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No longer are you taking a chance not going to college... In fact it’s the opposite.
First let me just say this article has been written entirely by me, Gary Simon. I’m a 100% self taught designer. I run a successful design business (amongst others) and I wanted to write this article so that any aspiring designers might gain insight one way or the other. Since this is, for the most part an anti-college article, it should hold some decent weight since I’m an example of someone who doesn’t have a formal education and has been successful.
You can "learn design" on your own
Yes, it’s true. The internet is an invaluable resource for the self motivated individual. There are thousands of tutorials and communities available specifically for the purpose of design. Becoming an effective designer should be a process of trial and error. That’s how I learned. I learned what didn’t work, and what did work by necessity.
How do you know what works when you don’t have a guiding hand?
Easy. You can test how effective your design(s) are with tools like google analytics. If you’re designing a website in which the
intention is to persuade a visitor to purchase something, you can split test multiple designs / landing pages and see what really
works.
The ultimate goal of effective web design is to maximize earning potential and visitor experience. A great designer is able to do this and you don’t need a college education to help you do it. The best way to learn has always been through example, and what better way to learn than to immerse yourself into real world projects?
Professors. "Those that can't do, teach"
I’ve come across many school-bred designers, straight out of design school, who haven’t a clue on how to handle actual projects. They don’t know how to take a design in photoshop, cut it up and slap it into xhtml/css. Why? Because few professors don’t know how to do it either. Most professors spend time teaching on the “concept” of design, rather than real world relevance. You have to complete assignment after assignment that has nothing to *really* do with what you’ll be doing when you graduate.
I don’t know about you, but I’d much rather learn from someone who actually has real experience in my field. And it’s a crapshoot, most professors don’t have that essential experience.
A lack of relevance. "Course Stuffing"
The idea behind going to a school for design sounds ideal. But what it actually is, isn’t. Some of my friends who went to school to “learn design” would tell me of all these ridiculous projects they had to complete. It sounded exactly like all of the crap you’re forced to “learn” in high school. None of it holds weight in the real world. You don’t need to beat around the bush to help develop your design skills. The best way to become the best designer you can be, is to focus specifically on the medium at hand (whether that be logo design, website design, character design, etc...). Not by designing things like abstract circles. Hah.
College is expensive, no one will deny that. To warrant the thousands upon thousands of dollars students are dishing out, they create a 4 year degree program filled with completely useless information and courses. Let me be the first to tell you, writing a 10 page report on Van Gogh isn’t going to help you become a better designer. It’s only going to temporarily clutter your brain with useless garbage, until that fortunate point arrives when you forget it all. College is filled with unnecessary information and it’s there simply to justify spending thousands - problem is, it’s not worth it.
It's a waste of your time.
Whether you’re spending 2 or 4 years at college to become a designer, you’re wasting your time. This ties within #3 above, the colleges understand that no one is going to drop $45,000 on a course that only lasts 6 months or a year. And let me tell you, that’s all I’d need with an aspiring designer, maybe even less. You don’t need 4 years to help you become a designer. Sure, it takes years to fully develop your skills, but you certainly don’t need to live in a facility that costs an arm and a leg to do so.
I started designing when I was in 8th grade. By 10th grade, I was making a decent amount of money. I had clients, and projects. I was even offered a job making $30 an hour! The amount of time you spend at college when you could be learning on your own is the difference of no debt, and years gained.
It's a waste of your money.
College is so expensive. It’s insanely expensive. Let’s say you drop $45,000. Then you have loans to pay off, with interest... You’re stuck with half a house payment for years upon years. And it becomes even sadder when all this money is dropped on a design related degree, because it’s something you can learn on your own. A lot of my friends are finished with college now and they have so much debt.
Me? I have no debt. I don’t owe anyone anything, and I’m making more than my friends who have degrees for design. You could take that money you would normally spend on college, and invest it into a business and within a year or two, have already made it back and then some.
The value of the degree is dropping
Computer related degrees, especially when it comes to web design, hold no weight and more and more employers are understanding this. All you need is your portfolio. Your work will speak for itself. And because of the fact that learning how to design things like websites is something you can learn on your own, whether or not you have a degree doesn’t matter. It’s the work you do that matters.
And if you’re like me and want to be your own boss, a degree is as meaningful as the dog crap I stepped in the other day. Some people might say, “But a degree ensures you a job.” yeah, right. I can get a job any time I want, and almost anywhere I want because my portfolio shows that I have both skill and most importantly experience - experience with *real world* projects. Your degree is nothing but a piece of paper, and your “demo reel” or whatever you want to call it, shows that you completed a few assignments.
Now I’m not cracking on the idea of education itself. You should always strive to become more informed, and to develop your skills. But if you’re a self motivated individual, you can save yourself so many headaches, so much money, and so much time by skipping out on college. It’s scary for most people to think about doing, especially post-high school. It came natural for me because it’s something I started doing before even reaching high school. That’s not to say that you can’t do it.
Most college students support themselves by getting a part time job. Get a part time job and dedicate the rest of your time to learning on your own. You will make money a lot sooner.
This article was aimed towards those designers who want to do things like design and develop websites and corporate identity. If your intention is to do illustration / character / 3d style design, I can’t speak on that. I *know* you can learn all of them on your own, but I have no experience as to whether or not those types of companies require degrees. Of course though if you start your own business, you never need a degree.
Some of you might not agree with me, and that’s fine. But as I mentioned, I’ve had no formal design education and quite frankly, I’m doing just fine. :)
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Cool article.... Stumbled it :) Me to taking web designing classes.... Hey wait!!!! Me learning from a web designer, who teaches in weekends..... He is really a professional..... But, I pay for it. Thats ok, its very reasonable and also not time consuming this takes me only 5 hours a week and remaining is my practice.
hey i agree with u whoever u are.i started designing on paint in fifth grade. now im in 7th grade and since i dont have photoshop i use gimp and can get a good affect. i took a multimedia class for the hell of it since it taught photoshop for free this year, and everything they taught i could already do better on my free program. im pretty sure im more advance then the teacher. im actually getting the hang of coding stuff as well. soon im gonna start something like your website so i can help my mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!cuz she has a disability and is gonna stop working
hey i agree with u whoever u are.i started designing on paint in fifth grade. now im in 7th grade and since i dont have photoshop i use gimp and can get a good affect. i took a multimedia class for the hell of it since it taught photoshop for free this year, and everything they taught i could already do better on my free program. im pretty sure im more advance then the teacher. im actually getting the hang of coding stuff as well. soon im gonna start something like your website so i can help my mom!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!cuz she has a disability and is gonna stop working
All this arguing your doing makes you all look like kids, not all education is bad, it depends where you go, what you do and what kind of person you are. Living away at university for example gives you many life experiences and also can introduce you to new designers and new clients. It all depends on where you live really and what self taught marketing skills you have. In garys case, he is doing well, but everyone has there strong points. Don't think I am sticking up for education because the only education I am doing is an a2 in english. Most of your posts are pointless and one sided, learn to reason.
Gary you're a king and a genius for putting this up!! I totally agree with you. And those of you who disagree with Gary are mad because your a victim {someone who went to college, spent time and money and realized you never needed to attend college in the first place}
Gary, You have hit the nail right on the head. Education is not going to bring you everything you need to make it in this business. It has taken me many years of staying up late to study for exams. Outdated material by the time I was able to apply what I had learned. Countless thousands of dollars, that i am sill paying back might i add. To figure out its all about me and what I am willing to do to learn a craft. As far as Gary undercutting the profession, thats simple bs. It's people that think because they went to college so therefore are intitled to more more more is the reason the USA is in ruins. (Greed) if people were more like Gary, and weren't afraid to share what they have learned in hopes of helping others, we would have a better dollar.
AZK HERE! Ya, I'm doing my second year in college, doing computers. Ive learned more in 6 months, BEFORE I went to college to learn about it. Total waste of my time.
I think you twats who go to school for 'web design' or 'insert community college course name here' who think that Gary is pullin a fast one or doing something underhanded by providing the community with un-inflated prices for quality designs and affordable quality tutorials need to rethink your motives maybe.. Granted the web is a marketplace, but one should be saavy enough to recognize a great resource when they see one. asshats
To the person arguing the service charge of gary's services. There is nothing wrong with competition, competition is what gary delivers in the design field. I would spend more effort on accomplishing your own self-worth and less time patronizing on others economical structure.
Goal = To Design. Why? 1) Gratification (of self more impotantly, and others) 2) Make a living Self-education + online businees fulfills both, with optimum utilization of time AND money. Smart. Period.
Ok this is Gary Simon. 1.) "Education is a time for practice, a time to mess up, a time to learn from failures, a time to learn from others when they succeed" - Ok? I experienced all of those on my own. You can practice, mess up, learn from failures, and learn from others all on your own. 2.) How I choose to price my services is my own decision. Learn to live with it, you will have that in every industry. My site is very new, only a couple months old. I started with lower prices to gauge the industry and ensure I made some money since this is for now, my primary source of income. 3.) "Learn how to do it right and quit thinking that you've found a way to cheat the system." - Apparently I am doing something right, because I'm making what the average designer working full time makes, working no more than 3 hours a day with a business that's only 2 1/2 months old. Is that cheating the system? No, it's just being smart. 4.) "fuck you for thinking you have it figured out." - Do I have it all figured out? Probably not but it's working out for me so far. 5.) Suck it up, you're just bitter.
In my opinion, its designers like you (Gary Simon) who are bringing the profession down... not education side. Its an art form, and like any thing that requires skill also requires practice. Education is a time for practice, a time to mess up, a time to learn from failures, a time to learn from others when they succeed. So while we're slaving away in a lab somewhere learning how to sketch, to research, etc., you're producing logo's for $50 a pop and business cards for $75 that make the rest of us suffer. Underselling and lowering expectations from society. Do your fellow designer a favor... learn how to do it right and quit thinking that you've found a way to cheat the system. Yes, people have talent and sometimes can run with it. But seriously... fuck you for thinking you have it figured out.
This is worth the bookmark. I dislike public institutions. It's all about making people conform to a norm. It's disgusting. Especially for art. _denise I make my money in Forex, not art :) - http://www.chapter322.biz/forex-investing
Great article, well done man! I am going to bookmark this....
Good Article Gary is right, I have a degree and didn't learn anything in college, I had to learn everything myself, and websites like garysimon.net as helped me gain knowledge by picking apart his html code or analyzing his logo designs, among other websites by just searching google and finding quality tutorials out there.