Going into 4 years at the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD) has been an fulfilling journey that has helped bring me to where I am today, but it's also been an incredibly frustrating experience. I often get asked how I like my school, and I always give a generic answer that it's "awesome" to avoid ranting and over-explaining all the little things I don't like. Nobody likes a whiny bitch.

"Don't bite the hand that feeds you"

"Don't shit where ya eat"

It's hard not to. And I'll be explaining why.

Outcome vs. Experience

When people ask if I like SCAD, there's 2 ways to look at it:

1. Has it produced the desired outcome?

2. Has it given me a good experience?

Of course there's good and bad with all of the above, but my answers to them are nuanced:

My desired outcomes has been ever-growing throughout the years as I keep improving and reaching new heights. I believe this has had very little to do with SCAD. If anything, just having a general education in UX design allowed me to pass the minimum barrier to entry for a lot of internships. The caveat is that my professor Lane Kinkade has been one of the best educators I've had the pleasure of learning from, and I've made a few connections along the way that have helped me out.

Has it given me a good experience? Looking back, sadly I truly think the only experience I enjoyed was my UX classes with Lane. Everything else…well, I have some things to say.

The SCAD Brand

I'm going to let you in on a secret, I didn't write this to talk about how much I "enjoyed" SCAD. That would be boring. Everyone can say they loved school, but few can say they didn't. Well, actually that's a lie, but it's certainly less common among people who have actually stayed at SCAD, at least publicly. Personally, I really dislike it. As of today, I have a 3.80 GPA, and am going to get my first C, in art history. I also work multiple jobs, one of them being a full-time product design internship. Simply put, getting an A in art history is far from a priority of mine. The SCAD brand puts a heavy emphasis on developing "well-rounded" students who can excel in a lot of art/design roles, especially when it comes to communicating. With that, there is a strong unspoken expectation to "be" a certain way. I view that way as something really performative, and while it can help perception (which is often all that matters), it isn't what makes you the best that you can in product design.

Some of the ways they mold you into that type of creative is through their curriculum. But you can also observe this just by being on campus with how everything is decorated, and what the faculty wears. I'd describe it as a lot of colorful suits and ties.

Colorful suits and ties aren't what make good products. Users don't care if your suit and tie looks pretty. They care if the product works and delivers value. I wish they emphasized this more.