Nerd Alert: Catalogues

I love catalogues. Veer, Whole Foods, ASU, architecture companies, Emigre, paper companies, cars, condos, Nordstrom, stock photo, green expo catalogues, faucets (ha, hey, Kohler makes some nice catalogues) - among my collection. As we transition into a fully digital lifestyle, the delight of holding a well-designed and sturdily built catalogue or magazine will never be replaced. My newest discovery: art school catalogues.

SVA

What better a way to learn about a school than through receiving a 627 page free catalogue just for showing interest? I recently received my copy of SVA's excessively informative (and beautiful) school catalogue. The time spent creating this - not to mention the cost of printing, binding and mailing the beast to anyone who asks for it - is incredible. The book is wrapped in a poster, approximately 2x3 feet in size, with panoramic photographs of the school scattered over it. When held up to a light or posted on a window, the backside of the poster (which matches up flawlessly) shows through, creating a sort of map where the captions for the pictures become illuminated.

Underneath, the inside cover reads: "Assignment #1: Design your own cover. (you may utilize the stickers provided within if you like)" Throughout the book there are pages upon pages of rad stickers.

The next seemingly expensive production cost that I notice is a cloth tag coming out of the binding with SVA printed on it.

Besides the fact that they use great info graphics and statistics and have awesome imagery, they showcase really great student work as well. The rest is really worth discovering on your own. This book will never go in the trash.

MAS

The current runner up is Miami Ad School. Their book isn't as professional, but it's fitting for the school. Their atmosphere seems to be pretty laid back (yet extremely creative and successful) and it reflects in their packet. 

It all comes in an oversized pink ziplock, with school mascot Smudge's sticker on the front. MAS, too, utilizes stickers, with a book dedicated to them. The sticker book's cover folds out into a spread designed for you to chart your trip while attending MAS. Your first year is spent at a base school (San Francisco, Miami, Minneapolis, Hamburg, Madrid, or Sao Paulo) and your second year can be spent in a different city each quarter at an internship, another base school, or a "greenhouse," which means you spend every school day inside of an agency with creative directors and the like as your instructor. Options for your second year cities include: Amsterdam, Beijing, Berlin, Boulder, Brussels, Budapest, Chicago, Dallas, Dubai, Hamburg, London, Miami, Minneapolis, Moscow, Paris, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Shanghai, Stockholm, and Sydney. Great stuff.

Although the majority of the paperwork in the packet are laser copies, I am digging this pink and grey stationery - with "The School of Pop Culture Engineering" crest on the back. And the temporary tattoos! Get yours here.

Needless to say, I'm considering portfolio school. Anyone else?