Hartford Art School student Emily Milano ’25 always had a love for drawing, and she now combines her talents and passions for design as she sets sights on a career in the design industry.
Milano considered a minor in visual communication design (VCD), but quickly fell in love with graphic design as well, and now she is pursuing her double major in both visual communication design and illustration. After she received her degrees, she plans to get a job in user interface design, where she hopes to design web pages and applications for various companies.
Milano is already well on her way to this career path, as she recently landed an internship with The Visual Brand, a well-known name in the graphic design industry, known for branding major companies such as Kind Bar and Heineken. The company is best known for its work in packing design and motion design, but also works in all design sectors.
Milano sites the Hartford Art School with setting her up for career success. One required class for VCD majors is user interface design, which prepares students for creating and designing web magazines, in-depth company websites, and mobile apps. “This class caused me to fall in love with this specific sector of graphic design, which is forever expanding,” Milano says.
She also says that she feels prepared for future corporate and agency jobs, as HAS has a wealth of classes “in every area of graphic design.” And it’s not just the courses she is taking that she feels that has prepared her, but the connections she’s forged are also keys to her success. Milano says that “the most significant connections I made at UHart are with my professors. All of my professors in both the Illustration and VCD departments are either currently working in the field or have already had a long and prosperous career. My peers and I often reach out to our professors for advice not only on current projects, but also on our future careers in which they are always happy to sit down and talk with us about.”
In fact, among the many professors that she is well connected with, Milano sites faculty member Andy Wollner as a champion for her landing The Visual Brand internship. “Although I have only had Andy Wollner for a two-week independent study I took over winter break, I highly regarded his critiques and appreciated his effort in always pushing me to make the best projects I could despite the tough time constraint,” she explains. “I have sat with Andy to review my portfolio in-depth and he referred me to The Visual Brand internship, which I ended up getting thanks to his kind words and amazing insight!”
In addition to the connections with faculty, Milano feels strongly about the community feel of the campus. Some of her favorite memories at UHart are those “that took place during late nights in the studios working on a demanding project with my peers. Although the workload in the art school can often be overwhelming, the strong community of students allows us to always be there to encourage each other and hold each other up.”
Emily Milano ’25, Hartford Art SchoolThe most significant connections I made at UHart are with my professors. All of my professors in both the Illustration and VCD departments are either currently working in the field or have already had a long and prosperous career. My peers and I often reach out to our professors for advice not only on current projects, but also on our future careers in which they are always happy to sit down and talk with us about.