Career Links Vol. 4 No. 2, January 2005

The Art of a New Career:

stephanie.jpg (23 KB) Stephanie Sabato

An Interview with Stephanie Sabato, Career Program Facilitator and Associate Professor, Graphic Design

Interviewed by Kit Gorrell Frankenfield
Employment Systems Technician, Career Services Center

The graphic design field is highly competitive for both salaried and freelance positions. There is a demand for artists with above-average talents and graphic art skills. Opportunities in the field range from entry-level layout and production to art director positions.

Demonstrated abilities are most often the key to obtaining a position in the graphic design field. JCCC has structured its graphic design program to help the student develop a comprehensive portfolio. The student's work will be critiqued by a team of professionals every semester. These professionals working in the field, along with the faculty, will help develop the student's skills in creative problem solving and in the use of materials, processes, tools and equipment. Outstanding studio and computer facilities are available for working on class projects. The two-year curriculum consisting of 70 credit hours leads to an associate of applied science degree.

For more information about the Graphics Design program, visit their website at http://web.jccc.net/academic/gdesign/splash.html, contact Stephanie at (913) 469-8500 Ext.4588 or by email at ssabato@jccc.edu.

Career Services Center: What is your current job here at JCCC?

Stephanie Sabato: I am Career Program Facilitator (CPF) for the graphic design program. The position is unique in several ways: first, the position alternates amongst the full-time faculty on a 3-year rotational cycle. In this way each faculty member gains unique perspectives and experiences through the overseeing of the program. Secondly, we govern the program almost entirely on consensus; therefore, as program facilitator, I have a lot of support from my colleagues. Thirdly, we do not have an assistant dean. We therefore work very closely with Bill Lamb, dean of Liberal Arts. The duties and function of assistant dean are shared by the CPF in graphic design, and Dr. Bill Lamb’s office. It’s in an interesting role of having a foot in “different worlds.” I’m teaching less because of this role. So what I do is oversee the program, make sure all the pieces are working, the mechanism is working and that everything is moving forward. A lot of it is management of facilities, budget, advisory boards, portfolio review committees, and staff not to mention running tours of our facilities, meeting with prospective students, and giving lectures at local area high schools. But I still see myself as an educator. That’s my passion, and I hope I bring that same passion into what I do in the more administrative side of my job. Stated very simply, what I do here is serve people. And that’s it—whether I’m serving the students, the program, the faculty or the administration. It’s service.

CSC: How long have you been at JCCC?

SS: I came back part-time as a sabbatical replacement in 1994, but I was here in the 80’s—1983 through 1987, when I left and worked at the Kansas City Art Institute. There was a defining moment when I came back from the east coast. I had taught at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, and worked for a Northeastern university publishing group as a designer. I came back to Kansas City, and on the same day I was offered a job at Hallmark and a job teaching at KU. I think that was “the moment.” How amazing is that to get two job offers on the same day? I had to choose—was it going to be industry or education? And I chose, and it set the whole course of my whole career.

CSC: At this point are you teaching?

SS: I’m teaching one class this coming semester—Communication Systems. Last semester I was given release time because in the fall there are so many extra duties in our program.

CSC: Do you miss the classroom time or are you glad for the break?

SS: Both. I’m relieved and thankful for the extra office time this past fall term. At the same time, when I’m in the classroom, everything else falls away—the worries and pressures of the job—and I get in the moment with what’s going on in the classroom. I been told I’m a natural teacher, which I never recognized about myself, but more and more I’m acknowledging.

CSC: I’ve seen both the terms “graphic design” and “communication design” at JCCC. Is the terminology changing?

SS: Quite simply and directly, the term Graphic Design is the industry’s name. The professional organization, the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA) identifies the field by the name Graphic Design. Graphic Design is the canopy over the field in general and may include specialized areas of design such as: corporate identity, branding, environmental graphics, publication design, exhibition design, packaging, and so forth. Furthermore, Graphic Design is the name that’s used at most college and universities.

CSC: So what is graphic design exactly?

SS: We can design anything that’s in print and on the web. It’s about information dissemination. Design informs, educates, motivates, entertains, and sells—design is an active and evolving discipline. Design sells us presidential candidates, makes us bank at certain places, makes us read one newspaper or magazine over another, and makes us buy one product over another.

CSC: What is your educational background?

SS: I earned an Associate of Arts degree from Longview Community College, and then completed my Bachelors of Fine Arts in Design from the Kansas City Art Institute, graduating class valedictorian. I have a Masters of Fine Arts in Design and Visual Communications from Virginia Commonwealth University. In my field that is the highest degree, and it required 60 hours of study, a public exhibition [of my work] and a written thesis. The course work and expectation are the equivalent of a doctorate.

CSC: Tell us about your career path.

SS: It’s been a process that I couldn’t have planned. I always take that as a good lesson. I tell people that it’s good to have a plan, but it’s good to not be too stuck to it; otherwise you might miss the opportunities that arise. I was always interested in the arts and all of my family is artistic. My grandparents all came from Italy. My great-grandfather on my mother’s side was a stone mason and architect, and learned his trade in Italy. After coming here, he was responsible for buildings such as the Liberty Memorial, St. Peter’s Church, Paseo High School and other archetypal stone buildings in Kansas City. It was in the atmosphere. My father painted as well as his mother. My grandmother was also a photographer. I have always been interested in drawing, and the world of imagination and inspiration was very strong for me.

CSC: So were you immersed in art as a child?

SS: Yes. My father’s parents had a leather shop in north Kansas City. When my grandfather first came to America, he worked his way across the country, stopping in Kansas City. He was working on the railroad, repairing people’s shoes as the railroad was built. My grandmother had a photography studio in the shop. I would watch her develop photos and work. She was always painting on china, or painting murals on the wall. Something was always going on. My mother studied art in school. I call her my “design guru.” She has an amazing eye and sense of design. My father was a fine arts painter and photographer as well. I was never drawn to paint, but more to pencils and drawing. I was a nominated for and awarded a scholarship to attend weekend drawing classes at the Kansas City Art Institute when I was a high school student. I’ve always been interested in interpreting reality graphically. I would go to my high school art teacher and ask him to allow me to interpret the assignments in a different and more abstract way. Most students would copy reality, but I wanted to interpret it in terms of shape, light, shadow and texture. That was much more interesting to me. I think that’s why I became a graphic designer.

After receiving my Associate of Arts Degree from Longview Community College, I worked in banking for a while. Then I moved to the Middle East and lived in the United Arab Emirates. I think I do things to shock my system into new learning opportunities. I’m not afraid of new experiences. Living in the Middle East was a real sudden departure from anything I had known. I had never flown on an airplane, and my first trip I flew all the way around the world by myself. I lived there, immersed in the culture, for a year. When I came back, I started working at the Art Institute of Kansas City as the Administrative Assistant to the Chairman of Design, Victor Papanek. He was an unbelievable individual; he studied with Frank Lloyd Wright and other huge icons in the industry. Working with Victor was an education in itself, and an experience for which I will always be grateful. The transmission of knowledge that he shared with me was incredible. He was an extraordinary man, a gifted speaker and writer, and he changed the world and people through his work in the field of industrial design.

CSC: How long did you work for him?

SS: Three years. Then I decided it was time to go back to school to study design. Victor made it possible for me to attend the Kansas City Art Institute, and continue as his assistant while I completed my studies. He changed my life and in some ways I think I changed his, too. I think we touched each other. He greatly influenced me and my thinking about design.

CSC: Why are you passionate about the fields of design and education?

SS: The possibility of making things comprehensible to the masses is important. I’m not so interested in advertising; I’m more interested in information design, and in making things meaningful and intelligent. In terms of teaching, I don’t know how to explain it any other way than it’s something that feels like magic to me. I was asked to teach as a graduate assistant. It was then that I realized that teaching was almost a form of meditation for me. Everything else melts away—I become single-pointedly focused on helping students open up to new ways of thinking and seeing. It is also so wonderful to be in a position of offering inspiration and encouragement along another human being’s path of development. It is so amazing to be able to give people tools for their career.

CSC: Do you have a selection process for students entering your program?

SS: No we don’t. We have open admission. We have some classes at the beginning of the program, which is called the ‘transformation semester.’ They are required to take several classes: Introduction to Graphic Design, 2-Dimensional Design, and Quark Express, which is a desktop publishing course. In the summer of 2005 they will also be required to take Photoshop, another desktop publishing course. Students self-assess and decide if this is where they want to be. Additionally, every semester we have portfolio reviews. We invite nine art directors from the professional field to JCCC on a Saturday to look at the students’ artwork. The students aren’t here—the merit of the work needs to speak on its own. The students are put into different groups depending on their credit hours, so they’re being evaluated with people with the same number of credit hour accumulation. It’s not like you have beginning students being competing with advanced students. We work with institutional research, and within a week, students are sent an evaluation form that gives their results in relation to other students. Evaluators also give them written comments. This is another way we provide students with information about their progress and success.

CSC: Is the portfolio review required for students who want to advance in the program?

SS: Absolutely. We do pre-registration advising, in mid-October and mid-April, prior to online registration. Every student has the opportunity to sign up with a faculty member for twenty minutes. The faculty looks at their program plan, the classes that are being offered, how that fits into the student’s program plan, what their desire is as far as how quickly or slowly they’re moving through the program, and we advise them of the classes they should take. If they don’t go through portfolio review, they can’t go through pre-registration the next term. It’s a way for us to keep and serve the students who are really committed to the program.

We have such a great, dedicated team of faculty who love the students, love what they do, they love design, they are proud of the program. We are more than a collection of colleagues; we are kind of like family. This program is a community of people. It’s amazing the connections and bonds that are created. We email our students if they miss class to inquire about their well-being. The faculty emails each other all the time seeking and offering professional and personal support to each other.

CSC: What degree does a student have when he or she completes the program here at JCCC?

SS: An Associate of Applied Science in Graphic Design. With the transformation semester, it takes five semesters to complete. Most students take three years to finish. Our program is so very arduous. Studio work is difficult for both students and faculty. There are huge learning curves students are going through whenever they learn a new tool or a new problem is put before them. Each project has so much built into it—magazine layouts for example. There is a whole analysis of how information is disseminated, and how you create a visual hierarchy, developing grid systems, reader eye flow, sequencing, type readability, and so on. It’s just endless. They have to learn all this as part of a design project.

CSC: How many students are currently in the graphics design program?

SS: 100-130 usually go through portfolio review at one time every semester; however I would say that we have around 200 students enrolled at any one time. In addition to program majors, we have a lot of people who come back for skills for a second career. They meet with us and see if they have the qualified skills to take a few classes, to help build skills for career changes or upgrading their jobs. We have a lot of students who come to us from KU, the Art Institute and Kansas State University. I believe we’re the best program in the area. This program gives a student a career.

Our advisory board is comprised of some very talented, nationally and internationally known and recognized designers. They honor us with their desire to serve on our advisory board, and it also speaks to the respect our program has in the professional field. We are doing amazing things here in Graphic Design at Johnson County Community College.

I’ve been encouraging our students to compete at a national level and we’ve been winning a lot of awards, and gaining recognition for the program and the college. We also have the luxury of having one of the founding members of the program, Professor Judy Brazil, still serving on the faculty. I think this is quite extraordinary. Judy carries the whole living history of our program within her consciousness, and she generously shares and guides us with her knowledge and wisdom. Judy founded the program along with Dorothy Wadsworth, who we have greatly missed since her retirement and subsequent passing two years ago.

CSC: Do you have a required internship?

SS: No, we don’t. An internship is more like an honor’s opportunity in our program. Students can apply for an internship as a co-requisite or post-study to their last term here. They have to submit a portfolio and it has to be faculty-approved. We’re very careful about who we send out representing the program. We look at work, but also at maturity level, work ethics, and how they’ve handled themselves through the program. It’s an honor to participate in the internship program.

CSC: What tips do you have for students entering this field?

SS: You’ve got to have passion. It’s a field that demands a lot—long hours. When a project’s due, it’s not like a 9-5 thing. You’re there until the project’s done. You have to be a people-person. You have to know how to negotiate with people, and how to listen. You have to know how to interpret people’s needs. You have to be a team player, whether you’re working in a team environment or you’re coordinating your printing service, your web people and paper houses. You have to be able to work with others. You have to be smart and agile in your mind. You have to be able to change quickly. You have to be able to see the big picture and be focused. I always tell students their portfolio may get them the job, but it’s how they handle themselves that’s going to keep that job. It requires a lot of skills as a human being, as well as being creative. Being well-informed, knowing history—not only visual history but history in terms of economics and social impulses that have influenced visual language is also important. A designer must be good at looking at patterns of behavior and being able to anticipate how these patterns will influence the next movement in the field is important. Instead of being a follower, you can be a leader.

CSC: What is a typical day like for a graphic designer?

SS: It can vary depending on where they work and what they do. It’s usually more than a 40-hour work week, especially close to deadlines and due dates.

CSC: What are some of the companies that hire our graduates in Graphic Design?

SS: Our students have been employed at design firms, advertising firms, TV stations, Hallmark, and so forth. Students are working at architectural firms as designers, hospitals as in-house designers, and financial institutions. Many of them have gone into design firms such as River City Studios, Bernstein-Rein, John Muller and Company, and Barkley Evergreen.

CSC: What changes are taking place in the field of Graphic Design?

SS: Systems of design, such as the way we look at branding, are changing. It has become a big issue in our field. How do you follow through with a brand of a product? Corporate branding or identity is changing. It’s becoming less iconographic and more emotive. What I mean by this is that instead of a corporation being able to rely primarily on its icon of identity, we are marketing experiences. Just notice how you “feel” when I say Starbuck’s, Kodak or Volvo. In a way the industry is selling more lifestyles, emotions, and experiences these days instead of products and services. It’s an interesting time in the field. Technology has really impacted us. In my class I have my students read Carl Jung’s Man and His Symbols. Students wonder why they are studying psychology, and it’s because we are in the business of educating and changing people’s minds—unconscious currents in people and how they respond to things. We look at the psychology of color and form, because all these are important.

CSC: What types of jobs might they have when employed?

SS: Many of our students start as assistant art directors. As professionals they will be working on a range of graphic projects, depending on their firm’s clients. For example, there is one student who is an intranet designer designing online training for Sprint. We have someone who just got hired at VML, which used to be Valentine Radford Advertising. We have four of our graduates who are web designers at Bernstein-Rein Advertising.

CSC: Stephanie, what words of wisdom do you have for graphic designers?

SS: I tell students, “You’re creating a visual landscape…don’t litter it.