Nick Ace (a.k.a. Acemoglu) (MFAD 09) inspired and made us laugh. He did a deep dive into COLLINS, where he is a Partner and Creative Director. His super impressive career started at SVA MFAD. It was awesome for us to hear his sentiments about the program in which we are now students. 

Nick has worked on projects spanning from street culture to Tiffany and Co. He experiments with different techniques and mediums and never stops learning. He has been featured in many newspapers and magazines but MAD Magazine was a highlight for sure. He spoke to us about what makes a ‘perfect Collins client’ and he said that their company was category agnostic and the best clients are the ones with imagination. 

He spoke with us about a client project launching soon and took us through the journey of creating that. I loved how he said, “In branding photography I always throw in nerdy Nick things like my wedding band and my favorite book.” In a way, that is Nick putting his signature on the work; it’s also a good laugh for someone who recognizes the stuff in the photos. 

He told us “to always self criticize” and how work can just keep being pushed. He spoke on the interview process for the COLLINS intern program, and said “We’re all nerds here at COLLINS.” I loved his happy energy especially when talking about our MFAD program. He said, “SVA is the best design school you can go to” and I’d have to agree. Seeing where Nick is now, and so many other graduates from the program, you can’t help smile in pride about the opportunity we were given and the journey all of us at MFAD are on. 

Finally, he reminded us, “We are blessed to design words and pictures for a living!” He is so right. We are so lucky. Thank you so much Nick, for your wisdom, book suggestions, and humor.