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November 20, 2007

Hot For Teacher

I‘ve been thinking a lot about education in the field of graphic design. Having been out of school for three years (holy cow) my perspective has changed. Is it truly necessary to attend college to pursue graphic design? The Signals people don’t think so. I mean, isn’t design a lifestyle? Do we really need to slave through 2-4 years of student loans, text books, macaroni and cheese dinners, high blood pressure, sour professors, and meaningless grades? Don’t get me wrong: I have very few regrets about the path I chose in college. It was necessary, yet maybe not for every designer.

First, graphic design is a passion. It is art. We are pursuing an artistic endeavor every day. Never let anyone tell you otherwise. Our portfolios are what gets us hired. The majority of art directors I interviewed with honestly didn’t care about my education. They appreciated the fact that I could read, but never once did they mention my educational background. It was always, and will always be, all about the portfolio. Your work.

I will admit, school provides a wonderful foundation to build your portfolio. Especially if you’re still floundering in indecisions about your career choice. It’s okay to not be sure about your career decisions. That’s exactly what college is for. Decisions. That, and of course student fucking loans. But I digress. Experienced professors can provide the perfect projects to build a student portfolio. I remember way back when as I was working on each project never once considering what I was working towards. All I could see was the grade. Later I find out it’s really all bullshit. Grades are meaningless. Good professors push you to produce work that will land you a job. A good grade is earned if the effort is there.

The flip side? You can get better experience and (possibly) work through real clients. I dabbled in freelancing during school, but keeping an acedemic scholarship (aka earning my will to live on campus) had to come first. You can never replace real work with real clients. Student work is just that: student work. You’re in a bubble. It might not seem cozy, but it’s quite a secure place to do anything you want. Real world client-inspired work is what any art director hopes to see in a student portfolio.

The upside to freelancing? Real work. The downside? Well, it kind of depends on the individual, but you run the risk on not taking a project to a place it’d otherwise go with a professor’s supervision. Their job is to art direct you without really art directing. They make sure your piece won’t be a complete piece of crap. Trust me, I produced some real steamers early on.

Second, I think a lot of the decision to attend a university lies in our inability to choose a profession. God bless those who’ve made up their minds about being a designer. I’ll admit, I wasn’t sold on the notion until my third semester. I needed that time to feel completely confident in my decision. It was the perfect environment to make such an important decision, and I really don’t know how long that decision would have taken outside of school. Assuming good professors are there to really listen and guide, a decision like that is quite daunting. Not every designer is born thinking sans serifs.

In the end, as best as I can tell, if you already feel confident this is the profession you want to dedicate your life to you’re better off reading every design book you can find and build that portfolio. Universities will only pile debt onto your lap. However, if you’re on the fence about it, school is the perfect opportunity to experience the kind of work you’ll most likely pursue, pick the brains of professors who’ve been there, and generally get a taste hopefully to your liking.

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