What were you doing before the course?
I used to be a chartered accountant. I took a career break to have a family and during that time I began to realise that I wanted to follow a more creative path. I have always been interested in design, art and photography but I was never encouraged in that direction when I was at school. During my career break, I decided that life is short and you should spend it doing something that you really love so I took the big leap from accountancy to graphic design!
Why did you decide to do the course?
I had been looking around for a graphic design course for a while but none of the courses seemed to offer exactly what I was looking for. Then I found Shillington. When I received the brochure I was really excited. As soon as I saw the syllabus I knew it was perfect. The content focused exactly on the skills that I wanted to learn and in a time-scale that suited me. I really wanted to do the full-time course so I spent a few months wondering how I could juggle the course and family life. When my husband was made redundant earlier in the year, it gave us the opportunity to swap roles for a few months so I took the plunge and signed up. I knew on the first day that I had chosen the right course. It totally exceeded my expectations.
What did you enjoy most about the course?
The best thing about the course is that it is structured to mimic a real life design studio environment. Everything is taught via commercially focused briefs and to quite tight deadlines so you get great experience of what it will be like working as a graphic designer. I loved the wide range of different briefs we worked on and I liked the intensity of the course. The timetable is really well structured and it is amazing how much work we achieved over the course. The teachers bring great commercial experience to the classroom and one of the most valuable aspects of the course is the feedback that you get via critiques of your work and that of the other students. Plus, it was great fun mixing with other like-minded people from all different walks of life in a really creative environment.
How did you find the college environment and facilities?
The college facilities are excellent. The college itself is well located and the studio environment is lovely to work in with up-to-date computers and great library resources.
How confident do you feel as you enter the world of graphic design?
I left the course with a portfolio of work that I'm really proud of. Our teachers gave us great advice about how to market ourselves to potential employers and, having extensive commercial experience themselves, they know what employers are looking for. I know that the course has given me the technical skills I need to find work and I hope the wide range of work in my portfolio demonstrates my creative ability too.
What are your next steps?
I'm really looking forward to getting work as a junior designer. It will be interesting trying to combine design work with family life but I'm starting to get requests from family and friends to do little design jobs so I will take it from there and see what happens.
Sara's husband David also commented:
"When I attended the Shillington College graduation event, I was really impressed by the quality of the portfolios on display that showcased the students' work. Everyone had been pushed from day one to respond to challenging briefs and the talent, commitment and passion of the students and the teachers was very evident. As someone who has worked in marketing services for over 20 years with major brands, I have had direct contact with advertising agencies and graphic designers and the standard of the work generated by Shillington is amongst the best that I have seen. From a personal perspective, it is fantastic that my wife has had the opportunity to go on the course and think that it has given her an excellent grounding to pursue an alternative career."
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