An Open Letter to Design Students
My freedom thus consists in my moving about within the narrow frame that I have assigned to myself for each one of my undertakings. I shall go even further: my freedom will be so much the greater and more meaningful the more narrowly I limit my field of action and the more I surround myself with obstacles. Whatever diminishes constraint diminishes strength. The more constraints one imposes, the more one frees oneself of the claims that shackle the spirit. —Igor Stravinsky, The Poetics of Music.
June, which so famously heralds the beginning of summer, also marks the conclusion of the academic year — and with it, calls and emails from students trying to make sense of what to do, where to go, how to reconcile the various components of their education that lead to greater self-knowledge, better work, more challenges, and maybe, just maybe, an eventual opportunity to begin paying back those student loans.
And so, they come to see me. I look, carefully. I listen, hard, to see what, if anything, I have to offer them. I am aware, extremely aware, of the generational gap that divides us (perhaps one of the few benefits of my getting older) and I try to remain vigilant about that distance in time and space, resisting any comparison from their orbit to my own, now comparatively antidilluvian education. And yet they are — like I was, and all students are — overwhelmed by the embarassment of riches framed by the astounding prospect of two to three years of uninterrupted study, a period culminatigng, for many, in the development of a thesis.
On the other hand, if you’ve selected the work-for-someone-else route, concentrate on having as many conversations as you can with as many people as possible. (Bonus points for people smarter than you: isn't your tennis game supposed to improve if you choose a better opponent? The same holds true for interviews.) Never leave an interview without at least three names of other people to go see. Don't be afraid to ask them about their choices, too. Ask them to tell you what they think you should read. And assume that as busy as you are, we’re all even busier, so send a link to your work ahead of time. Arrange your interviews by email. And afterward, go that extra step and send a thank-you note.
If you’re heading to school in the fall as a first-timer, you’re likely to be truly overwhelmed by a level of option paralysis which is, arguably, unlike anything you've ever experienced — which is an even more persuasive reason for you to find ways to focus your energies. If you don’t already do it, start keeping a notebook. Travel everywhere with it, as you do with things like your camera and your cell phone: consider the notebook an extension of your mind and of your studio.