Co.Design: business + innovation + design: The U.S. armed forces have a practice of formally recording the stuff they’ve learned in the course of any conflict. In military parlance, it’s called making an “after-actions” or “lessons learned” report. When you consider that much of the armed forces’ time is spent dealing with people who want to kill them, passing experience on to the next group of men and women coming in seems like a pretty good idea.
In September 2012, I began a deployment of sorts. But instead of going to Iraq or Afghanistan, I headed for an internship at Soulcake Creative, a boutique design consultancy in San Clemente, California, to test my hard-earned Art Center College of Design stripes. What follows is my own “lessons learned report” from the experience. Hopefully, my takeaways can help other young designers minimize bloodshed as they transition into new posts.
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The very first one is something the majority of our class can learn from. If I have an ego I try to minimize it or I say things jokingly that may come across as an ego (not meaning for it to happen). Also number three I know I have done before. I had the thought process of that teacher won't like that so I shouldn't do it. I felt like I was trying to base a design off of if the teacher would like it. I found if I took risks my grades were often better. The project might be ripped apart but I am glad I took the risks. I think this article is really important going into summer for everyone doing internships simply because it kind of realigns what we are doing theatre for at least in the design aspect.
Unlike most of the How-To Lists that appear on the blog, each point in this list actually has a lot of merit to it. All of these things are also things you should be learning as a design student in the School of Drama. Everyone one comes into freshman year with some size and shape of ego. Some people realize that they need to lose it fairly quickly, while others take a little bit longer to do so. This article actually could be retitled "How to Survive Freshman Year in the SOD."
I agree with Dan. This article brings up some good points and backs them up. I also agree that it pertains to students in the School of Drama. One of the things I love about our school is that it prepares us for the real world in a way most colleges do not. The author of this article discussed how he is thankful for his training. Although I do not necessarily agree that is always necessary to pull all-nighters 1-2 times a week, I agree that having a strong, rigorous training pays off in the long run. I also don't know how I feel about the author's point where he is discussing how "work will always be there." While in some professions work may always be there, I know that if I said "school will always be there" and I took a day off to go surfing at the beach, that probably wouldn't go over so well. Yes, it is important to take time for yourself and live a healthy lifestyle, but definitely not during work hours.
I greatly appreciate the analytical approach and thought process that the SoD has encouraged me to work with. However, that analytical process has faults. The author mentions that you need to bring passion into your presentation, or communication. Perhaps it is because of my managerial background, but I have found that in my time at school, my writing has become extremely concise and efficient - which is not exactly the sort of stuff that passion is made of.
Are there remedies to this problem? Perhaps practicing writing for more open ended means, like taking a poetry class or writing course.
First, I'd like to complain about the ads on this page. with that said, I really like this advice.
I love reading advice from someone who can actually back up why these things are important and I just love how relevant it is. I also think that it's very easy for us to roll our eyes at this type of advice but the way this article was written makes it very hard to ignore the fact that a lot of the things we do in our daily lives are advised against for good reason. We shouldn't be competing with each other to be "better" because, not only are we in a collaborative field, but we can make something better together than we every could apart, if only we can just put our egos aside. We shouldn't be designing a project just because we think "Susan will love it." but because we love it. We are all here because we love this art form and the second we start designing for someone else it stops being important. I think that something else we all tend to lose sight of is how to relax. This article is right, work will always be there, but (forgive me for sounding corny) we'll only be this young once. Yes, school and grades are extremely important, but who says we can't do well in school and also have a little fun? Even if that fun is just taking an afternoon off and spending some time in the park with a book, we should still remember to make time for that. I think we should all be remembering this advice and taking it to heart.
I find number 2 really interesting. In stage management we talked about how important it is to be a positive energy in the room and how you should be mindful of the tone you use and the way in which you communicate to people, and I never considered that that skill could also apply in the capacity of giving a presentation or conveying the ways in which you would make a good collaborator. It's also important to show how you really design and what your own style is. I remember Jed telling us in Directing II that it "takes a couple years to get your professors out of your head and you really grow into your own style" because that's what will get you hired- not how well you retain what you're taught, but how you use those skills in your own way.
these four things are something every artist should learn from. The four things this author outlined are things that make you easier and more enjoyable of a person to work with. People do not want to work with people who think they are better then others. They don't want people to name drop and use it as an excuse or validation of skill. That does not mean however don't take pride in your work, it more don't think you are better than others. we are all equals in art there is no correct answer. There are no winners and losers. Number two is really important as well because people as want to work with people who look like they care and want to be there. If you have a passion through your work then you should be articulate it a failure to do so seems as if you don't care. All in all this is just four more rule you should look to when you are working in this business.
This article provided some interesting things to think. Especially as managers, sometimes we are taught to just present the facts and be the "voice of reason" in a room. While that of course has its place, I also think that, as this article says, there is also something to be said for speaking from the heart (corny, I know) and not being afraid to show passion for something.
The second point that I think is definitely worth noting is the fact that there will always be work, and just because the work is there doesn't mean that you shouldn't take some time for yourself. Taking an hour off and going surfing is not going to hurt the work (as long as its not something super time sensitive that you definitely are supposed to finish in that hour...). But as so many articles on this page have said, pulling an all nighter can hurt your work more than it helps it.
This article does a great job of showing that most times we are our own biggest enemies when it comes to interviews and career choices. Like Alex said, our egos get in the way of our ambitions and we(me a lot of the times) end up sabotaging ourselves int he process.
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