Online Colleges
by: Samuel Fyfe
in: General Post
11 months ago
I've been thinking about going to college for graphic design now for a while, but I want to go somewhere that still allows me to keep my job at my church. Do you guys' know of any good online colleges that major in graphic design, or at least have a certification course?\
Thanks!
I wouldn't trade my college experience for the world.
Did it help me with what I'm doing today? Debatable.
I learned a lot while in school. I learned how to live with others, then how to be a husband, how to have 18 credit hours, and hold down a 40hr a week job as a manager at a five start five diamond hotel in one of the most prestigious hotels in the world. I learned how to stay up late nights when there was a deadline, and how to study when falling asleep. At my job I learned many life-lessons as well. I learned how to talk with business men, how to communicate with disgruntled customers, and how to manage. One thing it didn't teach me is how to design
I am not ungrateful for my college experience and what it has done for my career today, but because I never went to school for design, and am a full time designer, I often wonder where I'd be if I had ditched bible college and my 2 years of youth pastoring and concentrated fully on motion graphics.
I say "meh" to school only when students go there expecting to be handed a job afterwards because of it. Many people who are successful in this world never cared too much for school, they went out there, sought what they were passionate about, and slowly people took notice of their excellent work. There are so many free resources learn and opportunities to design for free or little money that I don't know why I would ever pay to learn. When I first started out I went to the library and read the elements of typographic style on my lunch breaks. I went on video copilot and did every tutorial from beginning to end over a 1 month period. I called youth groups and told them I would create something for them for free. Etc etc. I didn't need a teacher to tell me to make a portfolio, I made a real one, and in the process established relationships.
I'm not bragging by any means. have you seen my work? It sucks! At least I think so, but I am still learning, and every day it seems to get a little better. having gone to school for design wouldn't change that.
I'm also ok with the fact that I'm providing for my family, and don't have any debt.
To go to college or not is up to every individual. But while there make sure you realize the true value in school is often the education learned outside of the books or assignments.
I wouldn't have traded my college experience for anything either. Even though it was related to what I mostly do now, I've had to learn all of the software I use and techniques on my own.
The most valuable thing from my education was the mentoring relationship I had with my professors - something that may be difficult through online classes anyway...
I do think that I would have learned it all a lot faster in college rather than tackling it on my own, but I would bet that ones capacity for good design isn't dependent on the method of education.
Most of my "career" has been as a full-time employee with only a small stint as freelancer - not one of my employers (or potential employers) has cared about my degree or level of education. They only care about my portfolio.
I would say you should look into schooling, but don't sell yourself short on what you know. if you're proficient in photoshop, you probably don't need an intro to photoshop, even if it would add 2 tools to your workflow. If you know your principles of design, skip that. If you want to work on supportive stuff, drawing, marketing, writing, sketching, painting...do it! I don't think its about a degree adding to your value as a designer, but getting an education in areas you might never explore or know how to explore on your own will definitely increase your value as a designer.