Harry Potter.

[joathina]

So.. I've just finished. It was a little earlier than planned, but I was worried about finding out the ending before I read it, and it was just so good! And then I didn't want to have to carry it to work with me tomorrow either, or read the ending (and cry) on the bus. Now I have to wait for Penny to read her chapter a day. Gahhh!

Comments

[joathina]

hey!

I would definitely recommend csm, mainly because of the tutors on the course. They really know their stuff and have all worked in the industry for many years. They're not so good at the academic side of things though, especially in third year, it was almost impossible to get proper feedback on thesis work, or enough feedback during tutorials. And all the process of portfolio reviews gets a bit confusing.

You kind of get left alone to work, and do what briefs you want to do, or go to the crits you want. Its very easy to blag crits if you have no work, as long as you have lots of quirky ideas, they love them! There are lots of opportunities to do live briefs, which are set by real clients and offer money/prizes (some of which did kind of take advantage of us because we were students).

It was pretty grueling. Very tight deadlines in first and second year, sometimes only a few days to do a brief. You have to be very organised and hard working. There's no studio space (well, the studios are tiny, and only used for crits/tutorials), so most people work from home. The printing facilities are very impressive though. The print production staff do a mini course on how to prepare artwork for print and general info about the industry and freelance work, which is very useful.

Overall I think I was just a bit disappointed with third year. Especially since I had done so well in my second year. And only work completed in third year counts towards the degree. The briefs set didn't really appeal to me much, and it was all a bit disorganised. The degree show at the end was successful in that it all looked good, but then not enough industry people came, and we had to pay a lot of money towards it. The csm graphics degree show used to be hugely popular several years ago, but after that it became pretty poor and people stopped going. I think we set a good standard for future shows though!

I think they're lacking career advice, and preparing for life after csm. We just had one day of listening to successful people talking about just how successful they are, which left us all feeling pretty depressed! They could do with keeping in contact with a few more of the alumni to provide students with some good contacts. I hear the RCA are better at this.

As for my portfolio, it was quite a random mix. I had a lot of typography work, and lots of quirky creative stuff. They're pretty big on quirky ideas at csm. I also put in some life drawing to show my drawing skills. And they like you to have sketchbooks, lots of extra points for supporting research/ideas.

I did really enjoy it. If you really make an effort to do as many of the briefs as you can, especially live ones, and to build up good relationships with tutors (i.e. always go to tutorials), you'll get a lot out of it. I really miss it, and am still thinking of going back to do an MA (or at least in London).

That was quite a lot of info for you. Hope some of it is relevant. Let me kow if you want to know anything else.

[slushpup]

that's great info, thank you!