I live in central Texas and there are no design schools whatsover here, or anywhere near here for that matter. There are a couple of places in Houston but that’s not really an option right now. So for now the plan is to attend a community college and work my way into the University of Texas for a degree that will help me gain entry into an industrial design career.
Would that be a successful educational route to becoming an industrial designer? Has anyone tried the community college route or maybe are in the process of doing it? If so what degree would be most proficient? I’ve seen a few IDs earn degrees in fine art, engineering, and architecture.
I would rather attend an art college or school of design but it’s just not an option right now.
If you don’t already have a formal art education behind you, community college is a great place to start. You can build up the basics (2D design, 3D design, drawing, etc.), and then transfer those credits to a 4 year college, and save considerable money in the process.
Just make sure U of T has an articulation agreement of some sort with your cc, and be sure of what courses will transfer.
Community college is a cheap, quality way to get started!
Unfortunately if you take these basic classes at the cc level, you will gain the skill, but you might miss out on a lot of the larger conceptual issues you would gain knowledge of at an art school.
It can be done, but the quality will not be as good. Also the quality of your peer group will be much lower. Looking back at what I learned in college, I draw the most from those first year classes. Art History, 2d color and composition, 3d form courses, figure drawing. Being in those classes with students who became painters, sculptors, graphic designers, architects, has a value you can’t really measure.
I would recommend finding a way to make it possible, we all have obstacles, but don’t sacrifice your dream if you can help it!
The only way that makes sense to me is if you take care of all your liberal arts requirements in CC so that when you get into a design college you can focus 100% on studio classes. Don’t expect to learn a thing about ID or even “foundations” (the first year of your design education) from a CC.
CC’s are a great way to save money. And at this point, with my student loans, if I had the opportunity to do it over again. I can say that I still would enroll in a four year university with a design school.
With the CC, you will be able to get core courses out of the way, but I feel that you would be rushed through the fundamentals of design, and in the end, you’ll end up spending four years at at the university (Texas) anyway.
Also, admissions processes for design schools may vary, but some schools only allow a limited amount of seats for tranfer students, where as the number of seats for incoming high school seniors is almost 4 to 5 times more.
And also, I would trade my college experiences for nothing in the world.
If there are no schools in texas that offer industrial design, then you can attend any public school in the south by way of the academic common market that states in the south share. Also, If cost has you worried, most states (I know ohio, south carolina and north carolina do) will allow you to work full time for a year and go to school for part time for in state tuition and then you can claim in state permanently after a year. That is, of course if you want to go to a public school. That might be a better solution than community colleges because you won’t have to put up with the frustrating issues of the transfer equivalency problems. Plus, you can go ahead and start taking foundation courses in your freshman year, which may allow you to finish sooner than transferring in as a sophmore. Plus there are plenty of good programs in public schools for industrial design (cincinnati, nc state, etc.).
I took all my liberal arts courses at a community college before transferring to Pratt. No reason to pay design school tuition for science, math, and language requirements, especially when you think about what a joke those classes are at an art school. From what i saw of all my peers the liberal arts classes were blow off courses or just a scheduled nap time.
I thought it was a great benefit that during my time at Pratt that i never had to worry about any non art/design related material. I was never distracted with useless chem-labs, painful math, or trying to read some nonsense-ass David Mamet junk, because i had already gottne that out of the way.
At a Community College you might also inadvertently learn how to interact with the “normals” something that i know a lot of my art school pals have some real issues with.
Thanks for the replies. After alot and i mean ALOT of thinking and the support of close people… I am just going to move to Houston for the school of ID. I initially lived there and attended their school of architecture for a year. But dropped out. I wanted to design. It was a passion. The only thing I cared for during that year were the people and their creativity. Buildings and landscaping were bleah. I didn’t even know that product design really even existed. Obviously someone did it, but I thought you had to move to europe or japan to do this. Anyhow I’ll be packing my bags in a couple of months. Maybe I’ll see some of you there. Thanks again!