This past Friday Gerry took us on a field trip to see some design studios in the city. For me, this trip succeeded by showing me exactly what I DON'T want to do... ever. The first design studio for one was 10000 degrees but thats besides the point and it was 6 people in a small room as a total of 2 separate design studios. I admired the fact that Ken and his partner worked for themselves with their own company. I think a lot of people have goals to be their own boss. The only problem with this 2 person business was that there was immense work put on their shoulders aside from designing for clients. I feel like the stress level of that must be crazy but it also must be nice to be able to choose what you think is best for your company. What I disagreed with about their duo was that they started this company because they were sick of working for corporations and those corporations not "appreciating their design" therefore starting their own business for people who do appreciate the graphic art presented in front of them. (I believe Ken said this about working for Target). Anyway the cons in having your own company is the fact that it needs to be established and well known for it to be successful and profitable. In my opinion, as long as a company is paying me well and I am doing what I love, I will never take a pay cut just because someone else doesn't appreciate my design.
The other design studio on the opposite side of the room was made up of 4 people and they showed us the Yale art website they built. As I am looking at this site, I am thinking, "Do they think this is good? Because from what I have learned about web design, this site is everything I was told NOT to do". Then we find out it was voted worst website of 2010. In my opinion that is absolutely nothing to be proud of and definitely not something to show aspiring designers. Anyway that was that, and I left more sure of myself than ever before that I don't ever want to work in a design studio.
The Whitney art department was more of a place where I could see myself working. They have constant changing content due to different exhibitions, but there was also that certainty that they will always be busy with work. I would hate working in a design studio where the content is changing constantly and there is no guarantee you will have enough work to keep you busy due to the fact your looking for random people who are just looking for a designer. I like consistency in design. I like knowing exactly the work I would be doing and the Whitney seems like a cool place. I think the hardest part about their job was to come up with a poster for an exhibition that represents it well that the people curating the show will approve of. Although that is challenging, its interesting and keeps your creativity flowing.
