I see, thanks for your feedback!
Here’s another thing far too many design students find out far too late.
Graphic design isn’t about Art. You say you like drawing and painting, which is all well and good, I happen to believe a graphic designer should know how to draw. But the Art side of Graphic Design is more about using your ability to “see” artistically while actually communicating what your client needs to communicate to their customer base demographic. The job is more a communication puzzle to be solved rather than application of your Art. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that as a GD you get to be all artistically creative. You will find yourself constrained by the realities of having to do business in a capitalistic world. Your art has to make your client money, or it is not successful.
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Yes, but I wouldn’t put the Affinity suite in the same category as Inkscape or compare it to a cheap piano keyboard. In some ways, the Affinity software is superior to and simpler to use than the Adobe counterparts. If Adobe weren’t the de facto standard, I’d likely choose Affinity over Adobe more often than not.
That’s neither here nor there, but @yoidki, you mentioned the Adobe software being financially challenging, which it is. As PrintDriver said, practicing on other similar software in light on not having Adobe CC is doable. The three Affinity products (equivalent to Illustrator, InDesign and Photoshop) are only $50 apiece with no monthly fees. Unfortunately, their special half-off, $25 pricing ends today, but if you hurry, it’s still available. For what it’s worth, I’ve recently seen job announcement requiring Affinity product proficiency right along side Adobe CC proficiency. There’s enough similarity between the Affinity and Adobe suites, that moving from one to the other isn’t all that difficult.
The creativity needed to solve those communication puzzles is, like art, a creative endeavor, so even though graphic design isn’t about one’s art, it does involve many of the same creative processes. There’s also the creativity (or frustration) that occurs when working with a client or employer. It’s often a matter of educating clients and employers and/or selling them on new solutions that they can’t quite envision themselves.
For example, a client might come to me saying she needs a brochure with photos of horses. After studying the problem, it becomes apparent that a better, more effective solution might be a ten-second video of horses to play on their website and social media accounts. Some clients are totally open to new ideas. Others much less so and regard designers as their paid hired hands rather than as professional experts.
All this considered my approach to my art still plays a role. I’m good at certain styles and not so good at others, and that’s largely a matter of me having personal interests in those things that appeal to me and neglecting those things I have little interest in pursuing. I also need to rely on my own artistic judgment regarding what works aesthetically. If I’ve recently become enamored with a new typeface or color combination, those things will typically work their way into my design work in ways that not only placates my artistic urges but also works for the client.
My comment re Art is the same as it always is.
Far too many design students find out after graduating then getting into their first job that “OH! You mean I can’t do whatever I want?” In college, GD students are given far too much latitude in their selection of projects and way too much leeway in interpretation. A good number find out that doing “styles” they don’t like or being constrained by Brand Guidelines is not for them. After sinking over $40K into a degree.
If all you’re doing is saying, “I don’t want to teach K–12, but I do want to be a designer,” well, with those kinds of all-encompassing thought processes, yeah, the prospects could look disappointing since all the nuances are overlooked — nuances that might contain possibilities where you could be ideally qualified by leveraging your education degree with a design degree.
You mentioned a Masters Degree in design. There might very well be a good program at some university that specifically caters to individuals like yourself. That wasn’t my experience, but that’s not to say my MFA program is like all others. Have you checked around?
With your BA, you already have your general education classes out of the way, so you might find a school where you could get another BA or a BFA in design in just a couple of years rather than four. Instead of a Bachelors and Masters degree, you’d have two Bachelors degrees, but so what; it would still look pretty good on a resume.
Just this morning I came across a job announcement on LinkedIn that was labeled as “Instructional Designer.” It was a position at one of the online learning platforms (Skillshare or Pluralsite or something), that needed someone to design the visuals that accompany online learning courses. Someone with a BA in teaching and a BA in graphic design could be an absolutely ideal candidate for a job like that.
Don’t give up so easily. Just go into it with your eyes wide open then explore all the possible options, as well as the pitfalls. Approach it as a design project where you’re researching the possibilities for your own future. Then develop a realistic strategy on how to get there.
Adobe does offer a free trail for 30 days. Additionally you can get free software alternatives. These programs work similarly, but are not widely used professionally. I’d suggest getting them to “mess around” and practicing general concepts within design before you invest in Adobe’s products.
I’d also urge you to read up on design as much as possible. Graphic design is not a licensed profession. With enough hours put it, you could do it freelance. This is the long way to build a career, but it is possible with a lot of effort.
My no-cost (except time) recommendation is to take one of these free online graphic design courses, using either the Adobe software trials or free software and read a few books on the topic of design before you consider a career change.
I find that many people enter graphic design thinking it is the same as being a graphic artists. I’d also suggest you read this article, “Graphic Artists vs. Graphic Designer,” for a basic understanding of the difference.
OK, thanks. I might have misunderstood your original reply. Those are good ideas and I appreciate your time and advice!
Thanks for those, I’ll definetly take a look! I did actually do one of those courses, on ShawAcademy and I just want to say incase anyone comes across this, don’t do it. They make it very difficult to cancel the trial and will try to sneak as much money out of you as possible. 
So I’m a bit wary of those courses now but maybe I was just a little stupid. Thanks again!
Graphic Designing is the craft and exercise of planning, in which designers create visible and text to speak with precise messages. In different terms, Graphic designing is the technique of interacting with thoughts and visible messages. It is an important a part of the virtual world.
- Introduction to Graphic Designing Course with shaping, layout, and illustration
- Importance of Typography, Image Layout & Effects, Page Layouts, Photo Editing and set up
- Detailed know-how of Graphic Designing software program and equipment like Adobe Flash, Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw, and InDesign
- Learn to layout the branding portfolio for customers like Logo, Visiting Business Cards, Flyers, Digital Cards, Brochures
- Learn Video Editing
That’s quite a leap business cards and brochures to learning video editing???
(*wait for it…)
Without video editing, you’re just a graphic designer. With it, you’ll be a graphic designinger.
I so did not need the implied visual…
Precisely.
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I think you mean perxactly!
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Firstly, welcome. However…
I find it a little odd that you begin by expressing envy at having a graduate degree, then go on to advise against a formal education.
I am afraid I have to disagree entirely. I understand the financial arguments against, a university education, but if you can afford it, a good degree from a good university (not one of those shonk, online ones, where a degree is hardly worth the paper it’s written on) will help you stand out and moreover teach you things (most of) the self-taught don’t know (and their work usually exposes). Of course their are always going to be exceptions to the rule, but in the main every designer I know who has had a long, successful career began by going through the design education system.
Currently, the market is so saturated with under-qualified, mediocre and shockingly poor designers, that the ones with a good education usually stand out a mile. If I were hiring, of course the portfolio is paramount, but unless I was completely wowed by someone without one, I’d always pick someone with a good degree. Aside from the practical differences, having a degree shows a level commitment. Additionally, I’d know straight away, they’d be versed in critical thinking, have an understanding of theory, have some academic knowledge of history, etc, etc, in a way that those who graduate from the university of youtube, usually don’t.
Yeah, I know it can be unpopular to say that out loud, but my guess is that 90-plus percent of the best designers I’ve worked with have university design degrees.
One problem with teaching oneself is that the teacher doesn’t know any more about the subject than the student. People tend to focus and study what they like to the exclusion of what they don’t like as much and probably need to study the most.
There are lots of good online videos and various quick courses in this or that, but short of slogging one’s way through a structured sequence of comprehensive courses in a well-thought-out multi-year program, there are likely going to be significant holes in one’s education.
There’s an unfortunate practical side to a relevant university degree as well — many employers tend to screen out those without a degree before they’re even interviewed. One could have an absolutely stellar portfolio, but it it’s not seen by the right people, it’s not going to carry much weight.
One final difference… I’ve found that many designers who skip the accredited college route tend to concentrate on software skills, which are much easier to master than the more difficult aesthetic judgment, typography and critical thinking skills in which university design students spend most of their time. I’ve said this before, but the majority of one’s learning in a formal design program takes place during the critiques, which are largely absent in a self-directed learning program.
As Sprout said, however, there are exceptions to all of this, but this is a difficult field to break into, even with a college degree. Without that degree, it becomes just that much more difficult.
Worst advice ever! The amount of very bad youtube tutorials out there - amateurs thinking they’re experts, teaching other hopeful amateurs.
You will only pick up bad advice and bad habits!
There are really good sources, liked Creative Pro Network, Linkedin Learning (formerly Lynda.com), and a few others.
But don’t rely on youtube videos for tutorials!
My excuse; It was 4 in the morning.
I can’t tell you the amount of energy I have expended over the years, being irate over both the poor use of apostrophes and, there, they’re, their travesties. Ta-da!
If there was ever an object lesson in not setting yourself on a pedestal, that would be it. Oh, the shame.
Hair-shirts and self-flagellation for you, my boy.
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I have found YouTube tutorials sometimes useful for answering specific questions or, in some of the better ones, providing insight into certain areas. I wouldn’t, however, suggest using them as the basis for one’s design education.