The following is my attempt to summarize and reflect on my first eight weeks studying at the Austin Center for Design.

The great:

• Amazing students with varied talents working together.
• Experienced professors (who still work in their field) sharing insights and leading discussions.
• Designers working on real problems (homelessness, sustainability, education).

The difficult:

• Big time commitment.
• Learning to be okay with failure.
• So far, more review than new.

First the great.
Without hesitation I think any designer or creative person looking to make a difference should attend the school. The people you will meet and the process you will learn will inspire you and drive you for years.

The students are inspiring. I’m reminded of my sophomore year in college when I started to feel normal. I was finally around people who had similar passions and desires and dreams. When a small network rejects mediocrity an explosive inspirational energy is created that feeds itself.

I feel a similar energy forming here around social problems.

Now the hard.
I did not anticipate the time commitment required to attend school. I’ve gone before, but I did not factor in all the new activities and responsibilities I have now (consulting, marriage, startups). I kind of figured it would be like adding one more client to my workload, but really it’s like three new clients.

I use to unwind by learning new stuff or building things or playing with friends. Now my days are filled of client work, nights with class, and the weekend with both. The rest of my life is spent scrambling to complete assignments or attempting to enjoy a relaxing meal with Maura.

I do think it’s possible to work full-time and attend AC4D, but you just can’t do anything else. No side projects, no overtime, no traveling, no going above and beyond at work, nothing but school (or face the consequences).

The consequence is failure. I have had many jobs and worked on a smorgasbord of projects. With the exception of a few scheduling slips, I have delivered what I said I would, when I said I would. I am knowledgable and dependable and deliver exceptional work to my clients. This is why I have more work than I can handle at a healthy rate.

Remember when I said school was a client? That’s how I first felt. I could do not let them down, they were counting on me. Very quickly a time crunch made me rethink this stance and I realized, “I’m the client. I’m paying to be here. I’m here to learn as much as I can, not to deliver perfect work on time.”

For better or worse, this has been my coping mechanism for the past couple months. Every week I am forced to make compromises on what to work on. Client work is at the top of that list, then any team project for school involving other students, then the projects I’m most interested in, lastly the projects I’m not into. Unfortunately this means the projects I don’t want to do (admittedly probably the most academically stretching for me) are the ones that don’t get done.

It’s also frustrating to feel rushed in everything you do. Working thoughtfully and meticulously is near impossible when there is an overflowing dam of work backing up behind you.

My final bitch is that the first quarter consisting of design theory, contextual research, and prototyping felt like a lot of review to me. This won’t be the case for most people. I guess I’m unique in that Jon, the director of the school, taught a large portion of my undergrad program. (So far this quarter is already much different.)

In summary.
I love school. It is great and difficult.

My goal for the next eight weeks is to spend more time reflecting in posts like this. I would also like to identify one project a week to be meticulous about, and attempt to do something for each assignment.

(Thanks to Alex for inspiring me to take the time to write this out.)

In high school I dabbled in lots of mediums: photography, video production, web design, graphic design, fine art and other things. I remember being frustrated that as a freshman at college I was suppose to pick one of these disciplines to focus on for the next four years.

Then I found the industrial design program. I saw all kinds of creations tumbling out of department: photographs, videos, 3d models, and more. I instantly knew that it was the major for me.

As I got deeper into the curriculum I found out that not only did industrial designers create in every medium, we also borrowed methodologies from an ever wider range of professions.

A primary focus of my education was using contextual research, personal interviews, and other techniques developed by anthropologists to observe and understand how people used products and the personal relationship that people form with the things they use and experience.

One of the foundational classes that I’ll be taking this quarter is Interaction Design Research and Synthesis (taught by the fabulous Lauren Serota) which builds on a lot of this stuff. I’m very excited about spending time sharpening my skills and looking at all of this stuff anew. This definitely one of the skills I haven’t been using near as much as I could.

First class is tonight, I’ll let you know how it goes!

Last night was the first day of school and it was great. It’s inspiring to be back in the classroom again with a group of people passionate about changing the world through design.

Also, I raised $387 for Austin Center for Design by agreeing to do any dare my friends and family came up with.

The people have spoken, and I was tasked with writing and performing a fight song for AC4D during the first day of class.

Check it out!

Next Monday I begin classes at Austin Center for Design. Part of the application process was to write a Statement of Purpose. Mine is below.

When people ask why I am applying for this program, my response tends to fall into one of three buckets: I want to create things without worrying about making money from them, I want to become a better designer, and I have a concern for humanitarian problems in my blood.

First, I crave the experimental atmosphere of education. There is a tendency in business to find what works and then to drive it into the ground. Deadlines and budgets require efficiency and consistency. There are rare openings to explore winding, disparate paths when financial obligations are looming overhead.

Lately I have been working within a narrow sector of internet startups in Philadelphia and New York. This has provided a comfortable wage and the opportunity to become immersed in the idiosyncrasies of a single medium. However, sharpening this craft has required the neglect of other pursuits. Contrast this streamlined undertaking with an academic environment where new ideas are germinated and divergent approaches encouraged. When the singular focus on profits is removed or delayed, a freedom to discover lateral solutions develops. I would be thrilled at the chance of pursuing design in a non-commercial setting with other skilled designers.

Secondly and more practically, there are skills I’m interested in developing. I have worked for a range of non-profits, businesses, and startups with professionals from a variety disciplines. These experiences have given me a clearer picture of my role as a designer and the organizational need of my skills. However, there are techniques I want to improve to fully exploit this role. Specifically, I’m interested in learning methods to facilitate a design process with non-designers. I’m also attracted to working on non-digital problems. Attending this school would provide an environment for improving my ability in these areas and give me more confidence in evangelizing the design process.

Lastly, I have a need to make things that matter. I grew up in a spiritual home where emphasis was placed exclusively on people and material artifacts were disregarded as temporary. Although my personal beliefs have evolved and I have been educated as an industrial designer, I continue to remain drawn to helping people in need rather than creating beautiful objects.

Thank you for your consideration and for this unique opportunity to collaborate on not-for-profit projects and grow as a designer while attempting to improve the lives of vulnerable people in our society.