12 Lessons I Learned My Second Year of Design School
Freshman year I was told by several people that it gets easier Sophomore year. For a few reasons: first, because you start to get used to what’s expected of you, and second, because you’re a bit more experienced skill-wise. And you know what, those people were right. It did get easier, but not by much.
Sophomore year taught me how to manage my time, a ton of new skills I never thought I’d learn, and how to prioritize things in my life. I felt the most content this year than I ever have before. I got to live in an apartment with wonderful roommates and a great view of the city. I dressed up for class, got to work on things I was passionate about, and spent time with the people I loved. Most importantly, round of applause for this one, people: I had only a couple of all-nighters! A huge improvement from last year.
About two-thirds of my classes were design-related, whereas the rest were gen ed. I took Studio, Human Factors, Design Methods, and Smart Products. My classes this year seemed to be an introduction to Design Research, which is something I knew had been missing from my projects beforehand. In my studio class, we had five projects. The first was to make several iterations of a vessel that holds liquid, the second was our senior wellness project, which was one of my most rewarding to date, next was our toy project, then the famed chair project, and finally, the lighting project. As I’m writing these, I can’t believe I did all that in one year. I was only involved in one club on campus this year, IDSA, which stands for Industrial Designers Society of America. I served as Sophomore Rep and was elected as President toward the end of the school year.
Now that I’ve given you a little background on what my Sophomore year looked like, here are the top twelve lessons I’ve learned, in no particular order…
1. You Have to be the One to Set Deadlines and Requirements for Yourself
One thing about Sophomore year was that we were given a lot more freedom with our projects. The requirements were looser and there weren’t as many hard deadlines. Getting adjusted to that was a little tricky. I felt myself slacking off for the first project and realized that if I only got stuff done because someone else was telling me to do it, then I wouldn’t make it in the world of design, and that if I wanted to be a leader someday, I needed to learn how to manage myself first. After this realization, I started getting things done earlier and setting deadlines for myself in the form of weekly goals. I didn’t always keep up with them, but it definitely helped that they existed.
You can’t go through life constantly expecting someone to hold your hand or waiting for someone to tell you what step to take next. Like learning how to walk, you get a little help in the beginning, but after a while, you start to get the hang of it. You take your own steps. You decide where you should and shouldn’t go. You decide the number of models you need and how many slides you need in your presentation. You start walking a little quicker, maybe even running, and you start to go farther than you ever did before.
2. Work Hard Enough and the Opportunities Start to Come Looking for You
I started posting on LinkedIn when I was in high school, and people made fun of me for it. I didn’t even post regularly, but I’d post every now and then. I didn’t have any other form of social media, but I was attracted to that platform in particular because of its professionalism and the ability to network. I enjoy writing on it because I get to share my perspective, meet new people, and learn from them. Since then, I’ve grown to about 2,500+ followers in about a year. Through putting myself out there, I’ve been sent free gifts, been invited to write an article for Innovation Magazine, given a free premium podcast subscription, and offered an internship (which I ended up not taking, by the way). I’ve created meaningful relationships with accomplished designers and even had strangers approach me to say they enjoy my posts. It all started with me staying up late to write posts, make graphics, and do research. Now I have a strong network filled with beautiful people who care about the same things I do.
LinkedIn isn’t the only place where this happens, though. I’m a firm believer in you get what you give; you sacrifice some of your own time to help someone else, and down the line, someone does the same for you. Even a simple act of kindness can open up doors you didn’t even know existed. By working your hardest in school, taking time to talk to your peers and professors, and creating things that get people’s attention, you make yourself visible to the opportunities. You start getting recommended for things, and people start to come to you for advice.
Eventually, your work starts to speak for itself, the people you know start to tell others about you, and opportunities come knocking at your door. It’s important to put yourself out there and even though it takes work, it’s worth it.
3. A Few Extra Points Aren’t Worth Killing Yourself Over
Go to bed! Eat your food! Go home before it gets too late! A point or two extra usually isn’t worth sacrificing your health over!
I don’t always listen to that advice, and I’m still in the process of learning this lesson, as I sit here writing this at 2 am, but I know it’s something I need to pay attention to more often.
During our toy project, I had a pretty bad cold. I’m fairly certain it was due to stress. I had worked myself so hard that my body just couldn’t take it anymore. I remember giving the presentation, feeling like I was going to pass out, and I knew my classmates could tell. I didn’t end that project with a perfect works-like model like I should have, and I felt so disappointed. This taught me not to wear myself out so much in the beginning that I’m not able to finish the race.
It is so hard to not fall victim to the pressure of design school. There are grades, job offers, public humiliation, and scholarships on the line. All of that being said, doing something later is oftentimes a lot better than doing it halfway and earlier. I understand that there are hard deadlines, and sometimes you just can’t afford to go to bed at a reasonable hour, but please take care of yourself. When your body is telling you to slow down, listen. In my experience, professors are very understanding of this if you just ask for a little extra time.
4. If You Feel Overwhelmed by Your Design Decisions, it Might Be a Sign You Need to Simplify
Someone once told me, and I don’t remember who, that hearing the phrase “All-in-One” is a red flag. I had never experienced this until the very last project of my sophomore year. I wanted to create a lighting device for search and rescue dogs. The idea I had for most of the project was a tactical harness with lights in it. There were so many small details in it and so many aspects of it that could be redesigned. I felt like I was throwing everything onto a plate at a buffet and thinking, “Surely this will all taste good together.” During crit, my professor told me that I needed to simplify, so I pivoted to light-up pouches that could be used with the MOLLE system, found on most tactical harnesses.
When you start to feel overwhelmed with your project, it might be a sign that you need to simplify. So go back and do a little more research, find the real root of the problem, and talk to your users. Sometimes the best designs are the most simple.
5. No Design Project, Done the Right Way, is Ever Done Alone
One thing my most fulfilling projects have in common is that I got a lot of help. Whether it was through conversations with the people I was designing for, feedback from friends and colleagues, user interviews, chats with professors, or even asking my mom simple questions like, “Is this red better than this red?”, I always had support.
This, to me, is what design is all about: collaboration. Design, at its heart, is a team sport. Even as a student working on solo projects, it always feels like a collaborative effort, especially since we’ve been taught about the importance of critique and feedback from the very beginning. Designing alone isn’t fun and can lead to missing out on the special feeling of having a group cheering you on and the satisfaction of doing a thorough job. Knowing that you can’t let down your users adds a sense of responsibility that, for some, might seem like a downside, but for me, makes the end of a project that much more fulfilling. Sure, you could complete a project by yourself, but without seeking feedback or spending time with the people you were designing for, how can you be sure it lived up to its full potential?
6. Always Talk to the People You’re Designing For, It’ll Make Your Project Feel Ten Times More Rewarding
There are so many details and problems hidden in everyday conversations, and when you speak to the people you’re designing for, you create a personal connection that motivates you to do even better work.
During our senior wellness project, I interviewed three women who had a mastectomy, and during my lighting project, I interviewed someone who had been on search and rescue teams. Talking to these people was inspiring, helped me learn about their problems, and was just fun to do. I feel like I know them personally now.
Now, I try my best to speak to the people I’m designing for. A 30-minute FaceTime call can change the entire trajectory of a project. Good user research means spending time with the people you’re designing for. It makes the project so much better, and you get that wonderful feeling of knowing the exact people whose lives you can improve.
7. The Quicker You Start, the Faster It’ll Be Over
It was insanely difficult for me to start building the chair I had designed. For some reason, it took me an entire week to muster up the courage to go down to the shop and start cutting. I was scared for so many reasons. What if I ruin my metal and have to get more? What if the shop guy thinks I’m dumb? What if I blind myself while welding? Well, I guess that’d mean I won’t have to finish building this chair. I realized time was slipping by and I had to start, or I’d regret it later. So I put on my worst shoes, least favorite pants, grabbed my nine, six foot long steel tubes, and dragged myself down to the shop. I tried to keep a good attitude and get it over with as quickly as possible. I ended up enjoying welding, and it didn’t seem so bad as I had though it would be. My professor even told me that the man who runs the shop said he was impressed with my attitude. You don’t know this man, but let me tell you, that’s the equivalent of being handed a Nobel Peace Prize. After about a week of building my chair, I was finished.
I learned that some things have to get done eventually, whether we want to do them or not. The faster we get them done, the faster we can move onto other things. It takes courage; we’re all human. But the longer you wait, the less you’ll want to do it. Plus, it’ll be over before you know it!
8. You Aren’t Supposed to Learn Everything All at Once, It’s Impossible
There’s always gonna be someone who’s better than you at something, but you might be better than them at something also. Reminding yourself of this is a good way to not fold to the pressure of feeling like you have to learn every software program, coding language, design method, and skill all at once. It is an impossible task.
One task you do need to learn as soon as possible is how to prioritize what to focus your efforts on. If you want to do renders for a company, focus on learning all of those programs and becoming a pro at it. I’m interested in soft goods design, so I practice my sewing whenever I get the chance and I’m learning a program called CLO 3D. You don’t have to learn everything and be great at it. You only need to learn what’ll be of value to you. Don’t think that you have to master everything you’re introduced to. Just learn what you can, when you can, and learn where to center your focus.
9. Put Effort Into Your Relationships With Others
Projects, grades, and jobs are important, but don’t let those things cause you to neglect cultivating relationships with other people. Relationships show up in all forms: platonic, romantic, and professional. They each have their advantages. I wouldn’t have been as happy as I was this year without my friends who sat next to me on late nights in studio, my boyfriend who was always there to lend a hand, my mother who was always available when I needed her advice, my dad for picking me up and bringing me home on the weekends, my professors for always encouraging me, and my professional friends who gave me advice and recommended things to me. Each of these people had such a positive effect on me this year. Keeping up with these relationships takes work though. It takes being considerate, setting aside lots of time in your week, keeping in contact, and spending time together.
Yes, other things matter too, but without these relationships my Sophomore year would have been a whole lot harder, less enjoyable, and I wouldn’t have learned nearly as much. So, I learned to spend time working on these things: reaching out to people I hadn’t talked to in a while, surprising a friend with Chick-fil-A if they’re having a bad day. Little things like that are worth investing time and energy in, because without others, we miss out on so much joy.
10. Just Because You Change Directions, Doesn’t Mean You’re Behind
I decided not to try for an internship this summer. Instead, I’m spending the summer in my mother’s home country of Ecuador. I had been planning to get an internship for a while, but after visiting Ecuador in the fall, I felt like I had been neglecting so much of that half of me and that I needed to learn more about the culture. I realized that this summer might be my only chance to travel, so I decided to spend most of the summer in Guayaquil, Ecuador. While just practicing Spanish and learning about the culture is productive enough, I also decided to take four online summer classes, work on my portfolio, dabble in some new software programs, continue writing on LinkedIn, and a few other things.
Just because your plan changes or your path doesn’t look like someone else’s, it doesn’t always mean you’re behind. There are so many ways to make productive use of your time, whether it’s through classes, just taking a break, or learning about another culture. Your direction is your own. There is incredible pressure put on students regarding internships and adults on where they should be at a certain point in their lives, but remember everyone moves through life at their own pace, and different paths can lead to the same place. This year taught me that it’s important to do what’s right for you and to make the most of things, wherever you are in your life or career.
11. Stop Letting People Be Too Soft on You
“No, no, no, be honest with me.”
Feedback is so important in the design process, and I think that we all need to be critiqued a little harder sometimes. You can’t blame people for worrying about hurting your feelings or saying the wrong thing, so sometimes it helps to let them know that you want them to rip you apart. It’s better for someone to give you feedback now than to have something totally useless and unattractive completely flop when it gets to market or when it’s graded.
Looking back on this year, even though I had successful projects, I feel like I should have sought out more feedback. I wanted real, brutal feedback that was borderline hurtful, because that’s the kind of feedback that helps you improve! I appreciate and respect people who tell me what’s on their mind. If feedback offends you, then design might not be for you. Real designers welcome it because they know it’s good for them. It’s like that disgusting, weird cherry bubblegum-flavored syrup you had to swallow as a child when you were sick.
12. Betting On Yourself is One of The Best Things You Can Do
After the chair project wrapped up, our professors started encouraging us to apply to the SIT awards, a competition for home-related products. I had known about this for a while. I remember someone a year above me winning last year and how much of an accomplishment it seemed. I had worked very hard on my chair and was confident in it, but I was still unsure if I would win. I figured that I should try anyway. I was selected as one of the winners along with several of my classmates. It was insane. If we hadn’t all gone out on a limb and submitted, we wouldn’t have won. It cost a couple of hundred dollars to submit, which made applying even scarier, but sometimes you just have to take that leap of faith and bet on yourself.
I learned not to shoot myself down too fast. You shouldn’t be telling yourself you can’t do something or aren’t good enough. You have to believe in yourself first, believe in the small possibility of you getting what you want, and then take the chance on yourself. You’ll probably find that half the time, it pays off.
In short, this year was amazing. I grew up, I had laughs, and I learned to weld (I’m very proud of that if you can’t tell). This year I completed some of the most successful projects I had ever designed, I was given incredible opportunities, made some hard decisions, and proved to myself what I was capable of.
I can’t even begin to imagine all the lessons I’ll learn next year.