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A Passion For Graphic Design? Why Not Consider A Career Course?

If you have a good eye for visually pleasing material - whether we're talking brochure, book cover or website for example - then studying to work in graphic design might be appropriate.

Lots of graphic designers have an artistic bent, and maybe studied art at school. Yet if you didn't study art as a teenager and are not sure of your drawing skills, don't worry - much of today's graphic design work is done sitting at the computer, not the drawing board!

A professional graphic designer might be employed by a specialist graphic design company or in the design department of a large corporation. Alternatively they might set up their own business and take on clients themselves. Taking a commercial training course and becoming professionally certified is a viable alternative to academic study, essentially you probably learn a more commercial orientation at a design college.

Then again, you could choose a taster course to build a small portfolio prior to applying for a university place.

How Can I Be Sure Which College To Choose?

There are many training organisations offering graphic design courses, so it's important to know how to identify the best one for you. You'll find a great variation not only in terms of price, but also in terms of training standards. You could start by digging into several of the companies featuring on this site (you wouldn't buy a house after visiting only two properties, so why risk your lifetime's career by skimping on the preliminary work?).

You might like to add this page to your Favourites file if you want to come back and research more sites. As you get more acquainted with the different websites you'll start to understand what you're looking for.

Fundamentally of course a good college will prove their graphic design skills first and foremost on their website. If they're claiming to be design experts, but even their homepage doesn't impress, you might want to move on. Then the number of hours of training must be considered. Some are quite extensive and will demand much of your time, whereas others offer greater flexibility over many more months. Is there a limit to the hours of teaching support? Will you need to buy any extra kit to take on the training course? Look for testimonials from previous students, and from employers who've taken on ex-students - what was it that impressed them the most?

Portfolio Presentations

Creating your own portfolio of designs will be an essential component of your training. To get your first foot on the career ladder, you'll have to have some case studies to show to potential employers. Every college's coursework should focus heavily on building your own fabulous 'commercially viable' designs, so look for a selection of student designs on their site to see the work they're proud of.

Designer Preferences

Software skills are taught on graphic design courses, which means trainees must enter college with a good level of computer literacy. You'll predominantly be taught how to design using Adobe CS4 applications such as Illustrator, but there will still be an aspect of print-based design to your training. Students can usually choose to work on either a PC or a Mac, (colleges of design frequently opt for Macs) as there are Adobe software versions for both types of machines.

Selling your ideas to others is a key aspect of successful commercial design work. This means you need a confident ability to communicate. Even the image on the front of a box of washing powder is the result of graphic design.

By presenting typography and images in a visually aesthetic manner, the job of graphic design is to enlighten, stimulate, encourage and relate with it's audience in the most effective and engaging way possible.

Design Principles That Work...

Common themes are used in classic design, and they include texture, balance, contrast and composition. The best students then utilise those tools to go on and design eye-catching images that flourish in businesses throughout the world for many years. Graphical images on products can be really big business, and many designers have used them for years to build and retain brand loyalty.

The best training will creatively inspire you and practically prepare you for industry. Seek out training that over delivers on its promises, and make your new life better by design!