Issues and Practices

Too many design graduates?

Firstly, from a personal point of view as a current graduate, my opinion is that most students leave university not knowing what to do. Work? Full time/part time? Specialist area of study? Party? Holiday? Gap year? All of these options and more certainly go through my head. Another really worrying aspect is student debt. £18,000 is the average student debt amount. So surely it’s not understandable if those students wanting to go straight into employment after graduating don’t want to wait a year to finally land a design job whilst still mounting up debt!   

"Every year many talented graduates enter challenging, rewarding work from which they enjoy rapid promotion. Unfortunately many others find themselves in very boring, low-paid jobs from which they struggle to progress", (Best Value HE)

I disagree with this quote. Yes those students who are talented designers get far in the industry. But by a long shot it doesn’t mean that other design students end up in crap, low-paid jobs at all! My father was a graphic design student and is now a deputy head master at a secondary school earning £30/40,000 a year! Far more than any designer!  Surely a degree counts for something when trying to get a job. If I have a degree and apply for a non experienced position at British Gas along side someone without a degree who’s going to get it…

"Self belief and courage is the key to success in Graphic Design. Take risks, work hard, and bloody enjoy it", (Vincent. J). 

I agree with what Jamie says. If wanting to go into the industry after leaving college, which some don't, including myself. Then I think to compete with many, many, many other design graduates, as well as professional practitioners, then you do need one hell of a lot of courage and confidence to really sell yourself to land a job. And I believe that is the only key factor to success really. And that works across a wide range of opportunities for work when graduating. Not just in the design industry.

“Being a graphic designer is great. Lots of hard work in the studio certainly pays off when you see your work out there on billboards and add shells. I work for £17,000 a year and wouldn’t work for anything less”, (Sedgwick. D).

So going back to what I said earlier about student debt really relates to what Dave was talking about. Yeah graphic designs great; tough work that pays off, nights out etc. But the pay is quite poor. And sometimes designers get laid off because of the lack of work coming in. So this is one main reason as to why design students may think again about design decreasing the number wanting to go into industry.

"If you want to know how your life is going to turn out, you just have to know where you're heading", (Arden. P)

So what Paul Arden is saying is that you need to know what it is in life that you want to do before you plan ahead. And that applies to any future, any career, any plans, prospects, aims, goals, and propositions…

In conclusion to this topic I sincerely believe that that the amount of design students that exist (and there are too many because it’s an easy course, to get on and succeed at) will not end up in the industry, through choice and discrimination. Many want a degree and many plan their design future. Either way there is no right and wrong in the decision making to be or not to be a Graphic Designer.

"If you want to be interesting, be interested", (Arden. P).