Graphic Designer – Career Advice
Simon Thompson on Graphic designers are the go-to guys when people need striking visuals, be it for brochures, marketing materials or products.
It’s a creative job with rather more workaday aspects thrown in. The best graphic designers mix creativity with practicality – to get on in the job you’ll need to be a good communicator and listener, very organised and excellent at time management.
As well as developing designs from sometimes-complicated briefs, you’ll be expected to lead meetings, work up quotes for the job, adapt your designs to meet budget limits and client demands –and do all this while keeping up to speed with the latest developments in design technology.
There are plenty of graphic design courses out there. And there are almost as many offshoots into 3D design, illustration etc. But although having an HND or degree in a relevant subject is very useful, nearly every designer has built up a portfolio of their own work as they’ve gone along. And that portfolio will sell you more than anything else.
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Other recommended resources:
Chartered Society of Designers
Giving you the opportunity to develop professionally up to Chartered Designer status, membership with the CSD also offers discounts, training and networking opportunities to continually enhance your position in the world of design.
Design Council
A central portal for design in the UK dedicated to inspiring, promoting and supporting its members to create the best new design across the whole spectrum, including graphic design. They publish key research, offer career and business guidance and blog all the latest in the design industry.
British Design and Art Direction (D&AD)
Aimed at continually inspiring and encouraging design in the UK, D&AD offer a number of useful resources such as a Graduate Academy for the best new talent, professional development schemes and an array of free learning guides.
Creative and Cultural Skills
The National Skills Academy for the creative industry, this website is great for figuring out the path you need to take to get into graphic design with a wide range of training opportunities to supplement a degree or diploma or get you several steps closer to higher education.
Get Into Design
Get Into Design can help link you with the career path you need to train and aim for to get where you want to be. They offer loads of information and guidance to help you set yourself up in the design industry.
