GAUGE Speaker Event: Kali Nikitas

 

This past Thursday evening a graphic designer by the name of Kali Nikitas came to California State University, Los Angeles to do a speaking for students. In short, Kali Nikitas is the current Department Chair of Communication Arts and Graduate Graphic Design at Otis College of Art and Design and also has a MFA (Graphic Design) from Cal Arts.  To my surprise, the lecture hall it was held in had more people in attendance than previous speakers in the GAUGE speaker series, so the night was off to a great start.

Kali Nikitas started off the speaking by giving each attendee 4 small note cards and 3 envelopes. She had us write 1 thing on each envelope, which were: Global, Professional, and Personal. She then asked us to all write down our goals on a global scale, professional scale, and personal (life goals & relationships) on each note card with a drawing that we felt embodied our goals on the other side of each card.  She emphasized that no goal was too out of the box or silly, so we need not be hesitant to write it down or feel any sense of self judgment whilst jotting down our goals.  She then had us seal each card in their accompanying envelope and seal them.  She then told us that they were ours to keep and open after a few years time.  She said that we would be surprised that no matter how big or small our goals were, that most if not all of them would be achieved by the time we eventually opened them and looked back.  This was an interesting exercise and very effective because it made everyone in the room think about their goals in life without having to feel obligated to share them and be embarrassed by them.  It was pleasant to feel involved in a guest speaker event and not have it all be about the guest speaker. I didn’t necessarily learn more about graphic design from this activity, but I did learn more about myself and what I actually want to achieve, which will be helpful from this day forward in all aspects of my life.

The rest of the time Kali Nikitas mostly talked about her current creative endeavors by showing us her website and information on Otis’ Graduate Graphic Design program. This was the downfall of the speaking for me at least.  It came off as her just talking about herself and being a commercial for Otis’ Graphic Design program. The program impressed me more so than herself.  I wanted to know more about her creative process and not just what she has done. I already researched that prior to this event!  From my point of view she was highly unrelateable since she had gone to highly expensive art schools and works at Otis which is a place that has much better facilities and resources than Cal State LA’s graphic design department.  To be honest, seeing all the videos and info about Otis’ program made me not to proud of our own program here at Cal State LA.  It only made me realize that there are better schools out there, which I can’t necessarily afford and I could be getting a better educational experience.  Maybe I will consider graduate school at Otis eventually since it seems like even though it may cost more, I’ll get what seems like a great, quality experience out of it.  All in all I guess she did really sell me on the school, but not herself as a graphic designer in the field.

This is not to say I didn’t enjoy the speaking, I just thought it could’ve been approached more effectively by being more geared towards design, experiences in the design world, and the creative process.