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Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by keiferski on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @10:54AM (#1983308)
I'm strongly looking into transferring to the Koln International School of Design (http://kisd.de/home.html?lang=en) which is in Cologne, Germany. (I'm currently a sophomore at a US non-design school.) It's a unique program that basically covers every field of design; the major is called "Integrated Design." You essentially choose your own curriculum.

It really comes down to what sort of design you're interested in. US schools tend to be focused on 2 subjects, with not much else: industrial design and communication/web/graphic design. Different schools are better at different things, but to highlight a couple:

Carnegie Mellon: strong in communication design, interaction design, Human-Computer interaction, and generally anything computer science related.

Cincinnati: not so great of a school in general, but the design department is top 5 in the country, mostly because the program requires 4+ co ops (internships.) Supposedly they're pretty good at traditional product/industrial stuff.

I decided to pass on design school a few years ago, mostly because I didn't want to be pidgeonholed into either of those subjects.

I'm pretty familiar with design schools, so I'd be glad to answer any specific questions. Also try http://boards.core77.com

Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by sushi on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @12:54PM (#1983845)
You raised a good point about US schools focusing more on 2 or 3 subjects rather than "integrated design". I find the idea of learning in an environment where artists from all sorts of fields (architecture, painting, sculpting, industrial design, graphic design, typography etc.) get to interact together and influence each other very charming.

Do you quite possibly know, what is the design scene in traditional art centers like Italy and France?

Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by keiferski on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @02:11PM (#1984172)
Sorry, I really don't know much about most European schools, other then the few I'm stumbled upon.

I'd imagine that schools in Italy (possibly France) would focus more on art, design, fashion, etc. as opposed to service design, engineering, etc. But I have little to no evidence to back that up.

Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by sandGorgon on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @01:08PM (#1983916)
whoa - just in time.

My wife has been working for the past couple of years as a copywriter for a top notch ad firm in India. She has been wanting to switch careers into design and has been looking for a college program that will give allow her to transition into it.

I'm not sure if this is the place for it, but I'm extremely interested in knowing about the entry requirements (read through the website already), the class composition and what next after this course ? Plus, the prospectus isnt clear about what exactly do they teach.

Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by keiferski on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @02:01PM (#1984127)
Are you looking for an undergraduate program or grad program? I know more about the undergrad program (Integrated Design), but they also offer a Masters in European Design and a Masters in Integrated Design. The following info is for undergrad, Integrated Design. (Just to be clear, I don't actually attend this school (yet) and haven't visited.)

1. To enter: a 6-month internship in a design-related field. I believe that they also consider relevant work experience.

2. The program is a bit different than most schools; instead of classes, you work on projects. Any student can take any project (with some limitations) and students of all years work together.

Subjects: essentially, there are around 15 departments: audiovisual media, manufacturing, service design, typography, interface design, etc.

To graduate, one must take at least 1 project in 10 of the departments, and fulfill the certain amount of project points. There’s also some other “classes”, like seminars and workshops. Hence the name “integrated design” – you can, for the most part, “design” your study curriculum out of the offered projects.

3. Most classes are taught in English if requested, but I believe you have to still take a basic German test.

There’s a ton of information that I am leaving out, so I recommend you just browse the site for a while. Check out these pages, in particular:

Studies - http://kisd.de/studies.html?&lang=en

Study programs (notice the PDFs for each program) - http://kisd.de/studyprograms.html?&lang=en Departments/Subjects -http://kisd.de/subjects.html?&lang=en Applying - http://kisd.de/application.html?&lang=en Applying FAQ - http://kisd.de/application_faq.html?&lang=en International Students - http://kisd.de/1908.html?&lang=en

(all from the nav bar)

edit: sorry for the horrible formatting. And feel free to ask any other questions.

Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by sandGorgon on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @11:18PM (#1986002)
could i get in touch with you ? my email is in my profile - i couldnt find yours
Re:Ask HN: What Design schools would you recommend? by keiferski on Wednesday December 08, 2010 @11:32PM (#1986044)
Sure. I couldn't find your email in your profile either! Or in your blog. Tsk tsk, HN. (and I mean the site, not you.)

Anyway, feel free to contact me. http://www.google.com/recaptcha/mailhide/d?k=01YWSQ0iQDYIbvG...

/avoiding spam