Why should high school students learn graphic design?

If you are a high school student with interests in a creative career or a future in a design-related industry, it pays to start your training early and to start working with graphic design applications as soon as you can. If you want to ensure that you are setting yourself up for success, you may want to consider enrolling in a summer program that aims to teach students how to use common graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. This training can help set students up for long-term success in their creative endeavors, and there are plenty of reasons that someone would want to spend their summer learning a bit of graphic design.

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Top reasons to learn graphic design in high school

The main reason to learn graphic design is that you have a passion for digital art, and you want to train and experience working with the most common digital art tools on the market. Learning how to use Adobe Creative Cloud applications will give you the chance to take advantage of some of the most commonly used software in the professional graphic design industry, and it will set you up for long-term success in a host of different creative careers. Regardless of what kind of art interests you, there is a good chance that learning digital art tools can help expand and supplement your opportunities and the media in which you can work. 

Whether it is for something as straightforward as designing a brand logo for a startup or as complex as working as part of a massive team on a multifaceted marketing strategy, there is a constant demand for the creative talents of designers in the commercial, retail, and advertising fields. Digital artists and graphic designers are in high demand across a wide range of different industries, so no matter what kind of work you are interested in, you are likely to find a reasonable career path to follow. Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Graphic Designers earn an average annual salary of about $61,000.

Another reason that graphic design is a particularly good career path to pursue is that you have the opportunity to find work in a range of different environments and professional settings. Many companies will hire their own Graphic Designers who can work on dedicated, long-term design projects. This is usually done by very large companies that can keep dozens of designers on the payroll because they are constantly making changes to the visual design of a range of different products and advertising campaigns. Alternatively, you might find work at a dedicated design studio that is hired by corporate clients to create designs and work on branding projects for a short period of time, which is a good option for anyone who wants to diversify the kinds of work that they will be asked to do. Finally, you might find work as a freelance Graphic Designer, picking your own clients, working with small companies and individuals, and building a flexible work schedule that suits your personal needs.

Prepare for your college education and build your portfolio

If you are interested in pursuing graphic design as a career path or even want to become a Graphic Designer, it is likely that you’ll want to get a head start on your training in order to get extra practice, guided support, and the chance to build a portfolio of material. Enrolling in a summer graphic design course and learning foundational design skills will pay long-term dividends for anyone pursuing an artistic degree since it will not only help you become more comfortable with the basics that you’ll work on at an introductory level but it will also provide you with a competitive edge over other students who are also applying for similar programs. Building a portfolio of work that you can add to your admissions materials is a great way to help improve your chances of getting into the program that you dream of attending, and having a class under your belt will both give you a chance to get personalized feedback on your work and it will demonstrate for prospective admissions boards that you are dedicated to your work.

Use graphic design skills to build your own creative work

Sometimes, it is worthwhile to just pursue a creative passion for its own sake, and learning the tools associated with graphic design can give you the skills you need in order to become a more adept and versatile creative. Learning how to work with Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator also requires you to understand the basic design principles that inform why professional artists make the decisions that they make and how theories of visual design contribute to the overall process of creating stunning and evocative works of art. Enrolling in a class like this is an ideal way to get hands-on experience working on creative projects and learning from experts in the field how to develop your own creative voice and unique style. By taking a summer course, you can start yourself on the road to creative freedom and independence by getting hands-on training in the theories of design that you can use in hundreds of creative and professional contexts later in life.

Skills you’ll learn during a high school graphic design class

High school graphic design classes are formulated to help students learn the fundamentals of design while also preparing them for more advanced training in more focused areas of study. The skills learned in these types of classes aren’t just for aspiring designers, as they’re valuable for anyone who wants to learn how to mesh their creativity with problem-solving skills. High schoolers pursuing graphic design training can expect to learn:

• Adobe Creative Cloud programs like Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator
• Design principles such as color theory and typography
• File management techniques and how to export content for different platforms
• How to receive feedback and apply revisions to projects
• The process behind building a portfolio and what types of work it should feature
• Vector vs. raster graphics and when to use them
• How to create multi-page documents and use layout tools