education

We’re sorry to start your morning out on a gloomy note, but sometimes the news just plays out that way. Yesterday, Georgetown University‘s Center on Education and the Workforce published a report entitled “Hard Times,” a look at the employment prospects, or lack there of, college and graduate school students face upon graduation. While there’s been plenty of talk about the national 9% unemployment rate across the board among all graduates, the study breaks down the data by a variety of majors, analyzing just how difficult a time they’ll have finding a job and how much, on average, they’ll wind up making. It’s a fascinating report, though if you are a student in any sort of creative field, the news is, as expected, much more bleak. When broken down by majors in the arts, those seeking a major in design face an 11.8% unemployment rate. That’s eclipsed by fine arts majors (12.6%) and those in film, video and photography programs (12.9%), but it gets particularly grim when it comes to architecture, which ranks at the top for unemployment, coming in at a staggering 13.9%. Granted, none of that’s new, as we’ve been writing about students rethinking architecture programs since 2008, and about how impossible the post-school prospects have been in the proceeding years. You’d expect and/or hope that things had gradually improved at least a little over these long four years, but apparently that just isn’t the case yet. Here’s a bit from the report:

…majors that are closely aligned with occupations and industries in low demand can misfire. For example, unemployment rates for recent college graduates who majored in Architecture start high at 13.9 percent and due to its strong alignment with the collapse in construction and housing, unemployment remains high even for experienced college graduates at 9.2 percent.

You can read the full report, here (pdf).

Three fashion designers are clearing space on their shelves for a virtual cornucopia of awards. First up is that wizard of stripes, Paul Smith (that’s “Sir Paul,” as of 2000), whose vast retail empire one cannot truly appreciate without visiting Japan. On Monday, Smith will receive the outstanding achievement award at the British Fashion Awards in London. The special award celebrates the achievement of a designer whose work “has had an exceptional impact on global fashion,” according to the British Fashion Council, which has previously honored Smith as an exceptional menswear designer (1997/1999), classic designer (2001), and contemporary designer (2003).

Meanwhile, back on our shores, Parsons The New School for Design is gearing up to honor one of its own. Donna Karan, who famously failed draping (apparently the second time was the charm), will be recognized along with philanthropist Sheila Johnson at the 2012 Parsons Fashion Benefit on May 1. “Parsons gave me my start in the industry, and to be able to support future designers is incredibly important to me,” said Karan in a statement issued by the school. “I am particularly excited to be honored with Sheila, who has been so instrumental to the success of Parsons, as well as to celebrate the first graduating class of the new MFA in Fashion Design and Society.” The new graduate program was made possible by the endowed Donna Karan Professorship.

Another design legend will get his due from the Fashion Institute of Technology’s Couture Council, which will honor Oscar de la Renta with its 2012 Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion. Valerie Steele, director of the Museum at FIT, describes the designer as “a true fashion superstar who has long served as one of the greatest ambassadors of American style. His clothes, which draw on the heritage of Spain and the French haute couture, as well as on the dynamism of contemporary New York high fashion, convey a sense of luxury and drama that have earned him acclaim throughout the world.” De la Renta will receive the award at a luncheon in September.

(Photos: Tim Knox, Walter Briski, Jr., Courtesy William Wegman Studio)

Tonight Pratt Institute entices art and design-loving donors to open their checkbooks and their autograph books for the school’s annual Legends scholarship benefit. The 2011 honorees, “distinguished individuals whose accomplishments and values resonate with those of Pratt,” are artist and musician Laurie Anderson, furniture/interior designer and artist Juan Montoya, and artist and filmmaker William Wegman. The awards ceremony should be anything but dull, seeing as Pratt has convinced charming narrative wizard Salman Rushdie to introduce Anderson, while Architectural Digest editrix Margaret Russell will do the honors for Montoya and Agnes Gund will prime the crowd for Wegman. Among the 300 or so guests expected to party the night away at 7 World Trade Center in lower Manhattan are Pratt alums such as exhibition designer Ralph Appelbaum and Amy Cappellazzo of Christie’s, as well as architect Steven Holl and author Kurt Andersen, a Pratt trustee. No word on what will be served for dessert, but it will be accompanied by a special performance by Anderson, so keep an eye out for Fenway Bergamot.
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Here’s your chance to get the scoop on the graduate program that we can’t stop talking about. On Saturday, October 22, the School of Visual Arts’ Design Criticism department will host an afternoon of presentations and informal discussion about its MFA in Design Criticism, better known by its rapper name, D-Crit. Students will talk about their experiences so far, delightful D-Crit chairperson Alice Twemlow will provide a program overview, and faculty members Andrea Codrington Lippke, Steven “Design Mind” Heller, and Karen Stein will discuss the courses they teach. Stick around to hear designer Massimo Vignelli reflect on what has been achieved since he wrote the essay “Call for Criticism” in 1983, and what are the priorities for today’s emerging design critics. Two such priorities—mimosas and doughnuts—will be on offer, and if you ask nicely, we suspect they’ll let you peruse the twelve-volume reprint set of Domus that we spied in one of the D-Crit classrooms on a recent visit. Get all of the details and register here. And read on for a look at the department’s stellar fall lecture series.

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The first rule of Type Camp is, you do not talk about Type Camp. Oh wait, that’s Fight Club. What a relief, as we’re itching to tell you about what next year holds for the burgeoning series of immersive design workshops for those who like to debate kerning whilst scarfing gourmet s’mores. Type Camp has big, global plans for 2012, beginning with day camps in New Zealand (January 22-26), Australia (February 3-7), and Mumbai (February 23-28). Then, in April, it’s off to Rio. Type Camp returns stateside in June for hardcore letterfests in California wine country featuring expert instruction by a teaching team including Ken Barber of House Industries, Type Camp founder Shelley Gruendler, and Apple’s Antonio Cavedoni. A planned August installment will explore modernism in typography and design in—wait for it—Weimar, Germany. That’s right, font fans, Type Camp Bauhaus. Start saving your Euros now. And the band of nomadic type junkies will return to India next December for a cultural crash course in Chennai. Morning studios will focus on Tamil typography and design, while afternoons will be spent visiting local publishing houses, street typographers, ancient and modern Hindu temples, and local markets. It’s the perfect way to spice up your design perspective. Stay tuned to the Type Camp website for details on upcoming camps in Asia, Africa, and South America.

Getting a graduate degree in anything is expensive, but perhaps that becomes even more daunting when you receive an MFA instead of an often potentially more lucrative degree in nearly any other field. Such is the case with recent Bard College MFA recipient David Horvitz, who has found himself with just over $58,000 to pay back in student loans. In a move nearly as old as the internet itself, he’s taken a page from the original asking-strangers-for-money success story, Karyn Bosnak and her Save Karyn blog, and has launched a project called “fifty-eight cents.” After confirming with loan administration company Sallie Mae that his repayment checks could come from anywhere, just so long as his 10-digit account number is included, he’s asking for 58-cents from anyone who will spare the spare change. It’s certainly not the most original idea (Save Karyn, after all, launched a billion copycats, as did the Million Dollar Homepage and almost every other money-making internet meme), but who knows? We wish him the best of luck, and if there’s any extra cash left over in the end, we’d love to have a chunk to pay off some of our own student loans.

If you read one lengthy piece today, make it David Walker‘s report at Photo District News on the US Department of Justice‘s suit against the Education Management Corporation, the for-profit company behind the nationwide Art Institute chain of schools. Though there have been lots of stories written about the government deciding to start investigating and punishing for-profit schools for their often less-than-honest methods, this PDN story looks at the photography programs specifically, highlighting practices like preying on low-income students, using psychological tricks to recruit them, and making absurd promises of lucrative employment in creative fields and then not delivering once a student had graduated with $100,000 of student loan bills in tow. It’s a fascinating, troubling read and well worth the time. Here’s a great quote from a former student:

He says, “I hate to get down on folks who get swept in because I was one of them. I spent five years in high school, smoking pot, looking for the easy way out, not willing to take things seriously or work hard.

“Art Institute sees those students, and latches onto them. They say, ‘You’ll be a photographer, or a graphic designer, or a chef.” Orkoskey says he was receptive because he was hearing from everyone–his mother, his teachers, and politicians–that he’d be a failure without education.

For further reading, we also recommend reading Design Info‘s response to the piece, with advice to students considering one of these programs.

Winners of the 2011 INDEX:Award take the stage at a ceremony held yesterday at the Copenhagen Opera House. (Photo courtesy INDEX: Design to Improve Life)

Having whittled down 966 entries from 78 countries to 60 finalists, an esteemed jury (chaired by Arup’s Nille Juul-Sorensen, it includes designer Hella Jongerius and Paola Antonelli of the Museum of Modern Art) has selected the five life-improving design projects that are the recipients of this year’s INDEX: Award. The top picks in five categories—body, home, work, play, and community—were announced yesterday at a gala ceremony held at the Copenhagen Opera House (not only was it designed by Henning Larsen, it’s on an island), where the Crown Prince and Crown Princess of Denmark were on hand to congratulate the winners, who each received €100,000 (approximately $144,000).

You may recall that Yves Béhar emerged victorious in the Body category for See Better to Learn Better, a program he and his fuseproject team created in partnership with Augen Optics and the Mexican Government to design and distribute free eyeglasses to schoolchildren in Mexico. Coming out on top in the home category was another Mexico-based project: Elemental Monterrey, a new model for social housing. Along similar lines, Design Seoul bested the rest in the community category with its pioneering design-based approach to improve life in a very large city. Design for Change, a competition that gives children an opportunity to express and implement their ideas for a better world, won in the work category. And novel biking gear triumphed in the play-ing field, with Malmö, Sweden-based Hövding taking the prize for its airbags for cyclists’ heads. The sensor-embedded, invisible helmets are worn as collars and wouldn’t look out of place on the runways of Alexander Wang (when deflated) or Alexander McQueen (when inflated).

Want to add InDesign to the list of expert skills on your resume (after “Adobe Illustrator” and “British accent,” and before “shuffleboard”)? The mediabistro.com mothership is hosting “Advanced InDesign for Writers and Editors,” an online workshop for wordsmiths determined to brush up on Adobe‘s page-layout flagship. Beginning on September 6, art director and graphic designer Patricia Ryan will guide you through InDesign’s myriad features and capabilities to get you up and running quickly. And by the end of the four-week course, you’ll be able to lay down an Inner Glow, an Outer Glow, and a Drop Shadow with the best of them. Click here to register.

Speaking of MoMA, as we were in that earlier post, this weekend the museum’s PS1 branch kicked off two celebrity-heavy programs by the same two celebrities. The first is a collaboration between film director Gus Van Sant and actor-turned-everything-else called My Own Private River, which ” is comprised of unused footage and dailies from Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho.” The film reportedly focuses on River Phoenix‘s character and “is more observational and less linear than its original iteration.” The second project is the launch of the month-long Summer School series of master classes, taught by Van Sant, Franco, and media theorist and RISD professor, Francisco J. Ricardo. The classes will run, presumably at least once per week, for the whole of August, and of course its limited slots filled up in mere seconds, so don’t start planning your summer around getting schooled by Franco. Here’s a bit about how the program will function:

Modeled after European summer academies and especially relevant considering that MoMA PS1 is housed in a former school, Summer School makes the museum grounds a campus again with Master Classes taught by contemporary practitioners. The intimate space of the museum provides a setting for candid conversation, experimentation and practice. As a part of the program, students attending the first Master Class will be assigned “homework” for the subsequent sessions, establishing an ongoing, sustained dialogue between teachers and students, institution and visitor.