What is expected of incoming freshman?
Who makes a successful student at UM-St. Louis?

Incoming freshman to the University of Missouri St Louis design program are in for a life-changing experience. At UMSL, you will enter as a student, and transform into a design professional. During the course of the next four years, you will learn how to commit yourself fully to an exciting and thought-provoking profession. Before you graduate from UMSL, you will know more about the subtle language of typesetting, the thrill of making your first animation, the challenge of making a website work, and the reward of creating a strong branding campaign. You will work hard, and will experience design in a way you never thought possible.

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BEST PRACTICES:
Take Type Early, Take Type As Often As Possible. The best year for type is second semester sophomore or first semester junior year. By second semester junior year, you should know enough about type to assure that your junior portfolio pieces are clean of typographical errors.

Concentrate On The Concept: Good design work has clean typography and fresh, thoughtful concept. Challenge yourself to pursue complex, fresh, and sophisticated ideas.

Check Your Spelling!!! One of the huge complaints about student portfolios is that students neglect to proofread and check spelling on their work. It doesn’t just need to look right; it needs to make sense too. Take time to check your spelling on EACH PROJECT as you go, so that you don’t have to spellcheck an entire portfolio your senior year.

Get Involved. Sign up for AIGA and start to learn the stuff they don’t teach you in class. AIGA members learn to silkscreen in our chapter, take a trip to Chicago every year, and learn through the grapevine which companies to watch for job openings. These guys meet employers a year before they need to ask for a job, tend to find internships, and are generally more connected and better equipped to research and apply for their first job.

Go To The Lectures And Events. Our lecture series is a really special extra for UMSL design students. Here is a way to research what is happening all over the country without leaving the school. When you go to lectures you get ideas for your own work and also resources for new ideas, careers, and jobs. Try to go to all the lectures, and your school work will get easier and easier!

Watch Your Attendance. UMSL design has very strict attendance policies. Make sure you know what the attendance policy is for each of your classes, and make sure you know how many absences you are allowed before your grade drops. If you are unclear, make sure to ask your instructor.

Speak Up In Class. UMSL design always places the students who are able to speak intelligently about their work FIRST. Practice speaking about yours and classmates' work from freshman year throughout school. Class participation makes a strong impression on both teachers, classmates, and prospective employers.