External qualifications

Wether or not you need extra qualifications aside from your degree (if you have one) is a bit tricky to define. I think a lot of people would like to know wether this is a worthwhile endeavour seeing as they are often not free and can actually be quite expensive depending on what it is and who it is run by so I am going to try and explain my current view point on the external Qualifications thing. First of all what exactly are we talking about here? There are all kinds of qualifications that you can sign up for and some are based purely in software others are based in specific design practices like email
design and SEO etc.




Software Training:

1. The "Adobe Suite" training certificates are probably the most widely recognised qualifications for software largely because the Adobe Suite has become an industry standard software package across design professions. They range in difficulty from the "Certified Associate (ACA)" level to the "Adobe Certified Expert (ACE)" level and the finally you can become an "Adobe Certified Instructor(ACI)". All these courses are listed here with a much more detailed explanation of what they entail; http://www.adobe.com/support/certification/ You can do certain packages individually or you can go about completing the training for an entire suite in one go, and that will of course affect the pricing but can be more productive and cheaper than doing them one by one. These will to be honest help your CV to stand out from the crowd because every single designer suggests that they are great with every single software but few of them are certified by Adobe and can prove it!

2. Lynda.com is gaining popularity from employers all the time as it offers various courses for all kinds of software in a monthly or yearly subscription plan. This is something that you can go back to time and time again and keep up to date with all the current technologies and trends so is fantastic as a training tool. As far as qualifications go this is as good as any and you can have a certificate of completion for every course that you go through. http://www.lynda.com/home/Player.aspx?lpk4=80569&playChapter=False There really isn't any software left out of the data base and the teaching style gets great reviews from student and teachers alike.

Development Training:

1. The "W3C" or the "World Wide Web Consortium", have a website from which you can learn standardised coding for the web. These are in fact free lessons that you can get at http://www.w3schools.com and then you can get certified for around 60 pounds per language you take.  I actually have one of these myself and I have to say that they definitely help you to stand out. You are probably being hired by an HR department rather than a designer at least in the initial stages so it will help you to get your foot into the building at least. The rest of course is up to you. It is probably worth mentioning though at this point that you can only learn web related languages and scripts from this site and not software programming languages like C or Java. These are for programmers rather than designers and will most probably be useless to you as a designer.

2. There are numerous "CIW" (Certified Internet Web professionals) accredited courses that you can do in web development which were invented by a community of web designers and developers during the dot com boom and have survived to this day. These certificates are not easy to obtain and they are not cheap either at around 600 pounds a course. However they are internationally recognised and they do teach job specific skills rather than just vague principles so definitely worth taking a look at. They remain popular with many employers because a large number of university teach them across the UK, Europe, and US.

Design practices.

There are numerous courses that teach general design practice and in fairness wont do you much better than having a degree. This is a pre requisite of most job adverts these days so if you are going to study a broader topic then personally I would advise that you do it in a degree and at least have that piece of paper to get you into the interview room. Im not saying that these kinds of certifications are worthless by any means because they will probably teach you the things that you were too hungover to hear about in your lectures but from an employers perspective there is too little known about the worthiness of such a course and they don't want to have to do the research. If its accolades are easily "googleable" then by all means go for it, but if nobody has taken it or heard of it then I would steer well clear and keep your pennies in your own pocket.

Long term advantages.

It would be nice to think that you could go to school and be done with it and then just walk into a job but unfortunately that is not the way the world works. There isn't just one glass ceiling either there are many! If you think about it in the world of work and most especially graphic design there are pay brackets to consider. when you are in an entry level role you can expect to earn around 14-18k per annum, then when you are in a junior role you can expect to earn between 18-21k per annum, now there is a little more scope in a mid-weight position depending on the company that you work for so you can expect to get anywhere between 21-30k per annum. Senior roles 28k plus and so on. How much of that depends on external qualifications and outside factors is really not that easy to judge but I do know that if I were presented with someone who hadn't done a days education since school (on paper at least) and someone who had actively seeked out professional development certificates and courses throughout there career, I would likely choose them for the promotion. Not because it means that they are better than those without the qualification, but because it says that they are willing to work on there mistakes and grow as much as they can. Businesses need that. (at least in my amateur entrepreneurial brain they do anyway).

Short term advantages.

I have found actually that since having taken a certificate or two and this may well just be co-incidence, that I have been getting a lot more interested parties for freelance work and a lot more interviews for jobs. I haven't actually secured any of these jobs so I cannot say that the certificates have helped me in so much as actually getting me into the company but they have got me a damn site nearer to the building and that is an achievement  it today's economy I can tell you (I probably don't need to I'm sure you already know). So i have decided therefore given the long and the short term benefits from a little upfront cash, that getting external qualifications will indeed help you and they will help you with the big players like agencies and such because they care about achieving. they care that you are a winner just like them so you might as well get cracking.

Disadvantages.

It means more studying! It also means more money and of course the time investment on top of that. Often you will have to work these kinds of courses into or around your working day and so can make your life a little bit more stressful in the short term. You will have to do the research yourself into whether the course you choose is worth this kind of investment which is again more work on your behalf. They are also not a guaranteed fix and trends with courses are much the same as with technologies. What was once the hottest thing since sliced bread can quickly become yesterdays news so you will also need to figure out the kind of longevity that any given certificate holds.

Overall though I think they work more in your favour than they do against you so if you are trying to jockey your way up the career ladder then professional development certificates will certainly help you in your quest to do so within your specified field.

What should a Graphic Design education consist of?

I personally have just recently graduated from a degree in graphic design having done a National Diploma in Multi-Media beforehand, but even though this is true I am still no that sure that you actually need a degree in order to be a designer. 

Most jobs will actually state that they are looking for a graduate with a 2:1 or higher otherwise you need not apply which is a little harsh I feel considering the level of work that was getting produced by some of the 2:1 students I studied with, and the level of work that I have seen produced by people with no training whatsoever. No amount of kissing up to a lecturer is going to make up for a complete lack of design talent though so even the not so wonderful 2:1 students did show potential or conceptual strengths or something! The same old catch 22 of not having enough experience to land you a job after you graduate is also going to be an issue regardless of your final grade too. I have friends for example who graduated from their degrees 2 years ahead of me, some of which graduated with first class degree's and they are only just beginning to find work that is vaguely related to what they studied. This has of course got something to do with the economy and the job market yes, but it also has a lot to do with a lack of initiative on their parts.

Now what you learn at University on a course like graphic design is far too general to leave you with a concentrated portfolio to help land what will inevitably be some kind of specialist junior position fresh out of uni. Again this is a generalisation as there are some very lucky individuals that do exactly that! I can assure you though, they are few and far between and often happen to have some form of advantage on their sides such as a mentor to guide them throughout their entire studies or influential contacts in the business to land them that crucial foot in the door. Anyway I digress, the thing that is important here is having a good idea of what side of the profession you ultimately want to land up in. This can be a really tricky thing to figure out especially having no experience in the field to measure your thoughts against and most often times this is where the degree part comes in very handy indeed. You effectively get given 3 years of design play time to figure out exactly what you are good at, what you are terrible at, and what you could reasonably swing your portfolio towards once you finally do graduate. 

Even still though many do not figure that stuff out even by the time they have graduated because the deadlines are tough and the briefs are not necessarily made up of what you wanted to try your hand at so you can still lose out in that respect. If you are clued in though by some fluke and know exactly what kind of designer you would like to be before you have studied for your degree, then you are in with a good chance of getting a job without the degree. Your portfolio after all will be what sells you not numbers on a piece of paper. It is always good to know that someone has the will power and self-discipline to finish a degree as they are not as much of a ride in the park as they get made out to be, however ultimately an employer wants to know that you are good at what you do. 

Im going to defend the degree actually for a moment as I feel that I perhaps have not done it justice. Something that doesn't get mentioned much when talking about design education is your ability to work with others. I remember when I started out on the Multi-Media course at college and at that time I was still fairly precious about any and every piece of work that I did. I always wanted good feedback and if I didn't get it I got a bit upset or despondent and then started to doubt my talents as a designer or creative. What you get whilst at university is forced to show your work to people and have them criticise it. It is something that you get used to very quickly and after a while you wonder what all the fuss was about, and not only that you are having your work criticised by like minded folk who understand the principles of design so you know that the feedback is genuine and constructive. (A little different to asking your nan if she likes the web page you made). This should not be scoffed at as a part of becoming a good designer because it is what will make you a good employee as far as a design firm is concerned. They do not want to have to fight with you on every piece of work you create and expect you to fully co-operate with them and the clients at all times even if it goes against your "design principles". Then there is the fact that you are going to get the chance to mingle with other designers and this will give you a better idea of the level you are working to so the benefits to me are more based in the social part of the degree. 

Here are some of the downsides though starting out with my favourite money! Degrees are expensive for everyone, for the rich and for the poor alike. You might be getting a student loan but its not like you wont have to pay it back and that is effectively 20 grands worth of debt you are volunteering yourself for there. Aside form that there are things to consider like computing costs, printing costs, software costs, outside training costs like internships and drawing classes, none of these are free. You will end up spending a lot of money on a degree and there really isn't much of a way around that so get used to the idea of being broke. It hardly seems worth it when you add that to the amount of time it will take you to get work that is relevant to your studies and that will most likely be an entry level job at an entry level wage. This is why I actually feel that you may well be better off doing job specific qualifications as and when you need them to suit the particular faction you lean towards. For example if you are leaning towards being a photography lead designer for a fashion magazine then get a job doing something run of the mill to pay your bills. Do an evening course in photography and volunteer one day a week at a fashion house and I wouldn't be surprised if you found yourself a quicker route into the industry that way. You might also have a lot less debt to be following you around too. Another thing is that the library is your friend! with access to the internet via your phone, in internet cafes, and in most peoples homes, there really is no excuse to not having access to information. You can find reading lists for degree courses on there websites and simply go to the library and read them yourself for nothing. this way you can give yourself a good education without spending thousands of pounds to pay the lecturers wages. Do not underestimate the power of books. I think it was Will Smith who put it across the best in saying that "the key to a good life is running and reading". If you read there is not one problem that somebody else hasn't already had so they might have a good answer for your situation too. 

Anyway in answer to the question posed in the title, a graphic design education should consist of what you need it to in order to get your foot in the door. There are too many variables when it comes to peoples lives, level of skill access to resources etc for me to make an honest judgement on what a design education "should" look like, so I am going to have to give you one of those wishy washy not really an answer type conclusions in the this post. It should be the means to an end and those ends should keep changing and growing with your career.

What kind of graphic designer will you be?

In all honesty the answer to this is one that is very hard to define. I have on several occasions thought that I had found the answer only to find out quite quickly afterwards that I did not actually know what I was talking about at all. Thats life I guess, thinking you know something only to discover that you don't. Graphic design, much like many things in life is no exception. It changes with the times like people do. Now the overall purpose of graphic design remains the same as it always has. To help advertise and communicate information in a visually stimulating way. That is not to say that it cannot be a vehicle for other things like tackling perceptions and changing the way people think about what they are doing and how they are interacting with the world around them because it does these things too.

What I want to talk about here though is less of a philisophical stand point on the nature of design and much more of a practicle guide to what you as a designer might get up to during your day. Mainly I aim to give you some helpful information that I had absolutely no clue about when I started my journey into the world of graphic design.

The profession is split up into subcategories that deal with different aspects of design (fairly obvious) and rightly so. Doctors may all be doctors but they all have their specialisms and the same applies for designers. If you are to become an expert in anything then the narrower the feild, the more accurate your expertise are likey to become. Don't take this as gospel I am sure someone will point out many things I have missed but the broad categories of graphic designers are as follows.

Web designers,
( This is largely made up of layout design for the web and is quite similar to that of brochure and magaizine design. The difference being however that the elements of interactivity in the web make the design process slightly more challenging as you have to figure out your customers behaviours as well as make the information palletable. Often web designers double as web developers (writing mark up language similar to what a programmer does) and have good technical knowledge to do with software and computers. Web pages themselves are just one part of web design though as there is a growing maret for e-marketing strategies, e-commerce, games, applications and so on.)

Digital designers,
( Digital design is rather more aimed at interactivity than static design. It can involve anything up to and including web design, interface design, application design, and animation. This particular feild tends to be one of the more challenging ones as it is user oriented and involves a good understanding of semantics and usually requires a knowledge of both static and motion design as well as an understanding of programming laguages. There is more planning and testing involved in this feild than there is actual design as the emphasis is on how things work.)

Motion graphic designers,
( motion graphic designers bring static images to life. They tend to work in film, television, and animation, and take on a very similar role to that of the digital designer. (it is more likely that all of the above would work together on a project) they would do work such as idents, movie credits and dynamic web pages as an example.)

Print designers,
( There will always be work for the print designer despite what people might be saying due to the growing dependance on technolgy. Alot of the information we consume from day to day is in printed format. The menue at a restaurant, a business card, a bill from your phone company, the instruction maual that came with your new PC etc. Any where there is paper there is a print designer involved somewhere along the way.

Packaging designers,
( This requires virtually no explanation as they do precisely what there title suggests. Every single thing that you buy comes in packaging of some kind and therefore in our modern consumer society becoming a packaging designers could well be a great way to guaruntee yourself work (if you are good of course).

Signage designers,
( The modern company has a real challenge on their hands when it comes to standing out from the crowd considering the fact that even your average joe can present themselves as a brand these days. Signage can quite literally capture an audience as well as inform on a location and help to navigate an area all at the same time. So the job entails some serious forethought. Then there are materials and costs to consider as well as environmental issues such as wether or not the sigange gives off light and disturbes the local wildlife and so on.)

Type designers,
( Although when we think of graphic design we tend to think of web design, interface design, and things like magazines what people forget is that typography does not just magically appear. Somebody dedicates there entire career to creatoing character formats, different lettering styles, entire font styles etc whilst all the while considering its legibility and tone as evry font has its own personality.)

So as you can see some of these categories blend over each other as the requirements for each job often require you to be multiskilled, but generally I think this is a fair representation of what kind of work is out there for people. Now under each one of these categories there is also a subset of roles within that. but these are the kinds of things that you will work out in your education and career for yourself so I wont go into that. What  I hope you have gathered from this is that you wont be completely up the creek without a paddle if you find that any one of these genres doesnt actually suit you. There is always another one for you to try and the likelihood is your experience with the other may actually give you a head start in your new direction.

Like I said in my previous post for those of you who read it, you need to get stuck and be brave because your calling isnt going to come and bite you in the arse. Only time will tell (I am so full of cliche's for this I apologise) but knowing what is out there for you to try in the first place should be a big help. I didnt have a clue that half of these roles existed at all when I went to college and I think I would have benefitted greatly from it at the time. You probably already have a good idea wether you are more interested in motion or static or print or digital or 3d or flat etc. So trying out things in each of these will help you to realise where your strengths lie.

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Who am I to tell you?

This is not the only blog on the web that talks about graphic design at all. Of course you know that because you stumbled across this more than likely completely by accident whilst searching for something vaguely related, that's just the way the cookie crumbles sometimes, but your curiosity has lead you to read on! congratulations and hello reader. 

The answer to the question posed in the title is actually pretty obvious. I am no-one and will continue to be no-one in the world of design until someone who is deemed as "someone" tells you that I am someone too. Name dropping however is a little too easy for my liking and a little too lacking in substance, so I am writing from a place much more humble. I am, (probably just like you), starting out in the world. I am a lowly post-grad who has stumbled on through university, intern-ships and the recession over the last five years. And no I didn't always know that I wanted to be a designer or live, eat, sleep, and breathe design like you get told to while you are at art school. however a skill is a skill is a skill, and if you do something well you should never do it for free! In reality I made a logical decision based on what skills I had, and what chances I had of achieving said goals, and which ones I would most enjoy throughout my lifetime, and landed at a career in design. It did not come to me in a dream and I think it is a very small group of people that this happens for. What I will be doing here therefore, is giving you a realistic and honest account of my experiences and successes and failures so far, that you can hopefully take something from and use in your own career as a graphic designer or similar. Think of me like a pace runner in a race that is just in front and plodding on so that you don't lose momentum. 

If that doesn't sound like what you wanted to hear then don't worry! there are plenty of other blogs and articles out there that will give you the perspective of a seasoned pro. I am sure they can point you in the direction of some great advice, and I don't doubt that they will tell you things that I cant, but they have probably forgotten what is like to be you or I (just some food for thought there). So I think it is only fair that I tell you the things that I did up to this point in relation to my career as a designer. This way you can see how I ended up at this point and which career related decisions affected my journey.