FRIEZE ART FAIR NEW YORK 2012
MILAN 2012: SALONE INTERNAZIONALE DEL MOBILE
MILAN 2012: SATELLITE EXHIBITIONS
MILAN 2012: BRERA DESIGN DISTRICTIn the early '90s my alma mater, Pratt Institute, had its share of problems and dissatisfied students. I'll never forget a piece of bathroom graffiti scrawled above the toilet paper dispenser in the ID department men's room: "Diplomas - take one!"
A group of recently graduated and very disgruntled design students from the UK's Coventry University have taken their unhappiness a step further than Sharpie slander in the loo: They've built a website maligning the school's Auto Design program.
We are a small group of recent graduates from Coventry University Transport and Automotive Design that are very displeased with our experience there and decided to provide some insider information for all you Car Designer wannabes that are considering studying there....Also please understand that by making this report we are damaging the reputation of the course we graduated from so in effect we are damaging the image of our certificate when applying for jobs. But for designers it's not the reputation of their degree that really matters in the long term only ones passion, dedication, skill and hard work.
The mudslinging starts here.
Comments
'The Fighting Students' do not represent our views
http://www.new.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=48285309462
Unfortunately the words of so few are being taken to represent the views of so many. I'm a graduate from the same year group and I hope this document isn't give more time. Those that do feel compelled to read it can see how slanderous, bitter and subjective it is. The document itself demonstrates the [un-named] author's misunderstanding about what is required to be a good designer. Believing that a generation of stylists is what will advance the design industry and society, rather than a generation that understands the true design issues for today, goes further to expose their ignorance to what Coventry is trying to do. This is parralleled with a bitter and subjective rage in the guise of a report.
The plural use of the word student merely provides a smoke screen to this small group. There is no petition or sign of mass support because it doesn't exist.
They have every right to there opinion, but I feel that the voice of the majority now needs to be heard.
What a tremendous waste of time and energy on the part of those former students. Their website demonstrates a complete lack of discretion and professionalism on their part. Even if Coventry's program is every bit as bad as they describe it is completely unnecessary to burn bridges and vent frustrations like that. Additionally I found their diatribe so poorly written I hardly made it past the first few paragraphs.
I am a graduate student in an ID program in which students, at the beginning of this semester, were not satisfied with certain aspects. We needed more pin-up space, we wanted sketching workshops, we needed a more organized chapter of IDSA, we needed more funding from the university. We even had the head of our department take a surprise medical leave 1 month in. What we DID NOT DO is set up a bloody website in order to sling mud at anyone. Students pulled together and refurbed studio spaces, set up sketch workshops, reached out to professor's in other departments to consider interdepartmental collaborations, set up workshops to prepare students for our regional IDSA conferences, and our school's chapter of IDSA is more organized than ever before.
I don't mean to rant so here's my point: Vehicle design is more or less a branch of Industrial Design, and Industrial Design is all about problem solving. These Coventry students evidently had a problem and it sounds like they FAILED to get creative.
NOT IMPRESSED
After finish reading the whole story. Seriously, I think these students wanted to be a stylist rather than a designer. They should did some study before applying to school.
This is how graduates of the Art Institute of Philadelphia's Industrial Design Program feel. We were promised things like SOLIDWORKS, and we never got it, they've said they were going to get it for 2 years, with rumors that PRO-E would also be taught. One person I graduated with said that he didn't learn anything that he couldn't have read on the back of a box. I can go on for hours, but the point is, is that I feel for these students as I feel for those of my friends that have obtained no real skills, are broke and jobless. School is what you make if it, but if no one is helping you to make it, you just have a bunch of parts with no directions. It's sad that people have to pay so much money just to get their hopes let down, especially in a time like this.
As a current design student, I can understand the frustration presented on that site, as can many other current and former students I am sure. Not enough time or money, personality clashes and inadequate facilities are always going to be a problem.
That's life though - get over it!
Instead of setting up a website and bitching to the world about your problems, address the problems and solve them. As PJC mentions above, designers solve problems. Why wait until graduating from the course to write a manifesto and present your suggestions for improvement?
It all smacks of bitterness and a childish inability to settle grievances privately. Whilst the website's author might accept that damaging the perceived value of their qualification will somehow benefit others, how many other students agree with them?
Also, slandering staff online is not cool. Not cool at all.
art center does not have any clay modelers.
Why anonymous? Show us some of your design work, let us be the judges!
You clearly have not grasped what the course is about purly by definition... you refer to drawing cars as opposed to transport design. You were crazy expecting to get a job designing sports cars for teenage bedroom walls by joining the course... no one needs to be told the ratios of employment because they are so bleeding obvious. You had everything there you needed to make a success of your time at Coventry... hopefully you learnt to rely on yourself as you will find that skill useful in the world of professional design!
Oh and the comments about the tutors are waaaaay below the belt... any credibility your case had is completely lost.
I graduated from that course several years ago. While it is possible to go on and do well afterwards the quality of the teaching is indeed very poor.
Obviously this 'review' is badly written and has an immature tone. But this is not what is important. The real issue is that youngsters choosing whether or not to go to Coventry Uni ( rather than Pforzheim etc) should be able to hear the opinions of grads. Degrees cost money and its a serious business its no use being handicapped by a poor uni when you are competing for jobs against students who have been taught correctly.
In my experience nobody (apart from the guy at the yop!) came away from the course with a positive opinion. The automotive design indistry knows knows this already. So this review is nothing new or unexpected. Most UK university courses outside of design also do not live up to expectations.
Oh by the way and expecting to get a job designing sports cars is a totally reasonable and achievable goal ;) Just expect to make it happen on your own.
Don't let the depressingly juvenile tone and extreme length fool you into thinking it isn't in a significant part right on the money.
As a current student at the university, about to graduate, there will never be a university course that 100% perfect for all students. An immature rant such as this is not going to any good for anyone its slanderous.
I do also understand some of the frustrations that we as students have as regards tutor time and the way that the university has diced up various modules to accomodate such a variety of course options.
Such a website is detremental to everyone. I will be very surprised to see the students involved with the report gettting future employment now.... Way to go guys!
The person who wrote this clearly has a grudge.
It's a shame that they didn't put any real facts in to add to the validity of their argument, I'd of thought that any decent graduate would know to do this.
Perhaps said person should do another course, you clearly know very little about transport design.