Noemi Nagy

It’s hard to believe it’s already been 8 years since I graduated from MSU and 8 years since finishing my senior thesis. I still remember when I transferred to MSU to continue photography/graphic design until I got an email from Dr. Feigler about the Industrial Design major. I had no idea it existed and no clue what it even was. It was such a small chance that Dr. Feigler even sent me the email that completely changed my career and future. Something I’ll always be grateful for.

The industrial design program (back then it was called that) was honestly the best thing that could have happened to me at MSU. It gave me the best mix of design/engineering/prototyping and I can’t imagine what I’d be doing now if it didn’t exist. Dr. Feigler and the other professors gave me not only great education and wisdom but pushed me and everyone in the class to be better. The best things I’ve learned weren’t necessarily even design skill based. We were always taught to self critique, improve, collaborate, and always be curious. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve worked at multiple companies and as the years have passed , I appreciate what I was taught at MSU ID program more and more. I am now at a point in my career where I get to see newer designers joining and being able to mentor or hire and while many of them have the same degree as I do, most of them are missing crucial life skills and critical thinking skills that were ingrained in me at school. And it is sad to think that there may be no more future students/graduates that go into a fairly highly saturated design field with those important skills that I don’t think any other product design/industrial design schools offer. I cannot stress it enough that the kind of culture and philosophy that Dr. Feigler has built into this program are so important and are so needed.

While the program is small, it always produces quality. And we all know quality should be more important than quantity. Among those that have graduated, many have gone to work for very impressive companies and I believe almost everyone (if not everyone) graduates with a job lined up. The success rate alone should be enough to prove how good this program is. And this isn’t even including the countless awards and internships that this small program has achieved to bring.

Another thing that I will always be grateful for from this program are the lifelong friends and connections that I’ve made. My class was also small but very close and most of us stayed very close friends. We still hang out and see each other often and are part of each others’ growth in career and in persona life. Friends that I would have never met had it not been for this program.

I really hope that the now Product Design program gets to stay and gets the support and funding it really needs to show how great it is. I can’t even imagine how huge this program could be with some funding and better facilities. We need more designers with the skills that are being taught at MSU, it would be a huge disservice to the design industry as a whole to have this program be shut down.

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/noemi-nagy-28a38567?original_referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F