Pablo Rodriguez, is a student of the Electronic Design and Multimedia (EDM) Program in City College. He was born in New York, attended high school in the Dominican Republic, then Bronx Community College (BCC) before enrolling in City College.

During his first semester at BCC, Pablo took an art class, was immediately intrigued and also learned QuarkXPress® during a creative design and page layout assignment.

These two elements, the classical and the digital in combination resonated with him and it ultimately led him to graphic design and to the EDM Program. He feels that he was predestined to follow this path from those beginnings in BCC but he didn't recognize this until later.

In fact he was initially drawn to the Architecture Program at City College but after a friend switched from Architecture to the Electronic Design and Multimedia Program he investigated the EDM program in more detail and decided to follow the same route.

Pablo appreciates the complex nature of the EDM Program because he was able to take a variety of traditional art classes (drawing, photography, painting, printmaking, illustration) as well as the classes that focus on electronic design.

He feels this rigorous grounding in all branches of art instills a deeper appreciation for students and a more unified approach in his own work. This is why he feels the Art Department at City is so good "because you get to learn more than simply how to do great design on a computer but how to do hands-on work" which really prepares the student to be a well rounded graphic designer/art director.

Pablo has implemented some of his skills already at CUNY's Dominican Studies Institute which is situated in City College. He started out creating presentations for the Institute then progressed to graphic design work. He designed a new logo for a branding initiative and established design guidelines as well as a template for their publications.

He feels he is learning a lot from both these practical real life applications and his classes so that he will be able to enter the electronic design industry with a strong academic and practical background.

His future plans include investigating MFA programs in graphic design on the west coast of the US or alternatively taking a few years off before committing himself to a final career choice.