Several design paths exist when it comes to learning graphic design each with merits and demerits; there’s the self-taught route where you learn on your won but without a guide providing insights, and the school route costing anywhere from $45,000 -$200,000.
But there are blends you can take , to get the best both of worlds; budget friendly and structure.
Now there are many who swear by the good book that they’ve never paid for a design course yet make good money out of it . This is true and you can literally get by for the rest of your design career with YouTube videos.
Paid courses however offer distinct advantages that anyone even the youtubers admire and pass by due to budget constraints.
Here are top advantages offered by paid graphic design courses:
- Structure: Paid graphic design courses come structured to help you get the most out of your buck. It’s that classroom feeling with progressive courses, objectives and goals.
- Learning outcome Offer an outcome usually in the form of portfolios to help you land paid gigs right after learning.
- Mentorship: offers the chance to get guided by tutors after course completion or get connected with older alumni for feedback purposes.
This isn’t to say that the school of the free and self-taught YouTube hasn’t been amazing in providing quality education. Neither does it fall short in quick how-to guides for specific tasks. However, when a paid course comes your way, it tends to offer more long-term benefits than a 10-minute tutorial would.
As far as paid courses go, there’s the guys at cr8tive expats offer mind blowing packages we just had to tell you about. These courses are budget friendly and it would be a wonder if anyone ignored.
The cr8vie xpats offer dynamic courses for but we’ve picked our top 4 for designers.
Here are the top 3 courses at the academy you need to know now, prices, and durations.
- Graphic Design: Learn the visual language for communication as well as powerful tools graphic designers deploy in executing their tasks.
We know that designers struggle with this aspect a lot: software mastery. In the past, we’ve organized masterclasses to help bridge the gap.
Keep in mind that the class was a physical one because nothing beats seeing good work happen right in front of you. At the Cr8tive xpat courses there’s six months of live action waiting to happen once you sign up for a graphic design course. Yes that’s right the course is a physical one and digs deep for six months.
The training is split into seven sections: (1) Design Theory (Design Principles and Design Elements), (2) Software Training and Drills (CorelDraw, Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign), (3) Conceptualization, (4) Advertising, (5) Brand Identity, (6) Strategy, and (7) Pre-press Management.
Course price: 90,000
- Motion Graphics
N100,000
Duration 3 months
Learn the art of animating elements i.e. making them move for use in film, animation, special effects, and to make creative projects pop.
Motion graphics counts as a complex graphic design discipline, often difficult to learn on your own without guidance; There’s use of more advanced software than Photoshop and more complicated tasks than mere clipping masks. Granted, it’s not rocket science, but if you’re interested in animating objects, then more serious steps are required.
The Cr8tiv xpats are offering a 3-month training to introduce the concepts involved in motion design to newbies and scale them up to proficiency in the use of industry software for motion design.
We think this is a must-know for designers since graphic design courses are easily obtainable but not motion graphics.
It’s also more intimidating, but starting a lesson with an experienced tutor versed in all the required steps eliminates worries, and that’s what Crtiv xpats will be doing for 3 months.
Intro to Brand Comms and Advanced Strategy:
Our final top pick available at the Cr8tiv expats is Brand comms and advanced strategy. This course sticks close to the core of NGD’s belief on how disciplines beyond graphic design are essential to scaling value for clients.
The needs of every client exceed the flyers executed by a designer; there’s the ideation, advertising, campaign management, tracking and reporting. Designers often lack understanding of these facets and merely stick to executing decisions.
On a one-man show, lack of skills beyond graphic design like email marketing or social media management reduces your potential to land clients. If you do land clients, lack of these skills outside design limits the ability to provide an end-to-end service .
There’s also the career limit since designers with design knowledge only are limited within the scope of design roles, rarely progressing to roles like communication Lead or manager.
Picture painted? Point taken? Now would you like to learn skills outside design that prepare you for leading roles at agencies and corporate organizations? Then the brand marketing course at Cr8tive experts provides the inside marketing knowledge you need to get ahead.
The course duration is 2 months and within this period, students go from simple to complex marketing concepts used by marketing gurus.
It’s a course set to get you ahead in life, offering knowledge that won’t just let you sit content as a designer.
Learning the right stuff determines what you do when a brief is given to you.
You could apply advanced clipping mask techniques to project utilize fonts like a pro and make color decisions perfectly.
Learn the wrong stuff or live in your own cocoon of tricks and the lack of clients or recurring jobs easily makes you quit design in a beat.
While learning improves your ability to perform admirably, how you learn is crucial too.
Desingers like Leo believe “At some point YouTube can’t teach you the rich stuff. So if you see a course that’s rich in content, you pay for it.”
Take the courses at Cr8tiv experts for expert guidance and graphic design training to help you rise above the common place quickly.
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