Should I go to Design School?
Out of context: Reply #19
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Design - needs to be taught, you can't just "pick it up"
Good schools are worth it for learning to design, not only because of the professors, but the students. 75% of the skills you learn as a designer you'll learn from your peers. It's a symbiotic thing - a good school will be full of hungry, passionate people that push each other to do better and better.A "bad" design school is next to worthless. You'll learn software, and if you are super lucky, you'll find one professor that actually cares and has some talent (if you are really, really lucky). Students will just be skating through, content learning the new filters or liquify tools.
So, to answer your question, a "good", credible school is generally "good" and credible for a reason.
Forget "secure", design is about passion. If you don't have the passion and hunger, then focus on something that is stable (programming, nurses, whatever). If you have passion, then you can find a career doing something you love and get paid for it. That's a good deal, but you need passion.
Lastly, whatever you do, get a business degree too. Everyone should have one of these. It's easy, just a few extra classes here and there. Dismiss anyone that tells you this isn't applicable - EVERY business needs business knowledge, learn how money works and it can empower you.
Software - you can learn this with Youtube, forget paying for classes. Pay for Lynda.com if you want solid, consistently good tutorials. They have everything and anything, including business stuff, for a very reasonable cost.
Software is the easy part, don't let some school try to tell you it's everything and you need to spend 1000's to learn. A "good" school will expect you to be an expert simply because it's a tool that enables you to express your passion.
Find that passion, it'll carry you through. Learn who is the best, learn why they are the best, ask, ask, ask, and you'll be a decade beyond your classmates.
- Business degree... like MBA?monospaced
- If you get your bach you can get a bAdmin and take care of your gen ed requirements all at once.formed
- They don't tell you, but if you have a dual major (or minor) the classes will meet two requirements. So you get biz classes and eliminate dumb gen edformed
- interestingmonospaced
- requirements. That's how it was for me, anyway. I didn't learn this until half way through, though, but it still saved a ton of classes and money.formed
- You don't need an MBA, but if you have a business degree your options will be a lot greater, and it can give you an understanding of clients, etc., earlier.formed
- Every business has a business guy, which is usually the designer with a biz degree. They are crucial and it can get you higher up, faster. My 2 cents, anyway.formed
- and even if you don't want to do "business stuff", it gives you insight into things that do really matter.formed
- I had my gen ed from a major university, so I blew through design school in 2 years basically. Only once I started freelancing did I feel I needed some bus. ed.monospaced
- I never cared for it, but having run my business for 12 years now, I actually like making pro formas and financial projections. I do with I had an MBA.formed