posted 11-05-2003 09:54 AM              

The "famous" schools are probably:
RISD, Art Center, Pratt, and CCS (for transportation design).

There are a lot of threads in Core about the pluses/minuses of the schools listed above. They are probably all right, each school has a lot of pluses or minuses. I believe the most critical thing is to visit the schools and see if you like the environment (it varies a lot).

posted 11-14-2003 04:15 PM              

Schools vary greatly so I would start researching. Here are a few good ones.

University of Cinncinati. Well known for its work/study program where you are required to do 2.5 years of internships by the time you graduate. It also has a good balance between the Art School design method and the typical University type method. Up and coming transportation program.

Art Center College of Design, Passadena, CA. Still one of the best schools. A very good placement program and a high ratio of seniors get jobs in their field of choice. A well know Transportation program. Expensive and hard to get into right out of high school.

Center for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI. Known mostly for its transportation program, their product program is also pretty strong.

Cleveland Institute of Art. Good program, low price. Consistantly under-rated by those who go to the so called top-teir schools, I know many excellent designers who have come from this program. A struggling Transportation program that has graduated some famous designers including Jerry Hershburgh (President of Nissan Design America).

Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. I graduated from this program and found it to skew far into the fine arts side of things. Not a very good design education, but a good place to expand your thinking. If you are extremely self motivated and have the ability to develop visual communication skills on your own time, it can work for you, but the price is astronomical, I think tuition alone is above $30k pey year now. Somehow it maintains it's position atop the Newsweek list as the best Art and Design school ,but don't believe everything you read. About 5 out of evey 50 Industrial Design graduates land a job in their feild of choice, not great odds for 30k+ a year. Get used to mac n cheese diners if you decide to go here.

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. A very technical program, it stresses more engineering based skills versus free thinking or hot sketching. A great program if your intrests gravitate towards that end of design.

posted 11-15-2003 01:50 AM              

quote:

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Originally posted by GoWolfpack:
When the NASAD folks visited earlier this year, rumor has it that they said NC State's ID program was one of the top five (5) programs in the United States. It is currently in the process of being accredited, as it were. Plus, I don't think you could find a less expensive Master's program in ID in the USA...

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posted 11-15-2003 09:57 AM              

quote:

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Originally posted by yo:

Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY. A very technical program, it stresses more engineering based skills versus free thinking or hot sketching. A great program if your intrests gravitate towards that end of design.

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I wouldn't say we are "very technical program" that stresses engineering. No one is required to take math classes.

I would say we stress problem solving over anything. We are well rounded when it comes to design.

posted 11-15-2003 12:23 PM              

It's all good depending on what you want to do when you get out. I've met many RIT alumni doing complex medical enclosures, equipment and powwr tools, etc. I couldn't do it but they are awesome at it, it's not where my intrest lie. I came from an arts based program and I've worked on footwear, eyewear, time pieces, tableware, stemware, consumer electronics, computer towers, etc.

posted 12-05-2003 01:53 PM              

If I could go to ANY school this would be my list:

1.Parsons (I think it is better suited for me personally)
2. University of Cincinatti, cheaper tuition (especially if you are instate) and has an amazing program.
3. Art Center, the student work is just plain good.
4. Univeristy Of Washington- The program is solid and produces good work and I am from Seattle.

Some schools that I think are overrated-
RISD...yeah. I've actually seen freshman work here better than some of their junior senior stuff...yeah.

Underrated schools-
Univeristy of Washington- I honestly think it is as good as any of the second tier schools Yo mentioned above and Seattle has a growing design community.
CCAD- I hear OSU beats CCAD in local competitions but CCAD students are all talented (I cannot say that about everyone here). Seriously, that is not a generalization. You have to be in order to get though their foundation year which is just amazing (but hard!).

posted 12-05-2003 08:30 PM              

Being "famous" is overrated and quite frankly no one has mentioned international schools that are more well know than even the list I will write about...

If you want a good rounded education first consider university programs, not art schools. Its a good bet that if you don't get an ID job that you can fallback on the rest of your education if you get the full meal deal.

Good grads I've worked with over the years went to:

UC
OSU
CMU
Long Beach
Syracuse
Wisconsin-Stout
and NCSU- but "long ago" grads

If you want to eat, breath and piss "design" then go to Art Center but you'll not likely ever get past sketching cool stuff. I've worked with many and revered only one of the Center's grads. The cost is crushing and I've heard there is some softening in the market for these grads. I've got nothing to substantiate the last item though.

Other art schools with good grads:

CCS
CIA

Overview:

RIT, Auburn, Georgia Tech are research focused or specialists in PD.

CCAD, SCAD, Parsons, Pratt, RISD, Cranbrook expensive and not consistent art schools.

UW, WWU, VCU, VaTech, ASU, or any program at an IIT- not in the running.

My advice :contact your nearest IDSA chapter and go to their next meeting. Ask some professionals face to face which schools they like...and why.

posted 12-07-2003 10:07 PM              

quote:

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Originally posted by et tu Brutus:
... or any program at an IIT- not in the running....

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Watch your typing, my friend.

IIT = Illinois Institute of Technology - Excellent Design School

ITT = ITT Tech - Subpar Trade School

posted 12-08-2003 04:22 PM              

Not the IIT, as in the only in Chicago, which has a fine grad program.

I believe tallpuma is looking for undergrad.