Too many design students, not enough jobs?

Furious emails flew around last week when creative industry heavyweight Ian Cochrane told design students that they should "get out" of the sector. Cochrane, managing director of management consultancy Ticegroup (and former managing director of both Landor Europe and Fitch), told Design Week, "There are still too many people coming out of design courses, and there simply aren't the jobs for them." The ailing economy brings with it a message of hard realism. 

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Are design students wasting their time? Cynics say they’re foolish to nurture a "frivolous" dream of finding a job for which they train. I disagree - design firms need a fresh injection of youth or they run risk of becoming stagnant.

If the jobs aren’t out there, graduates can go freelance. Rising stars Chelsea Textiles alumnae Helen Amy Murray, 29, (famed for award-winning sculptural fabrics) and embroidery amateur Charlene Mullen (commissioned by Calvin Klein and Givenchy) encourage designers to pursue their dream. Industry advice is indispensable as creative-types often lack any business nous. Bookkeeping and marketing seldom go hand-in-hand with aesthetic-preoccupied designers. However, they quickly realize that without cash flow, there’s no business. As a freelance writer, I received payment when an article was published, not submitted - often a three month wait. Similarly, freelance textile designers work for months for nothing until a show like Heimtextil in Frankfurt creates revenue.

"It was very hard to start up after graduating, nobody told you how to get a job or get the right contacts," remembered Hanna Melin, 30, who sells funky ceramics through mydeco.com’s design boutique for independent designers. She studied illustration at Brighton University and did an MA Communication at the Royal College of Art. Going freelance was a steep learning curve; "The profits don't add up when designing and making ceramics and art takes too long a time. Some of my ideas have to be scrapped."

We popped down to UCL Bartlett School of Architecture to ask design students about Ian Cochrane's controversial comments

Melin concurs with Cochrane’s reality check. "Studying is so expensive and many of us don't realize how hard it is to actually get work after graduating. I would have liked to see more 'what you can do with an art degree' type of talks. It would make people work harder or choose another path in design. It’s too easy to study art at University." Michael Peters, branding guru is unimpressed by the standard of many students, "There is too big a supply of young designers and far too many people doing mediocre work." It’s a just point and this recession will ultimately sort the wheat from the chaff. The dead wood of the industry will be washed up. If design students are discouraged, there will be no competition and quality will suffer.

"Cochrane says if you want to design restaurants, it helps to have worked in one or two. Which courses is he suggesting that students take as an alternative to design?" Bournemouth University undergraduate Tom Long, 21, asked me; his ambition is to work for a commercial architectural or interior design practice. "If you want to be a designer, you take a design course regardless of the recession. If you’re passionate about design and believe that you’re good at, then you would be patient."

Like any industry, perseverance and adapting is imperative to long-term success. The scope of design jobs is wide. Over lunch last Friday, I quizzed Camberwell College of Art graduate Louisa Jones, 28. Her ultimate ambition is to be a freelance illustrator (her drawings have featured in Vogue) and an art agent to her late father’s abstract paintings. Instead of going solo after graduating, Jones is Picture Editor of ES Magazine, the upscale Friday glossy. She enjoys the role, from which she is learning key skills which will help her future freelance vocation. Similarly, teaching art in schools (or becoming the artist-in-residence) frees up holiday time to pursue personal design ambitions. Teacher Nicky Foster sells handmade cards at Notting Hill fashion boutique The Cross and paints ceramics at Emma Bridgewater’s Pottery Café.

Savvy students are aware of the especially competitive spirit of design today but if you enjoy creativity, you love it for what it is - not for the profit it generates. Like writing or playing sport, design is difficult to surrender, even when superiors such as Cochrane paint a gloomy future. If Cochrane was advised to give up when he was a student, would he be where he is now?

It’s a bitter pill to swallow that design agencies won’t welcome grads with open arms. This recession is tough for everyone but we should not be shortsighted. Today’s generation of graduates will be Britain’s future creative directors and if our design students give up, we’ll be caught in the headlights when the recession is over. Lest we forget, designers are problem-solvers who help us get out of pickles. And, everyone on campus knows that this crunch is one monster pickle.

Annie Deakin is Editor of mydeco.com

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