A Note from Your Professor

The clock has begun to tick.
It's ticking now.
Do you hear it?
It's your graduation clock showing only 109 days left.
That's actually only 32 class periods.

Does this countdown scare you or does it invigorate you?

Take a minute and look around at where you right now.
It should be comforting to be among twenty others from your senior class.
Each of you with such different styles,techniques and attitudes about design and yet each of you have remained a solid collective of support for one another. It is your creative and personal differences that appears to be the glue that holds each of you together and will continue doing so hopefully after you graduate.
Longevity in your relationship with one another is critical once you graduate.
Take it from me, many of those classmates I adored as an undergraduate and graduate student are still very much present in my life today. I honor that tradition of longevity and commitment to such friends.


Think about it. Each day you get the opportunity to come to a classroom filled with so many wonderful designers and thinkers and problem solvers. I don't think you know it yet but this is a rarity unless you are fortunate enough to work in large design studio with teams of other people. But nothing is comparable to a classroom where you are still experimenting and doing work that will assist you in your future.
Treasure this last semester as it will pass by very quickly.

With every New Year there seems to always be a sense of expectation and anticipation for all of us. It's normal and actually quite healthy to feel this way. Every time you start a new class or a new year it's like putting on a new pair of shoes which you have to break them for comfort. "Breaking them in" is where the hard work begins. It just doesn't happen without walking the miles and doing the work and investing in the time.

Anticipating the days ahead prior to your graduation can be intimidating or just plain scary. What I've learned is not to "project" too much into the future.Don't get ahead of yourself. Each day plan what it is you want to do and get out of the class experience or internship or work. Try to take it minute by minute and day by day. Do the good work and you won't panic.

My mantra has always been "live in the moment and plan for the future." This doesn't mean dwelling on the future just be aware of it. The future will get here soon enough so you actually don't give it too much attention. We all know the proverbial "elephant" in the room is our future. Acknowledge it and respect it. Just don't be afraid of it.

If its at all possible I would like to try and put each of you at some ease about the time you have remaining at GSU. Unfortunately by even saying this will make some of you anxious so I apologize in advance. It goes without saying that each of you will be graduating in a few months. After graduation some of you will choose stay in town and others will move away. Some of you will stay in touch and some of you will not.
It's the inevitable time for change. Be optimistic about it. Be bright-eyed about it.

We live in the time of "change" which seems to be the new buzzword and battle cry for a whole new generation. Just saying the word "change" can excite or scare people. Change is forever and it has good and bad connotations. For me it's always been about what to do with Change. How do you approach it? Do you choose to embrace it or run from it or ignore it?
Do you tip toe into change or do you jump in with all your being?
It's different for everyone but my advice is to make friends with change and figure out a way for it to work for you at your own pace.

When I was at CNN it seems that "change" arrived every time a new CEO or President would take charge of the network. It was always a time to prove and re-prove yourself and your net worth to the new regime. I remember a colleague saying to me as we prepared ourselves to meet yet again our new boss "hey you know everyone says that change is good...and you know it isn't always good. We could loose our jobs man." By his own admission change scared him. For me it wasn't a death sentence nor a titillating notion of opportunity. It was just "change" and you went through it.
I opened the door and went through it knowing another door is just around the corner to be opened and closed again.
Its what you do with change that colors it one way or the other.

How do you personally handle change?

I've heard senior students in the past say they fell like they were in "limbo" during their final semester in graphic design. It's probably that way in every discipline actually. Perhaps you want your final semester to be prolific and fantastic when in reality it is just a continuum. Sometimes the final senior semester can feel like limbo due to the fact that so many of you are creating new projects while also looking back at your older projects and even trying to make them fresh again. Looking ahead and looking back. One foot in the present and one foot in the future.

This is a time of finishing up and a time of starting over.
This is a time of letting go while still trying to hold on to the familiar.
This is a time of endless days and nights at school in the lab or in the classroom with all your classmates/teachers and then suddenly it is over and you suddenly find yourself alone in your room at home designing all by yourself perhaps.
This is a time of understanding the true meaning of networking.
These final few months as a senior is certainly one of preparation for what's ahead.

It's another chapter of your creative life.
So go ahead and turn the page and start again.
Starting over can really be exciting if you are so inclined, a time to reinvent yourself.

Graduation always seemed rather anti-climatic to me in my own experiences. It didn't matter that it was in undergraduate or graduate school. The experience was strangely the same. The rush, the panic, the tireless work, the creative energy, the sleepless nights of work, the coffee, the preparation for graduation and then it's over.
Then what? What's next?

Try to allow yourself to think of what you want to do after graduation.
Maybe take a trip to the Yukon or starting a new job or applying for grad school.
Stay in motion. Artist need to stay in motion.
Don't get out of your habit of working everyday on something creative.
Do it everyday.
If you get out of practice of being creative it is harder to get back into it.
The same goes with software programs and technology.

Believe me when I say that the time for you between January and May is critical as senior designers especially as you gather up all that gorgeous creative work you've done for the past 3+ years and assemble it into a thoughtfully cohesive and strategic portfolio.
You have to own your work.
You must learn to speak of it with great clarity.
You should be delighted each time to get to show your work or speak of it.
It's Your portfolio. It is your life experience on paper or in motion.
Your portfolio of work is your history.
Ironically, it is also your future.

This portfolio should demonstrate your experiences as a designer. On the day that you leave your Senior Exit Review in 468 your portfolio is no longer one that belongs to a design student but instead, that of a graduate and a professional portfolio. On that special day when you leave the art and design building for many of you, the last time,
you will be among the many who have ventured out to make your mark. Literally.

My simple advice is to never speak of your portfolio in past tense after you graduate.
It should no longer be a portfolio of "projects" you did in school but a portfolio that is worthy of any of your competitors. Young or old, experienced or novice. Speak of your work in the way you want to position yourself in your own career. Own it.

Every step you take in these next few months is a step towards your own personal destiny and self-fulfillment as a creative individual. This is not the time for you to slow down or to think you can just coast along on your past laurels.
It's time to pour it on with great verve and enthusiasm.
Get your rest and then blast off!

One other note for you to think about.
So many times as a student, you might tend to be so involved and busy working. You might become so preoccupied with your work, your frustrations, your obligations (and that doesn't even count your personal life) that you might forget to live "in the moment" as you go through all this. Try not to miss all the sweetness of being a senior during these last few months of art school. Ask any past graduate and they'll certainly tell you how rare this final few months was for them...their final days of moving through a design program with all the same familiar faces and personalities. Your classmates whom you've come to trust and know you and your work better than you probably even know yourself. I know many these alumni still long for the camaraderie of being in a classroom with other creative individuals. Now they are in jobs where it might be a smaller creative team. Word to the wise...Don't be in such a hurry to get out into the professional world. Take your time and enjoy this final semester at GSU.

What I remember most about my time in school (undergraduate and graduate) are the moments with some of my classmates and favorite professors. Funny, but I don't really remember my grades at all. I just remember certain moments burned into my memory like days after our class was dismissed and a few of us would stay behind in the classroom and work (or talk and work.) Mostly it was about talking to each other one-on-one and actually getting to know each other better while we worked on our individual projects.

It was more communion than work.

I loved those times just being together and all my classmates in the same boat heading towards the same destination...graduation.
Those days and nights with my classmates, all working feverishly on some nameless project was a time that allowed each of us to be ourselves and to solidify our friendship and bond with one another. No pretension and no bravado...just doing the work and laughing along the way. Those days and nights are still very poignant to me as I grow older and realize just how special they were. It was during those days and nights that I learned how to be a better artist and a better person.
I learned just how valuable it is to listen.

Once you get into a professional work situation there seems to be less time for those kind of one-on-one conversations like you have in class. Life seems to get busier once you get out of school and the job you might seek will be more about deadlines and less about getting to know one another. Everyone seems to be in a bigger hurry now for some reason.

I had only a handful of teachers whom I truly adored and ironically ended up being good friends with them after my graduation. Some of my favorite teachers are now some of my closest friends even today. I even traveled through Australia and Europe with some of them which was amazing. I hold them in great esteem for what they taught me in the classroom but even more about what they taught me about the love of art, design and friendship. It's a bit ironic that I still feel like they are still teaching me even now as friends. I hold them in great respect for they changed me and my life with their unconditional love and interest in me as a student..and now as a friend.
I learned a lot about acceptance from them.
They helped me accept who I was and what I could be.
They saw something in me way back when as a student that I didn't see, and perhaps still don't see, but they took an interest early on and believed in my talent and my person. I feel that way about so many of you.
To this day I never have my old teachers how I was as a student...
for some reason it just wouldn't be right to ask.

I've told you this before but I consider each of you my surrogate family of sorts...my extended family. I don't take that responsibility lightly.
Your place in my life as a creative individual has indeed made an impression on me and has tempered me into hopefully being a better teacher and student of life. It doesn't matter to me whether we've always seen eye-to-eye in our classroom discussions about art and design. It doesn't matter to me that you might have had an amazing semester or a semester that might have been less successful.
What matters to me most is that you gave it your all.
Lock.Stock and Barrel.

I never thought my job as a professor was to be judge and jury. It is to share with you the knowledge I've learned from working and teaching and living. This is my story and now it's time for you to discover and write your own story. What matters most is that you come away from each semester and each project knowing that you gave it your all and that you never lost your passion for being creative. You learn to discover new things about yourself.
Passion equals longevity.
Passion will continue to serve you long after the others have burned out because they were doing it for money or as a hobby.

So, now the good work begins for each of you.
The clock begins to tick.
Do your best and feel comfortable in those new design shoes.
Wear them with pride and confidence.
They'll be nice and comfortable by the time you graduate and I'll be right there all the time to assist you anyway I can..and even after you graduate.
I promise.
Be proud of your work and it won't let you down.
Love it and it will love you back.
Get busy.