Looking to become a designer...lost...confused...help?!

[MrsR1984]

Please help, I don't know where to start! :icon_crying:

I'm 25 years old. At secondary school I wanted to do a design related job but didn't understand how to go about it and our school careers advisor was USELESS so I ended up feeling so confused that I gave up! I left school/sixth form with the following qualifications:

2 A Levels: Business Studies (E), Design Technology Product Design (C)

4 AS Levels: General Studies (E), Media Studies (B), Psychology (D)

11 GCSEs inclusing Design Technology Graphic Products.

I have since gained an NVQ level 3 in Customer Service. Before my GCSEs I did a college evening course in Desktop Publishing using Mac computers, which I really enjoyed.

I've ended up in specialised wholesale following a completely different career path (admin job - its just not challenging/interesting enough!) and now I would like to go back to my original design career plan (better late than never!). I often use MS Publisher at work to create flyers/POS so I'm sort-of keeping my toe in the water on a very basic level!

The only snag I can see is that I need to be earning full-time money - I can't afford to take a break from working to train as we have a car, a mortgage and other financial comittments to consider, my husband-to-be can't afford to support us both, not even short-term :icon_dunno:

Any advice? I don't have a clue what my next step should be!

[amanda_uk]

hey!

It's great that you've decided to take that risk and go for your dream career.

There are plenty of options that you can pursue - you'd be classed as an Adult Learner, and you'll get income support, which you can apply for online (Website of the UK government : Directgov) but before you do any of that, you need to find a course - as you say you need to work, but there are plenty of part time courses that you can do.

I would contact your nearest colleges and ask for their course information and also any information on adult learning.

I hope this helps?

[BDCLouise]

Hi there,

Graphic Design is a really interesting field to get into, it's so creative and all our candidates love it

As a recruiter, what I can suggest doing is to not only contact local colleges to see if they've got any courses going that can then provide you with work experience, but have you ever thought about setting up as a freelancer, just to get your feelers out there as it were?
Many of our candidates register on websites such as PeoplePerHour, and gain experience that way.

Our clients like to see a creative flair and for each candidate to have their own "style" of design, which I think is very important.

Good luck in your new career venture!