I don’t know as much as I thought I did

Back in January I decided my best course of action for getting a good job was to go back to school and take graphic design.

I had actually worked as a graphic designer at The Hub (a newspaper in NWT) from February 08 up until last October when we decided to leave. I was working there as a reporter and inherited the job after the old graphic designer moved south.

Having worked in the field I thought would give me a good enough standing to bypass the foundation year and jump straight into the Graphic Design program at NSCC. I guess not.

Below is a synopsis of my email conversation with the program co-ordinator:

Me: "Why was my portfolio not accepted for the program?"

Her: "Well, it’s hard to really explain it to you, as someone who doesn’t have any real idea of what a graphic design portfolio is supposed to look like. Basically, your portfolio was lacking in the following areas: Technical ability, Composition, Creativity, Presentation, Typography, Initiative, Integrity (ouch!)"

Me: "So you’re saying that what I submitted was akin to sending in a bunch of blank pages?"

Her: "Not exactly. That would have been creative."

So it looks like I’ll be taking that foundation year after all, which includes: learning how to write an e-mail, use Word and upload to Flickr – they call it ‘Computer Fundamentals’, Photography (point-and-shoots and cell phone cameras permitted), Illustration (guess I could use some practice there), Design and Media Studies.

At least I should get good grades.