While the University of Cincinnati's graduation ceremonies loomed this June, the
College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planning opened its doors last week to celebrate the work of its graduating seniors. The annual
DAAPWorks event presents senior theses from over 400 students from the college.
"Our building becomes a giant gallery," says Vanessa Strickly, Assistant Director of Student Affairs for DAAP and the event's coordinator.
The capstone projects ranged from three-dimensional models to photography, fashion shows to product displays. They dealt with pragmatic solutions to social issues, such as urban decline, handicap accessibility, and recycling, as well as much lighter fare such as set design and children's clothes.
The complexity of the projects and the skill displayed in the presentations show just how well-trained these DAAP seniors are. Industrial design students produce working prototypes. Fashion design students produce items from their line for a fashion show on Friday night. Architecture and interior design students display models. The theses are a culmination of a year of work dedicated to each project and five years of study in students' given discipline. Along with their academic courses and studios, students also complete 18 months of professional, paid internships at firms all over the world, known as co-ops. The projects are similar to the work they will be doing at firms during their professional career.
And now that they are heading into the work force, DAAP student face many choices upon graduating from one of the nations top design schools. Each of their decisions comes with positives, negatives, and compromises.
As is often the case, some students plan to leave the city to find jobs in their chosen fields. Jesse Reed, a graphic design graduate, plans to move to New York City to pursue a career in photography and design. Reed has taken advantage of many opportunities in Cincinnati, including working as a photographer for CityBeat and participating in exhibitions around the city at galleries such as CS13, Base Gallery and the Mockbee. However, he is seeking options he feels don't exist within Cincinnati's design culture. Many of the jobs available in Cincinnati are at large corporate firms which, while integral to the city, do not attract Reed.
"I think the resources in NYC are more abundant than in Cincinnati," says Reed. "There's more possibility for collaborations between larger corporations and smaller studios."
With smaller firms, Reed asserts, designers have more one-on-one contact with clients and have more creative freedom. In bigger firms, groups of designers work on projects, and there can be conflicting visions and opinions. In a smaller studio there's a much more streamlined process. His ultimate goal is to have his own clients that he can work on projects with individually, giving him more creative freedom.
However, some recent graduates take a different spin on the design scene in the Cincinnati area. Jacques Laramie, a recent graduate from DAAP's industrial design program, sees Cincinnati as a place that could foster a burgeoning idea by virtue of the very things it lacks.
"The design climate in Cincinnati is hidden; an untapped market," says Laramie. He believes that because there aren't as many design firms in Cincinnati, large or small, there is more room to determine your own path if you have an entrepreneurial spirit.
When asked about advancing his career in Cincinnati, Laramie states, "Yes. Absolutely I plan on doing it in Cincinnati. It's underground, but because of the beauty of the internet, I can live in a place that's inexpensive and has beautiful buildings and history and out-source from here."
Similarly interior design graduates Sarah White and Olivia Ozner plan to stay in Cincinnati to practice their trade and have already begun to put their plans in action.
"If you go to a big city, you get lost among other people who are doing the exact same thing," says Ozner. "I'd get more out of it staying here. I'd learn more and I can do what I want to do."
The pair is in the early stages of creating a design studio that would allow them to stay in Cincinnati while pursuing their goals. Golden Pencil Studios, dubbed a "multi-dimensional think tank" by White, is set to accomplish just that: designing it all. The partnership began when both women voiced frustration over the decentralization of the design process. One designer produces a concept, another designer produces a mock-up of the concept, and yet another designer presents the concept to the client. Using this traditional model, the design often changes as it is passed from hand to hand; from graphic designer to interior designer or from head designer to assistants. White and Ozner wanted to be a part of the whole design process, ushering their concepts to completion.
"The feeling of actually seeing your work in reality; it's what every designer wants," says Ozner.
The training they received in DAAP's interior design program, including the required 18 months of co-op, explains White, provides them with all of the necessary tools to service the design needs of potential clients. Students in the interior design program learn about every aspect of human interaction within a building's interior, including space layout and decoration. However, they are also taught aspects of graphic and industrial design.
While on co-op, Ozner says she worked on a project that re-imagined product displays and packaging, a main tenant of industrial design. White says she worked on way-finding and branding during her co-ops, generally thought of as a graphic design specialty. As co-op students, White says there were many things about the design process she was excluded from. While head designers took the creative tasks, she was assigned menial tasks. Setting up her own design studio will hopefully allow the pair to have a hand in every aspect of the design process and learn more than they would at an entry level position in a major design firm. They feel that Cincinnati is the best place to try their luck at starting a studio.
"This is one of those crossroads. Do I take this normal job or take the risk and possibly learn something?" asks Ozner. "If we get to do what we want to do, then it will be worth it."
For each of these graduates, there seems to be a consensus that creative freedom is valued, regardless of where one lives or works.
"There needs to be a local mindset, in so far as making the area you live cool and innovative and forward thinking while doing your job at the same time," says White. "I think where you have the most power to create change is when you find someone that is lacking [a design] department completely. That's where you can step in and truly make a difference and revitalize their ventures"
Photography by Scott Beseler
Designs by Andrea Sisson at 2010 DAAP fashion show
Design by Katsuya Suematsu
Jesse Reed outside the Mockbee
Design by Andrew Sheeks
Design by Golden Pencil Studios (Photo illustration)
Olivia & Sarah of Golden Pencil Studios