Hi everyone - glad to be here though quite intimidated by the calibre of design knowledge. I am new to GD & really “teaching myself” via online resources. It’s been both daunting and exciting. I’ve brought a big sweater for when I’m brave enough to share a design.
Thanks for the forum.
RimaRima
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Welcome Aboard 
Welcome to the forum.
wow thats great thing to do.
Thanks everyone
Welcome.
I always get a bit sceptical of anyone teaching themselves though. The is so much misinformation out there, there is no way of knowing if what you are teaching yourself is correct.
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@Sprout absolutely. I’m a teacher too and I caution my students about this all the time lol. I’ve been in media for a long time though so not totally new to the visual world of storytelling (I work in film). I’ve also worked closely with designers on numerous projects. I completely understand it’s not the same thing as doing it, having studied it and having tons of experience in design - that just invaluable.
I’m in awe of many designers out there and I know I’d need another lifetime to know what they do - and that’s not even talking natural talent.
But I guess this is how I’m entering - wide eyed and overwhelmed most of the time lol but also really loving the learning because I’m able to apply it in everyday work.
Sorry for the long note - but your message really got me thinking about how design - and other media forms like filmmaking, video editing etc - have been blown wide open with more accessible learning tools. And the challenges that come with this too.
Indeed. The industry is being completely undermined by an army of self-educated kids who think it is a cool career, so learn a bit of free software and call them selves designers. They get onto competition sites, hawking woefully inadequate skills for $50 to unsuspecting and ignorant clients. Neither of them have a clue what they are doing, so neither knows that what they produce / receive simply will not work.
The end result is that expectations are reduced and the lowest common denominator becomes the expected norm. The knock from this is that it becomes very difficult for clients to sort the wheat from the chaff when it comes to quality work, that will actually work for them. In addition, as the price expectation is reduced by the wannabes, they simply do not understand why a coherent project costs thousands.
‘My niece will do it for $50 and she’s good at art.’ Makes my blood boil. I know it will never happen, sadly, but I believe, like almost every other profession out there, the industry needs to be regulated so that you need to be qualified to be able to set up professionally – and not qualified from, dodgy private colleges, or the university of YouTube.; from accredited universities.
I remain cautiously hopeful, though somewhat sceptical, that the current race to the bottom will come full circle, but I’m not holding my breath.
That said, does not seem to have affected the top end of the industry. Good clients still need good designers and good design has always needed good clients. It just makes it a lot harder for good young designers to get to the top and be seen above the vast amount of ignorant the ‘I’m a designer because it says so on my website’ brigade.
… and you thought yours was a long post!