hellooo!
Im kinda new here and just found this amazing platform. I realise lots of you are very experted in art and have many experiences on doing art works and handicrafts while unfortunately i might not be one of you guys. I was always dedicated towards fully academics, as coming from a background where parents expectation are often high and u never want to do anything risky to disappoint them when talking about future career/jobs and salary etc. however since i was a kid i found myself really interested in visual problems solving, what i mean is like i always liked typographies and investigating fonts. in fact I do a lot of pretty calligraphies when bored during my lessons and when doing a coursework, sometimes i care about picking the best fonts more than the content itself and it just make me feeling so satisfied.
i always had a lot of ideas on how to make things more visually good looking e.g. when i go to a supermarket i can imagine a whole ‘glow up’ in the shops and keep tidying things up on the products shelves…somehow i might be very drawn to innovate something new, and deep down i prob hav a great desire to share my different ideas to everyone…
but no one had ever told me abt my abilty until recently one of my friend is doing art as a subject in a level and she complimented abt my calligraphies. Back then i never wanted to show them off becoz i didnt think i was even talented at all, and now i feel like i had been rejecting my creative side since idek when.
so recently im looking forward to apply for uni in the uk, and i cant stop considering about choosing design as my major. So i did loads of researches about the career paths after graduation and compared with other subjects like nursing, biological sci and psychology etc as im doing math and psychology a levels with a btec level 3 applied science.
And here it comes with the point that if i wanna get a design degree offer for most unis, i need a portfolio and this made me hesitate a lot, firstly im afraid that i dun have enough time to deal with a whole portfolio while i actually need to be academically good enough to go to the uni i desires; and secondly i just dunno if i can do it or not. At the end of the day i might a lil bit scared of stepping out to a creative field that im not rly familiar with and make it as my undergraduate profile.
can someone give me some guidance if u wdnt mind looking at my sketchings and calligraphies?
p.s. im not rly that good at oil painting and sculptures back then, my work was fine like a grade B in secondary skl but most of the ppl easily nailed those art paintings in an A grade, maybe thats y i dun hav much confident abt it.
p.s. most unis required a digital portfolio, so they prob expect me know sth abt adobe illustrator or other design softwares, but i actually dunno much, and my skl schedule is already stressing me out TAT
p.s.3 i need to start thinking about my personal statement and im freaking out help
if u read this until here i wanna say sry for my literal mistakes or whatever becoz im rushing this post tm and thank you for reading my post;D
Painting and sculpture abilities aren’t necessary for graphic design. They wouldn’t hurt, of course, but aren’t essential. The university college I attended was a visual fine arts school that also had a graphic design program, so I had to take lots of sculpture and painting classes in addition to graphic design. I don’t regret it, but in hindsight, I probably would have chosen a school a little more focused on design and a little less focused on fine art.
I’m in the U.S. and got a 2-year Associate degree in a science field before switching majors to design. I took a year off school to work, save money, and put together a portfolio that I hoped would get me accepted into the university’s design program. It worked.
Between then and now, I served on a few portfolio review committees. I came to realize that admissions weren’t determined by how much an applicant already knows. Instead, they’re primarily determined by the potential the work shows for the applicant to grow and thrive academically and professionally in the field.
That’s the easy part. As I mentioned, I’m in the US and I assume you’re in the UK, so maybe personal statement requirements are different. Here, they’re mostly a matter of writing something to persuade the review committee that you’re serious, eager, committed, and savvy about your motivations and what it will entail to succeed.
Whatever you do, don’t write that personal statement in the hurried and rushed style you used here. You’re articulate enough, but good writing, spelling, and grammar count for lot.
In the UK, back when I did it, the typical path was to do your A-levels (16-18 years old), then go onto a general art and design foundation course (1 year), where you learn many forms of visual art. This helps you determine what area you want to go in to (I always knew it was design before I even started) and even when you do specialise, it gives you a healthy understanding of different visual arts disciplines.
After this (and having a targeted portfolio you’ve built up over the year foundation), you apply to Universities to do a full three-year degree in graphic design. If you get on to a good foundation course, it will help guide you through the process anyway.
That’s similar to how my program worked here in the States, but the foundation year was spent at the university. At the end of the foundation year, students picked their area of specialization: drawing & painting, sculpture, printmaking, pre-architecture, art history, fiber, ceramics, photography or design.
Three years were spent focusing primarily on that specialization while simultaneously completing all the required liberal arts courses in the other colleges at the university.
