I really would like to here people’s thoughts on the Designed Objects program at SAIC.
Is the undergrad program approaching the quality of CCS or CIA?
What new is going on there? are they trying to beef up the program?
I really haven’t heard anything about it, good or bad, which I take as not a good sign.
My wife went to SAIC (Masters in Art Therapy) and I checked out there facilities a few times (this was like 6 years ago though) I would think that the open nature of their undergraduate programs would not be condusive for learning the skill sets neccesary to enter the design world at an entry level. I could be wrong…
What are you trying to get out of it??
Do you want to be a fine artist or a commercial artist?? Do you want to make one off products or mass produced products? While some people deny this, they are really different things and different ways of thinking.
While I don’t know that particular program, the advise I can give you is that programs like Art Center and CCS have a much higher placement rate for graduates who want to do corporate work and design mass produced products.
Programs like Carnegie Mellon, Stanford and Georgia Tech tend to produce more engineering oriented designers who invent stuff and start up their own companies.
Programs like Cranbrook, RISD, Pratt tend to produce more fine artist/low production types.
Programs like the Academy of Art in San Francisco tend to put out graduates with really strong technical skills…rendering, ALIAS, etc. but they find that they need to develop their conceptual skills later on in their careers.
This difference was a critical factor that I didn’t understand in choosing a school. I went to Pratt wanting to track into a career path managing designers. The skills that I gained at Pratt were excellent for being an artist, but not for leading mass design projects. That said, it’s a great program, it you see yourself as a fine artist. It normally takes a while to establish one’s self as an artist, but several of my friends from school have shown the dedication and are starting to do quite well at it.