Pentagram Launches Portfolio Program With The City College of New York
Led by Paula Scher with Emily Oberman and Natasha Jen, the new one-year program will serve as a bridge between a college design education and the professional design world.
Pentagram is pleased to announce a partnership with The City College of New York (CCNY) to create a new opportunity for its students. The Pentagram Portfolio Program will select eligible current students and recent graduates of the Electronic Design and Multimedia Program in CCNY’s Art Department to participate in a special course of study and internship at the New York office of the international design consultancy at no cost to students. Pentagram Partner Paula Scher will lead the program, and students will be mentored by Scher with fellow Pentagram Partners Emily Oberman and Natasha Jen. The Pentagram Partners will donate their time and services.
The program was developed in recognition of the need in the design profession for designers with more diverse educational backgrounds. CCNY offers a high-quality, affordable education to generations of New Yorkers, and embraces its role at the forefront of social change. The public college in Harlem is the founding institution of the 25-school City University of New York (CUNY) system.
The one-year program will serve as a bridge between a college design education and the professional design world. The students will take a weekly class at Pentagram where they will develop new portfolio projects that center around identity design. Participants will learn how to create identity systems, invent visual languages, and translate them into the many forms necessary for today’s communications, including digital, print, and environmental design.
The students will have an opportunity to experience the design studio environment at Pentagram and have access to its resources and staff. Over the course of the year, they will meet other Partners who may give lectures or help with mentoring. The class will also have guest speakers in the field who can lend insight into how they can navigate their future careers.
The Electronic Design and Multimedia program at The City College of New York offers one of the most comprehensive and accessible 4-year programs in digital art at a New York City public university, and holds a 27-year record of alumni success. Students pursue career tracks in print design, digital imaging, illustration, web design, creative programming, 2D/3D animation, digital video, and motion graphics. EDM offers two degrees: a BA concentration in Digital Design, and a BFA in Electronic Design and Multimedia, which culminates with a Senior Thesis capstone project tailored to a chosen design track.
To apply for the Pentagram Portfolio Program, EDM students and recent graduates (2019 to present) are invited to review the application guidelines outlined on the CCNY EDM website at edm.arts.ccny.cuny.edu. Digital-based applications should be shared via Dropbox to mark.smith78@login.cuny.edu and are due on Monday, June 14, 2021. Work samples should demonstrate conceptual and research-based design approaches across print, animation, and interactive. Finalists will be selected for an interview at Pentagram mid-July and the class will begin Fall 2021 semester. For questions regarding application guidelines, please contact EDM Program Director and Associate Professor Mark Addison Smith at msmith4@ccny.cuny.edu.
