Becoming a Graphic and Digital Designer: A Guide to Careers in Design, 5th Edition

Part 5Design Education

You can still get an education without formal design school—sort of. On-the-job experience can be an adequate means of acquiring necessary skills—after all, talent is inborn. Increasingly, however, the self-taught graphic designer is going back to school in a temporary or full-time capacity. Even with all the how-to books on the market, intensive training, if only to be fluent with the numerous programs, is essential. Yet in order to go beyond rote computer applications to make really smart graphic design, a undergraduate and graduate education is strongly recommended. Digital fluency starts in grade school. By middle or high school, students are making videos, websites, and even apps. But teaching theory and practice learning about aesthetics and functionality are best done in the classroom—at first. As this book reveals, there are too many niches and nuances to embrace and comprehend. A good undergrad program will provide a range of options; a good grad program will hone in on specialties. Even “distance” learning provides benefits that self-teaching is slow or never able to accomplish.