Design U

04.10.2008

I graduate from college in about a month. This will be the grandiose finish to seven years of credits, classes, projects, deadlines, frustration, and a lot of really hard work. I can't help but look back over the past seven years and think .... what did I learn? And, could I have become a designer without college? After all, design is a career of talent and experience not credentials and accolades.

I once posed this question during class and it was met with mixed reviews. My perspective, at the time, was that design college was optional and that if you had an ounce of talent and a little ingenuity, you could teach yourself the technical side and learn the fine art in due time ... with the internet and sites like lynda.com ... you can learn quite a bit from home ... and for thousands less than university. I once met a woman who had done just that. She had a painting degree and proceeded to teach herself design via online tutorials. She was very very good.

My instructor's perspective was that college was essential and that employers respect a degree. Sort of a credential of legitimacy to a client or a none-creative employer. Which I completely agree with. That silly piece of paper degree can open doors. Although, I got my current design job without even having a resume' ... much less a degree. I know a lot of degree toting 'designers' who are essentially unemployable as such.

My conclusion is that university is essential for a developing designer. Not because you'll be handed a skill-set or tricks that will ensure him or her success. Not because the end goal is not achievable through less expensive and less time consuming ways. And not because you have to. Many employers would hire a talented, experienced designer who did nothing after high school. University is essential because at no other time in your life will you be able to weld a metal frame for a concrete sculpture, design a logo for a ray-gun, and grease a stone for a litho print. University offers opportunity. Opportunities like failure, ambition, and defense of a great idea. Your peers are in the same boat as you so you learn from everyone's mistakes, successes, and complete failures. The real world offers little tolerance for the learning curve and a bad grade seems insignificant to a costly project gone south. University lets you grow up a little before you have to grow up a lot.

Never forget that design is 50% art and 50% business. Some universities teach very little of the other half. You'll go a long way once you're as comfortable sending an invoice and signing a contract as you are sketching thumbnails and rendering comps.

Stay in school.