Part 1 of design journey questionaire for students to learn mroe about their professors journeys with design. The following responses are from the professors Lisa Rosowsky, Ryan Diaz, Leah Fenton, Fish McGill, and Joe Quackenbush.
How has teaching changed your own approach to design?
Lisa says that she often has her students in mind when she takes on a new project, looking ahead to what her experiences (both good and bad) might contribute to lessons in the classroom. And when her students experiment, it inspires her to do the same.
Teaching has inserted a lot more patience into Leah’s day to day work flow. She says that it is not a race, good work comes with time and teaching has helped her remind herself of that.
Fish has found that helping students understand the importance of a creative process as a designer is a lifelong needed skill set that he implements through his teaching.
For Ryan, Teaching has shown Ryan that ideas matter most. Technical skills can be learned, but conceptual thinking develops through community and critique. He hopes students find their circle the way he found his, building connections that support them beyond graduation.
Joe is more open to new ideas having worked with so many talented designers over the years.
When you’re having a hard day, what reminds you why you do this work?
Lisa- Over the years, past students have told me that it’s my voice they hear in their heads whenever they work with type, and that makes me smile. I also keep every note or letter students have even given me, and if it’s a bad day I might pull out some of those and remind myself why I do what I do!
Fish- Every single student I have is a reminder of how important this work is, I love them all—for real.
Leah- Design can change the world, we’re changing the damn world, we’re freakin’ heroes. Also I gotta get paid ;]
Ryan- It’s a privilege to make a living from creativity. To build a life around designing, making, and creating with skills we’ve learned. Sometimes a beautiful poem or moving film reminds me we’re part of the history of turning ideas into things people engage with.
Joe- reminder that he loves helping students learn, grow, and realize their own creative potential.
What has been the most challenging pivot or transition in your career, and what did it teach you?
Lisa- I’d say that the pivot from being just a graphic designer to being a designer *and* fine artist was a significant pivot in my career. It taught me a few things: a) that all of the skills I learned and honed for years as a practicing designer are super-useful to a fine art practice; and b) that it’s never too late to try something new if you have a feeling it might work well (I was 35 before I first began making art)
Fish-Becoming a parent was a massive pivot and like teaching they require a complete commitment to creativity, attention, and play
Leah- When I was hired it was a totally different team at Moth, back then designers on the team would work pretty independently from each other. It felt isolating and intimidating.
for ryan- I almost stayed in San Francisco freelancing for little pay, not knowing I was being considered for an art director role at a major publisher. When the call came right after I’d moved back to Seattle, I chose to stay. This reconnected me with community and I found opportunities to be both designer and artist. That choice led me to MassArt, where I teach because I believe life is better when you’re surrounded by people who believe in you.
Joe- was pretty miserable in a weird corporate consulting job. Lovely people but he just couldn’t care less about the subject (technology). So Joe pivoted to graphic design without any formal experience. He took 2 classes in the MassArt Continuing Ed department with fantastic professors. Then applied to graduate schools, was accepted to RISD, and quit his day job.
Who were your early influences? Specific designers, movements, or even non-design inspirations?
for lisa- My own design teacher in college, Professor Toshihiro Katayama, was a mentor and inspiration to me. He also had a practice as a painter and sculptor, so I could see long before I made my own pivot that it was do-able to combine these practices. I was inspired early on by artist Jenny Holzer, whose work showed me that language and type can be a big part of one’s art practice. I continue to be inspired by Louise Bourgois, whose art and long career opened my eyes to how women artists can evolve over time and remain fearless.
for fish- I think of both Mr. Rogers and LeVar Burton as designers, I belive they are my first contact to experience design as a kid watching PBS. I also remember learning about Susan Kare when I was eight and really appreciating all the graphics she made for the Mac as a young person.
for leah- In high school it was a girl with a bullet belt in the Graphics shop, in college it was my classmates—watching their passion for design helped fuel mine. In my career it’s other designers and studios sure, but really it’s my coworkers and friends and a good arts and crafts project.
for ryan- I discovered design waiting in my mom’s hospital lobby after school were she works at the front desk of a hospital radiology department checking patients in. I would read magazines in the lobby, specifically Wired and the New Yorker, and fell in love with layouts before I knew what to call it. Years later, a book cover assignment in an Intro to Design course I took by accident made me realize I could actually study this and I never looked back.
Joe- The book Design with Type by Canadian designer Carl Dair was a huge influence, still probably the best book on typography that I ever read. I love most modern art and design movements so they were influential. And I’ve always loved photography so that was a nice way into design.
What led you to become a designer and a professor? Did you always know this was your path, or did you discover it along the way?
For lisa- I went off to Harvard thinking I would become a lawyer, and I thank heaven every day that I didn’t go down that path. I took my first design class Freshman year, and knew instantly that I wanted to do this for a career: it combined type and image; it was creative and also analytical; it involved research and reading; It was perfect for me! As a student, I designed posters for free for my friends’ various theatre productions—people at the American Repertory Theatre saw them around campus and offered me the job as their graphic designer a few days after I graduated. So one takeaway is: do stuff you care about even if it’s for free, and good things can come of that.
for fish- I really loved design as a teenager (my room was covered in X-men comic posters, album art, photos, etc.). I had my own little business selling holiday cards and stickers, photographic weddings and events, I understood you could make a buck as a designer. I was year book editor and very into creating zines and stuff like that. I love learning, and I love working in new areas and that’s really what designers do. Design is all about change. It took me a long time to come around to being an educator, having parents and grandparents who did it probably immersed me in a culture of learning. I taught art classes as a high school student to elementary kids and I was a course assistant in college. I really got into teaching in 2011 when I started team teaching at the ICA Boston in their teen program and teaching web design at SMFA.
for leah- Discovered along the way. Joe and Lisa had both approached me about teaching for a couple years and I think that slowly incepted my thoughts into thinking teaching is something I’m super interested in. I started in the continuing education program and loved it and thought teaching undergrad would be a fun next step. So far it’s been super fun!
for ryan- I always knew I wanted to teach because I loved school and had teachers who made me feel seen, encouraged my full self, and helped me realize creativity was my strength. My college design education was intense, and as a professor I try to keep what worked while softening the harder edges though sometimes those challenges reveal what we’re capable of and what we actually enjoy. I’m always learning alongside students and I prefer designing for creative inquiry rather than purely for clients or capitalism. Making with all of you rather than selling something.
Joe- When I went to RISD to get my MFA it never occurred to me that it was the terminal degree for teaching at the college-level. No clue whatsoever. Never thought about teaching though many of my classmates did. The head of the graduate program asked me to teach a class during winter session one year. I really loved it. Then they kept asking me. When I graduated I kept getting offers to continue teaching at RISD, Clark, The University of Hartford, and MassArt. I started a design firm with a classmate and just taught as an adjunct for about 9 years before joining MassArt full-time.
How has the design industry changed since you started, and how do you prepare students for it?
for lisa- I have been in this industry through some seismic changes. When I began I was doing paste-ups and layouts by hand, ordering type from typesetters, and marking up images so that photographers could enlarge them to the sizes I needed. Then I worked on early Macintosh computers to set type, but it still had to be printed out elsewhere. Now, of course, we are all comfortable using computers, laser cutters, 3D printers, etc in our work. But I remember when our students actively and vocally resisted using computers in the late 1990s because they feared giving up control to algorithms—not unlike where we find ourselves now at the dawn of AI. One advantage of long hindsight is that I can see the arc of our creative and technological history, and it makes me confident that we will weather the huge changes of AI and come out the other side.
For fish- More practitioners! I see that there are more types of people who have careers now in the field which I think is great. In particular there are more women and people of color who are starting studios, more people who have not studied design who are designers, and vice versa there’s more people than ever studying and creating design. The world needs more design, and the world needs more voices and designers who are ready to help improve the world.
For leah- I don’t have an answer for this yet, but with AI I’m sure I’ll have an answer in a couple years!
For ryan- When I studied design, it was mostly seen as print work with some digital. Now, as everyone uses phones and screens daily, more people understand design’s role in shaping how we encounter the world but the field is also more saturated, especially with AI generating design choices. Ideas, communication, and interpersonal skills matter most: if you can articulate your concepts, connect work to audiences, and collaborate effectively, you can and will be a designer.
Joe- In a word, dramatically. I had a job as a typesetter in design / production firm in Detroit before moving to Boston. They had 5 or 6 departments of people doing things any one student can now do with Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign. That was a huge change. Then the internet introduced web design. Smart phones introduced mobile apps, and now we’re on the verge of yet another convulsion due to AI. Design has always been directly influenced by our tools. So I try to contextualize the impact of new technologies for our students and remind them that they are not (and never were) the point of being a designer. The point of being a designer is to solve problems for clients.
What do you hope students take away from your teaching beyond technical skills?
for lisa- I hope my students will remember that I loved and cared for them all—even the ones that gave me the most grief (and maybe especially them). I hope they remember my homemade cookies! I hope that they will hold themselves to the same high standards I have tried to hold them to, so that they always make the best possible work and find joy in it.
for fish- 1) make great work, 2) support each other, 3) avoid being a jerk (to yourself, to others)
for leah- I’m not sure, but I hope one thing they take away is to always keep playing, stay curious, and always aim to stay true to your concept!
for ryan- In the end, just be nice. You can always make it look good or better, but are you serving it for others the way you want to be served? Take risks, be brave, be kind, be interested in the world, enjoy the process, embrace the ambiguity, and in the end, it’s just graphic design.
Joe- To think for themselves. To find joy in their creative pursuits and in life.