A Graduate's Advice
PC Grad David Tann Takes Time Out to Provide Some Advice to First-Quarter Students
By Tyrese Howard
A child of the 80s, David grew up playing sports when Nike was at its peak. He remembers their commercials featuring Michael Jordan and Spike Lee (“It’s got to be the shoes.”), Bo Jackson and Bo Didley, and Anfernee Hardaway and Chris Rock as “Little Penny.” While attending Wake Forest University, David settled on a Communication Major because nothing else held his attention. Wanting to be like the folks behind those brilliant Nike commercials, he entered PC as a writer, but quickly switched to design. “After I saw those chairs, I knew I had to create one,” David laughs.
Today, David is a designer working for Abercrombie & Fitch Co. He lives in Columbus, Ohio, and is soon to be married to his fiancée, Barbra Gallant, a former classmate and PC grad.
If you could name the most important thing you learned at PC, what would it be?
The most important thing that I learned at PC is that anything (and I do mean anything) is possible if you commit wholeheartedly to the program. I graduated from Wake with a degree in Communication, and no design or art experience whatsoever. I never was exposed to art as a kid, and can't draw to save my life. Yet, somehow in two short years PC taught me everything I needed to know about design. Since graduating, I've been fortunate enough to work at two amazing companies, Hallmark and Abercrombie.
What tips would you give to a first-quarter student regarding time management and/or networking?
Your career starts today! The people you are in class with now will be the movers and shakers of the industry within a few short years. So develop those relationships now because the design world is tiny. Everybody knows everybody! If you develop a reputation at PC as being a slacker or someone difficult to work with, it will follow you. Trust me on this!!!! I've seen it happen.
Also, you will get out of PC what you put into it! Yes, everyone is super talented and the work is sensational, but if all you get out of those two years is a portfolio, you have sadly shortchanged yourself! I say this because there is so much stuff that goes on around that school. If you aren't in Hank’s face all the time trying to take advantage of the opportunities, I can promise you that someone else will be. And he/she will get to work on all the "special" projects and get the great job that everyone else dreams of. It has nothing to do with playing favorites. It has everything to do with who wants it more. If you're not giving back to the school, volunteering to help put up the wall or pick up speakers at the airport, or helping show prospective students around, etc. then someone else will. And every time that person goes above and beyond, he/she is showing how much more he/she wants it than you. When everything else is equal (the book, the experience, etc.) your attitude and willingness to contribute will be what separates you from the pack.
The quarter is drawing to a close and final critique is on the horizon. Any words of wisdom? If you ever have a horrible critique where some teacher who absolutely rips your work to shreds, immediately go to Hank and beg to take that teacher’s class. It sounds silly, but it will help you. During my second critique, a particular instructor absolutely tore my work apart. It made me question whether I had made the right decision coming to PC (which by the way is totally natural. If you don't question whether you belong at some point while at PC, you're not trying hard enough). I took this person’s class the next semester, and did everything I could to try and prove to him that I was a worthy student. By the time I graduated, I had several pieces that I can attribute to the aesthetic that I learned from this instructor.
Is there anything about your experience here you would change or make better?
No, I wouldn't change a thing!
