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So, You’ve Graduated…Now What?

After the initial euphoria of graduating college begins to dissipate, a far more annoying voice takes up residence in your mind, persistently asking you that impossible question: “What Now?!” It’s likely the first time in your life that you lack a clear structure or path forward—the next step is all up to you. Especially in the design world, where you can pursue a multitude of directions, it can be hard to know which way to go. The good news is that the design landscape is evolving in such a way that your decision doesn’t have to be so black or white. There is an emerging culture of young designers who leave school with a vision—and find ways to bring it to reality.

Of course it helps if you’ve been exposed to a forward-thinking design program. At the Istituto Europeo di Design (IED)—an Italian network of design schools with branches in Italy Spain and Brazil—the focus is on combining a more traditional, theoretical approach with concrete problem solving methods grounded in the real world. The faculty is composed of working professional designers who bring strong experiences in the industry to the table. As former student Andrea Caruso Dalmas puts it, IED is a recipe for learning success: “1 year. 10 trips to the best design cities of Europe. 15 young and hungry designers. Numerous workshops led by top international designers. Shake. The result is a magic experience in learning by doing.”

We caught up with three recent IED grads who have not only survived the student-to-professional transition, but even thrived while doing so. Each of the following designers have used the lessons they gathered during school and used them as a launching pad to pursue their unique approach to design.

Andrea Caruso Dalmas

As I worked alongside a group of very different designers [at IED], I realized that each one of them had a unique story…in design, and in life, there is no formula.

Andrea Caruso Dalmas’s design studio, Ciszak Dalmas—cofounded with Alberto Gobbino Ciszak after they both graduated from IED in 2009—approaches design from multiple angles. In a holistic manner they consider everything from material research and sourcing through to the final phases of design. With a precise eye, they also develop the art direction for each of their products, creating a context for their work and the beginnings of a worldview. The duo also launched La Clinica Design, a separate brand based in Madrid that focuses on limited edition products using local materials and handmade by local artisans.

For a relatively young studio, they have already attained a well-defined aesthetic and philosophy. “As I worked alongside a group of very different designers [at IED], I realized that each one of them had a unique story,” notes Dalmas. “I learned that in design, and in life, there is no formula—as soon as you start digging into your own set of potentials you can develop the kind of work that is unique to you. The most important help you receive [from the professors] is support, but then you have to close your eyes and jump into the darkness. If you are still alive when you recover then you have the right energy for an entrepreneurial project.”

Dalmas stayed on at IED as a professor, teaching courses in Product Design, Design Thinking as well as Strategic and Communication Design. We asked him to tell us the most important piece of advice he gives his students with entrepreneurial leanings of their own: “You have to take care of many different aspects of the business and be able to carry them on simultaneously. The most important thing is to always remain humble and curious.”

Serena Bonomi

Being a flexible designer is directly linked to one’s curiosity and interest in being challenged to step outside their comfort zone.

Serena Bonomi completed both her undergraduate and graduate studies at IED. In the beginning, she was driven by the desire to create beautiful things but over the course of her tenure she began to develop a more nuanced approach to design. “IED pushed me to dive beyond the surface and go deeper into understanding the complexity behind any product or service,” she explains. “By studying the way people perceive objects beyond aesthetics, through the lenses of sociology, marketing and other disciplines, I gained a 360° view of design that formed my current approach: merging the two ‘opposites’ of creativity and rationality toward the common goal of creating a fulfilling experience on multiple levels.”

Her view of design as “creative rationality,” as she calls it, culminated at IED with her award-winning project proposal for a BMW Creative Lab Design Contest in 2014. “My concept came from a very broad analysis of people’s activities while commuting. I wanted my product to support a wide range of lifestyles so I created a line of jackets made of modular panels that can be reconfigured to target different types of people.” Her success led her to a double internship first with BMW Designworks and afterwards at Napajiri. Within these diverse professional environments, she’s had to draw on the lessons she learned at IED. “Being a flexible designer is directly linked to one’s curiosity and interest in being challenged to step outside their comfort zone. IED is structured to foster nimbleness. The courses stimulate you to explore alternative industries and creative fields to bring different types of knowledge into each project.”

Lorenzo Longo

Good design is being able to tell a story—transmitting experiences and feelings—through form.

“I didn’t immediately plan on having my own studio,” remembers Italian designer Lorenzo Longo. “The day after I graduated from IED I started working as a design consultant for Pirelli. I was the only designer in a team of over 100 engineers, it wasn’t easy to be so outnumbered but I had the opportunity to be exposed to all the problems of industrial development. After a year I grew a little bored of designing only tires, so I continued working for Pirelli in the day but started developing my personal projects by night.” Since launching his own studio, De-Signum Studio Lab, in 2006, Longo has worked with a broad range of clients while streamlining a clean aesthetic that is also capable of transmitting an experience or feeling. “In my opinion the term design means first of all 'story,’” he explains.  

To develop his practice, Longo went back a bit to the ideas he developed at school. “IED gives you a methodology to approach design problems but at the same time it gives you the space to build your own creative identity,” he notes. In fact, one of his school assignments ended up evolving into a product design hit. “During a lighting design course at IED I started working on my first design for a lamp. At that time, Mirage was just a little model made of cardboard but two years later it was a product in the catalogue of Kundalini.” Today, Longo’s studio, De-Signum, has grown into a multitasking design enterprise working across product design, architecture and interior design. “We are constantly receiving new projects in Italy and abroad for both big, established brands and smaller companies. I’m actually working on my sixth product for Kundalini right now.”

Learn more about Istituto Europeo di Design (IED) and their international network of design programs!

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