It has been a while since I was last in school, though I am sure there are more of you out there who have been outside of a school environment longer than I have. Last time I was in school was back in 1999 where I was taking a pre-apprenticeship course for the Electrical trade over at BCIT (or British Columbia Institute of Technology). I really enjoyed the work I did as it was more hands-on than theory and I really do not do well in theory-based classes. Well okay, I do alright but I excel at the hands-on type.
I talked about what courses I should take with my older sister to better my skill set as a web developer who wants to get more into the design aspect of the industry. The idea is that this will allow me to better understand how web layouts work such as composition, colour, typography etc. Then I can become an overall better web designer and developer and be more confident in my design abilities.
Graphics 1
Graphics 1 is an overview into the land of Communication Arts (or Graphics Design). So far we have gone over creating hand-drawn thumbnials, comps (compositions) and roughs for various ads we believe could look better and be more effective. We have also gone over symbols, what a symbol is, how it might be used and how we can create a general symbol to convey a single meaning from a phrase. Symbols will then lead us to our next class which is Logos. Logos I find are a large part of design in the web world, especially if you do not have a logo or want to use your existing logo in your web layout without making it look out of place.
Adobe Illustrator 1
One program I have always had an interest in but have never really used has been Adobe Illustrator. Illustrator allows you to create either Vector or Rasterized images that can be used for various applications. One application I am interested in is Company Logo design (or branding) using vector images. Vectors are mathematical instructions for creating shapes or the gist of it anyway. Not only will we learn the basics of lllustrator but we will also learn how to create layouts for various media too. This could be handy for things such as business cards, letterhead to even things such as web page design layouts!
After the courses are done there are level 2 courses and depending on my work schedule I might look at taking them sooner than later. If not I will have the basics of the courses and I believe that it is a start.
Robyn did bring up an interesting point: what would I have to do to get a certificate or obtain an diploma in regards to my field? That is something I will have to research and find out. Though I know some of you might say that I do not need a diploma or a certificate for being a web designer/developer but larger clients might require a piece of paper to prove I know what it is I can do. My portfolio will help back that up, but to be able to increase my portfolio I want to increase my skill set as well and a diploma or certificate would help me structure my learning and ensure I learn things I need to know, especially to freelance. At least give me more confidence to freelance.
RaulSep 17, 2008 at 18:15:27
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I don’t think that Canada requires a piece of paper as much as Mexico does, but it’s always nice to have the certificate
Tyler Ingram September 18th, 2008 at 11:40:18[Link]
I guess it depends on who I would be applying to work for. I find larger companies like the piece of paper but the smaller ones understand that some people who are self-taught do a really good job (like me!) lol
But to say I’m certified or have a paper to back my skills up isn’t a bad thing, it just takes time to work towards it. Going to school can either be on top of working which would take up time, or I can learn on the job (as with most of my web development experience) and be sort of ‘paid’ to learn it