Cranbrook VS SAIC (MFA Graphic Design)

[Ohmyfriend]

I am trying to decide between Cranbrook's 2D Design program and SAIC's Visual Communication Design program. I really like the interdisciplinary, conceptual, and experimental qualities of both schools. I am interested in both fine arts and design, and want to push the boundary of design.

I am a little bit worried that there is no classes at Cranbrook. However, it seems that Cranbrook has a stronger design program? Can you give me any advice? Thanks!

Edited April 8, 2016 by Ohmyfriend

[monocle]

My brother actually went to both Cranbrook and SAIC (albeit he's a sculptor, not graphic designer), and obviously they are both fantastic schools. This isn't typically my area, but I happened to see it in the recent threads tab. For what it's worth, if you want to "push the boundaries of design" you're going to have to be extremely proactive and self-directed about your studies anyways, so it probably won't make a big difference on the school just based on name/program alone (or whether or not there are classes).

Are there any particular artists/professors at either school that you think can help challenge you to bring out your best work?

Would you feel stifled or inspired by the cityscape of downtown Chicago or among the abundant lakes in suburban Michigan?

As a non-artist, I was impressed by the work of students in both schools, but I did get a sense (through my brother) that the SAIC students were more political/controversial in their art... so if that's what you mean by pushing the boundaries, maybe you could give SAIC a second look.

Apologies if this seems really off-base, but you should also really consider the money, my brother is in over 100k of debt, which seems insurmountable at this point on his salary.. though I suppose if you're a graphic designer there is potentially more money there.

[Ohmyfriend]

On 4/8/2016 at 0:59 PM, monocle said:

My brother actually went to both Cranbrook and SAIC (albeit he's a sculptor, not graphic designer), and obviously they are both fantastic schools. This isn't typically my area, but I happened to see it in the recent threads tab. For what it's worth, if you want to "push the boundaries of design" you're going to have to be extremely proactive and self-directed about your studies anyways, so it probably won't make a big difference on the school just based on name/program alone (or whether or not there are classes).

Are there any particular artists/professors at either school that you think can help challenge you to bring out your best work?

Would you feel stifled or inspired by the cityscape of downtown Chicago or among the abundant lakes in suburban Michigan?

As a non-artist, I was impressed by the work of students in both schools, but I did get a sense (through my brother) that the SAIC students were more political/controversial in their art... so if that's what you mean by pushing the boundaries, maybe you could give SAIC a second look.

Apologies if this seems really off-base, but you should also really consider the money, my brother is in over 100k of debt, which seems insurmountable at this point on his salary.. though I suppose if you're a graphic designer there is potentially more money there.

Thank you so much for your advice! I like SAIC's location better, since there are more art exhibitions. I really admire Elliott Earls, the professor at Cranbrook. There is also a professor I appreciate at SAIC. However, I like the design/artwork that Cranbrook students created better than SAIC's.

I do have classes that I want to take at SAIC though, which are from various departments such as art and technology, sculpture, and printmedia. Do you know how's your brother's learning experiences with both Cranbrook and SAIC?

[monocle]

@Ohmyfriend The key difference as I saw it was that Cranbrook was pure artwork all the time working on his pieces, whereas at SAIC he did a lot of humanities and things unrelated to his art. At SAIC there was a moment when I thought he was going to change tracks and try to pursue a graduate degree in anthropology.. I got the sense he did more varied interaction with social sciency type people, and as I said before more political.

[Ohmyfriend]

@monocle Thank you!