My Year at the School of Visual Arts

Now that I'm at the end of School of Visual Arts Ave, I feel like I need to do a quick recap. I feel like if I don't, the entire experience (and boy was it an experience...) will slip through the cracks and disappear forever. And knowing my memory, that might not be too far from the truth.

It all started off with meeting Richard Wilde, the chair of the Design program, a week before the start of classes to select which courses I'd take. He was pretty brief and to the point, and I was intimidated by how distant he seemed. He flipped through my portfolio in silence. We made selections, and I left. The five courses we settled on for the fall semester were these...

Corporate ID with Steff Geissbuhler
Once I learned what Steff had accomplished as a designer, I was blown away. He's been around for a long time and has worked on so many major identities. In the class itself, we had two projects. The first was a personal monogram and stationary set. The second was for a local organization of our choosing, and I picked a makerspace in Brooklyn. I was hoping that there'd be some strategic element to the branding process, but he focused more on making a mark and its general feel. His attention to detail and knowledge for fine-tuning a logo was truly astounding. Even moreso, though, were his presentations. He'd show us behind-the-scenes material for a lot of the larger brands he's worked on. It was astounding.

Information Design with John Grimwade
Great courses, with a steady series of assignments every 3-4 weeks. This too wasn't as nitty-gritty as I was expecting, but I got a good feel for the good practices of working with various kinds of data. The real treat for me, though, were John's weekly presentations. Sometimes it was about a particular project, but it was usually just whatever he found inspiring. They were so enjoyable to watch, bordering between entertainment and educational. He brought in quite a few guest speakers too, including Nile Holmes who gave an awesome presentation about merging creativity and function and the value of speaking in a conversational, approachable way. For being the lone student with perfect attendance that summer, John got me a signed copy of Mr Holmes latest books. Great course. It was one of those courses that made me question what kind of education I was receiving... I didn't think classes were supposed to be that enjoyable.

Cinema 4D Motion Graphics with Marco Ruesta
Learning After Effects was a pretty straight forward process. But learning 3D modelling and animation was a whole different ballgame. One of the most difficult pieces of software I've ever undertaken... Learning a new interface can be a battle in and of itself, but combining that with the complexities of modelling almost broke me. We had two assignments in that course. The first one was a simple logo animation, and the second was a construction animation. Marco is a nice guy, and every week gave us a solid 1-2hr tutorial on one feature set of Cinema. Taking in the information and learning how to accomplish new tasks was strangely addicting... But progress was slow. One of the most technically challenging things I've ever done.

Visual Literacy with Richard Wilde
This was actually a second year course, and was probably below my skill level. It consisted of 1-2 week assignments that gave you an opportunity to explore conceptually and visually, which was something I never knew I was craving. It was like playing design/art games. Incredibly difficult, but equally satisfying too. I did well on some assignments, and not well on others. I feel like my brain had been taken to the rack and stretched out in every direction. As a result, though, I'm a bit taller now. And man, was Richard incredible. Every week, he'd put up examples from the previous assignment and discuss what was done well and what could be improved. You could tell he genuinely loved the material and the course and the students, and as a result it was such a treat to be in his class. One of the most memorable moments was at the end of our last lecture on the last day. Before dismissing us he put on a piece of classical music and flipped through every single example he'd shown during the semester, but in time with the soundtrack. It was just so... Fun. And innocent. And... Fun. That man has a very, very young heart. It's an amazing thing to see.

Interdisciplinary Portfolio with Olga Mezhibovskaya and JD Gargano
This class threw me for a loop, man. The first day, the two profs read out prompts (things we hate, fear, enjoy, want, etc) and we had to write down our initial associations onto sticky notes, and plaster them on the wall. Then we had to write a fictional, third-person short story that served as a self portrait. Damn, did all this catch me off guard. Olga (a very sweet Russian lady) approaches design with the angle of a fine artist. I wasn't prepared for it at all. This set the tone for the semester, where we had to dig deep within ourselves to uncover interests and passions that could turn into personal projects. It was difficult. There was very little progress. At one point though, we did posters for a Theatre East, a local theatre company. For their first production, Friday the 13th (their Halloween production, of course), my concept was chosen and I ended up making the poster, decorations, and an animation to accompany the performance. The rest of the semester was not very fruitful. Olga really strained "planting seeds"; starting a variety of projects to see which ones naturally bore fruit. This wasn't how my brain works, though. I like to start something, and commit to it, and finish it. My creativity isn't a plant. It's a machine, and it needs to be run with dedication in order to produce anything. It was very frustrating.

Then the semester ended, and I went back home for vacation. I came back for more. I met with Richard again to select my courses for the winter semester, and this time he was a little bit more relaxed. No doubt things are particularly difficult and intense at the beginning of the year. But by now, I started to appreciate the man. He's been doing this for a loooooong time (he taught my prof at ACAD that sent me to SVA and then retired this spring), but his dedication to the school and love for his students is astounding. He genuinely cares, and he stays on top of everything. He also has a photographic memory, and remembers all the students in the program along with their portfolios. He's just... Amazing. I've never met anyone who was more suited for their job. The man excels at it. It was truly an inspiration to be in his program.

But I digress. We did course selections for my final semester, and I ended up taking...

Screen Printing Poster Design with Andrew Castrucci
Dude has stuff in MoMA. Dude has stuff in the Library of Congress. He's a native Italian New Yorker (accent, attitude, and all) and killer illustrator. He's also lived through the seventies, lived with the homeless, and has done all the drugs that go along with those two things. He was pretty relaxed and enthusiastic, and seemed like a cool guy. Also a had a little bit of a fine artist approach to things. Screen printing itself was insanely fun and satisfying. Unfortunately, this class was my 'flex' course. You know what I'm talking about. Every semester there's one course where you slack off more than the others in order to make room for all your homework. Nevertheless, I enjoyed it. The process of actually printing was really meditative and straight forward. Sometimes I rushed things (see the statement above...), but as a whole it was fun. We did a punk band poster, a techno poster, an infographic, an Occupy Wall St poster, lowbrow logo mashups, and t-shirts, but I don't think any of my designs were particularly strong. Still, it's one more oddball skill that I enjoyed learning and glad I have in my toolbelt.

Intro to Interactive Design with Steve Winchell
Steve works on the Nike account at R/GA, the interactive studio in New York. And he's probably a year or two younger than I am. It was pretty odd to see him teaching the class. But credit where it's due: he knows his stuff. I made an app for finding places to sit in New York and an app for the car community (identifying cars, taking pictures and sharing). To be honest, this course didn't quite excite me too much. It was still pretty solid and we got some good instruction and insight into how things work.

Cinema 4D Motion Graphics with Marco Ruesta
This course! Again! This was the second half of it, actually. We had three 2-3 week projects so we could crank out some new stuff. This was when I finally started gaining a solid grasp of Cinema 4D. I was understanding how features work together and how the program operates. Overall, I probably only know 15% of what the software is capable of because it's just has that much depth. I will never master it. But again, this is a tool I love having in my belt. And I know that going forward, I'll be in a solid shape to research and figure out how to accomplish what I want to. This course wasn't very artistic or conceptual. It was 90% technical, and in some ways mind-numbingly so. But it was solid.

Differentiate or Die: How to Get a Job with Debbie Millman
Uh, wow. There were no creative assignments. We did no visual design whatsoever. But this course should be mandatory for every student that wants to ever get a job. It was one part motivational (learning how embrace what you want and not fear failure so much), one part personal branding (finding a way to set yourself apart from other people), and one part presenting. With a little bit of things to do (or not do) in an interview. Debbie is... A force to be reckoned with. She works at one of premiere retail packaging studios in the country, was the president of AIGA, hosts Design Matters and... personally knows every awesome designer, ever. Remarkable woman. Very intimidating. Remarkable course. Eye opening.

Interdisciplinary Portfolio with Olga Mezhibovskaya and JD Gargano

Part two! Basically, we had to produce a portfolio full of projects for the final school review and industry review. It was a very difficult semester. Olga's insistence that I keep 'planting seeds' drove me nuts, and I got incredibly frustrated. Towards the midway point in the semester, I emotionally checked out and stopped trying to assert what I thought I needed to do for my personal portfolio. I just did what she instructed me to. And the deadline got closer, and I somehow managed to produce enough material to fill my book. I need to say that Olga cares a HUGE amount about her class and students. She devoted so much time to the course that I generally felt bad for needing to take any of her time. But she's very talented, has a keen eye, and is incredibly concept-oriented. I have mounds of respect for her. The ugly truth is that we work in very different manners, and trying to produce in the way she wanted me to really sucked any and all fun out of the course. That being said, though, this was the one course that I learned the most in. The number one thing I learned being that... I have a lot to learn. It brought me to my knees as a supposed designer to know how little I know about basic visual theory and aesthetics. It was hard. It broke me more than a little. I'm glad I took this course, but in a very bittersweet way.

I should mention that most senior students only take one course each semester, and that's for their portfolio. Sometimes they take one other. I took five. And in the final semester as assignments were coming due, along with the school and industry portfolio reviews, I had to move. Because why not. Long story short, I couldn't renew my lease, so while all academic hell was breaking loose I had to find a new place to live, pack up, move, and clean the apartment. Probably one of the most difficult months of my life. That being said, though, I was expecting it to be worse than it was. I'm proud of myself for surviving. I think what sucks most is that I really didn't want to leave that place. I liked it a lot. It had soul. I had a super awesome room mate (I know we never really hung out, but I miss ya Hank). I think being kicked out of that place is really fuelling some homesickness at the moment. Oh well, I'll survive.

Anyways, I digress.

It was in January of 2013 that I first got the offer to attend SVA. Even after accepting the offer, I remained skeptical that it would work out. After I got the email confirmation, I remained skeptical. I stayed skeptical even after I got  physical letter. Really, I wasn't convinced it would work out until I was through customs and security in the Calgary airport early on an August morning. It seems so funny now, to think back on how I wasn't expecting it to actually happen. And here I am. It happened. SVA was, hands-down, twice as good as I imagined it would be. I hope I appreciated as much of it as I could. I hope I sucked every drop out of it that I could muster. It's a once in a lifetime gig.

I was actually sitting at the industry review when a placement agent sat down. After presenting, he took a quick look at my resume and gave me pointers. He told me that I should put more emphasis on SVA's name, rather than the type of studies I did there. I didn't quite get why I'd want to do that, but I thanked him for the tip. Later, I had a world-class typographer sit at my table. We got to talking, and he told me how he was going to start teaching at SVA in the fall. He told me about he's taught at 2-3 other schools and has traveled all over, and that he was excited to start teaching here in particular. He informed me that SVA was, simply, the best there is.

All of the sudden I understood why I'd want to highlight the school's name on my resume. I've just attended, on scholarship, an institution that's considered to be one of the top in the world.

I've only taken a year of studies... But I totally believe it.
-Cril

The Beatles - Within You, Without You (Instrumental)