Does anyone have advice on a lost soul?
I'm currently studying Civil Engineer already finished my second year. I hate it but I want to finish this degree. I've found myself interested in Graphic Design though I have no experience apart from an A* in A-level Art.
Would I have to start a whole new degree? Or is there another way, such as taking a foundation year? Is that enough to make me employable?
I just don't want to graduate at 25 as I'm already 20.
This question and answer will surely be closed, but here I go.
I studied 2 years of mechanical engineering. I changed to graphic design. In my opinion, if you really want to do graphic design, do not waste time studying something else just "because". But be sure you want to actually change.
My enlightenment moment was when I realized that all my notes about mathematics were drawn over cartoons explaining concepts, formulas, happy characters, etc.
But this is a personal decision.
Amy:
For myself I can say: I spent many years working as a graphic designer, both as a freelancer and working for agencies... during that time I was also working as a technical illustrator and technical writer; later I went back to school yet again and moved into what I had always really wanted to do but thought I couldn't break into: architecture.
I've now spent a bit over a decade in the architectural and BIM field, and love it; I still do work in graphic design, technical illustration and writing, I do a fair amount of architectural illustration and rendering, and am now learning new skills in Unity game development to further my ability to handle real-time rendering Arch-Viz work.
Graphic design, as already said in another reply, is a discipline, an art of sorts, and a method of creating graphic languages: it's also a communicative field and a creative field.
It's not for the most part a fine art, albeit true that many graphic designers are also artists in their own right, and many well-known artists have pursued a "day-job" of graphic design to pay the bills.
That said, coming as I do from the intersection space of architecture, graphic design, technical illustration, 3D modeling, rendering and animation, having no degree in most of the fields in which I've practised successfully for years, my answer is: the best thing about graphic design is that it's portfolio (results) based.
If on top of great results, you can demonstrate a good, client-focussed process, you can easily overcome most objections. Conversely, if you now burn 3 more years of Uni and yet have no appreciable skills, talent or portfolio at the end, you'll have sharply limited success.
I'd say start pursuing design work now, do it as a sideline, and see if it's really your cup of tea.
Stick with engineering, Graphic Design on its own is becoming a dead-end with a lower salary cap. Go make your money and do GD as a hobby.
Design has become trend-driven and with the accessibility of tools and resources being at an all-time high, that going into straight design, unless you are amazingly talented, isn't the smartest option.
Designers are being overlooked for jobs now unless you have more than just design skills to bring to the table. Coding, understanding of web development and other skills are much more marketable and almost necessary now versus 5 years ago.
Industrial Design, however, has a lot of crossover with traditional engineering courses and allows you to keep a lot of your credits and skills but also gives you the freedom of being able to also design and create. Even better would be Industrial Engineering because it would share most of the core requirements you have completed already for your Civil Engineering.
