There is an old adage claiming that knowledge is
power. But is it worth the price? In the competitive
world of design, many firm heads and associates are
claiming that, like another old adage posits, “there
ain’t nuthin’ to it but to do it.” In other words, while
credentials and certificates can be useful in a general
sense, they may not be so helpful when it comes to
getting gigs.
MASTERS OF YOUR DOMAIN?
Creative Placement (CP) in Norwalk, Conn., is
one of the nation’s top job banks for designers.
Who better, then, to ask about how advanced
study affects employment attractiveness than CP’s
Karl Heine, a 25-year industry veteran who has
been placing his fellow design professionals for
over two decades? “The whole master’s program
is more in line with marketing and also geared
towards teaching,” he suggests. “These areas require
higher education when developing a career focused
in these fields.”
In fact, when it comes to working in a design
firm, Heine says, his clients are more interested in
actual working experience: “Some companies seek candidates with higher education, but it has to be
specific to the field and applicable.”
As the field continues to change and evolve,
Heine sees value in continuing education. “I always
look for the professionals who are improving
their skills,” he says. Sometimes, however, even a
reputable advanced degree may not make a difference—or at least not the difference those who attain
it thought it would.
“I got a design degree [from a place where]
only a small percentage of people in this world are
thought to have what it takes to even be accepted by
the program—much less finish it,” says Joe LaRoche
of Bionic Studio in Boston, “and in my professional
career, I found myself consistently frustrated
by the fact that I might just as well be working for
an employer who didn’t get any degree, much less a
high-powered design degree.”
The fact that LaRoche supplements his design
income with interest in a moving company (or that
he spends many Sunday nights relating tales of his
design life in a stand-up routine) may be telling, but
not as telling as LaRoche’s own words: “My 17 years
of professional design experience have given me the impression that it’s not always what you know, but
who you know,” he says.
Ilene Strizver of The Type Studio in Westport,
Conn., and frequent DG contributor, agrees. “My
feeling is it is all about the portfolio first and the personal
interview second,” she says. And while Strizver
admits “it adds weight if one has a degree,” she has
observed that the number of her colleagues who have
advanced degrees is small, and course work cannot
be taken as a substitute for actual work. “It is no
substitute for on-the-job training in the real world,”
Strizver suggests.
Even so, she says, there may be value to going
back to school. “I think people go for advanced
degrees either to further their own learning before
hitting the job market—when they have the time and
luxury of finance—or to be able to teach.”
When it comes to landing a job in an agency,
Strizver stands by her previous position. “I don’t
think [an advanced degree] will get even an entry-level
job if the portfolio doesn’t stand on its own,”
she concludes. “The person with no design degree,
but who has worked for a reputable firm … even as
an intern, is more valuable to a potential employer
than an advanced degree.”
THE EMPLOYER-EMPLOYEE
RELATIONSHIP
Cindy Laidlaw, principal of The Laidlaw Group in
Boston, concurs. “My personal experience as a business
owner has been that I first look at the person’s
portfolio,” Laidlaw says, “then I read the resumé.” As
her business is so reliant on her colleagues’ abilities
to produce a high-quality finished product, Laidlaw
sees so-called book knowledge as secondary. “The
portfolio is the determining factor,” she says.
Cases in point are Andy Lam and Shawn Carroll,
two of Laidlaw’s colleagues. “I’d say a strong overall
portfolio is key to getting a job,” Carroll suggests.
“Any good creative director is going to go to town
on any weak projects you show them.” Carroll notes
he was able to expand his design perspective and
his repertoire through spending some time abroad.
“Everyone [in my class] got a ton out of traveling,
visiting firms and doing design abroad,” he says,
recalling a semester spent in France. “It gave us an
international perspective that we were lucky to get,
and European course work looks great on a resumé.”
Other than that, Carroll has not pursued any
additional study paths. “I haven’t pursued a master’s
degree,” he says, “but from what I hear from my grad
colleagues, after years in the industry, it’s almost like
a cool recharging experience for them.”
While the similarly master’s-less Lam also admits
he sees value in advanced study, he (wisely) agrees
with his colleague (and his boss): “The most important thing about a designer … is his ability and portfolio.”
In fact, Lam explains, when he was recently
interviewing potential interns, he bypassed the resumés
altogether and focused exclusively on the actual
work they had done … if they had any to show.
“I went straight to the portfolios,” Lam recalls,
“and if they didn’t have one, I skipped them.” It
was only when he was impressed by someone’s work
that Lam went back to learn more about the person
behind it. “If a portfolio looked strong,” he explains,
“then I looked through the resumé for personality.”
Once there, Lam had other hurdles for his would-be
colleagues to cross.
“A master’s also depends on which school you
went to,” Lam suggests, recalling many a portfolio
that was “not impressive.” Even so, Lam admits, seeing
any sort of advanced study on a resumé can help,
if only because it “shows initiative, ambition and discipline,”
which, Lam says, are “all a plus.”
BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN?
On the other hand, Selzer Design boss Rochelle
Selzer sees an advanced degree in design as a sign
of someone who was not all that committed to the
field in the first place. “They seem to be people
who either switched their focus to design after
another major as an undergrad, or thought they
needed more design training and opted for an
MFA rather than taking courses to fill in gaps,”
says the Boston-based Selzer of the MFA students
she has interviewed.
What often impresses Selzer more are people
who have enhanced an already strong design background
with a certificate program. “The fact that
those students are older, focused and highly motivated
leads to the strong impression I have gotten,”
she says. In fact, Selzer suggests, no matter how talented
they may be, undergraduate design majors usually
do need more training as their careers develop.
“I strongly think most undergraduates need
additional education of some sort,” she says. “Four
years is not enough to cover the expanded range
of design education the field requires these days.”
Whether it has to do with web-savvy typographic
training and awareness or simply conceptual focus,
nearly every designer comes up short somewhere, and
continuing education can help fill in those gaps.
“I think the basic curriculum should be five
years,” Selzer says, “or, alternatively, that design
students should pick a track to focus on partway
through their undergrad program.” As for her own
education, Selzer wishes she had spent a bit more
time engaging in the business end of things. “I wish
I’d gone for an MBA to round out my background,”
she says. “That would have helped me to better run
my business and to be a better designer.”
ASK THE PROFESSOR
So now that we have consulted with employers and
employees, it may be a good time to give a teacher a
turn. Daniel Schutzsmith is a publisher, consultant
and business writer for DG, as well as a continuing
ed professor at the School of Visual Arts in
New York City. “I have seen three main reasons
that people go back to school to take my courses,”
Schutzsmith says. “They are either lost; they need to
keep up; or they want to expand their knowledge.”
Elaborating on these reasons, Schutzsmith says
“lost” students are recent grads who “are often filled
with a sense of excitement, anxiousness and fear all at
once.” Unsure of what it is they want to do or what
kind of studio they want to work in, they “renew
their education to help them find that direction.”
After they have been in the industry a while,
these found souls may begin to notice younger
designers who are entering the field armed with the
latest in technological and educational advances.
“We figure we need to do the same things our
younger peers are doing to increase our attractiveness
to employers,” Schutzsmith says of group number
two. Afraid of being left behind or let go, they go
back to school to help level the playing field.
As for the third group, these are the people
who, as Shutzsmith says, “want to know everything
… in a good way.” Not satisfied with just what and
how, these go-getters go back to school in order to
develop their understanding of why. “This type of
person might have several degrees,” Schutzsmith
notes, “and has probably worn many hats in every
job they have ever had.”
No matter when or why designers go back to
school, however, Schutzsmith sees value in continued
education. “The importance of an extended education
in terms of knowing specific applications and
methodologies is extremely valuable to employers,”
says Schutzsmith, who is himself currently applying
to the MFA Design Criticism program at SVA, “and
they do consider that a bonus when hiring someone.”
As technology and knowledge expand exponentially,
Schutzsmith adds, people can no longer
afford to “sit idle” and try to advance a career based
only upon “one type of narrow focus.” Now, he
says, employers want to see “a breadth of capabilities”
ranging from traditional design skills to the
latest interactive and web-based protocols. As such,
Schutzsmith says, education can never truly stop.
“It is definitely worthwhile for designers to
learn as much as they can,” Schutzsmith suggests,
“because it does appeal to employers so much.” As
he is also the general manager of Miskeeto—a web
design, development and strategy collective—he deals
with designers both as benefactor and as beneficiary
of their learning. As an employer, he also values and
actively seeks colleagues who have taken the time to
advance their education.
“We do specifically look to find designers that
have gone beyond their original study,” he says,
suggesting that such study allows them to “really
understand the industry more.” Despite the fact
he stands to benefit from an increased appetite
for education at least as much as he does from
the results of such professional development,
Schutzsmith does add one cautionary amendment
to his glowing endorsements.
“Even though it appeals to employers,” he asks,
“is this really good for the industry? Does it make
sense to have designers that are Jacks-of-all-trades?”
He also observes, as his colleagues have, that all the
book learning in the world will not help you if you
do not apply it successfully. That is why Schutzsmith
advises his students to work while they learn.
“There are many factors we can’t replicate as
well in the classroom,” he admits, citing such tangential
but vital industry examples as office politics,
client relations, project management and learning to
take criticism along with your paycheck.
So while it may be important to learn all you
can about the tools you use to do your job, there
are still things that cannot be learned from books
and seminars that are just as important—if not
more so—in crafting a successful career. “There are
many designers I have worked with that have gained
mastery from real world experience,” Schutzsmith
says. “Could they have learned it in a class setting?
Absolutely, but everyone learns in different ways.”
This being the case, let us hear from another
teacher. According to Louise Sandhaus, a professor
at Cal Arts, “It’s not about the degree itself, but what
the degree potentially prepares you for” that matters.
“As far as the degree increasing employability,” she
continues, “it depends completely on the job. The
choice about education depends on what the designer
is interested in doing, what they’re good at and then
figuring out how to best [get] there.”
As such, Sandhaus suggests, it is the responsibility
of the school or program to clearly and accurately
describe its offerings and what students can expect to
learn and gain. “Schools need to clearly describe what
professional options they are preparing graduates
for,” she says, “so that potential students can make
educated choices.”
No matter the end goal, Sandhaus agrees with
Schutzsmith when she suggests, “Education never
stops, no matter what you’re doing.” Especially as
technology continues to race ahead, those who are
not willing to keep up and learn of what has come
and what may yet be, Sandhaus says, will surely fall
behind. “Just to stay inspired,” she says, “we’ll all be
going back to school.”
