team stand with Troy Boston members in front of the finished beam.
- Youth Designers working tirelessly on finishing the beam.
- ~ Nadalia Rowe, Youth Designer
Elizabeth Resnick Engages Youth Designers around The Power of the Word!
Professor Elizabeth Resnick of Graphic Design at MassART honors us that she continues to participate and lead these incredible workshops each summer for our Youth Designers. She has been a wonderful advocate for Youth Design since its founding and volunteer Educator to our Youth Designers for the past 10 years. We thank her for her time and dedication. Her Thursday workshop this year was entitled, Three Expressive Modes of Visual Language: The practice, the poetic, the persuasive, challenging the Youth Designers to create three small posters analyzing the differences in a word when it’s combined with three different images of their choice to express these three modes:
> Practical - used to communicate information with a single meaning, characteristic of clarity for direct information
> Poetic – used to communicate with experience through the senses (metaphor)
> Persuasive – used to communicate to send a bigger message that argues from a single point of view
Each individual work was the basis for each poster. To headline the project each group of 3-5 students was given a word: culture diversity, consume, or community. Contributing to this year’s workshop was Dan Vlahos. What makes these workshops so unique is that professional designers participate in the education, training and design mentorship throughout the program with our Youth Designers.
After Professor Resnick’s lesson, the students broke off into groups and began to brainstorm the images they would use to convey their word. Upon the completion of the brainstorm, students shifted their workspace downstairs to the computer lab. Working together the students produced their posters.
About:
Professor Resnick served on the Board of Directors of the AIGA Boston chapter (1989–2007) where she has organized numerous graphic design lectures and events. She is currently a member of the AIGA Boston Advisory Board, 2008-present.
Curated Exhibitions Russell Mills: Within/Without (1991) with Teresa Flavin; Dutch Graphic Design: 1918-1945 (1994) with Alston W. Purvis; Makoto Saito: Art of the Poster (1999) with Jan Kubasiewicz; The Graphic Imperative: International Posters for Peace, Social Justice and The Environment 1965–2005 (2005) with Chaz Maviyane-Davies and Frank Baseman, and Graphic Intervention:25 Years of International AIDS Awareness Posters 1985-2010 (2010) with Javier Cortés.
Publications Design for Communication: Conceptual Graphic Design Basics for John Wiley & Sons Publishers (2003) and Graphic Design: A Problem-Solving Approach to Visual Communication for Prentice-Hall Publications (1984). Elizabeth also writes short critical commentaries and event reviews, and has published interviews with prominent designers and design educators in the following design magazines: EYE (England), AIGA Journal of Graphic Design (USA), Graphics International (England), tipoGrafica (Argentina) and IDEA (Japan).
Awards Type Directors’ Club, Print Magazine Annual, AIGA Fellows Award, AIGA Boston 2007
Youth Design Academy
The new Youth Design Academy got off to a great start with 2 events in June that provided an amazing introduction to our program for 12 brand new Youth Designers!
Youth Design Academy activities so far have included:
- • Professional workplace training by Roselys Esteve and Rose Delorme
of the Private Industry Council; - • Converse creative professionals Eli Irving, graphic designer, and Mickey Ruiz, photographer/studio manager, inspired the students with a great presentation of their work and discussion about their career paths;
- • collaborative map-making that helped students understand how Boston is configured with a goal of providing context and connection for their homes, schools, and key locations they will visit this summer;
- • teams of new and experienced Youth Designers worked together to analyze existing designs using key design vocabularly, and presented their analyses to the larger group.
Our new Youth Designers are a very diverse cohort from 8 Boston public schools plus Chelsea High. The students were selected after submitting applications, answers to essay questions, and art/design work samples; additionally each student interviewed with a group of 3-4 professional designers.
Youth Design Academy provides selected students with an intensive summer of art and design skill-building and design career exposure. The core of the summer program is a course in Design Fundamentals at MassArt, for which the students receive college credits, developed and taught by Youth Design Education Specialist and MassArt Assistant Professor of Design Alisa Aronson. Additionally students will attend field trips to design workplaces including Ideo and Digitas, attend exhibition tours at the MFA and the ICA, and participate in a range of activities that connect them with like-minded peers, college students, design professionals, and design educators, broadening their exposure to numerous facets of art and design with a focus on developing critical thinking and other college-readiness skills.
The June events were a great start to the summer; looking forward to many further adventures!
Written by Alisa Aronson
Youth Design Education Specialist, Youth Design Academy Instructor
Assistant Professor of Design, Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Celebrating our 2014 Youth Design High School Graduates
Here at Youth Design we want to congratulate all of our Youth Designers who have graduated High School this month. We are proud of them and wish them nothing but the best in this journey to come. Below you will find our Youth Designers who have graduated high school and the schools they will be attending in the fall. This is a major accomplishment and we are proud of you all.
Youth Designers not pictured above
Aaron Clancy
Graduated: Boston Arts Academy
Attending: Bunker Hill
Stanley Rodriguez
Graduated: Boston Arts Academy
Attending: Fashion Institute of Technology
Emily Navarro
Graduated: Boston Arts Academy
Attending: Lesley University
Rhode Island School of Design Museum Visit
“A major exhibition of graphic design work featuring over 100 designs for posters, books, fonts, logos, etc. that provides a view of some of the coolest, cutting-edge work currently being created.”
As soon as I opened my email and saw that sentence in a message from Alisa, I knew that the trip to see Graphic Design: Now in Production at the RISD museum in Providence, RI was something that I could not miss. I got to Back Bay station on Saturday, May 17th at around 9:45 am and met with about fourteen other Youth Designers and alumni to begin our journey to Providence by way of commuter rail.
When we arrived to the RISD museum, the first thing I saw in the lobby was a set of images on the wall that showed the before and after versions of logos for major companies that had been recently redesigned. There was also a box of plastic coins and small boxes beneath each logo where you could vote for the before or after version of each logo by placing the coins in the respective boxes. It was really interesting to see the changes that had been made to each logo and speculate why the designers had chosen to make the changes they did. Even before we had entered the actual exhibit I already knew I was going to enjoy the experience.
We then took a huge elevator up the third floor where the exhibit was being shown. As the elevator doors open I caught glimpses of posters strewn all around the walls and glass cases with beautifully made book covers and screenprinted illustrations. As I walked around the space one of the most captivating pieces I saw was a video being played on loop on a screen. It showed a giant chalkboard with a set of cables attached to pulleys on each corner of the board and a piece of chalk being held by the cables in the middle. The pulleys were attached to motors that moved the cables so that the chalk would draw simple contour line drawings of chairs on the board. Basically, it was an automated chalkboard drawing machine, but the way it drew looked so human and child-like that it was hypnotizing. It was a really interesting combination of digital and traditional design because it took digitally created drawings, and used an automated machine to render them onto one of the most primitive drawing surfaces of all, a chalkboard.
Of course, there was a multitude of other amazing pieces in the show, ranging from interesting brand redesigns to crowd-sourced stop-motion animation music videos. All in all, the exhibition was a really amazing experience and It was a great opportunity to see some of the most recent and cutting-edge work up close and personal. It was like going on a design blog, but instead of scrolling down a webpage, you got to actually see and interact with the work in a real life environment. I had an amazing time visiting the RISD museum, and look forward to seeing what suprises the next Youth Design trip will bring.
~ Daniel Smelansky, Youth Designer
Youth Designers Inspire Middle Schoolers
Recently we were invited to speak to a group of students at the Higginson-Lewis Middle School in Roxbury about Youth Design for “Career and Success Exploration Day” and engage them in a design-related activity. The students are participants in an after-school program called “Higg-Lew” Leaders, started by Sarah Spofford and Gabrielle Pingue, who asked Youth Design to participate in their “Career and Success Exploration” series.
Two of our recent Youth Design grads—Dahrell Rush and Khyle Parke— took part in the presentation and led the activity. After telling the students about Youth Design with Dahrell and Khyle’s input, I showed the the students some of the design work Dahrell and Khyle created in their Discovery Books during their last Youth Design summer, as well as a couple of self-portrait drawings they have each done on their own. The middle schoolers were very excited by the design and artwork, especially those present who like to draw and create artwork themselves.
Dahrell introduced the activity that he had developed, which was a drawing assignment that left plenty of room for imagination and individuality. In addition to the students there were several adult volunteers and program leaders present who took part in the drawing project also. It was a great opportunity for students and adults alike to explore visual story-telling and to hear from Dahrell, Khyle, and myself what we saw in their work that was strong and how it could be made stronger to have more visual impact and/or communicate their idea more effectively. Dahrell and Khyle wrapped up the activity by putting all the work together and leading the group in reflections and participatory critique. They concluded the meeting by offering advice to students about how to approach the process of trying something new without fear, pushing through moments of frustration, and some other very useful insights—applicable to a range of situations—that they have learned through their work as artists, as art/design students, and in their Youth Design workplace experiences.
The Hotel Commonwealth and Art Institute of Boston Celebrate the World Series
On a recent visit to the Hotel Commonwealth in Kenmore Square this week, on October 30th just hours before the Boston Red Sox made history with Game Six, we came across these fantastic painted murals in the lobby. The hotel’s General Manager, Adam Sperling, explained that he wanted to do something inspiring and fun to celebrate the Red Sox in the World Series so he reached out to the Art Institute of Boston and this was the outcome!
Great job to the AIB students and kudos to Adam for thinking out-of-the-box, engaging young creative people with a fun idea!
The credit goes to the students responsible for painting these murals: Shannon Reed, Angela Mukai, Hugh Long and Matt Fans. They all attend the Art Institute of Boston at Lesley University. Say hi to Mykael Tucker, a recent Youth Design graduate and Freshman in visual art at AIB!
Street Pianos Boston
We painted a piano this weekend for Street Pianos Boston. Sponsored by the Celebrity Series, “Play Me I’m Yours” is a community arts project deploying 75 donated pianos decorated by local artists on the streets of Boston to be enjoyed by the public for the next month. Thanks much to recent Youth Design grads Shirley Fang, Juan Aguirre, Khyle Parke, Dahrell Rush, Daniel Smelansky and also David Morgan for working their creative magic on this piano! Stayed tuned for info about where our piano will be displayed.
Youth Design Alumni Shirley Fang, Daniel Smelansky and Juan Aguirre
Youth Design Alumni Dahrell Rush and Juan Aguirre
Youth Design Alumni Khyle Parke
Juan Aguirre working on the front while David Morgan works on the top
The completed piano
We would like to thank The Celebrity Series Boston for letting us paint this piano, it was a great experience.