So this person who emailed me already has a career as a freelance designer, but is planning on going back in a couple years to get a design degree. Specifically, this emailer asked:
1. How you’ve been finding the studies so far?
2. The faculty?
3. The school grounds, social atmosphere, etc.?
The questions were well timed seeing as the term is ending this week and I’ve just spent the last few days in heavy musing with friends, classmates and myself about Emily Carr, design, living here, etc. So it’s on my mind more than usual.
Keep in mind that I’ve only been at ECIAD three months, and I’m in the Foundation program (the first year of general arts) and don’t start design until next Fall (if I get into the program, of course).
Campus
School is small and right in the middle of Granville Island, a sort of touristy, markety, but interesting area. One ECIAD building is a converted factory (as is most of the “island”) while the other is much more modern and nice. Facilities are pretty good for senior students, but small. Storage space is a premium. There are some good computer labs (including a brand new one being built) but overall the facilities are definitely not world-class. But it’s a pretty cool place to hang out, for sure.
Faculty
Of the five professors I’ve had so far, and in talking with other students about their teachers, the faculty rocks. No one seems to be super famous or anything—and in general we have no idea what their work is like—but most of them really seem to know how to teach. A couple have pretty much changed my life (or my outlook on it): Duane Elverum and Vjeko Sager, to be specific. And the programs are organized and coordinated: the instructors talk to each other and combine elements and everything seems well planned and purposeful.
Classmates
Of the 300 Foundation students there’s more high schoolers (17-19 years old) than I expected. Everyone is much more normal than I expected, but not thinking at very high academic levels. Even much of the work being produced in first year ain’t so great, concept- or skill-wise. But there are a few outstanding people I’ve met that inspire me, or introduce me to so much, or change the way I think and approach problems. And we all sort of know who we are and seek each other out. For example one 22-year-old did an internship at Apple and then at RIM (Blackberry) and was writing usability and interface essays at 17. Another the same age has a degree in Psychology and his open-mindedness is refreshing. Or a 28-year-old with a degree in philosophy.
Studies
Foundation is pretty open. We do all sorts of art and a little design stuff. There is a big emphasis on process at ECIAD; i.e. how you develop and implement your ideas more than the final product. Sketchbooks are important: not just drawing, but showing how you develop ideas via writing, photography, crude sketches, into a final piece.
Overall
I am enjoying my time here, as most of the other first-years seem to be. And I am making a big effort to get the most out my time here, and it is paying off big-time. Who knows, I may start thinking it’s all BS in a year, but right now if it’s done nothing else, it’s given me confidence in myself to make mistakes and try my hardest day after day, everyday. I no longer separate life and school and career and jobs: they are all part of the same process.
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