Alumni Profiles December 2013 | Page 7

Buddy Boor Studio Art, 2011 Buddy Boor Internships were crucial in teaching BFA – Studio Art/ me that effective design can’t be Graphic Design, 2011 made in a vacuum. My classes Designer taught me theory and methodology, Mightybytes while jobs forced me to learn Chicago, Illinois software. Too many students were It’s the CAL faculty that really did it for me. In the Art Department, almost all my instructors were sitting around waiting to learn programs in school when that’s really not what it’s for. receptive to my ideas, but went the Students, I definitely suggest getting extra mile to push me out of my an internship or college job to grab comfort zone. experience outside of the classroom. I’m currently half the design team at Mightybytes, a small sustainable web design firm in Chicago. I spend most of my time focusing on nailing the right user experience and visual I’ve worked some pretty great internships, but some pretty crap ones, too, so just make sure that a job really aligns with what you want to do. design for our clients’ websites. Just don’t be so scared, and do what We consider sustainability in every you want. I was shaking in my boots design decision we make in order when I graduated, but just put your to reduce server emissions. I’m mind to where you want to be and also kicking off a creative studio, you’ll be fine. And experiment! Not Other Things, with a CAL colleague. doing so will ruin you. 5