🏫 My Experience in a Design School/University · The Bunker #14

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A fortnight ago I graduated from University. I graduated as an International Digital Designer, or at least that's what my degree specifies.

Today, I work as a full-time product designer, doing a bit of freelance work, creating content and designing digital products for my community.

So, could I have achieved the same without going to design college?

Well, yes and no. Let's see:

I know many of you are in the situation of deciding whether to go to University or start the journey on your own, here's my point of view and my experience:

Positive aspects of going to University:

🏁 They help you to start: It seems silly but often the difficult thing is to start, not knowing which path to choose and not knowing how to do it is one of the most common doubts.

Being at University, you are not alone, you are guided along the way. For some people this can be a negative thing, because you are the one who chooses the path, but it is a good way to start, letting yourself be guided and then choosing the path you want to follow. For me it is a positive thing. Like everything else, you don't know what you don't know, so it's good to let yourself be guided until you get your bearings.

👨👨👧👧 Connecting with people: I think this is my strongest point. Today I run the Drone Official project together with Tomas. A person I met in class and with whom I sat next to from day one. I've met super crazy creatives, people with a more serious style, more playful, more fun. It opens your mind and teaches you that there are other people with other tastes and styles, but the most important thing is that you meet people, the world opens up.

In addition, you will encounter people you don't get along with, people you don't agree with, and you will encounter injustices. It's all experience, absorb as much as you can, and more. I've had situations where I've had to pick up the phone and tell a teacher that I didn't think their attitude was professional, they've expressed their point of view and everyone has moved on. It's all experience, and always with good vibes.

🚧 You don't know what you don't know: This point is a bit more obvious. As I mentioned before, when you start out on your own, you will have to learn a lot of things the hard way. However, the University has some guidelines, some guidelines that will help you learn what you don't know yet, and what you really don't know if you would have learned on your own, because you didn't know it existed. It is obvious.

🧙♂️🏋️♀️ Every project is like a client. New problem, new challenge and new situations: One of the things why I studied graphic design, and didn't do anything more specific, is because I wanted to learn in a big way, and then get more concrete. I started studying graphic design, where I was taught typography, editorial design, marketing, advertising, UX/UI, design history, 3D, animation, etc. Today, I work as a product designer, specialising in web design and app design. But, fortunately nowadays I can offer my company more than one service. If they need some graphics for social media, I can cover it, if they need some video, I can edit it. If they need some animation for the app, I can do it.

The good thing about this is that when you go on your own, they say that to get clients you have to do fake client work, and it's true. But you will always stay in your comfort zone. In other words. As a freelancer trying to make a living, the first thing I'll do to get clients is to create fake jobs so clients can see what I'm capable of, but I'll always do jobs that are within my preferences.

However, at University you don't choose the projects, and you may be asked to work on topics you are not entirely comfortable with, and you may have to push yourself harder, get out of your comfort zone and come up with a more difficult situation. For example, I'm used to designing apps. So it's logical that in Advertising, if I'm asked to make a poster that solves a specific situation, it will be more difficult because I'm not used to it. When I solve that exercise and the result is good, I probably won't go back to making posters, but I will take that resolution exercise back to my UX/UI field.

In conclusion, do you need to learn everything to become a UX/UI designer? Do you need to go to school to get a job?

My opinion is:

• 🏇 Going to University will help you get your bearings, more than anything else to have a way to start, and then you can decide whether to leave it, continue or take another path (photography, animation, etc.) In fact, I have a colleague who, after design University, is doing music). But it's a good starting point.
• 🤝 You don't need to go to University to get a job, degrees are obsolete, what matters is your portfolio and your experience. And that's it. Career opportunities will come to you anyway. However, going to University will help you gain experience, meet people who will give you opportunities in the professional world and guide you in the professional world.
• 👨🎓 You will never stop learning. When you finish University, you will go back to being a young apprentice who will continue to learn on your own for the rest of your life. University lasts 3-4 years, not bad for a start.
• 📚 Everything you learn at University, you can learn in courses at Skillshare, Domestika, etc. Or just by following the right people on social media. What happens is that it might take you more time (or less), because you will have to discover on your own what you don't know yet (but it's also nice).

Cheers, Jordi Espinosa.