Hi all, I’m looking for advice please.
I’m considering doing a course with Schillington Education in graphics design. 9 months for $7k which is expensive.
Does anyone have experience with this provider?
I they recognised in the industry as being a worthwhile trainer?
If not them, any other suggestions for best GD training providers?
Thanks so much for your help.
Oli
I just glanced at their website and it’s going to be a no for me dawg.
While their website seems well put together and they’ve done a great job convincing their audience that their operation is worth the investment, a 4-year degree is still the standard in getting a design job.
I did however see a headline the other day about Google and Apple dropping their degree requirements, but don’t expect every company to follow suite with the Silicon Valley model. Also, I’m sure the non-degree requirement, for tech companies, is more beneficial from a programming perspective than a design one.
The program you’re looking at is only 3 months long. Yes it’s 9 months if you go part-time, but 3 months worth of full-time curriculum is what you’ll be getting. I truly don’t think someone can be job ready for the design field in 3 months or even 9 months for that matter.
I would say this is not worth the investment especially since it appears to not be online. Not that I’m a fan of online education, but there will be other expenses that come about should you be going to this program; room and board, food, entertainment, etc. Do you live near their facility?
If you have made your mind up already and want to pursue Schillington, then I suggest seeing if you can reach out to some of their recent graduates. Here’s a list of their most successful graduates; I’d be curious to see how this list compares to their most unsuccessful graduates.
Good luck!
Hi calebninja,
Thanks very much for your input - very valuable and appreciated. I’m not committed yet, there is still time for me to consider other options.
I’d love to hear more thoughts and opinions if people have some to give please.
Kind regards,
Oli
Learning design, or any field where artistic talent is developed, takes time. It’s not just a matter of cramming stuff into a several-months-long course of study — it’s a matter of practice and putting in the hours. There’s really no shortcut that doesn’t involve thousands of hours of practice under the supervision of those further along in the field.
Judging from the link, it looks like you’re in Australia. Here in the U.S., it’s become very difficult to break into the field without a 4-year design degree from a fully accredited university. I could be wrong, but I’m assuming an equivalent degree is equally important in Australia.
A bachelor’s degree isn’t strictly necessary, but from a purely practical point of view, the chances of making it in this field without that degree are really pretty low. A certificate of graduation from a 3- or 9-month program, as good as that program might be, is meaningless when it comes to satisfying a company’s requirements of having a bachelor’s degree in design.
In other words, I agree with Calebninja.
I would ask myself what I wanted to get out of the experience. If my goal was to learn a little about design and try to figure out if this is possible career path, I’d go for it. $7k for 3 months of full-time Mon-Fri school works out to about $115 per day of instruction. Around here in LA, that’s about what it costs to send a kid to high end summer camp, or to catholic high school.
I don’t think this is a place I’d go if I needed to be immediately hired into a decent-paying position though. There is so much competition out there among people with diplomas, I don’t see much advantage in a certificate and portfolio that only took 60 work days to develop. But maybe that’s a regional thing, and the job prospects are different elsewhere.
I also think it’s interesting the Yelp reviews on the NY campus were written by people with only 1 review to their credit.
Hi Just-B,
Thanks very much for your words of wisdom. Yes, I’m in Oz. I’m currently studying to attain a Bachelor of Arts in Literature and Media Studies but have found a real joy and seem to have some talent in producing artwork using my Cintiq. I’m currently favouring anime type art and naturally need to learn more about different styles to diversify my skill set. I am spending all of my spare time drawing and getting hundreds of hours of practice.
So, taking this course would be a post-grad kind of thing, although perhaps in quite a different field.
I should ask professionals around here if a Bachelor in Graphic Design is an absolute must of if a portfolio of drawings and a demonstrated willingness to learn would perhaps get my foot in the door.
Thanks again, I really appreciate the time you took to help me think through this.
Kind regards,
Oli
Hi Mojo,
You make some very valid points. When you break it down like that it doesn’t seem like a totally ridiculous amount of money, so long as the instruction/tuition is solid. They promise that their tutors are currently working in the industry and are professionals in their field, so that’s kind of got me interested - if it’s legit. Their angle seems to be to teach you what you actually need to know for the industry, rather than fluffing around at Uni where half the subjects may only be vaguely related to what you want to learn. Of course a 3 or 9 month course won’t make me a pro (I imagine nor will a 4-year degree, but it’s got a better chance) and a LOT of extra time and practice and talent is needed to enter into the industry. I’m keen and willing to put in the hard work.
You’re right about the reviews - I haven’t found a lot.
Thanks also for taking time to help out - very valuable.
Kind regards,
Oli
Sounds like you’re more interested in being an illustrator than a designer. They’re related but different things. Many good designers are not particularly adept at drawing.
Not too many companies hire illustrators as permanent employees any longer. My wife is an illustrator who lost her job at a daily newspaper and was unable to find permanent work elsewhere. She’s doing something totally different now.
Freelance illustrators are mostly judged on their portfolios of work since that’s all that really matters. You might say the same thing about designers, but designers tend to get hired as permanent employees at companies with human resources departments who operate under hiring guidelines. Freelance designers, of course, are in a different situation.
Where I work, for example, we’ve typically been getting over 100 applicants for every design opening. There’s no way we can interview 100-plus people or look through hundreds of portfolios arriving in various ways, so our HR people do the initial screening based on whatever criteria we’ve created for the job.
Two of the most efficient ways of cutting the applicant numbers down to manageable levels is to draw cut-off lines, like must have 4-year degree in relevant field and XX years of experience.
This undoubtedly eliminates some talented applicants, but it goes a long ways toward ensuring that those we’ll be interviewing or asking for a portfolio meet the minimum standards and can begin being productive with very minimal training.
Unfortunately, for everyone else, this has become a very common procedure at many agencies and companies. There’s just a huge over-abundance of designers with bachelor’s degree in design and with impressive student internships. Anyone without a degree will be competing (and generally losing) against them when looking for work. I don’t know if that’s the case down under.
When it comes to hiring an illustrator, for us, it’s always a freelance thing where we care a whole lot more about demonstrated ability and a style that’s appropriate for the job at hand.
I don’t like to be pessimistic, but from a purely practical standpoint looking at the numbers, the odds aren’t in one’s favor when trying to take shortcuts into graphic design.
Hi Just-B,
That is really valuable advice. Thanks very much for taking the time to respond in such a comprehensive way.
Yes, illustrating is perhaps more of what I’d want to do, but hey - if I have to broaden my skill set to gain employment in the industry or related industries, then I’m keen to learn.
Kind regards,
Oli
Hi Oli,
Hope you are well. i was wondering if you ended up doing this training course, i am interested in it and whiling to know what you did and your final thoughts,
thanks
flor
Hello Oli,
Same here, wondering too if you end up taking the course! If not have you find another option? Your feedback will be much appreciated, thank you.
Hi, Oli ( and anyone who is thinking about studying at Shillington),
I teach part-time for Shillington and have been teaching for three years.
I also used to have this myth that design needs a 4 year-degree having done so myself in one of the most prestigious art schools in NYC.- Pratt Institute for a BFA degree in Communication Design.
Art school expense in NYC plus tuition is no joke…My parents spent 50k+ a year on tuition alone not including my living expanse in NYC.
Did it help me? Of course, being fresh out of high school art school cultivates you to be a creative thinker, observer, etc. I needed it when I was 17. Also, the confidence you get from graduation from a top-notch school is really comforting. It also helped me get my first internship and my first job in NYC, because lots of agencies love to hire from the top schools- Pratt / Parson/ SVA/ RISD / Calart etc…
Can I have achieved that from studying at Shillington when I was 17? I don’t think so. But that’s really because I WAS 17, no life experience and was like a sponge that needs lots of cultivation.
I have seen people get hired just because of their Portfolio alone, once I left that snobbish bubbles of NYC I have never get asked once where I went to school or of my diploma! People only care about my portfolio! You either have good work or you don’t.
Would I go back to spend 4 years in an Art school again? Yes! Because it was so much fun, and I didn’t have to go on a student loan or debt for it. If your family can’t help you, or you can’t get financial aid then I would suggest you not to go to an expensive 4-year art school. I have many many many classmates who got forever debt to pay with not so great jobs…some even don’t do design anymore.
If you have life experience, you are already a well-rounded person, and you are very curious and love design/art and I would highly suggest Shillington to you.
I have real-life evidence that most of my students got their first job and some in famous studios immediately after graduating because their folios are great! Some don’t go into design or get a job in design, some do, it’s just life, it depends so much more on your personality and your drive.
So, if you have a natural curiosity and drive to learn, and you have already done your personal growing, then go ahead come join us at Shillington!
The course is updated EVERY YEAR with the most relevant and updated content. All of our teachers are practicing designers in the industry that work so hard to make the course fun and digestible for beginners. And we have two teachers per class. Small class size and lots of time with the teachers.
Personally, I think Shillington is a well-designed design course that is suitable for people who want to change gear. It covers design thinking, critique + technical skills. 4 years Art school focuses more on thinking and critique, I learned the technical skill myself.
Also we have online course now 
Hope this helps.
I’ve never lived in NYC, but of the eight or nine design jobs I’ve had over the past 40 years here in Utah, all but one required a bachelor’s degree — the last one asked for a master’s. In my previous four jobs, where I was either in charge of design, creative, or communications, we never interviewed anyone who didn’t have a relevant 4-year degree. HR automatically culled them from the list before we saw their portfolios.
Your experience has seemingly been different. I’m not arguing — just saying that not all our experiences are identical, making generalized advice problematic.
I will say, though, that with the cost of today’s 4-year degrees, student debt, far-less-than-certain job prospects, and meager salaries for beginning- and mid-level designers, I’m not sure that this field is a practical bet any longer — with or without a degree.
My own personal experience:
I spent 2.5 years out of school as a screenprinter.
I then decided I wanted to learn the graphic design side of it, at least the part where you created artwork, and then output film, created the screen and handed it over to the screenprinter.
The opportunity lacked for me where I was. And I was in a good paid job as a screenprinter. But it wasn’t good enough for me, I wanted more.
I found a course run by our Government, here in Ireland, it used to be called FÁS (pronounced f-auce (like sauce with an f)). It has since been dissolved.
The Government run course offered a chance to do a 6-month course - but they paid you! I got paid to learn, it was like a 6-month full time job.
On the back of this introductory course I was able to build a small portfolio and apply for jobs as an Apprentice (or the more modern term is probably an Intern).
Actually, what happened was I got a job as a prepress operator first, in a printing place that had both litho and screen printing - it was a small place. But I was in the office where I wanted to be - working on artwork, producing plates for litho, and producing artwork for the screen printers.
It was great, it was where I wanted to be.
But I got a phone call about a month in - and a printing company I had applied for asked if I was interested in an Apprenticeship (intern).
Initially, I turned it down. I explained I already had taken employment and wasn’t interested. I went back to my desk and about an hour went by and I wasn’t comfortable at all. I called back to the company and asked to speak to the person who called and asked if there was a chance I could still come for the interview.
Luckily, he agreed.
In Ireland, an Apprenticeship is taken very seriously. It’s a Government run scheme.
The job I had gotten as an apprentice was off the back of a 6 month course - learning Quark, Illustrator and Photoshop.
I was no expert. But my portfolio was good enough, it showed basic skills in keylines, imposition, design, photoshop manipulation, illustration, photography etc.
Back to the Apprenticeship.
The Government run scheme of Apprenticeships was great, ok the pay was very low at the start. But it also involved 6 months in work - then 6 months scheduled full time in College.
I went to a college called DIT Bolton Street. And this was over 4 years, where I spent 6 months in work, 6 months in college - on and off for the 4 years.
This gave me the best of both worlds. On the job training and also college learning.
To be completely honest, I felt the College side of it was absolutely shit!
I learned so much more on the job. The people I was in college with were not interested. Nobody paid attention. Out of 10 of us in the class at the end of the 4 years I was on the only one that passed.
I was the only one interested.
I did feel the college portion of it was useless. I learned so much more working in the field. I was working with experienced typesetters, designers, prepress operators, proofreaders, printers, manual impositions (before computers), and all that amazing stuff.
The printing shop was a wonderland to me, machines clanking, busy, mechanical processes, it was amazing.
College - BORING!
Will anyone have the same experience as me - probably not.
Here’s my advice.
Get experience in learning the basics
On the left of the below site select your country
For example - Adobe is the leading industry standard for a lot of design work.
But it really depends on what you want to do as a designer.
And find an Accredited Learning Partner.
Another great resource - if you do find a course you’re doing find out what software they are using - and brush up on the basics so that you don’t find it a struggle when it comes to learning the material and get bogged down in using the software.
https://www.lynda.com/
The Lynda.com site is very good - there’s more than just learning the software. They offer courses in Logo design, colour theory, etc.
And if you can prove it - you can get the Creative Cloud for cheaper if you’re a student.
Adobe Creative Cloud for students and teachers | Adobe Creative Cloud!!g!!adobe%20teacher%20student%20edition&gclid=Cj0KCQjw7pKFBhDUARIsAFUoMDbN6Uds0rQwaiUGAmQjf480QhEENZrrbBgTr3XOxIyxVH92w4HvF4caAlTsEALw_wcB
I spent ten years living and working in London. No one ever asked about my degree, which irked me at first, until someone pointed out that I’d have never even got through the door without it.
Ultimately, whether you do as I and others have, and go the degree route, or learn via industry, there are no short cuts. As Just-B says, It takes time. I’d never hire anyone with just a three month course and no industry experience. Too big a risk, when there are plenty of talented people out there with good degrees.
Even if someone has a great looking portfolio, three months is not enough to learn what you need to in order to work, professionally. Even three years is not enough!
This …
Thank you for your input. I am speaking from my personal experience as a designer of 10 years.
I have worked in NYC, Hong Kong, Melbourne, and Sydney and I worked at advertising at first and that’s the only time HR asked for proof of my degrees.
And I have hired my own students, and some of the Shillington graduates got a job in Buck / Design Studio / Re/ For the people and other agencies alike. I am not trying to discredit your experience and 4 years bachelor’s degree, I am only saying that the industry is changing rapidly. And a traditional art school education is probably not for everyone.
People have come out of art schools and not ready for the industry ( I was one of them), and Shillington has a very practical approach to design education. Of course, it is also up to the students to go train their own thinking, getting your design/ art history knowledge on your own.
It is also saying a lot that some of my students did graduate from 4-year traditional art schools, but then couldn’t find a good job, so they come to Shillington to upskill and expand their folio.
I am not trying to sell anything to anyone, I just want to offer my experience as an insider from both a traditional art school and Shillington.
I agree, it is only my personal experience, but I just want to tell the OP that from my experience a bachelor degree is not necessary to secure a design job.
Studying design and art has been super expensive, but I am personally really happy that we are getting more opportunities to work as a designer without the expensive art schools. I am a firm believer that high education is not a solid ticket to financial security. And not everyone needs University. Even though it worked for me .
Personally I didn’t get into design just for making money, it wasn’t a financial decision for me. But I love my job and can make a decent living with it. I got to traveled a lot and still work around the world. Not many other professions allow you do to that. I got to help my clients creating their business. I personally wouldn’t switch to another more financially secured job
Of course my personal experience is a few years old now and the industry is changing. There are a lot more under-qualified, under-experienced people calling themselves designers without having done any of the hard yards, which is why I would be wary of hiring anyone with so little experience, be it educational, or practical.
Likewise, not to decry your experience – and after all, that’s all any of us ever has, which is why this place is so good, to get a cross-section of different experiences – but, naturally you are going to be championing something that you are part of, otherwise you wouldn’t be part of it. All, I can say, is I would be very unlikely to hire someone with so little experience – unless I didn’t have time to make my own tea. They would need a lot more experience and knowledge before I would let them anywhere near any clients.
All that said, from what I can see from the site, it looks a whole lot better than many other non-accredited university courses out there, in terms of calibre of work – and certainly, a lot better than, ‘I’m a pro designer and I learned everything I know from YouTube.’ I have to agree, some of the work does look far more polished than some I’ve seen with a degree.
I maintain, though, that three months is just not enough time. Still, I’d more look at a portfolio that looked like this, than many I’ve seen.
I wouldn’t drop 7k on an education. Not a chance.
I’d be advocating for industry placement with a commitment to offsite study and courses paid for in part or full by the employer.
All being fine in my part of the world but other corners of the globe it is different.
Nobody expect someone new to the industry to hit the ground running.
I’ve hired art students based on their portfolio only to find out their portfolio was a 4 year project… And posters, brochures had a 4 year time scale.
I wouldn’t have the time for someone to spend 4 hours on a poster let alone days, let alone weeks, let alone years.
I’ve had people hired to my care who couldn’t even create a text frame. I had another who was hired having a fashion degree. Nothing to do with anything.
Point is look for an employer who will back you.
You can get a job on the back of a nice portfolio, and if you some sort of course whether it’s a year or 6 months or 3 months, it shows the ability to learn digest, pass, succeed in learning.
That’s what I look for.
I’d be far more impressed with someone who produced portfolio pieces in 3 months than someone who spent 4 years creating them and the portfolio.
I have only ever been impressed with one college graduate that I worked with for two years and the passion was insane, the skill level was through the roof. She left for a top design agency and I just said best of luck, she was far too good for what we were doing.
One, in 25 years. Its hard to believe.
My criteria for a new hire fresh out of the gates is aptitude, attitude, and passion.
Everything else they can learn as it progresses.
Find an employer who backs you, backs your college ambitions and backs you financially for courses and education.