Alumni Stories- Joe Coll
"work hard, be ambitious, ask questions and don’t forget to enjoy it. You won’t get another chance"
Name: Joe Coll
Current Career (Field): Designer / Lecturer in Design at Letterkenny IT
Graduation Year: 2006 (BA Vis Comm) 2012 (MA Vis Comm)
Discipline(s): Visual Communication
Location: Donegal
What career path did you want to follow as a child?
From around the age of eight, I wanted to be an art teacher.
Why did you decide to study at National College of Art & Design?
I studied Marketing in DIT (for six weeks) and Graphic Design in LYIT for two years before applying to NCAD. It looked and felt different than the other colleges. Like a world really immersed in creativity.
How did you develop your career towards your current job / practice?
I did some short stints in design studios during my time in NCAD but set up a small studio with a classmate upon graduation. I had an interest in pursuing a career in education so I asked David Caron (Head of Department of Vis Comm at time) and he very kindly got me a two week teaching stint. I also reached out to Nollaig Crombie (Head of Design in LYIT and my old lecturer) and eventually, a career in education came from that. Along with teaching it has always been important to me that I am practicing designer. It informs my teaching.
What is the one experience during your time at NCAD that has informed you most in your career / work to date?
It’s not one specific experience, but I think the infamous Crits really had an effect on my design and teaching practice. Informing my work through critical analysis and seeking out healthy criticism over praise was embedded in those often long, but always useful crits.
If you were chatting with current NCAD students today what is the one piece of advice you would offer?
You’re only going to be there for a short period of time, so work hard, be ambitious, ask questions and don’t forget to enjoy it. You won’t get another chance.
