The Everyday Designer #8 — Designers, you don't need to go to school (what you can do instead)

If you live in a city or an area with a college or university, you’ve probably noticed some things. More traffic, the noise levels gone up, longer waiting in lines everywhere. Yup, it’s back to school season! (Yay…hehe) And with school comes a lot of things. Homework, deadlines, socializing, talking to professors, tests, quizzes, pre-quiz quizzes. Not to mention debt from student loans sitting in an account that collects interest that works against you around the clock. Speaking from personal experience, the most I got out of college was the social aspect. Creating connections and bonds with other humans that I still have to this day. Everything else, I could have learned outside of going to college…

Why You Don’t Need To Go To School

Did you noticed I italicized the word “need”? It is intentional, and that is because if your reading this and your set on going because you want to, then all the power to ya and I wish you the best time in school!

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But…if you are taking a step back and shaking your head wondering what these next four years are going to be full of and even if you should be doing that, let me offer you an alternative.

The traditional educational system has been broken for a long time now. Apart from my professors that I loved talking to and understanding their tips, tricks, and methods, every semester is pretty much standard. You get your syllabus, you get your assignments, you learn the tools from each class, you do an exercise in class to learn, and then you do your homework. Sounds simple, so simple that you don’t need to go to school to do the work. You can do the work from the comfort of your own home that is self guided.

See, the way designers get work, get interviews, get freelance jobs, is from their portfolio. So as long as you have work to share that you are proud of and that has been run through its paces in terms of review and critique, and you know how to explain your reasoning behind the choices you made, then you will be able to get a design job.

What You Can Do Instead

Portfolios are typically websites. It’s real easy to make a website these days. Just check out Squarespace or Webflow and put in a few projects that you’ve completed and present it in a way that people will understand how you arrived at your designs and the process it took to get there. The way to grow is to keep practicing and always have a learners mindset. Learn new tools, learn new software, learn new ideas and concepts. Guess what? You can do all that through youtube! There are thousands of tutorials online of the whole Adobe Creative Suite, including Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign, XD. You can learn Figma in minutes, you can discover how to build websites with channels like Flux Academy or The Futur. All on youtube, all available at your finger tips for free. Free. One more time to let it sink in…free. Just think of how much progress you can make if you dedicate all the hours you will spend in college; commuting, socializing, being late for the class you know you don’t want to take, failing, feeling guilty for missing, on learning tools you actually want to.

Final Thoughts

If you want to go to school, do it. No one is stopping you. But these days, designers have an infinite amount of paths to make their way in their career. It doesn’t have to be the traditional school route, where you end up 4 years later in more debt and stress than you would’ve been without it. Use the money you’d spend on tuition, on books, e-books, online courses, and building a website so you can get a head start. Do you thumbnails yes, get your reps in yes, but you can also work smarter and not harder to get to your goal of becoming a successful designer.

Happy first week of the rest of your life. Make it count. ✌️n ❤️.

🌊 Currents

I love sharing what I’ve been up to lately and this is one way for me to let you in on what’s been happening in my life.

📚 Currently reading: Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Wow, this book has been a MASSIVE shift in perspective on finances. What is actually an asset? The fundamentals of what separates rich, from poor. And just wonderful lessons that change your mindset on handling money. If you really want to get after it, I implore you read this book.

🌿 Currently inspired: Next.js Conf landing page - if you’re a fan of JS and the endless possibilities for the web, prepare for your mind to be blown from a landing page. It’s been a while since I’ve just stared at a landing page for over 20 minutes in awe. For any Pink Floyd fans, this a clever ode to TDSOFM album cover and other beautiful prismatic art. Check it out and stare in awe with me.

😄 Currently excited about: Ugmonk Product Surprise - every so often Jeff Sheldon (a.k.a. the founder of Ugmonk) teases us with the beautiful product shots of upcoming projects he’s been working on. (This one has taken over 2 years to develop 🤯) I have an idea of what it is, and I am so stoked to get one hehe.

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