Here we are around the table sharing design ideas with Kean University students. To my left is Lisa Contreras, the Mancini•Duffy Retail Group Resource Director.
Earlier this summer we were visited by a group of bright young people enrolled in the Interior Design program at New Jersey’s Kean University. Led by Damon LaCapra, an Assistant Professor in the School of Design (and a colleague of mine from way back), the students, most in their second and third year, impressed me with their curiosity and savvy about the business of design. They asked many questions, and while they understood and appreciated aesthetics, they wanted to know about practical concerns: How does our firm get work? What’s a typical project schedule? How deadline-driven is the industry in general? As a group, they seemed to have gotten past the “glamorous” part of being a designer, and instead turned their questions to the skills and assets they would need to be successful in their careers. For me, it was something of a reality check – perhaps their attitudes reflect the state of the current economy and the need for today’s young person to be that much more of a go-getter to land a job in such a climate.
On a related note, I was pleased that we managed to impress this savvy group of students as well – whew! – by our work, our client list, and the diversity of the industries we design for. In all, it was a mutual learning experience.
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