Creating the right value of life: A Department of New Media Arts graduate’s view of school education

By Wang Wan-chun

In 2014, since I did not have the means to continue study for a master’s degree, I looked for jobs instead, with my academic profile of being the “first batch bachelor degree graduate from Department of New Media Art, Taipei National University of the Arts”.

At the beginning, because I liked the sense of accomplishment of setting up a website, I did not think twice about doing my favorite work on the Internet. The course “Art on the Internet,” which I attended in the first semester of my university studies, not only opened my eyes, but also gave me the opportunity to learn about the program and the medium of presentation. The year of my graduation was 2014, when smartphones were booming and the era of responsive websites was approaching. I was never sure whether I was a “web designer” or a “web engineer,” and I ended up as a “front-end web engineer.” I didn’t pick any particular industry sectors, but I entered the advertising business and stayed there for a few years.

I recall that when I was interviewed at the company, the names of my school and department were something that would impress others. First, it is a public university and then it is an art university that traditional companies seldom deal with. And then, the department is a novelty for many people. People in the industry have their imagination of art and at the time, tech art was an emerging force in Taiwan. Exhibition halls, entertainment businesses, government promotions, advertising and marketing were filled with elements of “technology and creativity.” Therefore, advertising people who are eager to be in the forefront have a lot of imagination for art.

And I happened to be in a special position as a “front-end web engineer” who could read design drawings, take the initiative to add beautiful animations, and distinguish between color differences and differences as small as 1-pixel with her eyes. The stereotype about engineers fell apart, and the once disconnected roles of engineers and designers were reconnected. In other words, engineers who know design and designers who know engineering have become very popular, especially in the advertising industry, where creativity is the most important thing.

With new programming technologies emerging constantly, it is even more important to be able to learn the technology yourself and combine it with creativity. For example, while writing codes, I have accumulated experience with various technical challenges, and I have learned the difficulties of integrating design and programming, and the transition between online digital creative images and offline physical objects. Therefore, even though some of the techniques may not be useful when moving to a new company, it is still refreshing to put artistic thinking into the logic of the program.  

Looking back, I think the important thing the Department of New Media Arts has given me is not technical training, but three other more precious ideas: “self-learning,” “breaking the limitations of old frameworks,” and “team communication,” which I think are indispensable workplace skills for an artist, or any graduate of a general university. The strength of an art university is “thinking out of the box,” and the creative training we received in school allows us to appreciate many unimaginable creations, to think and try with our hands on a regular basis, so we have an advantage in self-learning speed, and are able to agilely change various restrictions. It will be a plus if we are able to communicate well with our colleagues.

The school offers a lot of courses, and at first glance, it seems confusing that we have to learn so extensively. But if you can find a skill that you like and learn it thoroughly, you can transfer the skills taught extensively at school to your own. In the past few years of work, I have been involved in developing websites of companies, and I have combined 2D animation, 3D video, VR, sound art, and even chip transmission devices, etc. Some of these technical attempts are almost the first of their kinds, and looking at some of the results, the most unexpected thing is that I have used almost everything I learned in school.

“Future career” is a topic that I never thought about in college. I just liked to learn and play with things. When I did the school interview for enrollment, I said that I just wanted to realize the things in my mind and help society. Now it’s really refreshing whenever I meet my old classmates and talk about our work in different fields.  

Therefore, whether I am working in an art creation team or a design team for video, exhibition, show, animation, education, game, etc., I think I should be able to work in any field because as long as I keep looking for resources, learning to communicate with the team, and pushing the limits of technology and self-efficacy, I think I should be able to work anywhere. Almost every team member can draw, take pictures, retouch, layout, shoot, edit, animate, make educational materials, write programs, and do many other things. Although most of them can’t do without digital, it is not impossible to be in non-digital fields. As Prof. Tao Ya-Lun once said, “Create your own career!” School education is not meant to turn us into some kind of professional or give us survival skills. But rather, it gives us ability to create the right value in our lives.

If there is one thing that we feel sorry about when we are in school, it is the lack of “basic knowledge.” This is of course related to each person’s past learning background and the future refinement of knowledge. I am grateful for my studies at school, which was a very valuable experience for me, and a wonderful encounter with the school.