How would I go about being a graphic designer…?

I really want to go to school to become a graphic designer. I love art, and I love working with computers. I’ve taken every year of painting and drawing(8 to 11), photography 10, media arts 10 and am now taking media arts 11. My teacher is always saying I have potential, and even said he will pay for me to go to a 3 day long day camp in the summer to prepare and learn about yearbook making, which I’m taking as a course next year (grade 12). I will probably do this as it would be good on my resume…right?…and it will just be a good learning experience. What else could I do to prepare myself for a career in this field? What are some good schools I could go to after high school to get a good job? I live in the Vancouver BC area if anyone else here could suggest anything near…

Becoming one is easy, becoming good at it is another story. Since the advent of computer publishing software, any joe can “design” something and charge a few dollars for it and work at it part time — the market is heavily saturated with these people now, so in order to become successful, you have to be that much better these days. I’ve worked with a lot of people and companies since 1990 (when I graduated high school), many were pushed out by the computer by the time I finished college for graphic design (93-97), and many more disappeared after the dot-com boom. The ones that stayed strong were the ones with good business skills as well as conceptually-strong design thinking.

I’m in the Bay Area, Northern California, where there are probably more graphic designers here per capita than anywhere else. I don’t know of the schools in Vancouver, but I suggest talking to local working designers — stay away from the ones that always complain about the market being tough, because the market IS tough, you have to be good to make a good living out of it — more often than not, those people aren’t very good. Talk to people in the field, try to get a summer internship at a design firm — there’s a lot more to design than what you see in high school and in the final product than you think.

Do NOT let your lack of experience get in the way of you talking to working designers. A working designer will be impressed by your ambition, not your résumé. In this industry, who you know is just as important as what you know. Getting to know people is just as important as studying graphic design.

Do NOT listen to people say “you don’t need to go to school for graphic design.” Sure, there scientists and programmers that are self-taught, but the good ones are few and far-between. School is about making life-long connections with your peers just as it is about learning. I’ve been running my own design business for 8 years now and when I get a really large job, some of the people I love working with the most are people from college.

As for colleges, talk to your counselor. I went to CCA.edu a very good art school in Oakland and San Francisco. I’m not saying you have to go to an art school, but I don’t know you enough to suggest any schools for you. Many people in design end up working in very specific fields of design that match their other interests, (e.g., medical, entertainment, food, business, toys) so you may want to be in a school that offers non-art related studies as well to widen your scope of knowledge.

Good luck!

Nanaimo waterfront walkway daytrip from Living Forest Oceanside Campground Vancouver Island

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