Finding New Approaches to Design
With a decade of experience as a graphic designer, Kathreen Fontecha has always thought about the structural aesthetics of information. After earning dual bachelor’s degrees in design and English from University of California, Davis, she accepted a role as a graphic designer and assistant editor at the UC Davis California Lighting Technology Center, gaining a wealth of professional experience in the development and management of print and digital content. As her professional acumen expanded, Fontecha desired to take on big-picture communication challenges and add more tools to her skillset. She wanted to break out of production and have a larger say in the creative process. She found the opportunity to meet those goals in the Master of Science in Information Design and Strategy (IDS) program at Northwestern.
“The way I go through designs is the same way I write an essay,” said Fontecha. “I try to figure out my thesis, what are my supporting pieces? On a simplistic visual level I try to find information I want to be emphasized and then pieces to support it. The IDS program let me expand on that philosophy.”
Some of the program’s core coursework helped Fontecha quickly transition to a new position as a senior artist at University of California Agriculture and Natural Resources. In less than a year, she’d been promoted to a UI/UX designer and production coordinator for the UC Statewide Integrated Pest Management Program.
The promotion aligned with Fontecha taking user interface and user experience courses at Northwestern. She noted, “I was really able to apply my knowledge of UI and UX from class and demonstrate it during an interview and on the job.”
She also found value in classes she expected to overlap with her previous graphic design experience. For example, she enrolled in a visual communications class led by Eric Patrick, an associate professor at Northwestern University in the School of Communication, because it offered a new perspective on her trade. She added, “The program helped give me the vocabulary and structure for what I was already doing. I had worked in content strategy for a while as a designer, but I wanted to think about it in new ways.”
Fontecha enjoys the program’s diverse subject matter, but also recommends prospective students have a plan for what they want to learn. She advised, “Go into the program with your own perspective. I found it useful to go in with specific goals and a plan for how I wanted to interpret the coursework, then I let the curriculum grow on that interpretation.”