What are the qualifications to become a graphic designer? I chose to obtain an associates degree in graphic design, some choose to go after a bachelors, some a certificate, and some choose to do their own self-study. If you choose to pursue freelancing as a graphic designer, then having a degree in this field isn’t required. What you choose really depends on your lifestyle and how much time and monetary investment you can put towards building your all-essential portfolio of work samples.
Learning Option #1: College
Choosing the college route is, in my opinion, a fantastic starting place if your time and finances allow you to do so. There are so many great college options to choose between. You could work towards a certificate or associates degree at your local community college, or you can opt for an online college such as Full Sail University or The New School.
The benefits of obtaining a degree in the field are great because you will be provided with a well-rounded education that will cover all areas of graphic design. You will learn crucial design principles, how to meet deadlines, and how to take constructive criticism on your work. You also won’t be constantly wondering if you are missing any part of your education, but instead will have a good grasp on what all of the different areas of design entails.
However, you don’t need to have a diploma sitting on your desk to become a freelance graphic designer. You could opt for only taking a couple accredited classes if you want and then pursue the rest of your education through self-study. Even if you did want to pursue a degree, I would also definitely recommend supplementing what you learn in school with your own self-study. Your work will be stronger and you’ll be able to provide even more value to your clients.
Learning Option #2: Self-Study
Fully immersing yourself in a design program at your local community college or an online college isn’t always the best option when you are a busy mom or just don’t have the funds at the time to do so. When this is the case, you need to know that having a degree in this field is certainly not a requirement to be a freelance graphic designer. Even with a degree, in my almost four years of working from home, I have never been directly asked if I had one from any of my potential clients. The most crucial thing that I have found potential clients are looking for is not a degree, but a quality work portfolio for them to see. I have experienced this to be the number one element that they base their decision on. If you put together a great portfolio full of at least 4-6 beautiful, solid samples of design work you have done – then that is enough to get started. How do you learn from your own self-study? I suggest that you put together your own learning course by getting a hold of every design book you can, soak up design inspiration from great and successful designers and emulate their work for your own personal practice, start an online learning track on Treehouse and begin taking a set list of courses on Lynda. com and learn all you can for the specific work you want to do at Skillshare.
After you have a general overview of the design fundamentals and a good grasp of the basics of each of the Adobe design programs (see the list below), I suggest starting out by defining the one area of focus that you want to concentrate on. Be it logo design, business card design, brochure design, simple website design, WordPress design, etc and learn everything you can about your area of concentrated study. Once you know all that you can about the subject, work on designing four to six solid samples for your portfolio so that you will be able to use this portfolio on different work sites.
