Otis College Alumni on Networking, Essential Job Skills, and How They Picked Their Major
During a recent Creative Futures panel sponsored by Target, alumni shared their tips for high school students considering art and design college.
Otis College’s Creative Futures programming focuses on career preparation and navigating Los Angeles’s evolving creative industries. A panel of alumni from the classes of 2017 through 2023 recently spoke to prospective students and their families about how Otis prepared them for rewarding careers in motion design, user experience, toy design, visual development, product design, and photography.
This year’s panel included:
- Alex Barker (’17 BFA Product Design), Senior User Experience Designer, Adobe. Barker works on Adobe’s Workfront tool, which allows users to save work and files across Adobe’s products (Photoshop, InDesign, etc).
- Alex Mediate (’19 BFA Fine Arts, Photography), Photography Teacher, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools, and Photography Discipline Coordinator, YoungArts. Mediate teaches photography to grades 10 through 12, and also is the photography coordinator for an arts nonprofit in Miami.
- Kaitlyn Nguyen (’22 BFA Digital Media, Game and Entertainment Design), Visual Development Artist, Warner Bros. Nguyen currently works on the Warner Bros. film adaptation of Dr. Seuss’s Oh, the Places You’ll Go! While at Paramount Studios she worked on the Smurfs movie.
- Avalynn Pacheco (’23 BFA Digital Media, Motion Design), Motion Designer, Devastudios. Pacheco designed the motion identity logo for Netflix’s Squid Game, Season 2 and Bridgerton series.
- Megan Schroeder (’23 BFA Toy Design), Associate Product Design Manager for Seasonal Home Decor, Disney. Schroeder oversees all seasonal decor for Disney and Pixar, including licensed items in Home Depot, HomeGoods, Walgreens, CVS, and Walmart, among other stores.
- Cristopher Van Nordstrand (’22 BFA Digital Media, Motion Design), NFL Network Seasonal Designer and Animator. Van Nordstrand creates digital designs for the NFL Plus and NFL Pro apps.
Yoi Tanaka, Vice President of Admissions and Financial Aid at Otis, engaged this group of young alumni in an insightful conversation about what helped launch their careers, including advice for creative high schoolers thinking about college and beyond. Read on for more.
Advice for Creative High School Students
Alex Barker, Adobe
“When I was in high school I thought fine art was the only career path for creatives—painting, sculpting, and things like that. There are a lot of creative jobs out there, whether you’re into fashion or entertainment, for example. I do UX design, which is digital design for apps and websites. There are so many careers where you can still flex your creative muscles in a different way.”
Alex Mediate, Alliance College-Ready Public Schools
“Things won’t always go as planned. Something I learned at Otis is that the future is all imaginary—anything can happen at any time. We have so much trouble living in the moment because we’re always worried about something in the past, or we’re worrying about our futures. It’s really good to plan for your future, but things can always change. You can fall into another career like I did with teaching. Be open to different possibilities.”
Avalynn Pacheco, Devastudios
“When I was in high school I wasn’t going to pursue art until my senior year because I wasn’t confident that I’d be good. But then I realized, as I studied and worked, that creativity is not always just about being naturally gifted. It’s also about consistency, curiosity, and finishing projects. This made me much better about being creative.”
How I Decided on My Major
Cristopher Van Nordstrand, NFL Network
“When I started at Otis I wanted to be a concept artist for games and movies, but I realized very quickly that I wasn’t as good at drawing as I thought. Over time I started to gravitate more towards designing in 3D and really fell in love with title design. I talked to some upperclass students and they all told me that they loved motion design. So I switched over to the Motion Design program at Otis and I’m so glad I did because I felt like I excelled and was more comfortable there.”
Alex Barker, Adobe
“I grew up wanting to be an inventor and almost went into engineering. I didn’t know what path to go down, and while looking for engineering schools I looked up exactly what I wanted to do, and product design came up as a more creative path. There was less math, which really got me interested, so I ultimately ended up majoring in Product Design. You learn a lot at Otis that enables you to do whatever you need to get a good job.”
I cannot recommend internships enough because it is one of your first professional networking experiences.”
The Importance of Networking and Internships
Megan Schroeder, Disney
“My sophomore to junior year I interned at Spin Master. It was an awesome experience. I cannot recommend internships enough because it is one of your first professional networking experiences. It’s so important to build those relationships and build up your reputation as early as possible.”
Cristopher Van Nordstrand, NFL Network
“Friends from Otis have recommended me for jobs whenever I was in between freelance gigs. Making connections and making friends during your time at Otis, whether with professors or other students, is important because you can recommend people if you know they have a certain skill, or you could get recommended.”
AI in the Workplace
Avalynn Pacheco, Devastudios
“At Devastudios we don’t use AI for production work, but I’ve been using it when I make mood boards and style frames for projects. I still have to comp things in together, but then I use Midjourney and other AI tools. I’ve actually won a few projects this way.”
Cristopher Van Nordstrand, NFL Network
“At the NFL, we’re starting to embrace AI more in the design department. I haven’t used it as much in my work, but if I have a question, for example, I need an expression in After Effects that’s all coding and scripting stuff—I don't know how to do that, but ChatGPT can help me with it. I also have seen AI more in a design sense coming up with stuff for PowerPoint presentations to show higher-ups.”
Kaitlyn Nguyen, Warner Bros.
“I haven’t been using AI and my studios haven’t been using it. In my work, because it’s all NDA stuff, we don’t want all of our work in the Midjourney library. Personally, I choose not to use AI for anything creative, unless it’s word-based, like, for example, “Give me titles for this project.” I also know of certain production designers who will not hire people if they use AI in their work. Depending on the industry, and depending on the company, there are certain limitations.”
A lot of students want to draw one thing and one thing only, but that’s not how you get good. You get good by working on the things that are your weakness.”
Essential Skills for Today’s Job Market
Megan Schroeder, Disney
“In the toy industry, as in any product-oriented field, you’re working with so many different people. Knowing how to collaborate well, speak well, and communicate well gives you a leg up. It’s hard as an artist because it’s easy to be introverted and want to do your own thing. But in this industry you have to open up a bit and learn to step out of your comfort zone. Even when you’re interviewing it helps to say things in a collaborative way, like, ‘I worked with these people to deliver this outcome,’ instead of ‘This project was mine.’”
Alex Barker, Adobe
“I struggled with the ability to give constructive feedback as well as receive it when I first started out. When you’re receiving feedback that is not always positive, it’s important to not feel like you’re being attacked but take it as a way to improve your work. Another thing that goes along with that is to not get emotionally attached to your work. In my industry, you’ll build something for six months, a year maybe, and it might get deprioritized and not ever get launched. And that’s OK. That just happens, but you still learn from the experience and get to create cool projects.”
Kaitlyn Nguyen, Warner Bros.
“Don’t limit yourself stylistically. A lot of students want to draw one thing and one thing only, but that’s not how you get good. You get good by working on the things that are your weakness.”
Cristopher Van Nordstrand, NFL Network
“Don’t be afraid to ask for help or assistance with a creative obstacle, but also don’t be afraid to dive in and spend time looking into the problem to solve it. There will be times when you feel stuck, like you can’t move forward. Some people will let that stop them from completing a task. Don’t be afraid to do research on a problem and try to solve it, even if it takes a little longer.”
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