my roommate is thinking about going back to school for graphic design, but she's wondering whether or not it's worth it. is it better to have a degree, or just learn on your own and start building up your portfolio? any insight is appreciated.

if they really want to do it, yeah it's worth it to go back to school. The degree isn't important but the experience and portfolio building is important. There are two year programs that are good for really talented people (and horrible for non go-getter hacks)

i don't think you could learn 100% on your own, but if you had a mentor of some kind you could possibly skip on school.

i think the degree is helpful
at least in school it seemed i went through
just about every type of scenario
a graphics person would run into

and if you were just building
your own portfolio
you'd probably overlook a lot of it

plus its nice to have someone
continually telling you
what you're doing wrong

and you'll have
all those people that you worked with in school
to talk to when you run into problems
at your first job

yes my buddy got a 2 year associates degree
it was actually a little
more in-depth and focused
than my 4 year degree

but im okay with that
cause i got to paint and draw

i used to see lots of portfolio's form 2 year schools and the range of quality was amazing. Some were top of the line, some i had to hold back laughter.

thanks for the info, guys. i'll pass this along.

I haven't taken an art class since 10th grade sculpture, and design pays my bills. Of course, I'm an advertiser, not an artist, and spend an hour or two each day reading all sorts of marketing rags and flipping through magazines & newspapers to see what's out there.

there is a big difference between the ideas and the execution.
i used to do both but i got sick of thinking up ideas and now mostly make things purty.

i'm mildly confused.

eFu: does advertiser = designer?

jewels: are you a production artist?

i think up ideas and then make sure they get executed properly. sometimes alone or with photographers, illustrators, etc.
the semantics of this business are all over the place.

I think that if you are driven enough, then it is a good idea. The thing is though, people always think art school is easy, like you just sit there and draw or something. The fact of the matter is, to me, it is more intensive because in other majors the teacher and your peers aren't directly telling you "This stinks because..." or "This is great because...". I credit my graphic design background with my ability to take criticism and be able to work with clients. What I'm trying to say is, if yr roommate thinks its just an easy road to money, then don't do it, if they don't mind excessively late nights designing and matting crap, cutting things out with an exacto knife, etc, then they might be onto something.

and what do you do flying rabbit?
design?
what kind of stuff?

i thought art school was great fun but very hard--that is if you really want to compete and do well. got lots of freelance and did lots of crap work while i was in school so that when i got out i was ready for a design job.

Yes. I design ads for newspapers (Woohoo! Wall Street Journal this week, but local region only), magazines, direct mail, identity, brochures, etc. for whomever I've pimped myself out to.

I don't really do any design for the sake of design or creating art. Ninety-nine percent of the time it's to sell something. Even when I head out and try to take some photographs, it's usually to have some stock images on hand to use in future pieces. I did have a client ask to paint a bunch of my photos though, so I'm interested in seeing how that turns out.

Ninety-nine percent of the time it's to sell something. But I enjoy it. At the same time, I'm not going to sell myself short and say that it doesn't take creativity or some sense of design to do what I do, but I can't tell you jack shit about design from any book learnin'.

Though I gave up on college, I concentrated in Marketing and Economics. I can't really recommend my path to anyone with more than half a brain, for obvious reasons, but there is some good parts to it. I run into kids--and "adults"--fairly frequently that want to design in advertising departments, but have no idea how to sell.

Through my freelance gigs, I can slay a fair amount of people I bid against because I don't go in there telling them about all this design mumbo-jumbo that no one outside of design is interested in, I talk about selling and how we get their message in front of prospective clients. They understand that, and it seems to work well for me, both in paying the bills and plaques that end up cluttering the closet.

I'm a videographer. I direct tv commercials for a local NBC affiliate. I do however do mucho work with photoshop and design a great deal of graphics and whatnot for the station and have done some freelance work.

smart.
i've never taken a to b to c in my career. even though i ended up going to college it was a lot of starting and stopping because of money. a big part of finishing for a degree was that i dropped out of high school and everyone said i should at least finish something. experience counts for more than schoolwork in my book.

Don't forget a piss-poor attitude!

cool.

I went to design school for architecture and had a lot of friends in the graphic and industrial design school. I thought the stuff they learned about fonts and color were really important. If you can't get stuff like that, you are in trouble. You might think you know all about that stuff, but how do you know you really do? I also think it's important to have a good drawing background to be able to express your graphic ideas as quick sketches.
Tell your buddy to the school.

It all really depends on what they want to do...

If they want to be a designer it helps to get a degree from a school of some kind, however, it is not necessary. just means the portfolio has to be exceptional and they will need to be willing to to shit work at first.

If they want to be an Art Director then, yes, they will need to have a degree from an accredited program. ditto for a Creative Director.

Like Timmyjoe says, the little things about fonts, leading, kerning, composition, color theory etc are important to know. But just as importantly, it is important because once you know the rules then you can break them, and know the reason for doing so to get the maximum impact in your design.

Also, by going to school the potential employer will feel comfortable that the person at least has a basic understanding of not just design theory but also of the programs that are standard in the industry, like Photoshop, Quark, Illustrator, InDesign, plus how to set up a page for press and production.

I currently work for an advertising agency here in Milwaukee as an Art Director, and just monday interviewed for a new gig at a large ad agency (80 people) with many world-wide/national clients. One of the things that both the HR person, and AD I would work with asked me was where I went to school and if I had a degree.

Now this is only one place, and I do have a BFA in Graphic Design, but to me it makes a difference. I see too many people taking the 2 year tech school approach thinking this tells them everything they need to know about designing a new identity or ad. A two year degree is great if you want to work as a production artist, pre-press jockey, or want to learn TECHNICAL aspects of design software. A two year school will not teach you about relevance, theory, branding, history of art, designing while using techniques or ideas culled from other work in assorted mixed media etc etc...

Work hard, experience as much as you can in college, and get a degree.

I did NOT get a degree in writing, so the mistakes are all on me. ))

ayah, in no way am i a production artist.

i'm still very much a graphic designer who cares about his clients. but when i left avertisting i stoped navel gasing and thinking of headlines. Now i "just" do design in that i think of very high level concepts when it comes to visuals . . . but i'm not the one figuring out how to explain what your company does.

Dig it.

tibor kalman didn't have no degree!

i saw some kids come out of two year programs that were great conceptual thinkers and great designers. It depends on the person.

i think i got a great deal out of my four year program and i think it made me who i am, but if you are talented, smart and lacking in funds or time you can get away with a two year program.

btw, she has an undergrad degree in art.

this is all great stuff, thanks again.