Why I was a terrible student, and why I will be a better teacher.
As an undergrad design student at the University of the Arts I tried just enough to get by. I believed that as long as I kept my grades slightly above average, I could coast through. I showed up for most classes, calculated how many absences I could accrue without serious penalty and completed enough work to avoid the instructor’s scrutiny. My attention was focused on going to punk shows, girls, skateboarding and causing trouble.
The summer after graduation I quickly realized that following the typical career path of a designer (i.e. become an intern, work in a large studio as a junior designer, continue moving up the ladder etc. etc.) was too rigid for me. Instead I took on odd jobs, including driving a van for the University of Pennsylvania, working at Kinkos (for less than 48 hours) and being the caretaker of an urban pond. I made flyers for punk shows and dance parties, created album artwork for friends’ bands, self-published zines and screen-printed posters.
Although I drew immense creative pleasure from doing these projects, none were financially sustainable. There had to be a better way. I wanted to wake up every day with a purpose behind my work and still make a living. The idea that being dedicated to things of the spirit and being financially comfortable were mutually exclusive never sat well with me. I wanted to keep creating as independently as possible, for as long as possible.
I began to travel, cultivated an obsession with cities, and came to know to people, cultures, music, art, theater, food, books and magazines from around the globe. My visits to bookshops, design studios and museums sparked many new love affairs. I became fascinated with the way that the design of a magazine or book could tell an important story to a vast audience. Signage and graphics (things I had never noticed in the United States) in airports and train stations in Madrid, Berlin, Italy and Belgium inspired me. New web technologies had begun to appear, sparking a desire to apply what I’d learned about print and editorial design to the internet. Album covers from Factory and Warp records and the tradition of independent publishing that went hand in hand with the music scene further inspired me and changed the way I thought about what design could do.
It all began to sink in. I knew why design mattered. I saw it’s ability to communicate and bring abstract ideas to life. I saw how it forged relationships between people and was enmeshed in everyday existence. The history of art, the tradition of Swiss typography, studying letterforms, grids and page layout, all of that stuff that I thought was useless and boring in school really did matter. Those things are a foundation for understanding the language of design.
Today, at thirty-one, I clearly remember what it was like to be a bored student. Looking back I see that my design education (and my general education) lacked one thing - relevance. I can’t discount a healthy dose of school-age apathy, and I’m not attempting to assign blame. However, in my own experience as a teacher I’ve found that students really do want to learn. It’s my responsibility to take the time to learn about them, their interests and find a way to make the subject matter resonate with their lives.
My course of study as an undergrad never showed me things that were going on in graphic design outside of the classroom. I wasn’t able to see the depth and meaning of design and art. I had no idea that design could lead me through the wildly unexpected paths that it has today. I’m able to work with urbanists and city planners that are changing the landscape of our cities, government officials who are re-imagining the ways that people interact with authority, amazing musicians, artists, curators and performers that astound me with their ability to express emotion, and thoughtful academics, researchers and thinkers who contribute new research to their fields and create new technologies that enhance our lives. The possibilities are endless.
The good news is that things have changed since I was a student. In both the University of the Arts Masters of Industrial Design program and the Rutgers Undergraduate Design program in which I teach, there has been a drastic shift in the departmental approach to design education. It not just about making things pretty and serving the needs of big business. We are grooming our students to be creative leaders. They are being taught how to think in broader terms, deepen their practice, and to engage in solving more complex problems in a collaborative manner. They are becoming people that have the wherewithal, imagination and talent to challenge the status quo.
As I teacher I try hard to make these powerful ideas we call design and art real to students. My aim is to bring the spirit of awareness, purpose and curiosity about a wider world into the classroom. Carly Regn, a student at Rutgers, says of my class, “The reality of design is both scary and exciting. Prior to your class, I never realized the extent of which my visual landscape was the result of calculated decisions made by designers. Before I equated design solely with aesthetics but now I know that although designers traffic in the visual they are really appealing to emotions. Successful design is the result of the study of people and their habits”.
I believe the true purpose of education is to make minds, not careers. The minds of students like Carly are awakening to the possibilities of what it means to be a creative person. The future rests on whether these students decide to use their talents and passions to better the world, or solely to gain profit and fame. I want to be an inspiration by showing my students that it is possible to use creativity in a way that has genuine impact, asks the big questions, solves real problems and makes our world a more interesting place.
As a designer I’ve got a lot of experience under my belt. As a teacher, I’m a rookie. I’d love to hear from other professionals with more experience and hear their opinions about the design and education landscape are. I’m also interested in hearing more from students currently enrolled in design programs. Do you feel prepared for the post graduation world? Do you think that your classes and instructors are doing more than just going through the motions? Are they making design and art vibrant and real? Lets talk more. Please drop me a line at tony@tonysmyrski.com.
