Calling all Graphic designers.....

[timzeipekis]

Throwing ideas around and am considering going back to school to study Graphic

Design. Just would like to hear the perspective of people who have traveled that

road. worth it? Jobs? associate or bachelors? just curious as to what some of

you out there had to say about it.

[richsimmons]

Crazy competitive, but what is the market you are trying to get into? With no experience, you won't make money for awhile. There are always side jobs you could pick up. You might want to try getting some bids from Guru.com and see if you have the chops. There is always a deadline looming. pays to be versatile. It takes more than knowing Photoshop. You need Illustrator, InDesign, Quark (because a lot of places still use it), Acrobat and whatever else is needed to get the job done. You need to know typography as well. Other than that, I think it's worth it. I've been very happy with it. You'll never see my stuff in the limelight, but what I do makes an impact in the industry that I work in. Like most people really.

[bwcombs]

There are a myriad of disciplines in graphics. Packaging, print media, 3D, Environmental design, industrial design, computer imaging, etc. If you have a particular talent in one over the other, go for it.

 

It's a field (like photography) that requires talent and imagination. Just having a computer loaded with Adobe software won't cut it.

 

And having a business background will help as well. My biggest regret is not taking more business courses when I got my Design Communications degree. I have had to learn that the hard way over the last 32 years.

 

Good luck on your endeavors.

[timzeipekis]

Great info guys, thanks. I noticed different schools offer different programs, Graphic Design, Illustration Design, Visual Communications......are these generally the same things or completely different. I was in a Visual communications course at The Art Institute of Pittsburgh back in '93, but I know A LOT has changed since then.....

[gabriel_gutierrez]

I went to Art Institute of Philadelphia. In my day, Visual Communications was 2 things in 1. It was 1) media (tv commercial storyboards, designing ad campaigns, and 2) graphic design (package and print - magazine ads, and now websites I suppose).

 

I ended up in environmental graphics (signs). Its a different world than traditional graphic design so I can't tell you much about the field but in my field there is a lot of tight deadlines and customers who don't decide on a final design until there is barely time left to do the job. If most graphic design jobs are like mine, I would not recommend it to anyone unless they enjoy being under lots of pressure all the time.