10 Jan 4 Pieces of Advice to Graphic Design Students
4 Pieces of Advice to Graphic Design Students
A graphic design degree from a reputable university is not an absolute necessity.
When a recruiter considers you for a job in the sector, they won’t care what degree you got or didn’t get.
They will want you to demonstrate your skills and creativity through specific tasks during the interviewing process.
However, most professionals with full-time jobs in graphic design hold at least a BA degree.
If you chose to take graphic design courses at school, you shouldn’t be disappointed.
You’re getting a solid foundation for building skills.
So how can students get through graphic design colleges?
It’s not an easy journey. We’ll suggest a few tips from the pros, who already succeeded in the industry.
4 Tips for Graphic Design Students
1 – Be Proactive towards Your Future Career
If you look around, you’ll notice two types of students in the lecture hall:
● Those who are passive towards their future career. They listen to the lectures, and they complete all projects on time. They enrolled in a university to learn graphic design, and they are doing their best to master the theory and develop some practical skills. However, they don’t work on actual projects just yet.
● Some students are proactive in their future career. They still attend lectures and learn the theory. However, they implement their skills most practically. They are taking on freelancing gigs and building their portfolio while they are at university. This is the kind of student with higher chances for success right after graduation.
2 – Work on Your Portfolio
A graphic designer needs two portfolios – a digital one and a physical one.
The physical portfolio will feature your work in print.
It’s for examples of projects, digital design, and manipulated photographs. It’s a useful thing to have during the job application process.
The digital portfolio will feature your work online.
You can build your own website that will help you work on your personal brand.
By the time you’re out of university, you’ll already have a reputation in the graphic design industry.
This means that you have to work on your own projects while you’re still at school.
You may not have time for math homework, essays, and everything else your professors assign.
You’ll mostly focus on graphic design.
But don’t worry. You can do what most other students do: hire Edubirdie.
It’s a writing service that will help you with all types of homework, so you can focus on what matters for your career: design projects.
3 – Find Your Personal Style
Massimo Vignelli is a name that every graphic designer should remember.
If you analyse his work, you’ll notice that his recognisable, functional design characterises each piece.
Check the work of any other famous designer, and you’ll notice the same thing: they have a unique touch.
Throughout your studies, you’ll want to experiment with different styles and forms. That’s okay. You should experiment.
But you should also find your personal voice and keep specific elements of your design consistent throughout the portfolio.
4 – Put Graphic Design to the Service of User Experience
During the graphic design process, you decide what the outcome will look like.
You arrange different elements in your layout to get an appearance that you like.
At this point, you should be able to transition from graphic to UX design.
User experience design puts graphic design to use.
It brings your focus to the way users will see your design and interact with it.
You might love a project very much from an artistic point of view.
But if it’s not what the audience wants, it will be useless.
If there’s no user experience design at your school, try to learn as much as possible through online resources.
Then, combine your knowledge and skills into designs that are useful for the audience.
Make Your Studies as Useful as Possible!
Your degree in graphic design means nothing if you don’t benefit from your studies.
It’s great to have experts teaching you what they know. However, you can’t solely focus on studying.
It would help if you worked on your own projects in the meantime, so you’ll be able to apply for significant positions as soon as you graduate.
Graphic design is a heavily demanded skill. It’s also a very competitive niche, with brilliant designers from all around the world competing for the same positions.
To prove you’re better, you need both knowledge and experience. Use your time at university to learn and practice!
Author Bio: Joshua Robinson is a freelance writer and editor. He loves art, and he loves writing blog posts about it. Education is Joshua’s main focus, so he often writes posts that inspire students to be more effective in their studies.
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