Farewell, Kaplan

As of February 26, 2010, I will leave my position as Creative Director at Kaplan K12 Learning Services. While in the grand scheme of my life it may prove to be a serendipitous transition, its timing is less than ideal. Without going into too much detail in this public forum, suffice it to say that the economic downturn—like with so many companies—was less than kind to our division of Kaplan, Inc. As a result, the company chose to reassess its resources and focus greater attention on its other markets. Theirs was a prudent business decision to be sure but, well … sucks for me and my colleagues.

Kaplan has been my full-time employer since I moved to New York City in 2001. After a very rough three-month job search, Kaplan K12 decided to take a chance and hire me as an Editorial Assistant. (I was actually their second choice. Their original hire flaked out after two weeks.) “Editorial Assistant” was a spectacularly ill-defined job title at the time, so my duties were varied. I spent my first week doing nothing but exporting Quark files to PDF for print. Before long, I somehow segued myself onto the three-person Production team and began typesetting pages of our print products. Frustrated by the relative lack of file organization and workflow process, I took it upon myself to begin organizing and maintaining our internal server. “Do you mind that I’m doing this?” I asked my boss one night. “Heck no! That’s why we hired you!” she shot back. News to me.

So were the first steps on my 8.48-year-long career path as Editorial Assistant, Production Artist, Production Manager, Art Director, and eventually, Creative Director. More than a few colleagues joked that I was inextricably tied to Kaplan K12. That I was a company institution. That I was grown from a test tube and planted in front of a Mac upon maturation. In truth, I stayed because, simply, it was a great gig. Kaplan nurtured my Prussian perfectionist impulses and gave me wide berth to fill my professional and creative goals. Beneath that, I never wanted for great company. My colleagues and managers were some of the most eclectic, talented, and driven people I have known. If you ever need proof that intelligence and wit are still abundant American resources, go work with a bunch former teachers and snarky graphic designers.

Personally and professionally, I know this change is a good one. There are greater challenges to confront and more interesting work to be done. Right now, though, it feels a little bit like leaving family and the only home I have known. I will miss my graphic designer’s conspiracy theories. I will miss the way my illustrators bitch for minutes on end about the impossibility of a task before completing it ahead of schedule with aplomb. I will miss reminding the curriculum team for the hundredth time there are more and better ways to emphasize text than with a shaded box. I will miss trying to convince the marketing team that the logo for an online product doesn’t necessarily always need to feature an illustration of a mouse and a computer monitor. (Maybe.)

As my friend said, “This stuff is always good in the end, but that’s at the other end. I know this end of it sucks.” In some respects, maybe this job has become like an old pair of well-worn shoes: They’re soft and comfortable and familiar, but the arch support is failing and the soles are thin and they start to make your feet hurt after a really long walk. New shoes are expensive and breaking them in is a pain in the ass, but they’re a wise buy in the long run. I guess I’m just being forced to go shoe shopping.

At any rate, we had a good run together, Kaplan. Smell ya’ later!