[vascdesign]

Hi all

I am finaly engourage myself to take step forward * after few years break in education and study what i love. I am 26 and startin HND in Birmingham Metropooltan College. I fairly new to whole design but i used Photoshop before a lot as i love photography. I hope i will find here nice friends and increase my creative knowledge :) Does anyone has similar situation?

[bogfrog]

Originally Posted by vascdesign

Does anyone has similar situation?

Hia, Your looking at him

Although i have been fiddling with print and design for five years I have never really got into it properly - until now! New Site and a desire to learn more and share my skills too (at some point LOL).

[Niv]

Everything I've learned I had to learn on my own, would love to go to college though to get the certificate as it's always nice to prove to people that you're not just some hack playing with pretty pictures lol

I think with youtube these days it's so easy for people to learn graphic design as there's always a whole host of people willing to teach others how it's done, would advise anyone starting out to maybe spend a few hours looking through some tutorials on there to learn the basics, worst case it gives you a head start at college.

[vascdesign]

Originally Posted by Niv

I think with youtube these days it's so easy for people to learn graphic design as there's always a whole host of people willing to teach others how it's done, would advise anyone starting out to maybe spend a few hours looking through some tutorials on there to learn the basics, worst case it gives you a head start at college.

Yep Youtube is great way to pick how to do it! I spend hours lately on tutorial from shiny bottoms to Fireworks websites. Even CAD seems much easier than i thought Good to get to know you guys

[bogfrog]

Originally Posted by Niv

Everything I've learned I had to learn on my own,

I never had a lesson either and I am producing some half decent stuff for clients which is really satisfying.

My degree was in fisheries and Aquaculture

Definitely looking at improving my skills however and youtube is handy.
Google images too if you need some inspiration for a job.

God bless ISTOCK however!! I would spend hours otherwise trying to draw some of that stuff!

[PhilipHarper]

Hello, I'm 25 like you, I took a break from education and now going into my 3rd year at Uni studying graphic design. There is alot of debate about going to uni or not as 'you just get a certificate' which is kinda true, but for me the past 2 years at Uni I've learned to encourage my creative THINKING and problem solving. ANYONE can learn techniques when it comes to Photoshop or Illustrator or whatever your program of choice is. What will separate you as a creative from anyone else is your creative thinking and ideas. NOT just the ability to use Photoshop.

I've compliled a list of Graphic Design books on blog you may find helpful,

here...

http://www.philipharper.info/2010/06/the-must-have-books-list-for-graphic-design-students-or-aficionados/

[vascdesign]

Originally Posted by PhilipHarper

http://www.philipharper.info/2010/06/the-must-have-books-list-for-graphic-design-students-or-aficionados/

Nice job ! I think you can not learn all by yourself and going to study any subject is helpful and degree or any cert are always apreciate. Education is priceless.

[James Random]

Heh. I dropped out of my HND in the second year. I had very large problems with my course.

The first and foremost was the lack of passion. I can't work with people who don't have a
passion for what they do. Disillusions designers aren't gonna be inspiring me any time soon.

The second was the education system itself. They're not interested in letting you find yourself,
they're interested in moulding you into Whitehall's idea of a designer to tick all the boxes.
Churning out the sausages one by one. All doing the same stuff.

The third is that today these courses rarely prepare you for the realities of the job.
On my course we did a week on Illustrator in 2 years and 1 day a week for a year
on autoCAD (which has nothing to do with graphic design at all). It was all traditional
media and while using traditional media is important to learn, you must also learn
to use the software, because the chances are your first job is gonna be an agency job
(if you dont go freelance) and they'll sit you down in front of InDesign and make you
re-design a brochure or something. If you don't know the software and know it well,
then there are others (plenty others) that do.

So those were my reasons for dropping out.

Now? I'm freelance. I have a small friendly client base who get me my payday and
I'm free to do my own brand of work I enjoy. I have a small fanbase on the
social networks and I'm generally proud of myself as a designer.

[Cookie]

Welcome :)

[vascdesign]

I've check your website and love it! In that kind of agency i wish work for in the future :)

BTW that forum is really helpful and glad is so many people with same interest!