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I'm a graphic designer for city government. I know all the pertinent Adobe programs (Ps, Ai, Id, Fw, Dw). We have a budget for training and conferences. I'm considering a subscription to lynda.com and Drupal training. Other than that what would you consider to be the most important new software or resources? Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I'd like to be more diverse and flexible. Yes, the problem here is how to smartly use my education/conference budget. I do print, web, photography.

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  • I don't really see what the "problem" is you're trying to solve, other than using up a budget! Can you edit the question to detail what kind of work you do now (rather than the apps you know), and where are your weaknesses, or what kinds of work do you want to pick up?
    – e100
    Aug 14, 2012 at 18:35
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    I still don't think this is a very useful question to anyone else. Surely you need to determine specifically what sort of work you want to do that you are not doing now, rather than "be more diverse and flexible"?
    – e100
    Aug 15, 2012 at 10:35
  • Agreed with e100. "What to learn next?" is always a hard question, but at the end of the day it is a question that requires much more knowledge about your situation and your budget. As such, any answers here will be unique to your current situation and may not be useful to anyone else (or even to you in a few days). Closing as too localized...
    – Farray
    Aug 22, 2012 at 23:09

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Depends on what you're doing exactly. I like to tap into the free resources on the web for specific info (places like Stack Exchange) and save my budget for conferences. If you know the programs, conferences will help you stay up with the latest developments and develop a network of pros to keep in touch with.

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Drupal training? My condolences.

As for general graphic design conferences, check with your local AIGA to see if they put anything on. The bigger AIGAs often have local conferences. The other big one is the HOW Conference (Put on by HOW magazine) and the AIGA national conference.

As for software, not sure. Adobe is still pretty much the standard in our world. As for other technologies, given that you are doing Drupal, you might want to look into general web conferences. UIE puts on some really nice UX-centric ones. Then there's things like the A List Apart conferences.

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Really ambiguous question without knowing your duties. "Graphic Designer" for government can mean a whole range of things.

If you're not using Drupal I wouldn't seek specific training for it. Standard HTML5/CSS3/Javascript would be better.

Lynda.com would probably be most beneficial.

If you use Photoshop a great deal PhotoshopWorld may be worth-while as well.

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  • That's the thing, I do a wide range of work. Web graphics, photography, print, embroidery design and more. I'd like to learn Dupal so that I can start using it and contributing to to the content management efforts for our site.
    – Ian Graham
    Aug 14, 2012 at 19:30
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I attended classes at Ascend Training in Chicago: the best classes I've ever had. Not to mention it was probably the best thing I could've done for my career. I highly recommend that if you are looking to seriously pursue becoming a successful graphic designer/web designer/print designer etc. (we're all basically the same nowadays), basically anything design and Adobe related, that you attend an Adobe certified class. Here's a list of Adobe Authorized Training Partners

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