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Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend?

13 points by sushi ↗ HN
I am taking a shot because I am not sure there is enough design community on HN but anyway, what are some of the good designs schools you have had the chance to study in or you know about through someone?

I am more interested in the surrounding culture than the degree itself. There doesn't seem to be enough data about European design schools online so that's one thing I'd like to know specifically.

15 comments

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mcritz
RISD has an amazing reputation. RIT has an awesome program I once heard Barbarian Group cofounder Rick Webb extol the values of. He said it was a great program for exposing students to a vast number of things (video, 3D, design, development) and letting them enrich their studies. In full disclosure: I went to New Mexico State University and had a great BFA program. In all honesty design school shouldn’t matter as long as you have opportunities to create and are motivated do great work.
[dead] haydenchambers
I went to IED in madrid, it (was) strong conceptually which is exactly what I was looking for in post grad studies
seanMeverett
Columbia in Chicago, though the best school is the one called "just start designing" and reading every how to blog post on the internet.

If you're around Chicago, we're pretty plugged into the design community here and can get you intros to folks and events. Good luck!

sudont
Anchor Graphics is the most beautiful print studio I've ever been in.
keiferski
I'm strongly looking into transferring to the Koln International School of Design (http://kisd.de/home.html?lang=en) which is in Cologne, Germany. (I'm currently a sophomore at a US non-design school.) It's a unique program that basically covers every field of design; the major is called "Integrated Design." You essentially choose your own curriculum.

It really comes down to what sort of design you're interested in. US schools tend to be focused on 2 subjects, with not much else: industrial design and communication/web/graphic design. Different schools are better at different things, but to highlight a couple:

Carnegie Mellon: strong in communication design, interaction design, Human-Computer interaction, and generally anything computer science related.

Cincinnati: not so great of a school in general, but the design department is top 5 in the country, mostly because the program requires 4+ co ops (internships.) Supposedly they're pretty good at traditional product/industrial stuff.

I decided to pass on design school a few years ago, mostly because I didn't want to be pidgeonholed into either of those subjects.

I'm pretty familiar with design schools, so I'd be glad to answer any specific questions. Also try http://boards.core77.com

sushi
You raised a good point about US schools focusing more on 2 or 3 subjects rather than "integrated design". I find the idea of learning in an environment where artists from all sorts of fields (architecture, painting, sculpting, industrial design, graphic design, typography etc.) get to interact together and influence each other very charming.

Do you quite possibly know, what is the design scene in traditional art centers like Italy and France?

keiferski
Sorry, I really don't know much about most European schools, other then the few I'm stumbled upon.

I'd imagine that schools in Italy (possibly France) would focus more on art, design, fashion, etc. as opposed to service design, engineering, etc. But I have little to no evidence to back that up.

sandGorgon
whoa - just in time.

My wife has been working for the past couple of years as a copywriter for a top notch ad firm in India. She has been wanting to switch careers into design and has been looking for a college program that will give allow her to transition into it.

I'm not sure if this is the place for it, but I'm extremely interested in knowing about the entry requirements (read through the website already), the class composition and what next after this course ? Plus, the prospectus isnt clear about what exactly do they teach.

keiferski
Are you looking for an undergraduate program or grad program? I know more about the undergrad program (Integrated Design), but they also offer a Masters in European Design and a Masters in Integrated Design. The following info is for undergrad, Integrated Design. (Just to be clear, I don't actually attend this school (yet) and haven't visited.)

1. To enter: a 6-month internship in a design-related field. I believe that they also consider relevant work experience.

2. The program is a bit different than most schools; instead of classes, you work on projects. Any student can take any project (with some limitations) and students of all years work together.

Subjects: essentially, there are around 15 departments: audiovisual media, manufacturing, service design, typography, interface design, etc.

To graduate, one must take at least 1 project in 10 of the departments, and fulfill the certain amount of project points. There’s also some other “classes”, like seminars and workshops. Hence the name “integrated design” – you can, for the most part, “design” your study curriculum out of the offered projects.

3. Most classes are taught in English if requested, but I believe you have to still take a basic German test.

There’s a ton of information that I am leaving out, so I recommend you just browse the site for a while. Check out these pages, in particular:

Studies - http://kisd.de/studies.html?&lang=en

Study programs (notice the PDFs for each program) - http://kisd.de/studyprograms.html?&lang=en Departments/Subjects -http://kisd.de/subjects.html?&lang=en Applying - http://kisd.de/application.html?&lang=en Applying FAQ - http://kisd.de/application_faq.html?&lang=en International Students - http://kisd.de/1908.html?&lang=en

(all from the nav bar)

edit: sorry for the horrible formatting. And feel free to ask any other questions.

sudont
SVA in New York is the best in my mind. It's not just the area, the professors are top-notch, James Victore, Neil Raphan, others. Most of the professors do "research" by maintaining employment at the top design agencies.

The Portfolio School in Atlanta is great if you're a bit more experienced and interested in reaching a new level.

idigit
I had a great experience at RIT in the Graphic Design program. They give you a really good base of knowledge and skills.

I've also heard good things about RISD.

cme
I learned a great deal at RITs Industrial Design program. Now that i've graduated I feel like I could design/build almost anything. RISD is known as being the mecca of design and I got in, but personally I wanted a school that had sporting events and other things to do, RISDs very "artsy". You can't go wrong with either school