Recently, the word "people set" has often appeared in people's eyes, and colleges and universities studying abroad have also been locked with their own "people set". However, in the Internet era, there are many ways to obtain information, and the information about studying abroad has turned to us several times. Are these "people set" true? If the interviewer asks you why you chose this school when you were studying abroad, but you don't understand it and can't answer it, isn't it too late to give up all your previous efforts? So today, we take RISD Rhode Island School of Design, FIT New York Fashion College, and CSM Central Saint Martin School of Art and Design as examples. Before going abroad to study and choose schools, we should get out of the misunderstanding caused by the stereotyped "people set" of art schools, unveil the correct way to understand the true face of schools, get rid of stereotypes, and let them "people set collapse".
Rhode Island School of Design
Rhode Island School of Design
Focus on pure arts? Focus on basic courses?
Rhode Island School of Design (hereinafter referred to as RISD) is the only art school among the top 100 colleges in the world, known as Harvard in the art world.
RISD is located in Providence, the capital of Rhode Island. It is not a bustling metropolis like New York, nor a sunny west coast like Chicago. The weather in Rhode Island is always very dark. In addition, RISD has a large amount of homework. Generally, students need 80 hours a week to complete their homework. So in colleges and universities in this relatively small city, there is not so much time for students to eat, eat, hang out and enjoy life. Students coming to RISD are all focused on their studies, purely for the sake of art.
What to know before studying abroad RISD has 19 majors related to art, design and architecture. No matter which major, it basically pays attention to the general education and basic skills education of students, emphasizing the study of archaeology, anthropology, biology, cognitive science, literature, history, art history, philosophy, psychology, religion, sociology and other disciplines in addition to professional courses.
For example, in the curriculum of some art colleges, basic skills courses account for a small part, and more time will be spent in the form of studio to arrange students to do group work, so as to exercise students' innovative thinking and collaboration ability. However, in RISD's curriculum, the proportion of basic courses is relatively more. Take textile design as an example:
Screenshot from RISD BFA Textiles department
We can see that in the curriculum of this major, the freshmen and sophomores are all basic courses about drawing, design, history, philosophy, printing, screen printing, knitting, knitting, dyeing, fiber and fabric. It can be seen that the first point of RISD's emphasis on student education is basic skills, which is also the reason why RISD's academic and teaching quality has gained high reputation in the world.
However, for this reason, RISD has left a stereotype of "focusing only on basic courses", "learning things too fairy" and "too pure art".
But in fact, the learning of these courses aims to enable students to stimulate more ideas and ideas through basic skills to create more possibilities. For example, only after mastering the basic skills of painting and software can you express your ideas in the form of art; Thoroughly understand the concept and technology of fabrics and fabrics before integrating them into their own projects according to the characteristics of different materials; The study of design history, philosophy, sociology and other disciplines will help students understand the relationship between the discipline and cultural, economic and other major backgrounds, improve their understanding of the concept of the discipline, and use design to solve social problems in future practice. At the same time, it also broadens its vision and ideas to prepare for the development of various fields.
Although the students cultivated by RISD have recognized super skills, they are actually laying the groundwork for innovation and cross discipline in the later design. After laying the foundation, they start the studio mode course in the third grade and complete their personal projects under the guidance of their tutors. At this stage, the focus shifted to the cultivation of creativity and problem-solving ability. In the course description on the official website, it is clearly stated that students are encouraged to use new technologies and skills to innovate.
Screenshot from RISD BFA Textiles department
So in teaching, RISD pays more attention to students' creative thinking and expression, and emphasizes the cross relationship between disciplines. The cultivation of these abilities is gradually promoted with the improvement of students' comprehensive artistic ability.
In the official website description and core values, it first shows that no matter which discipline, it must first have the skills to translate ideas and concepts into actual works. More space is devoted to emphasizing the social responsibility and public interaction of the Rhode Island Institute of Design RISD.
Although RISD does not "play" art as easily and interestingly as many art colleges, the attitude of colleges to in-depth research on art design is increasingly recognized by the society, so many cooperative enterprises have been developed, and the school will provide many jobs for graduates. The critical thinking and comprehensive ability that graduates have developed during their school years enable them to create many good things in their respective fields, whether they start a business or enter a company. This is all you need to know when studying abroad to choose a school.
Fashion Institute of Technology
New York Fashion Institute
The most commercial technical college?
FIT is the largest fashion focused institution in the world. Whether undergraduate or master, it has all courses related to fashion, covering all aspects of the fashion industry from fabric, design to management. Many international famous designers are from FIT, such as Calvin Klein, Michael Kors, Carolina Herrera.
Fashion is often closely related to economy, so FIT is of course more practical and technical institutions. The school is located on the Seventh Avenue of New York, in the fashion center, with a superior geographical location. The professors of FIT have rich working experience in the fashion industry, so students studying in FIT often have the opportunity to contact industry leaders; Participate in fashion design competitions and various activities. At the same time, FIT has maintained a good cooperative relationship with many enterprises and brands all the year round, providing sufficient internship and work opportunities for students, and the employment rate has been close to 100%.
Screenshot from FIT official website
Therefore, some students will mistakenly think that FIT is an institution that designs to meet the market, puts employment first, and ignores the artistry and design when choosing this institution.
New York Fashion Institute FIT As a pioneer of fashion education, there is no doubt about its position in the fashion industry. However, while keeping close contact with business, FIT's core teaching philosophy is to cultivate students' creativity, stimulate leadership, spread international influence, and educate students to be more inclusive and contribute to sustainable development. Students are encouraged to cross the traditional boundaries of geography and disciplines and strive to develop innovative designs and solve problems.
In the official description of educational concepts and objectives, the first thing is to provide students with educational experience of high academic standards and promote creativity on this basis. The second is cooperation with major enterprises, which aims to enable students to accept challenges in practice and apply creativity to cooperation projects. Finally, FIT strives to create an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and learning, so that students can promote creativity in a variety of environments.
Taking the course description of FIT textile design as an example, this major will learn textile related knowledge and skills involving fashion, accessories, interior and other industries. After graduation, there can be a variety of occupations to choose from, such as clothing, fashion, home furnishing and so on. But these are all obtained by cultivating students' artistic ability, analytical ability, innovative ability, and the ability to combine theory with practical application.
From the student works on the official website, we can see the educational achievements of FIT on aesthetics and innovation. For example, the work Living With Loss by college students
FIT student work, the picture is from the official website
This "born for loss" design combines cross disciplines, which can identify the changing shape of human body's sad emotions and make clothes more emotionally connected with human beings. Such research and innovation of exploring concepts can bring more possibilities for clothing design.
Work of FIT students, studying abroad and choosing schools
Another work, Explicit Elevate, comes from the interdisciplinary drawing system of college students, which can transform 3D sculpture and painting into 2D plane graphics to explore the relationship between textile design and three-dimensional structure.
It can be seen that FIT is not inclined to focus on business development and skills, but is recognized by the industry after innovative thinking and comprehensive ability reach a certain height.
Central Saint Martins
Central St Martins
Sacrifice connotation and logic to pursue minority and individuality?
CSM should be known by every student who studies fashion design. It has bred numerous excellent fashion designers for the fashion industry. The graduation show held by graduates every year is the focus of the fashion industry. These creative graduates have moved from CSM to the real fashion circle, and some people's names have gradually appeared in fashion magazines and fashion brands.
Speaking of CSM, everyone's impression of CSM is that it is unconstrained, full of talents, novel and bold. After all, the students and works here are like this.
Indeed, everyone here is focusing on "being yourself", and the school also attaches great importance to personality, innovation and creativity. Of course, this attitude is also reflected in the works. The extreme admiration for personality and innovation makes many people think that CSM only pursues personalized "cool" and gives up the logic and practicality in design, because more and more small people's unique aesthetic gradually runs counter to the market, focusing on art rather than being employed in management. Maybe everyone is wondering what Saint Martin fashion graduates are doing? After all, not everyone can become McQueen after graduation from St. Martin.
However, taking the course description of fashion design as an example, we can see that CSM's fashion design major also attaches great importance to the support of foundation and theory.
Screenshot from CSM official website
The training of students is the project learning system, which means that students can exercise relevant skills and independent learning ability through participating in projects. It is divided into three stages. The first stage is to learn a series of basic skills such as sewing, cutting technology, printing and dyeing, plane and clothing structure. In the second stage, through workshops, seminars, lectures, practical projects, competitions, group discussions and other ways, we will improve our skills in independent learning and team cooperation, tap personal characteristics and exercise our practical working ability. The third stage is to choose the field and theme of your concern and begin to prepare your graduation work.
In addition, there is a "cultural conceptology", which aims to improve students' communication and expression ability, research ability, critical ability and writing skills. Understand the influence of historical, social, cultural and economic factors on clothing, and provide background and support for the concept of fashion design.
Screenshot from CSM official website
The practical projects started in the second phase are usually real cooperation projects between colleges and enterprises. The concept of CSM is not self focused, but also committed to the simultaneous development of art and business, maintaining cooperation with many brands, and providing jobs for students.
Screenshot from CSM official website
Before studying abroad to choose a school, students will choose and understand their dream school in many ways. There are many factors that need to be considered comprehensively, but the most important one is the education method and teaching philosophy of the school. One of the most simple and direct ways to understand these aspects is to search the course description and details on the official website, in order to scientifically determine what is suitable for their own school, Try to avoid detours in school selection. Start by carefully reading the official website.
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