The right combination of schooling and experience, plus a whole lot of talent.
And a whole lot of luck.
The problem right now is that most schools that offer design degrees make absolutely no effort to determine if students are right for the program. They don’t fail students who don’t make their deadlines. They only take their money and run. A lot of them don’t even require an admissions portfolio or pre-admission skills requirement. A lot of them don’t offer structured internships. And most unfortunately, most of them are taught without any regard to the actual working conditions and requirements for producing the graphics in the real world. They are more arts focused.
In my many years in this industry, it’s actually been the tiny handful of interns that were going to a trade high school who were most thoroughly educated in graphic design. Far more than college students because the trade school kids actually worked in a working printshop within the school BEFORE being allowed on the computers to design. Sadly, that course no longer exists at the school. It’s all about the intertoobs now.
And even more sadly, those kids today would need a college degree even to be considered for a job opening at any kind of agency.
As far as free design resources go, two things.
- You often get what you pay for.
- The artists offering the free stuff know exactly what they are going to get for their hard work. Some get off on the thrill of their stuff being used.
As far as using free stuff, hey, it’s out there. If it suits your design and you do your due diligence on the provenance and actual acquisition of the piece, that’s fine. But free, and to some extent high royalty stock items, can be…uh…not original source. Buyer beware!
As far as cheapening the industry, I’m with Mojo. I just don’t care. Same for crowdsource. There is obviously a market there. They deserve each other.