Alumni Spotlight: Lara Mccormick
Where and what are you working on right now?
II currently work at Square as a Service Designer. This means thinking about how we work and grow as an organization, and how this can be improved. My role entails visualizing the technical, designing workshops, creating service blueprints, facilitating co design sessions, and discovering and articulating the why. All the many hats I’ve worn throughout my career (designing across disciplines, design educator, design leader), have prepared me for my current role, where my specialty is being a design generalist.
What impact has SVA MFADesign had on your career?
SVA MFAD gave me a lot of confidence in myself as a designer and laid the foundation for my career to flourish. My undergrad degree is in sociology, so before SVA I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It schooled me in Design (with a capital D), and provided a taste of different disciplines (branding, motion design, interaction design, advertising, packaging, publication design, exhibition design, product design, design critique and writing, and more!). SVA gave me connections, through which I gained rich work experiences (like working at the New York Times and building a BFA Graphic Design Program), and writing a book about Typography (thank you Steven Heller and Lita Talarico for believing in me and helping me believe in myself).
If you could choose a thesis topic today, what would you pick?
Every time I encounter a problem that design could solve I flag it as a potential thesis project. Right now I’m going through a stage in my life that needs some serious design help in terms of access to information and treatment, so the topic would be around Women’s Health.
Anything else you would like to share?
I’ve done a lot of teaching throughout my career which is my favourite part about being a designer-passing on the knowledge. Several of my students have asked me to recommend a next step for their career and I always suggest the SVA MFAD program. Several have attended and I’ve been able to re-live my MFAD experience there through them, and watch them shine.
I still keep in touch with many classmates from my year and the years above and below and cherish this network of friends that have continued to grow even though we live in different parts of the world.
Instagram: @laramacaroon
Portfolio: laramc.com