A good design school is one of the key ingredients that will help an aspiring Designer succeed in any design career. Although a creative mind determines the path of a designer, the school nurtures and hones it to help it make to the cut.
Educational institutions are being revolutionized to strengthen the industry that suffered from brain drain and profiteering for the past decades. There are also new colleges that took notes from the well-established ones and came up with new teaching methods. A few of those is Sofa Design Institute the country’s first specialized Design College.
They introduced SoFA Method that combines design conceptualization and business values through classes taught by leading professionals who have first-hand experience of the real world, this process promotes creativity, technical proficiency and business intelligence. It is also through this process that SoFA wants to make a mark for itself in the industry by cultivating ideas and transforming these to well-thought products or designs that will become the benchmark in the industry.
| Photo from SoFa Design Institute. Rajo Laurel, Sudar Khadka and Toby Guggenheimer |
SoFA offers bachelor’s degrees in Fashion Design and Interior Design, certificate programs, master classes and seasonal design workshops such as bag construction, interior styling, furniture design to name a few. It is also this year that they opened Senior High School that offers Arts and Design track.
Unlike other design school that teach by the book, SoFA is one of the revolutionized institutions that adapts a design Studio culture. They also saw the importance of connections and exposure, SoFA is very responsive and proactive at looking for placements and providing opportunities for students even after they have done their classes. The staff updates students’ information and continuously open communication to everyone.
| Photo from Jose Ruel Fabia |
In October, SoFA had an open call for young designers to join their interdisciplinary design competition entitled Designers United with ten (10) sessions design workshop given to the delegates. It was an honour to be one of the delegates and to be taught using the SoFA method. However, being trained in a different design studio setup both in college and employment comparisons among those are inevitable.
Everyone has a clear picture of what is expected and supports the process that leads to the goal. Rubrics are utilized during design studios/ classes in college to guide the students. On work the contract and the client’s needs act as guidelines for the design. SoFA on the other hand is different, everyone is recommended to group together and create their own parameters but it is the call of the designers if they’ll follow or not.
Story boards and mood boards are encouraged in a design studio. Designers are visually oriented people and anything that can tell the concept visually will help the process in the studio. At work, offices have a clear scope and limitation, samples from suppliers are also available to see a glimpse of the actual before approval. SoFA however discourages mood boards, students are free to explore other means of conveying the message through creative maps, illustrations, music, painting, stories, a gesture and anything that can tell the story.
Self-expression is highly encouraged in a design studio. A typical SoFa studio encourages a forum setup that allows every student to criticize and learn from the work of another student. In college, the studio trains the designer to present and defend their work on a jury or in class. Both encourages independence in design and self-confidence as designers. The Office on the other hand allows self-expression to an extent as designers should keep in mind the established ideals and design language.
| Photo from SoFA Design Institute. Rita Nazareno with the young designers |
Lastly, exploration of different processes is highly encouraged for all design studios but it is more systematic in terms of phasing for office work and in college because of a number of reasons such as client’s demands, project schedule or weekly class presentations. In SoFA method, it allows the designers the freedom to schedule and phase themselves as long as everyone meets the deadline.
| Jose Ruel Fabia and Rey Soliven having a design consultation |
| designers during conceptualization |
SoFA Design Institute:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SoFAcollege
Twitter: @sofacollege
Instagram: @sofadesigninstitute
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/sofadesigninstitute
Address: G/F Enzo Bldg., 399 Sen. Gil Puyat Ave., Makati City, NCR, Philippines 1209
