Is a Graphic Design Degree Worth It?

Perspectives on the benefits of gaining an art and design education.

In short, yes. If your goal is to start a career working as a professional graphic designer, there is no more time tested path than obtaining a degree in graphic design. For those debating whether or not to attend a degree program, here are a few key ways in which a formal education has an advantage over alternative routes, such as self-study.

Accelerate Your Development. The first major benefit of a degree program is its speed. Taking a program over two or four years might seem like a long time, but degree programs are explicitly designed to take students at a beginner level and turn them into working professionals—providing them with all of the tools, knowledge, and guided instruction necessary so that by the time they graduate, they are more than sufficiently equipped to enter the workforce.

The reason that degree programs are so successful in repeatedly making skilled designers out of complete beginners has a lot to do with their structure.

Building a Foundation. One important goal of an educational program is to introduce concepts in an order that will allow students to effectively leverage the skills and knowledge gained in each new step, building systematically upon a foundation of skills. In a degree or certificate program, students can approach foundational concepts and skills in this order and striking an appropriate balance between theory and practice.

They can apply what they’re learned and build a stronger understanding of how these pieces are connected. This provides students with an analytical lens through which to view all future design challenges and continue to study effectively even after graduating.

Avoid Dead Ends. A great amount of value can be found in online resources, making them a great place to start, but sorting through them to find worthwhile information can be quite time-consuming. This can make the process take even longer than the two or four years for those who are juggling family life or already working full-time.

Attempting to build program on your own as a complete beginner can prove to be quite a challenging task. Piecing together an education using resources found online and YouTube tutorials is not impossible but difficult to do when you don’t know what to look for or have the foundational knowledge necessary to judge the merit of the content you’re consuming.

Structured Program. Another aspect that contributes to the speed of degree programs is their structured schedule. By providing assignments and courses with definitive start and end dates, college hold students accountable to the commitment they’ve made and provided with milestones by which they can measure their progress and stay motivated. When studying on one’s own, it can be difficult to chart your progress and know when you’ve studied a given topic sufficiently and are ready to move on to the next. Having an experienced teacher to take the reins and guide your growth when you’re feeling out of your depth can help by giving you that extra push when you need it.

Expert feedback. In many ways, guidance can make all the difference between self-study and a degree program. Having access to knowledgeable professors to answer questions and provide feedback is an invaluable asset in one’s creative development. As you approach graduation, they can also advise you as you begin your job hunt and potentially even serve as a valuable reference for potential employers.

Networking with Instructors and Peers. This brings us to the last key advantage between self-study and a degree program: networking. Classes can provide a valuable opportunity to network with both students and professors alike. Your professors will have a wealth of personal and professional experience to pull from when providing guidance and becoming friends with them is a great way to tap into their network and gain an advantage in your job hunt, whether being connected directly to their contacts or even just as a reference as you undergo interviews on your own.

Recognized by GDUSA as a top design school for 9 years in a row, Sessions College offers a range of online Associate Degree and Bachelor’s Degree programs in Graphic Design and related majors.