By the end of the week, we will all graduate from the CMCI Masters program at CU Boulder, but it hasn’t fully hit me yet. I’d be lying if I said it feels like we just started, because frankly it was a lot of work to get here, but it doesn’t feel like a whole year has passed. It doesn’t feel real yet.
I came into this program straight from undergrad, and in a lot of ways it felt like a continuation of that. My classes and project structure were similar, classmates all seemed more knowledgeable than me (which wasn’t a change), and at times I wanted to give up and revert to the 30-year-old-living-in-their-parents-basement-for-the-rest-of-their-life mentality. Thank god I didn’t.
I’ve met some amazing people through this program, classmates and instructors alike. I know everyone says “Keep in touch XOXO!” when graduation rolls around, but for the first time in my life I actually want to. I am still in awe over what my peers can do, and I’m incredibly interested in seeing how their futures pan out, because each and every one of them has amazing opportunities on the horizon.
This surprises me a bit, because in the past I have only really cared about my peers futures from a comparative standpoint, but after spending a year with these folks laughing and crying, cursing the world to hell and back (looking at you On The Snow and design sprints) and relishing in our victories, I can‘t wait to see what comes next.
Looking Back — The Classes
Fall 2019 seems like a lifetime ago, and given the state of the world (COVID 19) I’m sure I’m not the only one that feels this way.
RJ’s class… Never got easier. I struggled pretty hard with it through both fall and spring semester, but RJ was always ready and willing to jump in and help. It was my own hangups and doubts that stopped me from creating the way I envisioned, and looking back I wish I had taken him up on his many offers to help. It’s not often you get the chance to work with a real genius, and I’m still kicking myself for squandering that opportunity.
Jesse’s class was certainly challenging, but not in the way I originally thought it would be. I was more concerned with the ideation and creation of our project than I was with our group dynamics, and as such I was fairly unprepared for the issues that arose. Working in a group is always difficult in some way or another, I feel like it would have been a more pleasant experience had I embraced that early on instead of ignoring my gut reactions and denying the problems we ran into.
Lisa’s design leadership class felt like second nature when it first started, because I had grown up in an environment that was built on the principals she taught us. But I had never seen so many people willing and able to implement these social skills in such a successful way, and repeatedly throughout the year. Shit got hard, really hard, but seeing so many of my classmates struggle, then reorient their mindsets and jump back on task was an incredible experience that I don’t think will ever be replicated in my life (though of course I am hopeful).
Prior to our first class with Rich, I had no idea what User Experience design meant, 12 months later and I feel like I could successfully build low fidelity prototypes for apps and the web with the users interests at their core. While I’m not eager to jump into a UX field any time soon (I would rather work with people than pixels, and I don’t envision a Card Sorting job popping up on Linkedin any time soon) I feel like a better, well rounded designer having taken his classes. I also feel like I have better insight on what questions to ask before jumping into the creative process, sure the phrase ‘user centered design’ seemed like common sense before, but now I have an inkling of what that actually means and for that I am incredibly grateful.
I am still very sad that we could not finish Parisa’s branding class as intended in the Spring (but obviously I would not advocate putting anyones health at risk to do so). It made me reminiscent of my undergrad graphic design classes, what with her hands on teaching methods, but the key difference is her enthusiasm for her work. I have never seen someone so enthusiastic and enamored with their profession (well, maybe RJ?), and it shined through her lessons. It was a lot of work, having at least two presentations every week for one class, but well worth it looking back.
Design sprints… Let’s not talk about design sprints, it’s still too soon. What I will say is that my teams were fantastic, and even under the immense stress of creating viable plans in a completely remote environment each and every one of my teammates blew me away with their creative abilities. Mark, Aitana, Nick, Yeon, Caro, and Nicole, you all made (what I now refer to as Hell weeks) bearable and fun in your own ways. Even if you never end up reading this (which is highly likely) thank you all for all of your hard work and wonderful personalities.
Emily and Andrew, I feel like I missed out on getting to know you both seeing as we met through zoom and only interacted for half of our shortest semester. … I also regret that my first words to Andrew were “Can I log off and eat?”, though like I mentioned at the time it is a fairly good representation of myself. I initially took your portfolio class because it seemed practical at the time, though I was dreading the actual work. Even with the horrors of Zoom classes, the two of you made a monumental task manageable, and for that I can not thank you enough.
Which brings me to my last class, brand design 4 with Chris. It has been a weird, crazy semester, but boy am I glad I ended up here. I had initially signed up for Rich’s UX class, which became Chris’s sudo branding morning class, and through a series of odd (but connected) events I ended up in his night time branding class instead, and I couldn’t be happier. I am a weird person, and the weekly project prompts he gave us definitely spoke to that side of me. I really enjoyed coming up with crazy concepts and presenting them, but being able to see my classmates let loose and showcase some less than polished work was priceless. I feel like I got to see them each in a different light than I had all year, and it added some much needed whimsy into the program.
Looking Forward — What Comes Next?
Before I began this program, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do with my life. I had an undergrad in Graphic Design, but after spending four years playing with logos and typefaces, I knew that wasn’t the career for me. So on a whim, I chose to pursue a random masters program I found. It was only one year of my life, I figured even if it didn’t help me refocus my career, at least I would make more money doing something I disliked.
I didn’t expect to come out of this with a job title, let alone one I am exited to pursue. I also didn’t expect to enjoy networking with my peers this much, as in the past it has always felt like a chore. I can’t say that anymore.
I will be applying to rolls as a Project Manager at larger companies, as it is my best opportunity to get the job I want immediately without having to work my way up through a smaller company. I know where my moral lines are, and when to walk away instead of crossing them. I know how to recognize the red-flags in organizations, and that I don’t have to settle for a crappy work environment to do what I want in life.
I am moving back to Chicago in a weeks time, and while I will miss everyone here, I feel like I am going back a stronger designer and a better person. I can’t quite speak to how this program changed me, and I don’t think any of us will truly know until we are in the thick of it, acting and reacting in our new environments. But I feel ready for whatever the world will throw at me.
In the last few months of fall semester, the cohort did an exercise where we passed note cards around the table and wrote positive things about each other on them, referencing both our personalities and our abilities. I still have mine, pressed between the pages of a bright blue notebook. That little notecard means more to me than I could hope to explain, and I am looking forward to framing it when I get to my new home, so I can remember my old one.
