Considering graphic and web design. experienced people please help?

Question

I'm starting to look at colleges and pick a major and graphic and web design have really caught my eye. I consider myself creative and I enjoy creating and designing relatively everything. I have heard that there is more demand for web design, is this true? Also, do you have any suggestions for good colleges to take these courses? I'm a straight A student, and am in advanced math classes. should i continue with these classes or should i take some art classes in order to better my chances of getting into one of these colleges? Thank you for your time

Answer 1

First I want to clarify something that was mentioned by another person here. Graphic Design is NOT the same thing as 3D animation, they're two completely different disciplines with almost zero overlap.



That being said, graphic design and web design have a lot in common and in fact the end product ends up being much the same, it's the delivery method that's different. Many graphic designers actually end up going into web design after learning some coding and polishing up their portfolios. So if you end up going into web design, you'll actually end up taking many of the same classes that a graphic designer would take: typography, design, color theory plus classes where you could put all the theory into practice, i.e. graphic design 1, graphic design 2, etc. These will basically be your portfolio building classes. You'll also need to learn certain software programs that are commonly used, such as Photoshop, Illustrator and Indesign,



As a web designer, you'll need to have all the design principles down, and in addition to Photoshop and Illustrator you'll need to have a handle on the scripting languages that make the web run: XHTML (HTML is slowly being phased out), CSS and Javascript for starters.



If you do go into web design, you'd do well to hang on to your advanced math skills. I know, I know, it sounds counter-intuitive (art and math?) but this is why: Web design and web development have quite a bit of overlap. Web development, unlike web design, is the actual coding and handling of the data of the web. This website (Yahoo answers) would not run were it not for some web DEVELOPER working under the hood and leaving the "making it pretty" to a web designer. What does this have to do with you? Well, if you do any job searches for web designers, you'll invariably run into companies looking for somebody with HTML, CSS, Javascript experience that can also do some programming. You'll make yourself more hireable if you can do both aspects, and that would mean learning PHP, Java, XML, maybe PERL and some CGI. These are heavier duty than HTML, harder to learn, and in the case of Java, a full-blown programming language. In order to get the most out of these, you will need to hang on to your math skills.



So here's my suggestion to you: Take a look at graphic design and web design. In college your foundation classes will be the same for both which will give you plenty of time to make up your mind. If you decide to zero in on web design, take some web development courses as well.

For right now, do take some art classes in high school as most art schools will require a portfolio review before being accepted.



As far as what art colleges to go to? There are many, many, many. Some of the better ones include Ringling, SCAD, Academy of Art University, CalArts, RISD, Pratt, etc. Take a look at your local colleges as well, many state schools have excellent art and design programs. Avoid the private chain schools.

Answer 2

Only go into these fields if you are really passionate about this type of work. If you are, then I would suggest learning both. You need to be able to diversify and offer clients more services these days to stay competitive. For example many web designers also offer: IT Services Application Development Hosting and Infrastructure Management Offshore Development Center Search Engine Optimization and so on...

Answer 3

I currently go to school for graphic design, and I attend an art college. From what I've experienced, it's got very little do with math (except for the technical bits like page size and whatnot), and a LOT about art. While it is a lot more technically based, good graphic design has a lot to do with a firm understanding of color, composition, layout, etc., and an art school will give you a good foundation in these things that'll really help you with a career in graphic design (and if you're curious about web design, the two often go hand-in-hand and are taught in the same places).



There are a lot of colleges out there that offer graphic design degrees, but they don't supplement their courses with instruction in the things I mentioned above (color, composition, etc.). For example, one of my friends used to be a graphic design major at Roger Williams, in Rhode Island, which is a liberal arts school, and there wasn't a lot of focus on visual art, so even though she was a graphic design major, she wasn't recieving a lot of the support in other disciplines that she really needed. Most schools just don't have the budget to support extra programs like art classes, so when you're looking at schools, you should really examine what specific classes the school offers, so that you can be sure you're going to be getting a solid education. If you're going to be paying all that money, you want to make sure you're getting the best education, right?



As far as colleges go, there are so many factors that will affect your decision! There are good schools all over the country, so ask yourself questions to help narrow down your decison; where do I want to be located? East coast? West coast? Mid-country? Do I want to go to a big school? Small school? Liberal arts college or strictly arts? Try the college search on collegeboard.com; they will ask you all these questions to help you find the best school for you! http://collegesearch.collegeboard.com/search/index.jsp

Answer 4

Definitely take art, it helps A LOT in web design. There are lots of times when art has come in handy because you look a lot at color theory and learn about organization. Color theory is great because it helps you decide what should go where, how people will react to it, and how it will influence traffic. Keeping that in mind, it helps to gain experience in photoshop before hand.



Ive been doing side work in photoshop & web design for about 5 years. On top of that ive been offering tip only technical support to people by system of referral for about 2 years. I am very skilled in dreamweaver [a program you will be required to learn a lot about], photoshop [for designing buttons/banners], HTML [necessary to solve errors outside the design program], JAVA, CSS, Actionscript, and i am currently learning C++.



I have no idea what im going to do with such a large gamut but it is great to be able to write on a resume. As for web designers having more demand? That all depends. Hence why i am learning server management as well :) Because you have a lot to fall back on. Math won't help a ton in this area.



As for graphic design, are we talking about 3d modeling/animation? Strictly images? Either way, take an art class.