Help my daughter choose a Vancouver school or institute of design...

July 8, 2009 11:59 AM

Industrial Design, Fashion Design, Product Design. These are areas of interest for my 16 year old daughter. She will be visiting Vancouver, Canada for two weeks beginning tomorrow in part to explore institutes of higher learning she might like to attend following graduation from high school...what schools should she see while there?

She is more interested in Product Design and possibly Fashion Design as opposed to graphic design. Help me rank the schools based on their standing within the educational community. Which ones are most highly regarded? I realize Canadas best design schools may not even be in Vancouver but of those that are, which ones should she visit? Personal experiences welcome. Emily Carr looked interesting but their website wasn't very inspiring. Please mention how many students attend a particular campus if you know and especially what the zeitgeist of the campus is.

posted by Muirwylde to education (10 comments total)

If she's willing to hop a ferry to Victoria she might want to check out Pacific Design Academy. I'm afraid I don't know too much about their standing within the community but it may be a school that you're not aware of. Plus, Victoria kicks ass.
posted by talkingmuffin at 12:20 PM on July 8

Personally, I wouldn't bother with any institution that does not appear on the list of accredited institutions with the British Columbia Council on Transfer and Admission, because a degree/diploma/certificate from an unaccredited institution won't mean much.

Although I'm not personally familiar with the disciplines you mention, I'm an alumni of SFU and can attest that it had a great and supportive academic atmosphere. Emily Carr is definately the most well-known school for fine and applied arts.
posted by Kurichina at 12:37 PM on July 8

Please don't choose your school based on its website.

Emily Carr is by far the best-regarded art/design school in British Columbia, and one of maybe three such schools in Canada. It's one of very few that strikes a useful balance between fundamentals ("classical" art school) and practical, real-world design.

Other places, such PDA, are more like trade schools.

(But yes, Victoria is a great little city.)
posted by rokusan at 1:21 PM on July 8

Emily Carr has awesome fashion and industrial design courses. It really is a great, truly world-class (in a city that often uses the description 'world'-class much too freely) institution.

BCIT also partners with EC to offer design courses.

The folks at the BC Industrial Design Association are also quite approachable and helpful.
posted by KokuRyu at 1:41 PM on July 8

And, as an added bonus, the Emily Carr campus is located in an amazing spot within the city.
posted by bz at 2:00 PM on July 8

Oops... (Someday, I'll learn the difference between "Post" and "Preview," maybe). The amazing spot, Granville Island. Amazing for artists, anyway.
posted by bz at 2:36 PM on July 8

Emily Carr has been added to the list as a 'must visit'. UBC and SFU were on by default. Thank you for the IDA lead.
posted by Muirwylde at 2:54 PM on July 8

And yes, I would never pick a school based on it's website but am still amazed at world class institutions with less than stellar websites, especially design schools. I love Granville Island. Have been there a couple of times. Very close to the heart of Vancouver.
posted by Muirwylde at 3:00 PM on July 8

My sister just graduated and was also interested in design schools, so I have a lot of notes on this. I imagine you are looking for something definite like the

3d world magazine rankings for animation schools

-- but specifically for design schools. You might be able to find something on major arts/design forums, e.g.

WetCanvas.com: Our list of top art schools

See also: http://www.artschools.com/articles/ranking/ (links under "Rankings of Art Schools and Colleges")

From what I can gather, the Vancouver Film School is probably worth checking out, even though it's focused on film/animation/game design. The 1-year programs are expensive, but they're 1 year instead of 4, there are some good co-op options from what I remember, and there's a strong industry presence there which will make it somewhat easier to find a job.
posted by renovatio1 at 11:34 PM on July 10

My daughter attended Kwantlen University College in Richmond B.C.(across the Oak Street bridge from Vancouver) for fashion Design. The course was excellent but they turned a 2 year course into a 4 year course so they could give you a degree. The last two years of the course are useless.
She worked for several companies in Vancouver including Lulu Lemon. She was basically an educated sweat shop worker. She is now working for a Credit Union.
posted by Maquinna at 10:56 AM on July 16