Jeremy Mende & Desirae Rivera: Students Find Their Mentors at CCA
Recent alumna Desirae Rivera (Graphic Design 2015) finds a mentor in longtime CCA Graphic Design faculty member Jeremy Mende, founder and principal of MendeDesign in San Francisco.
Student to Faculty Ratio
With a seven-to-one student-to-faculty ratio and an average class size of 13, CCA students receive a lot of individual attention from their instructors. The vast majority of CCA’s faculty members—88 percent—are practicing professionals. This can lead to professional opportunities for students in the form of internships and, in many cases, jobs after graduation.
A good example can be found in the story of recent alumna Desirae Rivera (Graphic Design 2015) and longtime CCA Graphic Design faculty member Jeremy Mende, founder and principal of MendeDesign in San Francisco.
Inspirational Teaching
During her time at CCA Rivera took two courses taught by Mende: experimentation and media history/graphic design history. She found him to be an inspiring teacher and mentor. “They were definitely some of my favorite classes while I was at CCA,” says Rivera, the recipient of the Steve Reoutt Memorial Scholarship. “I love the way Jeremy asks a lot of questions, really makes you get down to the core ideas of your projects.”
Taking classes from Mende also gave her an opportunity to learn more about his design practice, which is unusual in that it balances commercial projects with visual research and public art. When she asked him about an internship, he hired her to work on a project for a major client.
“When a student of mine comes to the studio to work with me, they have the opportunity to see the difference between creating their own work and developing work for a client,” says Mende, who has taught at the college since 2001 and has hired many CCA students and graduates.
Collaborative Design Process
At MendeDesign Rivera worked on designing a “cultural moment” for Airbnb. Her mentor explains, “We came up with this idea of a global library that lives both in a physical space and a digital space. The design process was very collaborative. I gave Desirae a few ideas, and she took it from there to a very poetic and quite powerful space.”
The internship experience at MendeDesign was vital for Rivera’s career aspirations. “There are so many of us here at CCA who have gone on to work for a faculty member. It’s really important to find internships because in order to succeed in your career you need to have a taste of what you are getting into.”
“An internship is an invaluable leg up,” adds Mende.