Do Graphic Designers Need a Professional Degree?

We are living in a digital age where online content is the basis of business nowadays. There are two types of content – written & visual. Professionals are required to create, manage, and handle both types of content. People who create visual content are usually termed as graphic designers.

‘Graphic Designers’ combine art & technology to express ideas with the help of images, website layout, and printed pages. They use designing tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and Corel draw for logo making, poster making, and designing graphics.

Graphic designing is a very important job. A lot of professionals are working as graphic designers in IT & marketing companies. There is a lot of discussion about the need for a professional degree in graphic designing. Some people prefer a professional degree while others stress on having experience and skills.

The degree is just icing on the cake according to them. In this article, we will assess both opinions. Towards the end, we will answer the question, “do graphic designers need a professional degree?”. Some arguments in favor of both opinions are listed below:

Professional Degree for Graphic Designing

The things which go in favor of people with a professional degree in Graphic designing are:

1. The market is full of designers having great skill levels and artistic approach. If two people having a similar skill set apply for a graphic designing job, who would get the job? In my opinion & experience, one with a professional degree get the preference.
2. You need to know about past design approaches, art history, concepts, and execution ideas as a graphic designer. All these things are learned during the study. A person with a professional degree in graphic designing possesses a head start. Why? Because of his knowledge about art history and concepts. They can execute an artistic idea better than the ones without a professional degree.
3. Teamwork means a lot in the IT industry and digital advertisement. People enrolled in professional courses of graphic designing accomplish their academic tasks and projects in the form of groups. This helps them in understanding a shared working process, sharing and accepting ideas for a better product. This helps a lot in following the directives and working with others.
4. Usually, an internship is necessary during the course is necessary for the completion of the curriculum. This internship helps people in understanding the needs of the real industry and fine-tuning their working concepts and skills. These finetuned concepts and skills help them in being a better version of a graphic designer during their professional career.

Graphic Designing without a Professional Degree

Being a graphic designer without a professional degree isn’t a setback. Here is how:

1. If you don’t have a professional degree or diploma, it doesn’t mean you lack skills or knowledge. A professional degree might help you get to the interview process. But the recruiter will surely ask about your portfolio. It makes people with or without a professional degree stand at the same level. Recruiters always prefer experience and skills. They like to see realistic briefs instead of study projects.
2. A graphic designer needs much more than just a professional degree. They need to have passion, smart observation, and an eye for detail. All the mentioned things are achievable even without a professional degree in graphic designing.
3. It is better to have a creative approach & amazing artistic ideas than having just a professional degree. Employers take equal interest in talent and creative ideas as in professional qualifications. If one has talent and passion for work, a job placement is likely.
4. Adaptability is the key. One needs to have the ability to adapt to new ideas and execute them to create an exciting end product. If you have this, you are definitely going to survive without a professional degree. People who reinvent and adapt with the time to become successful in this fast-paced industry. Accepting new ideas and improving them even isn’t a thing you would learn in the curriculum of a professional degree.

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Conclusion (Professional Graphic Designing Degree, Yes or NO?):

Having a professional degree in graphic designing is good but not necessary for the job. Talent and creativity are the real requirements for being a success story in graphic designing. There are hundreds of thousands of professionals working in the field of graphic designing without any relevant academic qualifications.

Their work isn’t inferior to the ones with a professional degree in graphic designing. The thing which really matters is skills and understanding of the designing tools used for the work. If you have talent, creativity, and skills; you can still become a great graphic designer without going down the formal degree route.

You can set your skills and get knowledge about graphic designing online. There are countless sources to help people become a creative and artistic professional. There are thousands of YouTube channels about graphic designing in various languages. You can also learn graphic designing through Udemy online courses. If you are willing to learn then lack of a professional degree is just an excuse.

There are plenty of ways to acquire knowledge & skills. The world is all about opportunities. You will get the opportunity if you are really passionate about the work. Freelancing is yet another route, in case, if you aren’t able to find land a job.

Thousands of clients are there to offer you work if you have the right skills. We advise you to go all in if you possess the passion and talent required for this artistic job. If you have the right amount of experience, knowledge, and skills, a bright future in graphic designing awaits you.

We wish you luck for your career, being artistic is the key!