These Vagabond Shoes Are Longing To Stray
I'm moving to New York this weekend. This week I received a three-month internship offer from Pentagram, one of the most amazing design firms in the world. Work starts 10AM Monday morning.
Last Monday was my birthday, and after an action-packed weekend visit from Andrew (aka playing Resident Evil 4 and Star Fox Assault for like 72 hours straight) and dinner with some close friends, I was just starting to get back into the swing of school work. But I got a call from Hank, my former Design History and current Annual Reports instructor (and the president of Portfolio Center to boot). There was an opening in Pentagram's Interactive Team, and I had been recommended as a possible candidate for the position. Hank put me in touch with Jiae Kim, one of the designers on the team, and we had a great informal conversation. Thank goodness for okaysamurai.com to help show my interests and document the latest school projects. When we ended the call, I immediately got started tweaking my resume and threw the old portfolio site with the chair and wine bottles back up online, with thoughts continually flooding my imagination with excitement and disbelief. The formal offer came the next day.
There were plenty of concerns when I calmed down, you bet. Starting work on Monday? With two weeks to go in the quarter, what would happen with school? What about the commitment with my current internship at Iconologic? Could I afford New York? Where would I live? I'm still answering some of these questions (please let me know if you have any friends with bedroom vacancies, couches, floors or kitchen cabinets), but through the guidance and counsel from family and friends, I knew there was no way I could pass this up. If you've been reading this site for a while, you might remember that I even mentioned Pentagram when I first visited Portfolio Center.
Glance at the design credits of Jon Stewart's America: The Book. Or the recent re-branding of the New York Jets. The Citibank logo (which Paula Scher sketched out on a napkin in five minutes). Godiva chocolate packaging. The level of talent of the rockstars who work here is massive, fresh, and inspiring. I think I'll feel smarter by just breathing the same air as these people. More specific to my situation, the Interactive Team is doing some remarkably innovative work. Websites, sure; but also information systems, museum installations, interactive multimedia projects and who knows what else. I'm working under Lisa Strausfeld, who is already inspiring me after reading through her bio. I just can't believe this is really happening. I don't think it's going to sink in until I walk through those doors on Fifth Avenue Monday morning.
I definitely plan to document my time in New York heavily, writing updates here often, taking movies and photos, and experiencing as much as I can just to soak it all in. Hank gave me a map and a to-do list of like a million things, and he keeps adding people I need to see and places I have to go (and of course the Toys-R-Us in Times Square will be my first stop). It's all so new and overwhelming right now.
I am blessed and humbled that the things I love to do are perceived as talents. Thanks to my friends and family for their continued support. And man if this isn't an advertisement for Portfolio Center I don't know what is. This is what education should be. The daily struggles feel natural, dare I say welcome (I do dare, in fact, and I'll even double dare and take the physical challenge). The environment, instructors and students have truly challenged me to become a valuable designer just as much as a valuable individual, and have given me opportunities that are simply unheard of. I have never been happier.
I can't wait to see what happens next.
Thursday, March 3 at 7:54 PM
Okay Samurai Multimedia is Dave Werner's personal site. I'm currently working at Minor Studios in San Francisco. Thanks for visiting! (more...)
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