Designers: Which training to take?

August 5, 2020 12:34 PM

I am a mediocre* graphic designer working in-house for a huge company. It's not a great place to work and I'd like to move on in the next 6 months. I don't think I'd enjoy working at an agency, nor do I think I have the chops or past experience for it. I'd rather stay in-house, but I'd like to bulk up my skills to make me a more desirable candidate (and also to have more fun and challenge myself). What should I learn?

I was thinking either javascript or motion design. I knew Flash (and ActionScript) back in the day. However, I'm not sure how desirable those two things are, and if they're a good pairing with my design skills (job wise). I am also a servicable illustrator.

I'm not sure where I want to be career-wise. I'm living above the poverty line for the first time in my life, and I'd like to stay that way. I'd like to work with a lot of women (the tech and design bro thing is why I'd like to avoid agencies) and I desperately need someone above me who is knowledgeable and can give me regular, meaty feedback so I can grow.

Designers, what skills do you think I should pick up? Or bulk up?

Apologies if something doesn't make sense. I'm really scattered lately!

*I think I'm pretty realistic about my current abilities. I make tidy/occasionally lovely/professional looking documents, but they're not exciting or boundary-pushing. I've lost a lot of creativity working in-house following brand rules, and I haven't sent anything out to print in more than a decade.

posted by Stoof to Work & Money (8 answers total)

A mediocre graphic designer who really knows Javascript is definitely valuable! Or, if you want to be more on the small- to medium-sized business in-house side of things, you might consider learning WordPress + other generalized web concepts/skills (search engine optimization, ecommerce tools, social media tools, etc.), as lots of smaller companies need someone with a decent visual vocabulary to manage their digital world.
posted by nosila at 12:44 PM on August 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

If you are using Photoshop as your main tool, look into Sketch.

Also, not all agencies are like what you describe. My agency is majority women, there is literally ONE shitty man who works there. UNO. He's the outlier. You can find what you want at an agency (and usually the corresponding salaries are higher). But if you don't want agency, then you don't want agency.
posted by Medieval Maven at 1:32 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

After Effects enjoying a bit of a resurgence in the space, particularly with more illustrative animations and effects. Your illustrations + After Effects + Lottie (JavaScript) would be a pretty nice tool in your army knife.


As opposed to coding a lot of designers are really getting to know and enjoy using WebFlow and Figma if you want to learn some new tools.


If you're not using, or learning Sketch as discussed above or Figma, the next step, especially in-house is learning to create and use Design Systems bringing this type of rigor in-house is great. Not a ton to learn per-se but understanding the tooling is great. One of my favorite systems to peruse is Flexport's Latitude.

I didn't really pick up what you're designing but learning the basics of UI/UX is always great. These days though understanding product ideation, product research, design thinking and design sprints are fantastic tools (ones mostly used in-house in large corps)

I run a small digital product agency in the media and entertainment space. Happy to answer any more specific questions if you want to email me. If you do decide to look elsewhere I think there's a ton of value in the breadth of experience an agency can provide, and while agencies can be a grind I'd not tar them all with the same brush. Ad agencies tend to be under more pressure, but branding or product and digital tend not to be as bad - I can don't think my agencies grind to deadlines more than an in-house team would - but you may have to shop around. Good luck!
posted by bitdamaged at 1:51 PM on August 5, 2020 [1 favorite]

Response by poster: (I am currently designing web sites (very limited - with Google Sites/WYSIWYG editors), flyers, digital and print reports up to 100 pages long, proposals, print and digital advertisements, presentations, event materials and signage, white papers, one pagers, digital newsletters, stickers, brochures... and probably other things I can't recall right now)
posted by Stoof at 2:14 PM on August 5, 2020

I’ll second the idea to dive into After Effects, especially if you want to take your visualization and illustration skills into another dimension. Use content that you’re already familiar with and create a sample project for yourself that you explore with sound and motion. You could even create a documentary-style case study as a nice cap on a project you’re already working on...your team will get a real thrill if you use a sweeping soundtrack, and it could strengthen your portfolio.
posted by oxisos at 2:46 PM on August 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

Javascript pairs nicely with design skills if you also make sure to learn HTML/CSS. I think as a designer, you'll find CSS a good bridge. It's a pretty good design tool in its own right, these days.
posted by the_blizz at 4:28 PM on August 5, 2020

I'm a designer (ux/ui) and have been the last ~6 years. I've moved from being a print designer to User Interface design. I have tried over the years to learn development on and off again and haven't had any luck. My mind just doesn't seem to get it to the level needed.

I will say that back in the day, front end development has seemed to move from at one point knowing HTML/CSS and some jquery (javascript) was enough to get a decent job. Now, employers are grilling candidates on all kinds of algorithm questions and tough riddle type interviews and it seems like they want full stack developers meaning they work on both the front and back end of development. Your situation might be different in that your mind could get all the logic stuff that being a developer requires, but I would be careful about studying javascript thinking that will be a bolted on thing to add to your skills to get a job. The market is just too competitive these days for getting in without extensive experience.

If you decide you want to take the learn javascript route, you would need to learn and get good at HTML/CSS and look into front-end development.
Here is the latest experience that someone trying to work in front end needs to know:
https://www.reddit.com/r/javascript/comments/i456d7/all_front_end_interview_questions_asked_during_my/
YMMV and this is just one would be interviewers experience but it is definitely in line with my experiences in interviewing for FE roles I tried.

Memail me if you have any specific questions on the ux/ui path.
posted by gregjunior at 4:32 PM on August 5, 2020

Seconding looking into motion graphics with after effects. It’s easier than it looks and it’ll step up your portfolio. here’s a place to start. IMO, if you want to do more web work, getting comfortable with designing in sketch/adobe xd would serve you better than diving deep into front-end dev programming, unless you want to actually become a developer.
posted by sonmi at 7:35 AM on August 6, 2020