Suggestions for industrial design?

<p>Well....our daughter is a very happy freshman in college and I thought that I would be able to take a break from CC, but as there is a strong possibility that our son will major in industrial design, I have a lot to learn!</p>

<p>Our son is a sophomore in high school and after hearing for years from his art teachers that he is very talented, I'm finally starting to realize that we should investigate the art college option. I admit that I always assumed that he would go to a "traditional" college simply because I was not familiar with colleges like RISD and MICA until I started reading the threads on this site.</p>

<p>Does anyone have suggestions on high school course selection, summer programs, design magazines, etc. that will help prepare our son if he decides that he wants to pursue a degree in design?</p>

<p>Can't guide you myself but maybe you could contact a couple schools that offer ID and ask them for guidance. My d, a graphic design major, has a bunch of ID friends and she is now considering ID (luckily the foundation yr is the same at RIT). When she was looking at schools, the Design depts were very helpful.</p>

<p>Welcome to the weird and wonderful world of "art/design majors"! Just one year ago, my husband and I were in the same place you are now. We are both engineers and our older son was heading the same way, when suddenly the summer before his senior year he decided that he wanted to study Industrial Design instead! In a few short months, we had to educate ourselves all about art school programs, portfolio preparation, etc. You are definitely smart to be starting your investigations now while he's still a sophomore.</p>

<p>Your son should take as many art classes as possible while in high school -- especially drawing classes -- to prepare for the most competitive art schools. My son, starting as late as he did, took only one -- AP Studio Art in his senior year. He's a freshman at RISD this year and he is really having to work hard extra hard in his drawing class because everyone else there has far more experience. </p>

<p>You don't necessarily have to go the art school route. Carnegie-Mellon, Arizona State, Syracuse, RIT, and U Michigan are just a few of the universities that have well-respected ID programs. There is no "ranking" of undergraduate design programs, but RISD, Carnegie-Mellon, and Art Center College (Pasadena) are generally considered among the very top.</p>

<p>Both RISD and Carnegie-Mellon offer summer programs for high school students. They are rather pricey, but they do give the students a good idea of what pursuing a design major in college would be like. My son attended RISD's pre-college program; that's how he fell in love with both the major and the school! You might also look into summer art classes held at your local community college, or classes sponsored by community art centers and artists leagues.</p>

<p>Your son should take advantage of National Portfolio Days, which are held around the country every fall. It's a great no-risk way to get some feedback on his portfolio from art school reps, and the info can be very helpful in putting together his college applications.</p>

<p>Good luck with your search. There are many CC parents who are great resources in this area -- particularly TaxGuy and Mackinaw. They have done some detailed reviews of specific design programs and art schools in the past and you can do a search for them in the archives.</p>

<p>Mackanaw is very knowledgable in ID since his daughter majored in it at RISD.</p>

<p>There are a number of good programs in ID that you should check out. Some of them, in no particular order are:</p>

<ol>
<li>RISD</li>
<li>CMU</li>
<li>University of Cincinnati School of Design, ( which is surprisingly well rated and doesn't require a portfolio). They also have transportation design.</li>
<li>Art Center College of Design in CA, which also has transportation design.</li>
<li>Pratt Institute</li>
<li>RIT</li>
<li>I think Syracuse University has a program</li>
<li>Arizona State University</li>
</ol>

<p>This list should get you started.</p>

<p>Jerzgrl and worried_mom, thanks for your responses! We spent a good part of the evening looking at college websites and requesting information about pre-college programs and we’re going to research the National Portfolio Days tomorrow.</p>

<p>I know that it has been discussed in previous threads, but what are your thoughts on art schools versus universities. Do your children feel as if they are missing out on any aspects of college life?</p>

<p>And I thought that finding the right college for our second (and last!) child would be so easy! ; )</p>

<ol>
<li>Cleveland Institute of Art and Design</li>
<li>Columbus College of Art and Design</li>
</ol>

<p>Also, check out this url for boat design schools:<a href="http://www.boatdesign.net/Directory/Technical_Resources/Schools/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.boatdesign.net/Directory/Technical_Resources/Schools/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Thanks taxguy! Your message appeared after I sent my previous post. I spent most of the afternoon reading your reviews and I agree with worried_mom that you are a wonderful resource. Best of luck to your daughter!</p>

<p>And one last question on industrial design before I go to bed…
Do you think that a student should take the traditional college preparatory classes if they intend to major in industrial design at an art school or a university? We’ve been telling our son that he needs to take four years of science, math, a foreign language, etc., but I’m starting to wonder if this is true.</p>

<p>Liland, this is the 64K question for my daughter. She really doesn't want tp\o attend a stand alone art school; however, not because she wants a lot of humanities courses. She atteded a humanities magnet program and is "ODed" on humanities and history. </p>

<p>Her reasons are simply that she wants to associate with non artsy types too.</p>

<p>As for academics, most stand alone art programs will be generally stronger in ID or pure art because they offer more courses in the area and have less required non art related courses. However, schools such as CMU are very strong in ID even if it isn't a stand alone art school. The same can be said about RIT. Syracuse University has a strong over all art school,but I am not familiar with their ID program.</p>

<p>Frankly, I don't see the need to take a broad interdisciplinary program with lots of math and science and history.Most kids will forget what they learned within one year anyway.</p>

<p>I do believe, however, in lots of english and philosophy because I believe that all majors, not just arts, need to be very literate. Writing, in my humble opinion, is an essential skill to master.If they didn't get about a 600 or better on the SAT math, they might also want to take a busiiness math course too.</p>

<p>However, many art schools don't provide the strong humanities background of a traditional university. I do believe that there are exceptions such as MICA and RISD; however, these exception are few and far between. However, that all said, I do believe that someone interested in art or ID, should attend the strongest program in that area that they can. It is hard enough to master an area in order to get employed in an artistic field without having a strong mastery of the subject.However, as I noted above, I would strongly recommend that any student take a substantial amount of english/pholosophy and other writing courses to improve their skills if they aren't already fairly strong.</p>

<p>However, if you have a kid who is reasonably strong in writing then I would focus on taking as much art related courses as possible. In addition, I would try for a double major or at least get a second strong minor. AS I am sure Mackinaw will tell you, his daughter majored in ID. However, she uses her graphic design background a lot. Art is very vocationally oriented. Those kids with strong backgrounds and good work ethic will get the top jobs, assuming that they keep up with their studies and never stop learning.</p>

<p>Whew, sorry to be so wordy and philosophical today.</p>

<p>Liland,
As has been mentioned, my daughter graduated from RISD a couple of years ago with a major in industrial design (ID). She didn't enter college with that major in mind, but during her first year she chose to emphasize the applied arts (design) rather than fine arts. At RISD, as at most art programs, the "foundatioin year" (freshman year) program is identical for all students regardless of major.</p>

<p>Since your son is a high school sophomore, I strongly encourage him to attend a summer pre-college program. It doesn't have to be in ID. Important to all art majors are certain core skills including drawing (life drawing). My daughter attended the program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and took courses in drawing and sculpture. There are good ones also at CMU, MICA, RISD, and other locations.</p>

<p>Once our daughter declared her interest in majoring in art in college and also that she wanted to attend a stand-alone art school, we had to throw away most of what we had learned when my son applied to college a few years earlier. We had to educate ourselves a lot about what our daughter needed to do to apply to art schools (all about portfolios, for example) as well as about the different art programs/art schools. We also looked hard for universities that had strong studio art programs, not just stand-alone art schools. As I've posted before, and Taxguy also alludes to above, there's a difference not just in the quality but also in the intensity of the studio art/design component of the curriculum at different types of school. Roughly speaking, at a stand-alone art school, a student will take 70% of her courses in art/design studios on the way to a BFA. At certain other universities with a strong or good studio program such as CMU, BU, and Syracuse (generally leading to a BFA), the student will spend 50-60% of her courses in studios. And at many more colleges and universities -- such as the typical liberal arts college -- the student will take about 30-40% of courses in studios (roughly half the percentage in a stand-alone art school). You have to look at the curricula at specific schools to figure this out.</p>

<p>My daughter never expressed second thoughts about her decision to attend a stand-alone art school or RISD in particular. This is a very demanding type of program. I think RISD's summer pre-college program is deliberately demanding to give students a taste of what it's like to be in an art program in college. But I'm sure several other pre-college programs are also very valuable, for basic training in skills and for "professional socialization" into the group/collective aspect of producing and critiquing art.</p>

<p>Toward the end of her time at RISD, however, my daughter sometimes expressed the wish that she had taken a few more courses in non-studio areas. This was mainly because she had developed an interest in "ecological" or "green" design. She was able take some courses at Brown (which is just up the hill from RISD) that helped to satisfy her interest in this area. Now, while employed full time doing design work in NYC, she's following up this interest as (volunteer) co-director of an organization called "O-2," an association devoted to the promotion of ecological design in NYC. She could yet go back to college for an MFA program in urban design or green design in a couple of years, though she hasn't mentioned this recently.</p>

<p>The question was raised above about whether a high schooler interested in art should continue to take a full "academic" college-prep program. My daughter did, including the sciences and math (4 years of each). While she didn't load up on as many AP courses as our son did, she still took several AP's and an overall well-rounded program. Some art-oriented majors such as architecture draw on math skills. And a broad "liberal arts" education can be helpful in many ways. As Taxguy has mentioned, an ability to write well and speak speak well is very valuable in the art/design world.</p>

<p>Here is a great URL that discusses many applicable things for industrial design such as what to look for in schools, portfolio tips, graduate school discussions etc. Have fun:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.core77.com/design.edu/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.core77.com/design.edu/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Here is the US news listing of schools with Industrial Design programs. Many of whom were a surprise to me. I don't know how good some of these programs are:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_50-0404_brief.php%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/majors/brief/major_50-0404_brief.php&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>They did leave out several good ones such as Art Center College of Design in California, which is considered very top notch. Also, there are a number of fine European schools such as the Royal College of Art in England ( although this may be grad school only)</p>

<p>Taxguy, I wouldn't go by the USNews list at all. It is very complete. For example, it also leaves out Pratt and Otis, two more prominent examples.</p>

<p>It would be better to start looking for art/design majors in these two sources:</p>

<p><a href="http://www.aicad.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.aicad.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p><a href="http://www.npda.org%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.npda.org&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Mackinaw and Taxguy, thank you for your very informative posts! Based on all of your suggestions, we’ve started to formulate a plan for our son to attend a shorter pre-college program this summer followed by the program at RISD when he is a rising senior. At that point, hopefully, he will be adequately prepared to decide if he wants to attend an art school or a university. In the meantime, I’m going to continue reading your posts so that I learn as much as possible about art/design majors. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!</p>

<p>Mackinaw, we’re looking at the pre-college program at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago because they offer a one week course, but it appears that the students have to be residents of Illinois. Do you remember if this was the case when your daughter attended their program? Also, can you suggest a good magazine on industrial design? I thought that a subscription would be a good Christmas present for our son.</p>

<p>My d took a full academic program (mostly honors level) all through HS, including Calculus and 4 yrs of Spanish. She didn't decide to pursue an "art/design" field until junior yr, so she tried to cram in as many art classes as possible in senior yr. She dropped a science in order to make room; she had already taken Bio, Chem and Physics (which many colleges required). Throughout the yrs, she had taken drafting/CAD along with foundation art (freshman yr) and several art/design classes like graphic communications and advertising design. No painting or serious drawing classes. Senior yr she added art studio, AP art history and a GT art class. In addition, she took a drawing class at a local college. She started a painting class at night but had to drop out when she got sick. </p>

<p>My d wanted to stay on the academic track because she thought it would prepare her for "whatever." When she got mono senior yr and the school suggested she drop calc and her AP classes, she refused. She finally agreed to drop her AP Psych class after realizing how far behind she was, but she was annoyed they suggested she didn't need the other classes "being an art major." </p>

<p>She had planned to do a summer session in NYC (Parsons I think) but had to back out(family issues). I wish she had done the summer program. No one in my family has an art background so we were little help to her in finding her way. I think the program would have introduced her to the design world. She had little to no confidence in her portfolio and I think the summer pgm would have helped her put together a portfolio she would feel good about. To her surprise, she received positive comments at all her portfolio reviews. </p>

<p>My d was one of those who also preferred a college environment over art school. She didn't feel one was better than another. She just preferred to be among all types of students and wanted the ability to switch majors without transferring. I think that she felt a lot of pressure because people kept telling her that the average kid changes majors 3 times. She wasn't one of those kids that "always knew" what they wanted so she wanted to have options.</p>

<p>
[quote]
Mackinaw, we’re looking at the pre-college program at the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago because they offer a one week course, but it appears that the students have to be residents of Illinois. Do you remember if this was the case when your daughter attended their program? Also, can you suggest a good magazine on industrial design? I thought that a subscription would be a good Christmas present for our son.

[/quote]
Liland, thanks. We live in Michigan, and there certainly wasn't a restriction of SAIC precollege to Illinois residents. When I look at this site, it seems to me it's still open to students from anywhere: <a href="http://www.artic.edu/saic/programs/continuing/ecp/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.artic.edu/saic/programs/continuing/ecp/&lt;/a> . I think their course was 2 weeks, but you can also do them back to back if you wish. My daughter did a 2-week program after soph year, and another one after junior year.</p>

<p>I am not familiar with the range of journals, but one that I know my daughter reads is "I.D.", which covers several design fields. You can check out the range of journals available if you have full-service Borders or Barnes & Noble nearby. Here's a link to "I.D.": <a href="http://www.idonline.com/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.idonline.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You are in for quite an adventure, and I mean this in a positive sense.</p>

<p>Liland,</p>

<p>I do believe that continuing to follow a traditional college prep program in high school -- and taking art classes when the schedule permits electives -- would be the most beneficial for your son. Doing so keeps the university option open to him, as he will then have the required number of units (math, science, foreign language, etc.) for admission. I agree with Taxguy that four years of English -- especially with an emphasis of writing -- is important for ALL majors. (I'm a technical type myself -- a civil engineer.) Also keep in mind that your son is only a sophomore now and it is not uncommon for sudents to go in a completely different direction by the time they get to senior year and have to actually start filling out those application forms.</p>

<p>Mackinaw, Yes, it seems as if we are in for quite an adventure…in fact, the adventure started when our son was born. He has always seen the world in a different way and as a non-artistic type (I do the running tour of art museums!), I haven’t always been as enthusiastic about his accomplishments in art as in other areas. But I’m trying…
Thanks for the link for the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I must have been looking at their summer programs for students who live in the Chicago area because I didn’t see this particular page when I looked at their site yesterday. </p>

<p>Jerzgrlmom, It was a big help for me to read about your daughter’s experiences. Thank you! It sounds like she had quite a senior year by having mono on top of everything else. We’re also looking at colleges that offer courses in industrial design just in case our son decides that he wants to have the option of switching majors.</p>

<p>Worried_mom, Thanks for your advice! I asked our son to set aside some time to read this thread as I think that it will be very beneficial for him to know what other design students have done. I’ve been telling him about the incredibly helpful CC crowd and he has taken to casually looking over my shoulder whenever I’m online just in case there is a something new for me to share with him! We’re feeling very excited about his future…whether it be at an art school or a college. </p>

<p>Thanks again to everyone for taking the time to share their experiences and to offer advice!</p>

<p>Liland, there is one thing that I wanted to add and should have done so before. My daughter took two precollege programs, and none of them were that exceptional. Syracuse University had a 6 week program that produced good results but nothing spectacular. Corcoran had a two week program that was very dissappointing. The reason for both is that they tried to be all things to these kids: both educational and fun. Thus, there really wasn't enough time to work on any one project and make it portfolio quality. Too many projects were assigned within the limited time frame. This was especailly true for Corcoran; however, my daughter did take a week of graphics courses where she got some good training on photoshop.</p>

<p>Actually, her best precollege program was one that she took on weekends at our local community college that had a strong art program and occured during the school year.
She, thus, had lots of time to finish and polish these projects since the program went for 6 months for 8 hours a week.</p>

<p>I don't know if all precollege SUMMER programs were similar to what she took,but it they are, I would STRONGLY recommend against them. </p>

<p>For about the same money as one 6 week program, my daughter took classes and individual instruction with a private tutor who specializes in helping kids develop a good portfolio and in teaching kids a lot of what will occur in foundation year at most schools. As a resullt, my daughter's portfolio is quite strong. In addition, my daughter learned to use a lot of different media, which is something she desperately needed. For example, my daughter was quite good at illustration using pen and pencil. However, all other types of work such as painting, 3D etc, she was weak in. The tutor made sure that she had some broad based exposure as well as honing her drawing skills.</p>

<p>One other MAJOR advantage of using a private tutor over attending a precollege program is that your kid gets individualized attention on areas of weakness. This doesn't really happen as much in precollege program with 20-30 or more kids in a class.</p>

<p>I HIGHLY recommend that you go the tutor route over the pre college program route. It won't save you money in the long run, but it will produce a kid with some very strong foundation skills in many areas. The key is to find someone with strong art skills and good teaching skills who also understands what should be in a portfolio. You will need to interview a number of people and question art teachers and professionals as to who has quality skills in teaching art.</p>

<p>For a student who does not have a substantial portfolio, precollege may be a best choice, as it will give the specific school a chance to see the capabilities of the student. Some schools will then allow the work from precollege to be used in the admissions portfolio, and also will include (upon request, usually) a letter of recommendation from the main precollege professor. </p>

<p>It's essentially a "trial run" for both student and professor.</p>