Freelance Design: The Old College Try or Teach Yourself?

• Tweet
• 
  

  
  

• 
  Buffer
  

• Tweet
• 
  

  
  

• 
  Buffer
  

Human behaviour is such that we all – each of us – love to tell ourselves we’re worth more than we really are. At least, for our work. Just browse any portfolio and you’ll notice designers talking about how good they are at design (despite the fact they kind of lack any sense of brand or identity), or they list reams of items under “skills” ranging from their abilities with Adobe Photoshop (the relevant) to their knowledge of antiquated HTML versions (the mundane) to what mouse they use (the asinine). Truth be told, if you’ve worked hard to earn a degree, and spent your money on the course, then you have a strong tendency to tell everyone about it.

This begs the questions: With credentials being tossed around willy-nilly and so many college drop outs getting some nice projects, does it really matter? I’ll be honest, I’m a high school drop out and never wanted for work or even some high profile projects, so my viewpoint is a bit one-sided, but let’s explore both sides of the issue and see where it leads.

The Educational System

A problem many people cite in the educational system is that with years required to approve a curriculum and subsequently the years you spend attending the class and learning – you may come out two or four years behind in your field.

Areas where it helps to take formal courses – or at least to do rigorous and serious self study might be the psychology behind design, elements of design theory, and even type. These are things that don’t change, or at least, don’t change fast and give you some leeway to learn without risk of being left behind.

Technology changes very fast, so even if you take a course in Photoshop, you’ll come out knowing the basics but may still wind up with a learning curve if you’re a couple versions off (and hey, if you can live with an older version, more power to you. I still use CS3.)

Another area where credentials may help out is in securing a job at a respected design agency, where they want to know you take your work seriously and at least some guarantee you know what you say you do. But even then, many agencies may hire you based on your work portfolio or past clients, regardless of any degree.

On the subject of curriculum, it can be beneficial – or at least time saving – because you’ve had learned professionals already do the prep work and figure out what is relevant to the program and what isn’t. You learn mostly only what’s of benefit to your field, and largely ignore what isn’t.

The Unconventional Way

Learning something from scratch is hard work, and time consuming. In effect, you must decide on and then fulfill your own curriculum. This can be beneficial because you ultimately decide exactly what direction you want to go in. If you’ve already got a good sense of where you want to be and what you need to know, this is good and can give you some great freedoms. However, if you’re unfamiliar with the field in question you might end up leaving out vital information you’d otherwise get through the educational system.

For example, whereas a conventional course may include whole sections on type design (which is amazingly subtle and detailed), if you know you won’t be dealing with type at all (or very, very little) you can toss this altogether. At least, you can put it on the shelf for a later date – you’re not forced to cover it at a set time when you’d rather be getting some meatier stuff somewhere else.

Whereas some people may crave the regimented method of attending classes, others like to learn at their own pace – and you simply can’t do that in a classroom. The old saying “the class moves as fast as the dumbest student may have some truth after all.

Have Your Cake, Also Eat It

Picking one over the other (and likely you’ve already made your decision or are all through with the really BIG learning curve) doesn’t preclude having some perks. It’s great for you that the design community loves to share information and to teach. Push all the “inspiration” blogs aside for a moment and focus on the few really good ones that teach: Smashing Magazine, Six Revisions, even personal blogs run by such designers as Jacob Cass, Brian Hoff and David Airey can be great resources for learning.

The social learning perks applies to the business whether you have a degree or not; regardless of any piece of paper, if you want to learn the information is there. Often in the “global knowledge” type of sense (eg: you won’t find extensive, college-like free courses online – but there again: even if you take the course online, is it still conventional education?) Benefits you can have regardless of where you learn include

• Social media & interaction with other designers
• Access to relevant forums & communities
• Ability to ask or connect with specific people over specific problems
• Access to the same software (albeit perhaps without the financial incentives)

Increasingly, as more people come online, more people learn online, more people need websites or other design work done, and less agencies require a degree and focus more on work, having a degree will become less necessary. Even now, a college is not mandatory to find a good job and more and more people are finding cool jobs and getting enough work having taught themselves.

And the difference between the two really isn’t so great after all: You still learn the same material, cover the same ground, and use the same tools to do your work. The difference is in perceived value (college system) versus ability to learn at your own pace (teaching yourself), and in many cases, to learn faster and learn practical application a bit quicker.

Some people even go so far as to perceive college is the real way to learn, the serious way, and teaching yourself is for lazy students or someone with special needs. It isn’t this way at all. I kept my nose in a book(s) for years as I learned HTML, Javascript, PHP, using Photoshop, learning design theory, copywriting, and brand/identity. I’m not wealthy, but then again I don’t do badly either. I have my office: It’s aluminum, folds up when I’m not using it and (literally) goes with me wherever I want to take it. I can roll into your city, head to a wireless cafe, and I’m at work.

We all have to find the methods we need to reach our own success.