On Fri, 28 Dec 2007 11:38:59, dave malouf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > Graduate education is really such a personal decision. I think Dan and > Eva outlined all the great reasons there can be for doing it. Then > there is just taking that time to explore things for yourself. Doing > a thesis at a program like ITP or an ID masters can be quite a > cathartic and well self fulfilling task that ends up nurturing your > soul. > > To me I've always had to face the cost:benefit:ego fulfillment > ratios with a lot of due diligence. Now that I have a family it is > even more difficult, though I feel the pull towards post-graduate
Exactly. Is ego fulfillment worth the $20-40k? If I were single, maybe. If a lateral move would result in a significant pay raise, maybe. But the truth is that an IxD with enough experience, these days, is so in demand that this huge pile of cash may not be a wise investment. And responding to Dan and Eva's thoughts about graduate education teaching you the "why" behind the decisions we make as designers... don't we already do that through user research? Granted, this is "the why" on a much different level, the level of context. The way I'm interpreting what they said is that a graduate degree will give you the whys about smaller design decisions... personally, I've never needed to justify those decisions (they are, though, based on my functional understanding of color, typography, layout) ... only the big decisions are the ones that typically require justification. Notice how above I said "interpreted..." so did I interpret wrongly? Because I'm still sitting here thinking that it would take some serious promise of advancement for me to make a huge investment in a graduate education. Thoughts? Fred ________________________________________________________________ *Come to IxDA Interaction08 | Savannah* February 8-10, 2008 in Savannah, GA, USA Register today: http://interaction08.ixda.org/ ________________________________________________________________ Welcome to the Interaction Design Association (IxDA)! To post to this list ....... [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe ................ http://www.ixda.org/unsubscribe List Guidelines ............ http://www.ixda.org/guidelines List Help .................. http://www.ixda.org/help
