Posted January 20th, 2015 in Articles by Daniel

The majority of the designers have written in their DNA the unlimited desire of becoming better and better experts. I don’t have any idea if it’s biological true, but the reality 100% confirms this idea. The idea of personal and professional evolution is highly debated at iBrandStudio. but it’s a broad field and we will continue posting about. Much more, we want to take a professional approach regarding this matter. Consequently, we will start with the beginning; in order to have a constant positive professional evolution, you should have a solid fundament. Therefore, how to set up a solid fundament- which high schools are most recommended or how to get the best education are extremely important questions.

Unfortunately, establishing which high school is the best for logo designers is pretty difficult, because each individual has his/her preferences, hometown and financial situation. More exactly, we can’t provide a clear answer for our readers because they are living in very different contexts. Few years ago, anyone interested in becoming a logo designer should have attended a high school. Nowadays, the school remains very important, but you may become a logo designer by following various online courses. The Internet is full of useful resources for logo designers. from rookie to expert ones, too. Yeah, there is no doubt, anyone may learn logo design using Internet resources. The school lost from its importance and in some cases it’s old-fashioned. The example of the web designers is pretty obvious: some of them learnt in school that the websites are build using tables and in just few years, immediately after graduation this method was history.

From the start, I want to mention that I don’t want to diminish the importance of design school. Graduating a design school is a great achievement and the experience gained is irreplaceable. However, I want to emphasize that nowadays the Internet is the best polyvalent teacher and anyone willing enough to learn logo design may do it without following the courses of a school. Being a self-taught logo designer isn’t too different from being a “normal” one, but there are some advantages and disadvantages. In the next lines, we will expose the pros and cons of being a self-taught logo designer, therefore you will be able to make a complete idea about this situation.

Advantages:

#Less money and time invested

Unfortunately, graduating a good high school isn’t as simple as it sounds. It very much depends on each country internal policy, but in most cases, graduating a good high school supposes a financial investment. The costs for school graduation are higher and higher and in this context it becomes more difficult to may learn design.

On the other hand, learning design by himself/herself supposes incomparable less financial resources. The most online courses are requiring a small payment, but there are enough ones that are free. Also, learning online, from home means that is saved the cost for transportation. I guess that this advantage is enough important to convince you to look closer to this possibility.

#Get a better idea about the market

Even though many designers think little about theory, it has its importance. The self-taught logo designers must learn the theoretical principles of design. but usually they launch themselves faster into the market. No matter how good experts are the teachers from design school, the contact with the market, the communication with the clients can’t be taught; it’s all about practice.

In this context, the self-taught designer has the advantage of getting into the business faster, but the personal endeavors are bigger.

#Learn the essential

It is only a personal opinion, but I really believe that it’s worldwide valid: no matter how important a design school is, it’s impossible that all the courses to be useful. In other lines, some courses are useless and consequently is wasted precious time. A self-taught designer has the opportunity to select what is important or not for him/her. It’s not rocket science to understand that instead of learning useless objects it’s way better to learn useful things.

Disadvantages:

#The lack of certification

Every designer dreamt at least once to work in a big creative agency. It’s something normal, but only few ones manage to fulfil this dream. Those who manage have diplomas that prove their studies. It’s rare to meet a self-taught designer into a big design company. Having a certification is very important to fulfil higher positions, too. Regardless the position to fill, any employer will take into the consideration a diploma; it’s more convincing for anyone interested to hire a diploma to attest the graduation of a great design school than mentioning at studies rubric the term “self-taught”.

#The financial recompense

The clients merely will try to obtain a lower price no matter the services asked. It’s a normal fact, it’s the base of saving money. Usually, the clients are reticent to negotiate the prices with design agencies or with designers that graduated important design school. The brand of the school graduated influences the price asked by the designer…it’s not a rule, but a constant situation.

#The lack of professional advice

A beginner logo designer, but it’s true for any kind of designer, is very in doubt when it’s about what should firstly learn. When you are novice, it’s almost impossible to correctly determine what is really important to study. As a consequence, a rookie logo designer needs the help of an expert or of a teacher. A self-taught logo designer can’t benefit from the help of a teacher. Some of the online courses are really useful, but an individual can’t get tailored pieces of advices for his/her personal problems.

Conclusion

Self-preparing to become a logo designer isn’t a simple task. It’s about a strong will, many hours of study and practice and patience. The professional pieces of advice of teachers can be hardly replaced by the online courses, but nothing is impossible. There are many examples of self-taught logo designers that managed to turn into famous ones and they have gained considerable amounts of money. The final conclusion may be boring, but it’s 100% valid: if you really want to become a logo designer, then Internet is an enough resource for this purpose, but it’s not an easy way. The school remains extremely important, but it’s not a mandatory condition to learn logo design.

It will be great to know the opinion of the readers…do you think that it’s a difference between a self-taught and a “normal” logo designer? Are the services of any of them better or the way of studying doesn’t influence the quality of the services offered?