I graduated from Lee's Summit High School in 1976 with a 3.76 GPA, 15th in a class of 410. Centering my education around graphic design and technical drawing, I was also a member of the National Honor Society all four years. Being a bit athletic, I lettered in track (high jump, long jump, and the '440'), football and basketball. At this stage of my life I wish I had taken a keener interest in golf, maybe I wouldn't be hacking around so much now.
Kansas State University
Starting off at K-State as an architecture student, I realized that archi-torture was not in my future. Too many inconsistencies in the curriculum and grading for me! Switching to a Graphic Design major, I salvaged a 3.2 GPA from the plummet in the A-wordcurriculum. Here I learned to appreciate the design that I always loved, in a time when a graphic design education actually meant something. Too many kids are coming out of 'design educations' and know very little, if anything, about design. Yeah, make some weird-ass thing in Photoshop and we can call it design. Just because it's out of Photoshop doesn't mean it's design. It just means it's a TIFF, EPS, or (shudder) JPEG. Oops, sorry for slipping into the Philosophy section...
University of Life
This is where ALL real design education takes place. Even though I had a great education at K-State, I really didn't learn what it's all about until I did it for a living. When you start creating graphics for others in a monetary environment you realize why it's also called Commercial Art.Ultimately it's for someone else, not yourself. After designing in the the U.S. and England for over 20 years, I have a thorough knowledge and understanding of graphic design, but still, compromise becomes imperitive. A client may not want that flashy, cool logo. They may want something more sedate, more in keeping with their company. After all, it isfor them. In some cases, what's learned in college seems to go completely out the window, but a good designer will still make it work, and make it work well. A designer's job is to take ALL things into consideration and create the best solution for the client, even if it's not an earth shattering, kick ass campaign.
