University of Michigan

Design Discussions students and schools
1

Hi,

I am a HS Senior and was recently accepted at the University of Michigan-Ann Arbour. I am very interested in product design and transportation design, but I don’t know which one to choose yet. Can anyone tell me a little about U-Mich? Is it a good program for industrial design? I was also accepted at University of Cincinatti, and I am applying to RISD, Pratt, Syracuse, and some others. Any thoughts would be very helpful.

Thanks a lot.

2

UC all the way - not that UM is bad, just it’s not a priority compared to the rest of the school, no trans design either. The best reason to go to UM is if your also heavy into engineering.

UC on the other hand has regularly rated top 5 in the country for decades.
the CO-OPs cannot be undervalued.

3

yeah definatley UC over any of the others you listed. I go to CCAD and a couple of the ID majors just went and checked out the facility and they were floored. Plus one of my professors graduated from UC and his work is really impressive. Yeah and the CO-Ops are awesome too.

4

try doing a school based search on coroflot, this will show you portfolios from all the schools…
Here’s University of Cincinnati’s:

Also some good info:

Click on the college to get more info and view portfolios…

^md

5

UC school of design is VERY good and very highly ranked. Geting in there is also quite an accomplishment. I don’t think that any of the other schools that you mentioned have transportion design major.

Even if you were applying for industrial design, UC, in my opinion, beats tham all. Michigan is not well known for having a good undergraduate program in ID.

I should note that the only drawback to UC is that their liberal arts offerings are very mediocre. However, traning in design is top notch. You get 6 quarters of paid coop experience,which provides unbeatable training and connections.

6

Thanks for the replies.

I know that they offer a bachelor of science in design, so i am a bit hesitant because I don’t knwo how much time they devote to the actual drwaing/sketching aspect of it. Is it more a technical/engineering based program? Because drawing in the ID style is something I need to work on.

7

UC kids can sketch… well. I’m not sure if it is because of the program, or the Co-ops (best aspect of the school IMO), I’m sure one of their Alumni can respond further…

8

When you say that “UC Kids can sketch”, do you mean that they enter the program being able to sketch so they can work from the start, or do they teach the concepts and skills there, and the students learn how to do it once they arrive?

9

ID style? WTF is that?

I only know 2 kinds of sketches. The first being one that people understand. The second being one that is ineffective in communicating the designer’s ideas.

You can doodle on a piece of tissue paper and if your audience reads it the way you meant it to be, then it’s a good sketch. If your sketch is filled with fancy and irrational strokes but is nothing more than a waste of pencil and ink and paper, then it’s definitely not worth anyone’s time.


If you want to compete for transportation design, try CCS or Art Center. Don’t even consider the others within US…for now at least. If you want product design, UC is highly recommended.

I know a guy from U of M. He did an engineering and ID double major program and he has excellent problem solving skills. However he does not recomment U of M for ID and from what I can get, the department itself is shaky.

10

You know exactly what he’s talking about. Ease up on the kid. Remember when you were in his shoes.

I’m sure all those UC kids learned it in school like everyone else.