I want to become a graphic designer in the near future. What should I do?

Question

I'm 16-years-old and I'm going to become a junior in Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, New York this year. I want to become a graphic designer and I want to find out how to become one in the near future... so it would be my job for life.

I need to know where should I register my name and who should I talk to about this. I also need to know what good colleges/institutes/universities in New York teach graphic designing and would test me for my ability. And I need to know what courses/subjects are necessary to be with a good grade in order to achieve something that will open the door for me to have the opportunity of being in the designer's crew.

Anyway, just tell me what to do cause I really hate just wasting my summer doing nothing. I'd really appriciate it and give you 10 points for it. Thank You!

Answer 1

The most important things for a graphic designer are A. an eye for what looks good and B. knowledge of the tools (software). I am a graphic designer, and I could not survive without knowing: Illustrator, InDesign, PhotoShop and Quark, but I also know Visio, FrontPage, Dreamweaver and other applications that help me do my job. It's important to understand color theory (the difference between spot color (e.g., Pantone colors) and process color (CMYK or RGB)). It's also VERY important to know how to prepare your files for a print vendor. You can't just send a file, you need to bundle up all the fonts and graphics used as well.

What you'll need to do is start building a portfolio so that you can SHOW people what you can do. Invitation, brochures, ads, etc. are important pieces to include.

It's a plus if you can also work with web designers to provide their graphic pieces, or design websites yourself.

The finest art schools (in my opinion) would be the Rhode Island School of Design, or Parsons. You can get a graphics degree at most institutions, however, and big name schools don't necessarily mean anything in this field. I majored in Biology at Smith and have an M.A. in science education from Columbia, so all my graphics skills were learned on the fly and in specific training courses. I've been in the biz for almost 10 years.

Good luck!

Answer 2

I have a Bachelor's in ComSci and then I went back to collge for graphic design.

My first piece of advice is to be careful. Don't invest $$$ in a big-name university degree if all you want to do is basic Graphic Design. The average Graphic Design job does not pay alot of money. I can't speak for your city, but in my area I might only get $10/hr if I worked for someone. There's just no way for a new grad to pay on big college loans and only earn $10/hr.

A bachelor's degree is always a good idea, but don't feel as if you must have one to do Design.

Check into the qualifications local companies want and earn them. Watch your local paper's classifieds to see what they expect their Graphic Designers to have.

One option is to do freelance work. You can demand $50, $100, or more per hour once you're established. The bad news is that you'll be spending half your time (time you can't bill for) doing bookkeeping, collections, promotion, and administrative work. If you are intersted in this route, take some good business classes in addition to Design.

Right now you have some options. If you're exceptionally gifted, ask around and see if anyone will give you an internship (paid or not). If you want to get more skills first, take a class or two on design. Mature highschool kids are allowed in lower level college classes, so this might be an option. If you're good at teaching yourself, find a good (up to date) design, Photoshop, or layout book. Work through it doing every exercise.

Graphic design isn't just about layout. You'll need to know the art of design, layout, whitespace, general art concepts, composition, etc. You'll need a basic understanding of images, Photoshop, color, color space. You'll need excellent English skills because you won't last long if you put out ads/designs full of spelling errors. You also need a little bit of technical background in order to understand things like why a color looks one way in real life, different in the camera, different in the screen, and different again on your CMYK printers.

One tip is to stay creative. Build your own portfolio right now of the stuff you like that you did. Look at other design and think about what does and doens't work about it. Become sensitive to color, shape, & composition. Buy a sketch pad and just doodle alot. You don't need a $5,000 computer or a $2,000 printer to do good work.

Best of luck to you! It's a fun line of work.

Answer 3

Get Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator. Get to know them both.

The Photoshop/Illustrator Bibles are a wonderful resource.

Look into some local art schools and see what ones have graphic design programs. You're in NY, I am sure there are plenty of great ones!

In the mean time take art classes if your school doesn't offer any graphic design classes. They will help you more than you know.

Good Luck!

Answer 4

Well, if you really want to not waste your summer (which is almost over, by the way), why not go to your local library and do some research on this field that you say you're so interested in.

First of all, do you have any artistic ability? Have you spent your life drawing, painting, or doing anything artistic? If not, it's a bit odd that you suddenly decided that graphic design would be your "job for life."

Answer 5

1

Answer 6

dude, you hate doing nothing but you'd let random people on the internet give you the roadmap for your future education? that's being lazy. a post secondary institution is something that'll cost you a lot of money and time, and you should do your own research just to be safe. Don't build your plans on stuff you hear in the net.

Answer 7

Try looking for summer activity schools.

Answer 8

a lot of colleges have summer programs for kids to learn stuff like that... might wanna check into that.... best chance is trying community colleges first

Answer 9

u need to take up an IT course first, right after u earn a bachelor's degree, email me then

Answer 10

learn 2 be 1.