I spent a Saturday at Carnegie Library in Pittsburgh. My main reason for going was to get away from the distraction of my house, so that I could grade assignments for my Graphic Communications class. After grading about three assignments I decided to take a breather and browse the art stacks. Carnegie library is big and somewhat intimidating if you dont know where you are going.
As usual I found myself at the graphic design and illustration area. I thought it might be a nice time too do some research for a Portfolio class that I was teaching. I found several books that went over self promotions. A few of my favorites, one by Lisa Cyr, whom I had a class with at Marywood University. An odd book stuck out on the shelves. It was odd in the fact that graphic design books are usually designed with care, considering the subject matter.
A book called “Success without college: Careers in Art and Graphic Design.” Scared me. It is not the fact that I dont think someone can become a graphic designer without going to art school. It is the fact that this book was so poorly designed and gave bad information.
What a wonderful book filled with tons of knowledge.
On the cover of the book here are a few examples of the careers you can get, mind you without a college degree: “Book illustration, fashion illustration, package design, multimedia, sign graphics, web page design, toy design, professional photography and much more.”
These are the things you can become without going to college. I should have never went.
There are several things wrong with this entire scenery, I am sure you already figured out, but just let me spell them out for you.
(Even though this book may be dated to the year 2000)
The book looks like it was designed by someone that didn’t go to college or doesn’t know a thing about graphic design.
Notice the widow in the title.
I love how intense the graphic designer ( I use the word loosely), is looking at the computer screen in the right image.
These people look like they are finding directions on a compass. What kind of art do you think they are doing?
“You don’t need a college degree – just the desire to succeed,”
How many people honestly believe this? Please write your comments below.
This is a really bad layout for many reasons. Too many to talk about in this blog post.
All of the spreads of this book resemble something like this. They open the chapter with a large photo of the person and on the left for every page of the chapter they repeat the persons image. I believe that my 9 year old nephew could have done a better job with a crayon and a sharpie. It may be hard to see from my photo but they use over 6 different typefaces on this spread alone.
What is a graphic designer?
Ok so what is “A Graphic Artist/Graphic designer.”
I am glad that they discovered that a graphic artist labors at typography. They did a really good job laboring at this article with all the hyphens on their rag. A graphic artist must also use tons of widows, look at the end of paragraph one.
To sum things up and start a debate: Do graphic artists need to go to college? Well if they learn all the skills that they need to: typography, concept, layout, color theory, etc… Then perhaps they can do it. What most people don’t understand that graphic design is not computer knowledge it is a lot more than that.
You may be able to get most of the skills a graphic designer needs, but without a piece of paper or a spot on your resume that says you have a diploma it is going to be rather difficult to find a job. Right now it is hard for anyone to find a job in this field. So sarcastically speaking: I should have never went to school for graphic design and I should give up my teaching career as a graphic design professor. Why? You can just learn everything you need outside of college and you don’t need a degree.
Tags: Carnegie Library, eismont, Fine Art, Getting a graphic design job, graphic design, graphic design school, Illustration, Mitchell, pittsburgh, without going to school, www.mitchelleismont.com
July 27, 2011 at 8:00 pm |
I have recently sprouted a fervent interest in graphic design and hope to pursue a career in web design specifically. However, on account of my collegiate confusion, I obtained a BA in Liberal Arts because I was clueless about what I wanted to do for a career. Are there any options for an aspiring graphic designer who is already in the real world and struggling heads deep in student loan debt?
July 27, 2011 at 8:28 pm |
Well there are several factors:
1. What sort of webdesign do you do? E-commerce? Backend? Front End?
2. What sort of portfolio do you have?
3. Do you have a website?
4. Do you have current clients or work that has been scene in the public?
5. Do you have an actual understanding of the programming that goes behind webdesign?
It is possible to go after a career in this with a BA. But it is going to be a lot of hard work and dedication. You have to promote yourself correctly. Have current things you are working on etc.