advice how to start carrer in graphic design

queen

Wed, May 30 2007, 12:01 pm

what do you mean by- "do I need to learn the subject first?"

It's a very big word of mouth business, especially if you work from home. Personally I'd suggest strongly that you work for someone first before going out on your own that you can gain experience, and learn from your coworkers simultaneously. There is a lot more to the business than making "pretty pictures."

Are you good with clients? Or how are you even going to GET clients if you don't have much "real" experience? Are you profficient with the programs and up with the latest trends and equipment? Do you know how to prepare documents for print--- or even what will print well and what kind of treatment will be a dissaster in printing.....?

I don't mean to burst your bubble... but personally I'd say to start off on your own without real training or real experience wont get you very far.

TzenaRena

Wed, May 30 2007, 7:40 pm

Queen, I don't think it's fair to burst amother's bubble, and even though I didn't post, I could probably have, so I hope she doesn't mind if I speak for both of us. If I'm right, amother wants to know what kind of courses she can take, are available, what are the steps she needs to take to get qualified.

Some of us would like to work and earn some much needed parnassah, in a field that we are capable or talented. We would like some encouragement and practical information.

amother

Wed, May 30 2007, 7:53 pm

I don't think she meant to discourage her. amother wrote that she wants to start a career...queen is just saying she needs to first make sure she is qualified.
Otherwise she will waste needless time and energy.
its only fair to warn her.
for those of us in the business we know what it means for someone to start on a project without knowing first about pre-press and then getting stuck at the last moment with all that time and energy behind them, not knowing that they were supposed to have done this or that at the start of the project.
it wouldn't be fair to amother not to warn her she needs to know these things.
it doesn't mean she can't do it, of course she can, especially if she has the talent, but she needs to learn all those things first.

amother you can do it, but you need to learn the basics first
look on the internet for courses in your area and then ring around and talk to them and see which one is for you.
be prepared to dish out some money to start with on proper equipment and software and on a course.
what software have you been using till now? was it professional?

amother

Wed, May 30 2007, 7:58 pm

hi thanks for your reply.

my backround is, I learned desktop publishing for 4 courses in college.

Since then I have been creating documents since. buisness cards, brochures, ads, flyers collages - I have done it. what defines disastor in printing?
generally whatever I create prints out the way it looks ont he screen.

my brother can send me his clients that need a GD.
I am great with people having done other interactive businesses before so I am not worried there.

I do well with comp programs, and whatever I don't know I have people who would.
and Tzenarena said it exctly the way I meant.
Do I need to take courses? What would they teach me? I called one online scool and they said they don't teach how to use the actuall progams.
AMother thats been there done that, what are your experiences? did you succeed?

amother

Wed, May 30 2007, 8:15 pm

I am the amother who has been there done that and the amother that answered tzena
the thing is you wrote "do I have to learn the subject first" which is what queen and I were responding to. of course you have to learn the subject.
the question is, what have you already learnt?
without knowing what sort of courses you took or how your projects came out its hard to know where you stand.

the projects which you already made were they sent to professional printers? are you familiar with CMYK and RGB?
are you familiar with dpi and such
do you know how to save to different formats
which software are you using?
etc

queen

Wed, May 30 2007, 9:54 pm

OP- from your 2nd response it seems like you know more than you gave to understand in your opening post. If you feel confident to get the clients and be able to service them for what they need--- then what is stopping you? Especially if you have your brother to feed you clients.

About printing problems- firstly, there are proper ways of setting up documents- for ex. bleeds. Then you have to understand the dot gain concept. Some colors can spread-- or when you have knock outs- you can have dissasters if you are not careful and know what you're doing. For ex. on a very very dark background- if you have light or white type, the font point size can't be too small or intricate- as you'll loose some of that due to the dark color the type sits on. Your not knowing this- but relying on "oh, it looks fine on screen... so it should print fine" will only land you up with a negative dollar figure in your pocket. If you're taking care of printing and a dissaster happens.... the cost of fixing the problem and reprinting is on you.

Mistakes happen often even to those that are experienced and educated in the field as it is a very complicated business going to print, and things just do happen. One has to be prepared.

Interesting that the courses you contacted said they wont teach you the programs.... maybe you just have to try other colleges/courses.

What applications and programs DO you use? Are you a macintosh user?

I didn't mean to damper your idea and excitement, forgive me if I came across negatively- I just wanted you to know up front about what you want to walk into.

There is a lot of competition in the field for those that are "medium" level designers. If you want to try and succeed you have to try and raise above most others in order to get for yourself a good name.

It's a great field.... but go into it knowingly and educated.

amother

Wed, May 30 2007, 10:55 pm

I will look into other online schools- but what do they teach if not how to use the programs?

does a GD also print the final product?

right now I use printshop, not very high tech, but I have produce nice things on it.
I especially love cropping and editing photos.

Quote:

Then you have to understand the dot gain concept. Some colors can spread-- or when you have knock outs-

this I have no clue what it is.
aboiut the dark light font- why don't you just print it out once to see what it looks like and then know if its to small/inticrate?

can you reccomend where you learned?
the place I called wants $16,000 for its online course. Is this a typical price?
I am really motivated to do this.

queen

Wed, May 30 2007, 11:08 pm

amother wrote:

Quote:

Then you have to understand the dot gain concept. Some colors can spread-- or when you have knock outs-

there's a whole lot more to graphics than knowing the programs. I always explain: everyone knows how to use a pencil but not e/o can draw. E/o might (or many) might know how to use a computer but wont know how to design well.

There is typography (which fonts are appropriate for a specific job), colors (health usually lends itself to green... while medical many times turns to blue for ex.), preparing job for print. Just bec. something looks pretty on screen is no guarrantee it will print well. Spacial factors. How to use negative space just as much as using positive. (white space can be very powerful when used appropriately)

As far as printing- the better designers do take care of printing for the clients.

I don't know much about on line courses so can't tell you much about that. I personally got a degree through sitting/and working my way through classes.....

printshop might be good for you now, and if you're happy with the results great- but usually designers will be using Adobe Photoshop, InDesign/Quark and Illustrator. They just came out with CS3 which is very powerful. To buy the full program on the level for what you'll need will run you about $1200-$1400.

about relying on your personal printer to let you know how the end product will look once printed on a printing press is playing with fire. Yes there are many jobs that might be fine---- but depending on your color usage and fonts----- that is not the correct way to go about it. Too many problems can crop up. (too detailed to explain here via typing about dot gain and fonts giving problems, however these would all be issues you'd learn when taking a 'prep for print' course.)

square_peg

Thu, May 31 2007, 8:50 pm

f you are you an artsy and/or creative person, and are excited about the idea of doing graphic design, then go for it.

Programs you'll need to know:
QuarkXpress - the most up to date version is 7.0 or Adobe InDesign
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

I would suggest that you go to Barnes and Nobles, sit down with some books, scope out what you need to know.

I would also suggest you look at design concept books, and see if you think you can create stuff like that. If if you know you cant, but the idea excites you, you have a chance.

You will also need to learn stuff about Color Management, Output Settings, Resolutions, etc.

You will need to have: A good ocmputer with graphic card, (PC or Mac), Mac is more expensive, but most companies work with Macs, so if you ever want to work for somebody else, they would want you to be familiar with their operating system.
-A good scanner and printer
alot of fonts
probably a card reader, dvd writer, since you need to be able to transport files to printer etc.

If you do have work you have already done, create a portfolio to present to potential employers.

yOungM0mmy

Fri, Jun 01 2007, 4:58 am

I use quark express 6.0 - not much change since 4.0 however, apparently the new 7.0 is much more updated and flexible, kind of like their response to InDesign.

OP, I hate to put a damper on your enthusiasm, but you have a LOT to learn before you can compete with anyone out there on the market. Publisher is ok for hoem projects, but there is no way it can compete with the other programmes, and all the technical details are a real must if you want good print quality.
But, if you have the time and money, go take a course - having an eye and enthusiasm for creativity is half the requirements at least.

queen

Fri, Jun 01 2007, 3:55 pm

I used to be a big fan of Quark and very resiliant to move into the inDesign era.... However I think slowly over time Quark will become ancient while inDesign the program 'in use.'

I also am in the process of learning InDesign.... however I must say I'm enjoying the flexability and softness this program has, which I felt quark never had. (Q always gave me this rigid hard feeling......)

Maybe we should have a designer tab on this site that we can all gripe and talk industry Very Happy