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butterslut.: also just a little advice, don't make skiing a priority. only ski when you have time to ski and it's not getting in the way of school. that goes for any major you choose.
HamFaceGirlThe only thing architecture is is art. Yeah they can design a lot of cool things, but most of them are impractical. The "need" for a cool looking building or structure is the same as the "need" for art. Get it? There is no need
butterslut.in graphic design you will learn a lot about general design. 3D design, 2D design, drawing, painting, photography, etc. You're not just going to be working with photoshop and illustrator, you're going to be doing everything from building 3D models to drawing thumbnail designs on paper.
The job outlook for graphic design is fair depending on where you want to end up. marketing and advertising is the most common graphic design careeer. You can also do freelance work and there are other various markets for graphic design like communications/media, other random stuff like greeting cards and weddings, blah blah.
one of my design teachers made a lot of money by working his way up in advertising. He designed the la-z-boy furniture logo and made 35,000 dollars off that ONE tiny little design. he's working for a university now and owns a big house in a gated community and collects muscle cars.
also just a little advice, don't make skiing a priority. only ski when you have time to ski and it's not getting in the way of school. that goes for any major you choose.
HamFaceGirlThe only thing architecture is is art. Yeah they can design a lot of cool things, but most of them are impractical. The "need" for a cool looking building or structure is the same as the "need" for art. Get it? There is no need
ATLskierwow. this is not even close to being right. Architecture is the synthesis of art, function, and humanity. If architecture was just art, then it would have no functional characteristics. The closest thing to architecture=art is Donald Judd's minimalist work in Texas and even that is more art functioning as architecture.
Anyways, to the OP's question.
I did a 4 year undergrad in architecture in 5 years (had free tuition and wanted less credit hours to spend more time with studio), and then did a dual masters in city planning in architecture in 3 years.
Architecture truly does require passion as others have indicated. I loved architecture school, and I still love architecture. I genuinely enjoy going to work, and never wake up dreading work or anything like that. Most of the time I'm excited about what I get to do.
Architecture school:
It is what you make it. I had tons of all nighters and it was really tough. Did I still have a life? Yes. Did I miss out on a lot of parties that my other friends went to...certainly. I was in and lived in a fraternity, went to what parties I could, went to all the football games/tailgates, did studio/school work when it was needed, skied when I could (it was 3-5 hours away so not too often), and generally was able to balance everything. It's pretty tough, but its def possible to still have a life in architecture school. (Grad school-not so much, but its a different atmosphere). Studio culture is a great thing, and one of my favorite aspects about school. You are with the same people all the time, and you are all struggling with school work, teachers, all-nighters, etc. so it is like a family. We would have parties in studio if we were working on thursday nights or weekends to make work feel better. Im closer to my studio buddies than most people from college.
A fair amount of people will switch majors out of architecture, even in their third year as it is tough. All nighters can suck, but they build character and give you awesome stories to tell. In the end, if you love it, you will be happy you stick with it. If you are not pursuing architecture, make sure it is because you don't love it-not being its too hard, because the effort is worth it.
As for the professional world and work environment, it completely depends on where you end up and what your firm is like. Some firms will demand crazy hours, other wont. In general, I mostly work 40-45 hour work weeks. Near deadlines/busy times, it can be over 50 or 60 hours, but typically you just want to get work done for the good of the project/firm as you become invested in the work you are doing, as you truly care about your projects(both in school and professionally). With those busy times, firms are typically nice about letting you use the extra hours to take days off (I went biking friday as I had already worked a bunch of extra hours).
Salaries are not great but they are not terrible. Once you get enough experience, you can make good money, but it takes a while. For a single dude living in a cheap place, the salary I have works fine for me. I wouldn't be able to support a family with this though...
What work you do depends on your firm, and the work/projects your firm has you work on. Right now, Im super stoked on work as I am helping to design some pretty cool stuff. I have no problem getting to work tomorrow at 6am because laying out and figuring out the plans for some townhomes/rowhouses is gonna be a lot of fun.
As for skiing and working, if you live in an awesome place, you'll get to ski. I skied 85 days last year, working full time. Dawn patrols are awesome before work, and night skiing after work helps, but mostly you're a weekend warrior.
My Dad always said, "do something you enjoy, and you'll never work a day in your life." I feel now this is true for me, and Im really grateful for it. So just find what you are passionate about, and work as hard as possible to pursue it.
jaylibI just graduated from college this past spring with a degree in graphic design. I now have a job working in a sweet ski town for 40k a year
KazabazuaGraphic Designer is a bit of an umbrella term these days. I don't think you can really make it as just a graphic designer any more unless you want to make under $45,000 (even if you're really good) or your more of an artist with a specific style companies will pay a lot of money for (aka Timothy J Reynolds, DEM Illustration).
I also used to date a girl who had graduated from Architecture and was having a hard time finding a job even though she was brilliant, a hardworker and a babe (don't tell me that doesn't make getting a job easier) - It's a tough business these days, I think it's do-able if you find the right city to work in and have a passion for it. Ottawa, Canada is not the city for architecture.
I'm a graphic designer but do animation (2D and 3D), technical writing, web design, video production and photography for the company that I work for. I make about $70,000 a year and get to ski on weekends. If skiing is what you want to do, don't jump into school and your career right away - go take some time off. Sometimes I'm so tired from working the whole week that all I really want to do is hang out at home with my girlfriend and my dog - getting old sucks balls.
I originally went to school for Business Admin and ended up dropping out after second year because I was just trying to do what I thought people did after highschool. I went and skied for a season in Whistler after dropping out and sort of found myself.
Your whole life you've probably been doing what your parents have told you to do - Now is the time to go do what you want to do. Go explore the world, meet interesting people and form your own opinions about shit. Doing this will help you find what you were meant to do. (Just my opinion, take it as you will - hope this helps)
no_steezeWhat sort of coding experience do you have for animation and web design and how did you go about getting it? I would love to get a graphic design background and couple that with html. I worked with a lot of web designers this past summer and they either are good at coding or they have a good eye for design, but few seem to have both. I'm somewhat proficient in Java so I could expand upon that to do some animation, but I think html is next on the list
butterslut.also just a little advice, don't make skiing a priority. only ski when you have time to ski and it's not getting in the way of school. that goes for any major you choose.
jaylibI just graduated from college this past spring with a degree in graphic design. I now have a job working in a sweet ski town for 40k a year
el_mn_opHey, I met you at John Knopf's a couple of weekends ago! I'm studying graphic design at the U of M- Twin Cities and I really like the program. I ski hella during the winter, and just buckle down on the weekdays. One of the perks of the design program at the U is that most of your major classes are Tuesday-Thursday. So I never have class on Fridays, and this semester I only have one on Monday mornings. Long weekends=Lots of skiing. 45 minute drive to Troll from the U is pretty clutch too. If you have any questions feel free to message me! I'm also taking an architecture class this semester, coincidentally.
no_steezeWhat sort of coding experience do you have for animation and web design and how did you go about getting it? I would love to get a graphic design background and couple that with html. I worked with a lot of web designers this past summer and they either are good at coding or they have a good eye for design, but few seem to have both. I'm somewhat proficient in Java so I could expand upon that to do some animation, but I think html is next on the list
KazabazuaThat's probably one of the shittiest logos of all time - But hey, Accenture paid something like 80 Mill for their shit logo.
AlsoKnownAsWhat the fuck is this horseshit?
butterslut.well for one its not their current logo and that's your opinion. try being more objective.
KazabazuaHE TOOK A LA-Z APPROACH TO LOGO DESIGN.
KazabazuaThat's a pretty pessimistic view from the guy who has a piece of art as his profile picture.
Advertising is art. Half of the shit you buy, you buy it because of the way it looks whether it be consciously or subconsciously. There has always been a need for advertising, in fact it's one of the only industries that still does well when there is a recession.
PoikenzI would agree that advertising is art but it is mostly superficial. Advertising just watches and emulates certain trends (although most art does that anyway), you can observe this as quick responses and experiential continues to take over.
There seems to be a decent amount of demand in Ottawa for architects, they needed multiple to finish that one bridge off prince of wales a couple years back.
KazabazuaShitty advertising follows trends, good advertising makes them. Look up Mill+, Stink digital, DEM illustration, Timothy J Reynolds or Brian Steely and tell me what they do isn't an art form. Other people and companies try to emulate what they do and advertising makes their work possible.
I'll take that bridge example as a joke, if you're referring to the one on the airport parkway that they sunk over $11M into and tore down 3 times.
PoikenzObviously there are exceptions and when hired, illustrators, artists, photographers, etc. want to put out good work. What I am saying is that the vast majority of ads are crap. Why? Because the people who make the decisions, (those in marketing roles) don't care about how creative you are or how cool your idea is, they care about turning a profit and not getting fired and the best way to do that is to play it safe. Again, there are exceptions and that is when you end up with some okay ads but the really good ideas almost always get scrapped. No one has an IÖGO or VW ad hanging on their wall unless you are a self-absorbed agency.
And no, I was talking about the vimy memorial bridge, which hired an unlicensed architect to design. I guess Ottawa really just needs good bridge architects.
