What does someone in commercial or environmental design do on a daily basis?

Hey Naomi,

I would say observation is the major activity any designer would want to do all day everyday.

The second best thing to do is to imagine the impossible.

When I was in school Environmental Design was a program that prepared students to go on to masters degrees in Architecture or Urban Planning.

I got my degree in Environmental Design and went straight into a job in computer networks and systems administration. It turns out, design and drawing was a fantastic preparation for a career in software development. The design education got me started early thinking about trade-offs between structure, spatial arrangements and flow, budget, culture, function, and beauty. There are no perfect design solutions and the sooner you can get started practicing hard design choices, the better.

It was also fantastic preparation for working in small groups and presenting my designs to peers and teachers and defending my design ideas. All of those skills are incredibly useful for many different careers paths.