Comparative essay. Paul Lonsdale. Critical & Theoretical Studies Two

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1 Comparative essay An endless discussion within the design industry is between being self taught and design school educated. It s important to compare the factors of both types of education in web design. A visual analysis of web design is that it should convey meaning and fully represent the website s aims. This means that it should be designed in a way that it could be given to someone without online experience and they should still be able to use it. Visually presenting a website is important as it has to be done in a way that doesn t convey information overload. This is something that has to be taught, whether it s by the designer themselves or by a design school. Looking at a website highlights thought in the creative process; if there s no planning, it s typical that the website is poorly designed decreasing the amount of users. But design has a meaning and everything should be done for a reason; this is a factor that needs to be realised during the teachings of design. While it could be argued that a design school is the only source available to teach such in depth thoughts, some designers will disagree, claiming that they can teach themselves from other sources and analysing existing works. Colour theory is a basic example of this. Many resources can be found online to understand correct colour usage. The colours you use can have a heavy impact on how your visitors perceive your site (Cameron Chapman, 2010), this is because colours have meanings. For example, blue is seen to be calming and cool (Cameron Chapman, 2010) which allows for visitors to feel relaxed and at ease; how the visitor should feel is something that should be taken into account during the design. A psychoanalytical view on this is that design schools are the only places where a designer is able to learn how to design with meaning. The institute is able to fully teach how to convey feelings, meaning and other considerations, such as accessibility. The designer needs to know how to work with the subconscious mind. There are psychology tests available for web design; working on something memorable, with reading patterns, colours and images is important. But it could be said this is not self taught, due to the designer needing to know these factors exist before they re able to research to gain more knowledge. The only good thing you need to get a design job is a good portfolio, (KenReynolds, 2010) represents a typical viewpoint from someone in the industry. If the designer is able to visually present creative work, show potential and talent without having a degree, as it could just be a piece of paper tucked in a cupboard somewhere (KenReynolds, 2010) that s not referred to once the designer has the experience in the industry, they are likely to gain respect in the industry and offered work opportunities. A key factor is that the majority of employers seek the piece of paper accrediting a degree. This symbolises that the individual is able to continue in an educational environment demonstrating determination. An online job listing (for treefrog design associates ) advertising a junior web designer and developer role states the ideal candidate will [be] art school trained (degree or equivalent) (Anon, 2011). While some employers seek a strong portfolio as the equivalent of a degree, it is company dependant and usually only smaller companies do this; treefrog design agency is a large company. They seek an individual with a degree to add a high standard and exclusivity to their company. Page 1 of 5

2 Comparing both sides, it s possible to highlight that there are similarities. These are that both allow for employment within the industry; they allow the designer to fulfil their career choice, teaching techniques and processes are something that both sides develop. You can end up in the same job role in both scenarios. But it s important to compare the differences. One side represents design schools capping creativity. An argument is that a design school programmes a designer and doesn t let their creative freedom take hold due to restrictions against deadlines, specific briefs and other paperwork. Self taught focuses primarily on learning techniques; not having to write reports, which is seen as a good thing from the designers who feel self teaching is the better option; it means more focus is on the design itself, taking away extra pressure of creating paperwork. Adding more detail, design schools are costly and mean that the designer will be in thousands of pounds worth of debt after graduating. Contrasting this with being self taught, it could be said it s much cheaper as books are inexpensive and resources can be found online for free, at only the cost of the internet connection. However, a student is only officially recognised if they are enrolled on a course in a recognised institute. This could prove difficult for a designer trying to teach themselves due to financial factors and time constraints of balancing existing commitments around learning. Enrolling at a design school allows for financial support, something self teaching does not. Realising the point of using the internet, it can be said that a design school is a credible learning source. If the designer is learning online, checks need to be made to ensure the website is reputable. This is something that is less of a problem with design as you have to use the tools available in the software, so it s likely there are a lot of reputable sources. An important point to note is that there are many people online who claim to be skilled in design when they are not. This is why it s important to filter out the poorly designed learning materials. It s tricky for someone who doesn t know what to look for. But by looking at several resources and using the common techniques, correct methods can easily be recognised. Being self taught ensures that the techniques learned are modern and that they are equal to, if not better, than a design school s method of teaching. If the learning materials are credible but showing different methods to a design school, the designer could benefit more from being self taught. Being self taught allows for the ability to develop the most efficient techniques whereas a design school would highlight the correct and proper way to achieve the result which may be inefficient in the time it takes, possibly allowing for valuable business to be lost in the long term due to being slow at completing processes. In contrast, a design school is responsible for providing a stepping stone into learning. It s not possible to do this being self taught without knowing where to start; this is the trickiest step in self teaching. Though, it is easy to start by just looking at the software and trying to accomplish something. Plus many designers & developers despise the word college considering they ve learned nothing from it or feel that they re wasting money learning something they ve already learned (Marcell Purham, 2010). This key quote points out the fact that someone with passion for something will research and learn without being told to as they do not consider it as learning but instead, exploring something they enjoy. They find that they have enrolled at a design school to gain full Page 2 of 5

3 credit for their skills, but still had to go through the process of learning the techniques they already know which could be costly in terms of finances and time. Putting this into an historical context, many musicians have self taught themselves with their chosen instrument. While, historically, the design industry hasn t accepted being self taught, it s changing and becoming something that is more popular. This is evident from students realising the increases in tuition fees and seeking other forms of education. Contrasting this point, a web designer states I started designing websites when I was 14 years old. (Kyle McCall, 2010) Then he proceeds to highlight a relevant point of 11 years later running my own web design firm showing that determination plays a key part. It should be highlighted McCall studied a university degree in computer programming. He self taught himself more than he learned from his degree to ensure he knew more about his trade, which proposes the question of whether university education is teaching relevant skills. Taking the prospect of being self taught further back in time, it s possible to highlight that human survival was a self taught skill as there were no official teachings in how to survive in the wild. Though this is a large comparison between surviving and gaining employment, it highlights the point of being self taught; it allows someone to understand the principles of something and put these principles into action when they need to, through experience and practice - not through reading learning materials or explaining how to complete something without actually doing it. Many academic sources prefer design school education. They believe that their graduates are successful in working for the major brands. Taking the web design course descriptions on academic sources, it s apparent that students go on to work with large companies; our graduates have found excellent employment with a number of leading organisations and agencies in the UK (Hull School of Art and Design, n.d.). In addition, highly skilled professionals who can design and develop feature rich interactive web based systems are in great demand (Northumbria University, n.d.), this points out that while graduates are wanted, as this extract is taken from a course description, web designers who are highly skilled are in high demand, possibly showing that a degree is not required; the advanced skill set is. This adds to the comparison of being self taught because it doesn t focus primarily on the students of the institute, but on what the industry is looking for. However, due to the current economic climate, employers are seeking the best person for the job without spending lots of time on the interviewing process, as they would rather be working on business matters; a candidate with a degree will stand out more than a candidate without, even though they may not be the best person for the job. Traditionally, a degree was something only obtainable by the upper class. It demonstrates how the individual has the ability to afford university, showing they are well educated, which is something a lot of employees seek, creating more open doors for employment opportunities. Bringing all the points together, it s possible to compare a design school and self taught education as both being on different levels. This is clear as a design school teaches, or programmes, the way of thinking, whereas self taught is more experienced based; this is the process of learning through trial and error, allowing the designer to practice new techniques in their own time. Page 3 of 5

4 To evaluate the popularity in industry, it s important to consider that a designer wishing to start up their own business or work for a smaller company could be self taught and accepted for that fact. This is because no one asks the business owner if she has a degree (Leonid S. Knyshov, 2010). Also, working for a small company means that the recruitment process is focused more on the individual, not the piece of paper that belongs to them. Whereas a larger company actively seek graduates to find the best candidate for the job, it also acts as a status symbol for the company. Broader issues are that by being self taught a designer misses out on the group and communication aspects of a design school. They work alone in learning their trade. Linking with this factor is that there is a lack of communication skills with being self taught. A design school teaches the principles of client communication which is essential for working in the industry. Self teaching doesn t, which could lose the designer clients. A factor from this also highlights that help is unavailable from being self taught, which means the designer has seek information from further sources. This could provide to be more successful than a design school as they go through a harder process to source information, which allows the designer to learn from it more than they would just by simply asking someone at a design school. It s important to note that design and the web are always changing. This means that a designer should not stop learning after graduating. The process of creating a website is always evolving which outlines a design school should allow the designer to realise that they need to carry on teaching themselves. But taking this point, it s possible to outline that if the designer has to continue learning after graduation, it may just be simpler and more efficient to be self taught and continue learning without having debt from the design school cost. Overall, it s important to point out that the debate of being self taught or design school educated is ongoing, it can be drawn to a simple conclusion: a design school produces an officially recognised qualification, working as a key to open the door to more opportunities. Both types of education are not future proof, but self taught shows strong motivation and determination to learn, which will continue through the developments of the industry. Page 4 of 5

5 References 1. KenReynolds, Art College or self taught? Drawar, [blog] August, Available at < [Accessed 10 March 2011] 2. Freelance Folder, Can You Teach Yourself Web Design? Freelance Folder, [blog] March 24, Available at < 3. Marcell Purham, College v being self taught. Do you really need college to be successful? WebDevTuts, [blog] September 3, Available at < 4. Leonid S. Knyshov, College v being self taught. Do you really need college to be successful? WebDevTuts, [blog] September, Available at < 5. RyJek, Difference between artists and designers when it comes to creation 1stwebdesigner, [blog] February 19, Available at < [Accessed 11 March 2011] 6. Kyle McCall, About.com, Self-Taught Fuelled by Passion, [online] Available at < Taught-Fueled-by-Passion.htm> 7. Hull School of Art and Design, n.d. BA (Hons) Web Design, [online] Available at < [Accessed 14 March 2011] 8. Northumbria University, n.d. Web Design & Development BSc (Hons), [online] Available at < 9. Cyberindian.com, n.d. Website Psychology, [online] Available at < [Accessed 14 March 2011] 10. Cameron Chapman, The Psychology of Web Design. Web Designer Depot, [blog] May 24, Available at < 11. Jakob Nielsen, F-Shaped Pattern for Reading Web Content [online] Available at < 12. Graphic Design Blog, Valuable Career Advices For Graphic Design Students Graduation Day! Graphic Design Blog, [blog] March 10, Available at < 13. Design Week, Junior Web Developer / Graphic Designer. [online] Available at < [Accessed 21 March 2011] Page 5 of 5