Hi All
I’ve read some helpful and insightful conversations in these forums about Humber vs. Carleton, on the topic of their ID program. But those posts are outdated, and I wanted to get some feedback from recent graduates or current students, about how you view the program, pros/cons etc.
From reading about these 2 school’s DI program from various online forums (mostly geared towards Transportation design), there seems to be a consensus that a US design school would be the best way to go.
I just wanted to find out if there were any new directions that either of these schools are taking, to ensure their students can compete with the well-known US schools. Thanks!
Hey there,
I’m currently a Grad Student at Carleton and can definitely share my thoughts.
In brief,
Carleton is currently undergoing a bit of a transformation (for the better). Being part of the faculty of Engineering and in a University Environment, it was a program built on a strong Engineering background and produced design grads that knew a whole lot about mass production technologies and part design. While Carleton still teaches that, times are a changing, and new faculty and emphasis ensures that students are also up to par in other critical skillsets to be useful designers in 2012.
There is an increased emphasis on the fundamentals of design like sketching, and hand rendering (including one taught by Core77’s own Richard Kuchinsky on shoe design!). Basically, in my eyes Carleton offers a well-rounded program that produces designers with broad skill sets and the ability to generate tangible designs. It is not an art school like some programs out there. Here you’ll be going through the entire design process, so if that’s something you’re interested in then I’d recommend it. Like any program though you get out what you put in. Of course it doesn’t have the reputation of other schools but it’s a solid program and if you’re a hard worker you’ll be just fine.
Carleton grads also have found themselves in some pretty good spots lately (Karim Rashid being one…) at Motorola, RIM, Microsoft, Frog, IDEO, Ammunition, etc…
I wrote a longer review a little while back here
http://www.artschoolreviews.ca/reviews/carleton-university/industrial-design-carleton-university/the-nuts-and-bolts-of-design
If you have any other questions feel free to get in touch and I’ll try and help you out!