Graphic Design Courses

Nanaki

I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to what the course invovles etc?
I know you can get stuff from CAO but I'm looking for someone who has actually taken the course,
thanks

spidermonkey

Nanaki wrote:

I was wondering if anyone could give me some insight as to what the course invovles etc?
I know you can get stuff from CAO but I'm looking for someone who has actually taken the course,
thanks

im doing a 3year ba in design couse, there is an optional 4th year but thats limited to the best 16 (36 in the year, all want to do 4th year) the course is good craic, a bit slow paced & limited for me i feel.
they "teach" us photoshop, illustrator and quark plus a bit of webdesign (dreamweaver, flash etc) but you really need to put in your own hours outside of the course if you want to really learn anything.

actual quote for a lecturer describing pixels to first years "say you have a bunch of apples.... (5mins of unrelated story later) no, actually forget all that" another lad in my class asked our senior lecturer about some type problem he had the lecturer said "well what you have to do is" and then wandered off. dunno what they(lecturer) expect when people complain about not understanding stuff when they cant teach it in the first place. but then for all the crap lecturer there are some excellent lecturer who do do their best for the good of the students (im a class rep and have seen the good that they try and get done at meetings etc, but all the head of dept seems to care about is numbers and his quota.
but i have a masters course in mind after 4th year(myself and a handful are considered the most advanced of the year so we shoyuld be a shoe in)

but then theres the friends and connection you make in college too. everything helps!

thats my spiel. hope it helps

Nanaki

ok thanks

sdssarah

heya, ive just finished my third year in BA in Visual Communication at DIT. Im not sure exactly what you wanted to know, but i think its a really diverse course. I agree with spidermonkey that you have to put in a lot of your own hours to leanr the computer programs etc, but thats just expected really.

i think the course at DIT is actually really good. In first and second year you do everything from photography and drawing to computer classes and typography. You get a basic understanding of all the design principles, leanr about how to layout type, learn about magazine and book layout, and web layout, etc. They also teach you the basics in photoshop, illustrator and quark. They teach flash a little more in depth in second and third year.

In third year they give you a chance to really start using your creativity to its potential. They encourage you loads to do your own thing. One thing which is really great too about the course is that they take you away on trips. Since i started ive been to Lisbon, London and Morocco, all each unique and different experiences. But they give you these amazing chances to prove yourself and your work. They brought us over to a huge design firm in London to present our digital media installation which we had designed, and these are just such fantastic opportunities.

There are also lectures in design theory, design history, psychology (mostly of perception) and we have business classes in third year (which are mostly about copyright and tax stuff, but theyre actually really helpful). They arent as bad as i thought theyd be, some can be tedious, but the lecturers like to let us talk a lot, and give our opinions in stead of them telling us what to think, which is a nice change from school.

Overall i just think the course is really varied and suits a lot of people. Hope that helps. If you need/want to know anything else, let me know!
sarah

Nanaki

wow thanks a million Sarah (and Sidermonkey) they were both really helpful.
Emm, what kind of points and subject acheivments am I looking at? Roughly

sdssarah

it kind of depends on the person, you can either

a) do extremely well in your portfolio and fine in your LC
b) do well in your LC and fine in your portfolio
c) do better than average in both

it always helps to do a course (either a summer course for a few weeks) or a year long portfolio course.

dun laoghaire college of art and design is good for summer courses, i also think NCAD have good ones.

and for a year long youd need to go to ballyfermot, or sallynoggin, or colaiste dulaigh. do a bit of research and find what suits you best. there are plenty around and they usually have pretty good success rates.

Nanaki

ok Sarah.
Would I need a portfolio?
And if so what do I need in it?(not to ask a stupid question =P)
What do the year long courses involve do you know?

sdssarah

to get into the college course you definitely need a portfolio. look here for some help with that:

http://www.ncad.ie/faculties/core/portfolio.shtml

or here

http://www.recirca.com/backissues/c89/supp_portfolio.shtml

the course i talked about, are portfolio courses, so that you can get into college. like i said you cna do one during the summer or a year long one depending on how much help and guidance you think you need.

im not sure about courses you can attend where you dont need a portfolio beforehand, maybe somebody else could help you on that matter?
sarah

Nanaki

ok thanks a million Sarah

spidermonkey

where i went to secondary school there wasn't really a good art class etc so i didn't have a portfolio, i went to st johns college in cork and did the art craft and design couse there for a year learnt a $hit loads and made plenty friends, some of whom are in my year in design communications now. most of the people in my year did a similar course too before applying. it reallt helps because there are a few who came straight from secondary school and sometimes they seem to be struggling. personally i'd do a year portfolio couse first. you not only ahve that bit more of an advantage but you also have that extra bit for your cv.

forgot to say that you definatly need a portfolio.
i did disgracfully in my leaving, i got 225, but my portfolio got me 500 out of 600.
so i have 725 points and the couse was 475 i think. portfolio is a must. and artistic skill too.

sdssarah, your so lucky i've to do business 1,2,3 &4year. and im crap at it! have to repeat the exam in august!

sdssarah

we don't have any exams in my course, and I'm so glad of that. It's entirely continuous assesment and that suits me down to the ground. Each individual project gets you a mark and credits for completing that project. (5credits per project, you need 60 credits i think to pass the years). This includes our theory classes, design thoery, design history, professional practice(copyright law, etc) and an optional one (i took philosohpy of design, i enjoyed it) We get 2 essays a year, i think, if i can remmeber back, but we also have to do in-class presentations on some things, and we get marked on that too.

At the end of the year all your scores are added up and they get the average, and if youg et over 40 in your average then you pass the year. Its a really good system, and it means, if youre like me and dont work well in exams (too much pressure for one day i feel), then this is a fantastic system, and it seems a bit more realistic to me!!

But yeah, i didnt do that great in my portfolio, because i came straight from secondary school and i onyl did a two week summer course for help the summer before 6th year. So it was a challange to get it all together in time and as a result, i did pretty crap in it. But i did well in my leaving cert, and my point together added up to, god i dont remember now, about 600, and my course was about 540 at the time, so i got in.

Im incredibley thankful that i got in by the skin of my teeth, because i love the course, and i really dont want to be finished (im going into my final year in september!)

Anyways, hope that helps!!

Nanaki

wow thanks a million Sarah and Spidermonkey.
spidermonkey: the Art Craft and Design courses are basically what you do in secondary school yeah?

btw I'm asking this because I've just done me JC and want to know for getting stuff ready, I only have 2 years (my school didn't offer TY this year, it's not compulsory) and want to be ready.
You see, we did a thing in school called the "EirQuest" which is basically a 200 question careers assement and no.1 was Art Craft and Design and no.2 was Graphic Design.
I also went to an actual careers counsellor quite recently and they were really high too.

Would the only subject needed be Art, a portfolio, the points and a certain number of passes?

thinkbig

Hi spidermonkey,
I believe that at present you must be a graphic designer after you have finished your 3year ba in design course and maybe you did the 4th yr too and I hope you are happy working in your field!

I have decided to make a carer change and turn into graphic design and I dont where to start. I have checked lots of websites, courses online, ecollege, BA's, DIT...There are 1,2 3 and 4 yrs options... and I dont know what to do!!
I can say I have an eye for design as I am very creative and would like to pursue a carrer in that field.
Could you recommend where or how to start? Im on my early 30s, and going back to full time college for 3 yrs could be too much. There is a 2yrs course in Ballyfermot College Of Further Education, where you can opt to a Higher National Diploma in Graphic Design.Would you recomend that one?

I dont have a portfolio and I am not sure what is that. Is it a collection of your creative work? Do you really need a 1 yr course just to make a portfolio and then go and apply for a place in a college?

I have made few digital photo books with my own photos and the result is quite impressive as I had the chance of using tons of layouts, colurs, designs,crops,... Could be that consider as my portfolio?

Do you really need to be 4 yrs studying to get a job in such field?
:eek:Do the companies really look for graduates or is there any hope for those who make shorter studies?

I would really appreciate your help!
Thanks!!!

I dont know of to use Photoshop, Adobe Creative Studio, Quark, InDesign... but I believe I could start considering taking courses..

Could you please help me out?

PS: sorry for such a long post! But im really desperate!

brosps

Sorry to hijack the thread but I figured i may aswell ask in here.

I'm currently tossing up the idea of doing visual communications photography or psychology, if i decide on VC or photography i'll be taking a year out to do a portfolio course, what i was wondering is if it were at all possible to do any kind of viscom or design course despite not being able to draw for my life?

Carpaydiem

Thinkbig - in reality, as per any area, its as much what you know as who you know.

One of my friends is an excellent designer, and has European awards for his photoshop work - he never did a course and works for a very good design firm.

There are courses you can do to learn the basics in all the software, Photoshop, illustrator & Indesign (taking over from Quark as the industry standard).

Check this place out: http://www.bigwavemediatraining.ie/index.php

They are really good, and the only Adobe certified training centre that I know of.

I'll be using them to do my ACE exams in a while.

The software however isn't really something you can just 'pick up'. You seem intent on moving into a fairly exclusive area, but not willing to put the time and effort in - it just doesn't work like that.

You need at least to get yourself demo's of industry standard software, see what you can learn in the 30 days of the trial, and then decide if its for you.

There is a lot more to being a designer than knowing how to make something look pretty, there's a lot of technical aspects too. resolution, colour depth, colour profiles, output methods, layers, transparency, file types for different applications, typography, text layout & formatting and they're just a few of the simpler items, the list goes on and on.

Its very easy to look at a brochure or something and say 'I can do that'.
But then see if you can layout a 30 page DL document, design it, source and add images, edit / create images if required, get logo's in the right format,paste text from a word file, align, format, layout and spell check the text, layout graphics within a design spec and have it ready for print in 4 hours, and you'll see its not as easy as it sounds - or as exciting!

Have a good long hard think about it, and see if you're willing to put the work in, then decide if thats really what you want to do.

thinkbig

Thanks CARPEDIEM!

I must say that I really really appreciatte your response. Very well written and very very informative.I am really impress with the "kindness of strangers". I know it sounds naff but its just the reality!

I am interested in a carrer change and I have been admitted to do a 2 yrs Full time course in Ballyfermot college of Further Education, after working hard in my portfolio for a while.
That only starts in September 2009 and I am so looking forward for that course to start.
In the meantime Im going to do some Drawing courses, as drawing is a basic skill and would like to polish that aspect a bit.
Im also starting a nigth course in Photoshop.
The website you recommend and it courses are way to expensive! But they really look great!
Are you some sort of designer yourself?
Could you recommend any website that offers you a free trial of the tools you mentioned?
Could you or anyone "in the know" suggest websites for "graphic designers to be"?
Again thank you very much for your reply Carpediem and all you!!??

Dublin_Gunner

Hi thinkbig - Caraydiem here under my pseudonym!

Yes, I'm a designer, working for an insurance company at the moment in marketing. I design all artwork for print, advertising etc

For free trials, go to the companies sites.

www.adobe.com for Photoshop, InDesign & Illustrator. I think you'll need to create an account, but it is free.

TBH, those course on bigwave are very good value - and what you'll learn will well outweigh the cost, believe me.

As I said, you need to invest time, effort & some money into your own training, or if you're going to try teach yourself using guides on the web, then you'll need to buy the tools - which would be far more expensive than the courses.

www.lynda.com generally has great tutorials, though a large amount can be found by googling "[application] tutorials"

Good luck!