sophie manalo

I believe all experiences are special in their own ways! I’ve worked at multiple startups, completed a corporate internship, and I'm still in design school. Funny enough, this time last year, I wanted to take a gap year or even drop out entirely. After another year of school, I’m glad I didn’t. The value of design school, at least CMU Design, isn’t learning how to make pretty visuals. It’s being surrounded by a community that holds an incredibly high standard for the craft. Foundational knowledge matters. Learning the grid matters. Learning when and why to break it is another story entirely. But its biggest value to me is the freedom to explore. Even in startups where I’ve had a lot of autonomy, business goals, timelines, users, and metrics still shape my work. In design school, I can make a book, design an activism campaign, or explore some completely unreasonable idea just because. You get to follow ideas, develop taste, fail, and figure out what you actually care about as a designer! I’m forever grateful to be in the privileged position of attending design school, but it’s not the end-all, be-all. Different experiences bring different perspectives to the same problems, and I think that’s part of what makes the world so beautiful :>>