Working at the Art Institute of Phoenix in 1996

For me, 1996 was the best of times, and it was the worst of times. It's the year that I resigned from Bank One Arizona and began teaching graphic design at the Art Institute of Phoenix.

The requirements were to have a Bachelor's Degree (which I had, from ASU, in graphic design), and I had to get certified to teach, which I did. But by far the most important thing was to know the world of graphic design, especially the current software, which I did. That part of it was easy for me, because it was all I had been doing all of my professional life, and I was especially enthusiastic about the latest software. The part that I didn't like, at the time, was the challenge of public speaking (which I'd never done).

By the way, to avoid any confusion, even though I had worked for a bank, it was in the marketing department, and I was a graphic designer. Yeah, big companies have graphic designers on staff. Before that I had worked for Blue Cross of California, but don't ask me anything about healthcare, or banking. I knew the corporate graphic standards! Both of these companies had blue logos, although off the top of my head I can't remember the Pantone number. I would have known it then!

When I started at the Art Institute, they had only been open in Phoenix for a very short time. It was a beautiful, modern building, with state-of-the-art technology, but I still remember that some of the walls for the rooms were still under construction. The building is still there, by the way, at 23rd Avenue and Dunlap.

I was very impressed by the curriculum, which not only taught the necessary software, but gave a solid foundation in design, and art. The emphasis was on creativity, and being able to learn any type of software that might be invented in the future (very smart of them!), and the people who did well went on to successful careers. Of course, we had students who were in the wrong place, and I can still see the confused look in their eyes when they found out that computer graphics weren't as easy as they had been led to believe by the movies. But mostly I saw a lot of wonderful creative people who weren't afraid to work hard, put in long hours in the computer lab, that sort of thing.

Speaking for myself, I had always wanted to do a career change at age 40, maybe get into sales, or something that wasn't quite as demanding as the deadlines of being a graphic designer. I didn't want to be staring at a computer my whole life! Looking back now, 40 doesn't seem so old, but when I had set that goal it seemed pretty ancient. It was based on my favorite fictional character who was told that when he turned forty he had to accept a different job, one that wasn't out in the field.

So as forty started rushing towards me I decided it was time to make the jump. The company that I had been working for was going through a lot of unpleasant changes, and frankly it just wasn't fun there anymore, so I resigned. I wrote up a nice letter, sat with my manager, who wished me well, and I even had a lunch "roast" with my co-workers who said goodbye to me. I'm still friends with many of those people on Facebook, or LinkedIn. I was happy to have worked there, but it was time for me to move on.

I'm proud of my connection to the Art Institute of Phoenix, as I am of all of the companies that were good enough to hire me. Oh, and by the way, I got over my fear of public speaking, and in no time at all it was just about impossible to get me to shut me up. I was sorry when it was all over, but that's how it goes. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

Thank you for the encouragement! If you want to see daily pics of my adventures on my recumbent trike in suburban Phoenix (just for fun, of course!) you can follow me on buymeacoffee.com/bradhall, and you can buy me a coffee if you'd like to!