I wouldn't show process work on your website or in your PDF portfolio unless it strongly emphasizes the amount of work you've done. This is something that could be copied by a dishonest person, so it's best to stick to final artwork for things you share publicly, but have printouts of process work that you can show on request during an interview.
For Illustrator, I would want to see the outline view and to a lesser extent your layer structure (how tidy are your files, do you use groups as well as layers, do you name your layers and/or groups, etc.). For Photoshop, I will care more about your layer structure, if your edits are non-destructive (e.g. adjustment layers rather than flattened adjustments), and if you use and save paths as necessary.
Because you can code HTML and CSS, you will pick up Dreamweaver very fast. It will help speed up your workflow, but Dreamweaver is a tool and knowing how to code will be more important. There are some small mistakes in the code of your website. If you are applying for a web design job, keep in mind that they will completely nitpick your code. You are using Div ID's multiple times, which is not technically correct. ID's should be unique, classes are what you should be using for repeated styling.
I also strongly suggest you learn to use InDesign if you haven't learned it already. You need to know how to do layout in there that incorporates assets that are created in Illustrator and/or Photoshop. This will make you more well-rounded and give you more opportunities that you can look at.
For your PDF portfolio, you have too few pieces and you aren't showing a wide skill set. On your website it is great to list the client and basic details, but for the PDF portfolio -- don't give too much away. Include your name and contact info. Details about projects can be separate.
Also, for logos, you need to prove how well it works by showing large and small (1 inch) versions. You should also show a black and white version in addition to colour. This shows the flexibility and that you have considered how it will apply in various uses. I also need to see that you can do more in Illustrator aside from solid colour drawings and simple gradients. Choose something that would show more skill, something that maybe uses a more uncommon effect. You can experiment with brush styles, gradient mesh, 3D objects, even do a wireframe for a conceptual website.
I know this might sound a bit harsh, but you need to also design your portfolio site and your résumé more. Every designer should take the time to design their résumé -- it can be clean and modern, but it shouldn't look like it was made in Word. Give it something a little extra, be a little more experimental with some of the typography, don't be afraid to inject some colour into it too. The same for your website. Dress it up a little more. Also, you shouldn't have your résumé on the landing page of your website. Have a blurb about your self and make it easy to get to your portfolio pieces. The résumé is for people who are more invested in getting information about you.
By the way, you should add more to your LinkedIn profile too. Lots of recruiters go on there, and you can make easy connections to possible job opportunities that way. Make sure that on your résumé and LinkedIn that you call focus to things you achieved beyond listing basic tasks. Are you efficient? Did you establish new processes? Did you train anyone else? Did you supervise anyone? etc.
I know that's a lot to take in, but I hope that helps get you started. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm looking forward to seeing the next version.
It's not harsh, I am used to critiques and so forth.
I like those ideas in the 1st and 2nd paragraphs. I myself appreciate it when my co-workers label their PhotoShop files nicely so I understand where you're going with that.
HTML5 is new to me, so I have a lot to learn, I'll admit. I will look into classes.
I am having a big realization that what I am doing is switching from video to print, most jobs are requiring some type of print experience. I kind of want to get experience at a Kinko's if it can get me more opportunities.
I love documenting, backing up and organizing, that is a great idea for putting on LinkedIn and my resume. I will think of more things that I did like that.
No, that is great to get me started.
Can you recommend a good HTML reference? I know of the WC3 pages but it's pretty dry reading. I had to dig around to find a way to centre everything on the screen. I am used to using tables to organize everything, and my pet peeve is seeing text, then watching the layout jump around and the fonts change, as the page loads, so I have to get to love styling an entire page with CSS. *shrugs*
How about all the dates on my resume? Should I leave off my graduation dates, and put only how many years I have worked? Or does that matter?
I try to be conscientious when I critique. Glad you are finding things helpful :)
Kinko's and such will likely expect some layout experience. Those kinds of shops have lower pay and fast turnaround times, so although there are certain benefits I'm not sure you would get much guidance.
W3 Schools is a great reference. HTML5 is really not a huge deal, (X)HTML Strict might be easier to find reference for and encourages best practices. Your HTML is mostly semantically correct. You do have some empty paragraphs, which you should avoid to be extra correct (add margin to the last paragraph instead). Your CSS could use some beefing up. Start with one thing at a time or you may get overwhelmed.
CSS is a lot of trial and error to learn well. Find something you think is cool, examine the code, try to figure out why certain things work, and then try to recreate it. Also, the W3C code checking tools can point you in the direction of best practices, so you can be more aware when something might cause issues that are acceptable or if they should be handled differently.
Dreamweaver has a "browser compatibility" checker that can give you hints on things that might not be as cross-browser compatible as you think and includes short explanations of those issues (and sometimes suggests solutions). e.g. the double margin bug.
Hand coding is great, but you can also do that in Dreamweaver (and it'll be faster). I also use the WYSIWYG preview as a pre-check before I preview in browsers to see if anything goes really wonky early on.
CSS shorthand would also be good to learn. It makes for cleaner code and faster page loads.
Fonts changing might be some of the newer, fancier methods for using custom fonts. I think most sites don't actually need that. There are other ways to style generic fonts and show personality: size, colour, weight, letter spacing, case, borders on headings, use inline block elements with a border and/or background, etc.
There's a web design community on here, but I haven't seen anything on it in ages. I do admin this group though, so feel free to ask web design questions here if needed.
You have an awesome green in your favicon that I'd love to see you carry into your website a bit. You could also use that square on your downloadable, PDF résumé for a pop of colour and to show a more of your personality.
Dates on your résumé are fine. As long as it doesn't make you look really old, you are totally fine with that. At some point you can cut back on the positions you include that aren't directly relevant and change the heading to "selected professional experience."
Do you have a cover letter draft? I highly recommend having a basic cover letter that you can tweak for each application. It adds emphasizes your interest in the job. When applying by email, the cover letter would be the body of the email and you'd attach your designed résumé.
PDF portfolios are moreso used for making printouts, by the way. On your website you can display things differently. I use a Lightbox script on my site. You can do something else you like, that's just an example of something pre-existing that you can customize. My site is outdated by the way, I'm planning to make changes soon to reflect some of my more recent work.
One job I applied to, asked for a portfolio to be submitted, and I assumed they wanted a PDF. I couldn't envision sending a pile of PNGs or AIs.
So I would indeed have nice prints made for an interview? Should I bring AI and PSD files? Would a CD ROM work? I know some of the newer Macs don't have CD drives.
Yeah I did kind of slap my site together but I am put off using a click through gallery, by all the clickbait articles that use them. I saw a gorgeous portfolio site that used scrolling, but they used blocks of color to give each page some separation.
The favicon is left over from when I used the site for my original music. I still love that green too, I guess I need to sit down and let the ideas flow.
Yeah I looked into using the Google fonts but they weren't anything special. I would prefer something prettier but then there's copyright issues with some fonts. Though maybe it's good to do, to show that I know what it is. But I'm sure that better overall design is more important.
At my job, I used to format text within an existing look, space it out and kern, that must count for something, but I can't call it layout experience can I? I've done it so long that I can spot sloppy spacing on TV, wherever. Though what I do see more often is bad color correction - a guest on CNN who is a bit bluer or redder than they should be, or crappy green screens. I have had 13 years of looking for bad kerning and green facial tones, (not to mention checking spelling) surely that eye for those details is useful to some employers? I need to express all that on my resume somewhere, those skills did not come without a lot of time observing and making changes myself. One person, she was tweaking the color on a feed, I couldn't tell the difference, but she has been doing it longer than I have.
You would actually give them the URL for your online portfolio instead of a PDF. That way you can show more and don't have to worry about file size limits.
Yes, you should absolutely have nice prints for the interview, displayed in a nice book. The size is up to you. I personally like letter sized for my work, but if you think a bigger size will showcase things better, you can certainly do so. You shouldn't need a CD. If they want proof of skills beyond what you can speak about relating to your portfolio and experience, it is more common for you to be asked to do a test.
When we last hired a junior designer/photographer in my department, I developed a Photoshop test for the interviewees. I gave them a specific set of instructions that included: make initial adjustments in Camera Raw and then bring into Photoshop. Save your file in TIFF format. Create a path and mask out the background of this image. Save the path in your file. Colour correct the image (in Camera Raw and possibly more in Photoshop). Remove any glare and/or colour cast. Use non-destructive edits such as adjustment layers. Fix the perspective (compensating for lens distortion and the angle the photo was taken). I then gave them four images to choose from (two easy and two hard) and an hour to work on whatever they could complete.
The applicant we hired did most of the work on the two hard images and followed instructions better than anyone else.
That's not to say that's what I was expecting to happen, but he did a fantastic job well above the rest. My main priority was to see if they could follow instruction, what was their attention to detail like, how much skill did they show, and how long did it take them to do that type of editing. It was important to me to get a baseline more than anything so I would know exactly how to structure the way I would train them if hired.
You don't have to do a click through gallery, but I think you can try something else in terms of layout that would better show design ability and attention to things such as SEO and accessibility.
The design is more important than fancy fonts. Generic fonts are very common online, and there's a lot you can do before you go to fancy fonts.
Formatting text isn't necessarily layout experience. It's good to have typography skills, but there's more to it than that for layout. You have nothing showcasing that in your portfolio, so it would be difficult for someone to know what your ability is in that area. If you don't have something already, you can always take text that is in the public domain and use it to create mock up layouts. If you want a job doing print layout, you need to show a few pieces that showcase your ability to handle that. Some single page and some multi-page.
You can, by the way, include a list of key skills with explanations on your résumé. That style might actually be more helpful to you for your transition.
Can you recommend a good graphic design textbook that explains layout?
I peeked at some slide shows about layout, and I see some things I know, and a lot I don't know. I think I know good layout when I see it, but I can't tell why bad layout is bad.
I know about grouping items in proximity, aligning text, and that you don't use a display font for a block of text, but I guess those are just the basics. Knowing those things makes me feel like I know more than the folks at my work, however that doesn't make me a graphic designer either. (I tried going back to school but work kept getting in the way, but I may get my chance if I quit my job I guess)
I think if I re-design bad flyers and pamplets, that should give me practice, right?
I can't think of a particular textbook about layout, but if I come across one I will let you know.
It sounds like you have some knowledge of typographic design, and that will help a fair bit with certain things. It's pretty easy to find more details about typographic best practices. The textbook I used in college was quite good, but it was about $80 at the time, so I'm not sure you want to invest in that.
You should also look into designing with a grid and the principles of design. Using a grid will come more into play with multi-page design. See if you can figure out what kind of a grid was used for other pieces, where were certain parts aligned and such.
Yes, definitely redesigning things that you think were done poorly will give you some more practice.
InDesign tutorials are out there as well, which can help you get the basics of using the software and eventually you can expand to more advanced techniques (e.g. grep styles). Please get in the habit of using paragraph and character styles at the very least. I have seen quite a few people who don't do this, but it is so important for consistency. And makes it so easy to apply mass changes. I personally always use paragraph styles, character styles, object styles, and master pages at a minimum. Table styles are good to use when applicable as well, especially if you need to make tables look the same over and over. Also, interactive elements are great to add in InDesign if you are creating interactive PDFs, you can do most of the work in InDesign itself for those. You just can't add in scripting or calculations (at least not up to CS6, I haven't played with the latest CC version much).
If there are specific things you want to learn, it might be better to get a private tutor than take classes. Either way, what's most important to a potential employer is if you have the ability to do the job. Your portfolio should show examples of how you're qualified (while also looking nice, which I'm sure you know!).
I'm willing to invest $80. I badly want to get out of this job I am in now LOL. I did buy a book on typography on Amazon, someone's used textbook. However it didn't seem to cover any layout, that I remember.
I did learn the principles of design, I learned 6 anyhow, but some other variation of them. I learned them in a first year university course, but then after first year, I took photography and sculpture. It seemed at the time, that the other design students were competitive, and I didn't go to school specifically to become a graphic designer, so at the time I was like no big deal, I will do sculpture. (which I enjoyed)
I did not get much practice, aligning things to a grid, at a TV station. Usually there is not a lot of text on the screen, so maybe bullet points to space out, or a short paragraph. Too much text on the screen on TV, the viewer won't have enough time to read. The things with the most text, were slates with technical info, meant for employees to see.
I bought Design Basics by Lauer & Pentak, awhile ago, I have the 5th edition. It looked like a good textbook, for sale at a college bookstore.
This slideshow seemed to be teaching something I needed to know, however some of her points were cut off, which is really too bad. http://www.slideshare.net/hollykatharine/layout-and-design-basics I could find some crappy community newspapers and maybe try to rework them, or maybe think of why they don't work. But yeah, I know a bit of theory here and there, I feel I need to do actual work and have it critiqued, to let things sink in in a practical way.
While it mainly focuses on typography, there are also parts that talk about layout and hierarchy.
Quite a few design textbooks will have Philip Meggs attached, take a peek inside though to see if it is relevant to what you want to focus on. It might be a good idea to go to your local library and see what they have.
The slideshow you linked had some good points, but ironically didn't show that they understood good layout practices with text overflowing out of boxes or off slides.
I can imagine you wouldn't have much opportunity for layout practice in television. This means you will need to try more things on your own. Think about what kind of place you want to work for too, what kinds of layouts would be common there? Newspapers are very different from catalogues, for example. Also, anything you have in your portfolio -- do your kerning and watch for widows and orphans. In the real world you might not need to be so picky, but you should show in your portfolio that you know how the rules of typography.
Feel free to show your stuff here to get critiques as well. Sometimes that is the best way to learn.
And you are welcome. Best of luck in your transition.
I have applied for jobs at one company that makes clothing, and another that makes gift cards. I hadn't realized it before, maybe I just live in an industrial area. However I want to learn more, to be be well-rounded and appear reliable and educated.
Sorry for not responding earlier, life has been crazy.
The pamphlet is a good start, but I think for your portfolio you can push the typography more. You also don't have to use blue for all the text, especially since it would be a full colour print job. Generally you want to show caution for large amounts of text in a colour that is a CMYK mix because if registration shifts it can be hard to read.
I think you could also experiment a little with adjusting the shapes of your image boxes. They don't have to be rectilinear, you can add in some curves to tie with some of your other elements.
Basically, don't be afraid to experiment a little more :)
For Illustrator, I would want to see the outline view and to a lesser extent your layer structure (how tidy are your files, do you use groups as well as layers, do you name your layers and/or groups, etc.). For Photoshop, I will care more about your layer structure, if your edits are non-destructive (e.g. adjustment layers rather than flattened adjustments), and if you use and save paths as necessary.
Because you can code HTML and CSS, you will pick up Dreamweaver very fast. It will help speed up your workflow, but Dreamweaver is a tool and knowing how to code will be more important. There are some small mistakes in the code of your website. If you are applying for a web design job, keep in mind that they will completely nitpick your code. You are using Div ID's multiple times, which is not technically correct. ID's should be unique, classes are what you should be using for repeated styling.
I also strongly suggest you learn to use InDesign if you haven't learned it already. You need to know how to do layout in there that incorporates assets that are created in Illustrator and/or Photoshop. This will make you more well-rounded and give you more opportunities that you can look at.
For your PDF portfolio, you have too few pieces and you aren't showing a wide skill set. On your website it is great to list the client and basic details, but for the PDF portfolio -- don't give too much away. Include your name and contact info. Details about projects can be separate.
Also, for logos, you need to prove how well it works by showing large and small (1 inch) versions. You should also show a black and white version in addition to colour. This shows the flexibility and that you have considered how it will apply in various uses. I also need to see that you can do more in Illustrator aside from solid colour drawings and simple gradients. Choose something that would show more skill, something that maybe uses a more uncommon effect. You can experiment with brush styles, gradient mesh, 3D objects, even do a wireframe for a conceptual website.
I know this might sound a bit harsh, but you need to also design your portfolio site and your résumé more. Every designer should take the time to design their résumé -- it can be clean and modern, but it shouldn't look like it was made in Word. Give it something a little extra, be a little more experimental with some of the typography, don't be afraid to inject some colour into it too. The same for your website. Dress it up a little more. Also, you shouldn't have your résumé on the landing page of your website. Have a blurb about your self and make it easy to get to your portfolio pieces. The résumé is for people who are more invested in getting information about you.
By the way, you should add more to your LinkedIn profile too. Lots of recruiters go on there, and you can make easy connections to possible job opportunities that way. Make sure that on your résumé and LinkedIn that you call focus to things you achieved beyond listing basic tasks. Are you efficient? Did you establish new processes? Did you train anyone else? Did you supervise anyone? etc.
I know that's a lot to take in, but I hope that helps get you started. Let me know if you have any questions. I'm looking forward to seeing the next version.
Best of luck in your transition!
Reply
I like those ideas in the 1st and 2nd paragraphs. I myself appreciate it when my co-workers label their PhotoShop files nicely so I understand where you're going with that.
HTML5 is new to me, so I have a lot to learn, I'll admit. I will look into classes.
I am having a big realization that what I am doing is switching from video to print, most jobs are requiring some type of print experience. I kind of want to get experience at a Kinko's if it can get me more opportunities.
I love documenting, backing up and organizing, that is a great idea for putting on LinkedIn and my resume. I will think of more things that I did like that.
No, that is great to get me started.
Can you recommend a good HTML reference? I know of the WC3 pages but it's pretty dry reading. I had to dig around to find a way to centre everything on the screen. I am used to using tables to organize everything, and my pet peeve is seeing text, then watching the layout jump around and the fonts change, as the page loads, so I have to get to love styling an entire page with CSS. *shrugs*
How about all the dates on my resume? Should I leave off my graduation dates, and put only how many years I have worked? Or does that matter?
Thanks for your help!
Reply
Kinko's and such will likely expect some layout experience. Those kinds of shops have lower pay and fast turnaround times, so although there are certain benefits I'm not sure you would get much guidance.
W3 Schools is a great reference. HTML5 is really not a huge deal, (X)HTML Strict might be easier to find reference for and encourages best practices. Your HTML is mostly semantically correct. You do have some empty paragraphs, which you should avoid to be extra correct (add margin to the last paragraph instead). Your CSS could use some beefing up. Start with one thing at a time or you may get overwhelmed.
Lynda.com has courses on a variety of subjects, and I heard the Toronto Public Library is giving free accesse if you have a Toronto library card. Also, webdesign.tutsplus.com has lots of free tutorials.
CSS is a lot of trial and error to learn well. Find something you think is cool, examine the code, try to figure out why certain things work, and then try to recreate it. Also, the W3C code checking tools can point you in the direction of best practices, so you can be more aware when something might cause issues that are acceptable or if they should be handled differently.
Dreamweaver has a "browser compatibility" checker that can give you hints on things that might not be as cross-browser compatible as you think and includes short explanations of those issues (and sometimes suggests solutions). e.g. the double margin bug.
Hand coding is great, but you can also do that in Dreamweaver (and it'll be faster). I also use the WYSIWYG preview as a pre-check before I preview in browsers to see if anything goes really wonky early on.
CSS shorthand would also be good to learn. It makes for cleaner code and faster page loads.
Fonts changing might be some of the newer, fancier methods for using custom fonts. I think most sites don't actually need that. There are other ways to style generic fonts and show personality: size, colour, weight, letter spacing, case, borders on headings, use inline block elements with a border and/or background, etc.
There's a web design community on here, but I haven't seen anything on it in ages. I do admin this group though, so feel free to ask web design questions here if needed.
You have an awesome green in your favicon that I'd love to see you carry into your website a bit. You could also use that square on your downloadable, PDF résumé for a pop of colour and to show a more of your personality.
Dates on your résumé are fine. As long as it doesn't make you look really old, you are totally fine with that. At some point you can cut back on the positions you include that aren't directly relevant and change the heading to "selected professional experience."
Do you have a cover letter draft? I highly recommend having a basic cover letter that you can tweak for each application. It adds emphasizes your interest in the job. When applying by email, the cover letter would be the body of the email and you'd attach your designed résumé.
PDF portfolios are moreso used for making printouts, by the way. On your website you can display things differently. I use a Lightbox script on my site. You can do something else you like, that's just an example of something pre-existing that you can customize. My site is outdated by the way, I'm planning to make changes soon to reflect some of my more recent work.
Reply
So I would indeed have nice prints made for an interview? Should I bring AI and PSD files? Would a CD ROM work? I know some of the newer Macs don't have CD drives.
Yeah I did kind of slap my site together but I am put off using a click through gallery, by all the clickbait articles that use them. I saw a gorgeous portfolio site that used scrolling, but they used blocks of color to give each page some separation.
The favicon is left over from when I used the site for my original music. I still love that green too, I guess I need to sit down and let the ideas flow.
Yeah I looked into using the Google fonts but they weren't anything special. I would prefer something prettier but then there's copyright issues with some fonts. Though maybe it's good to do, to show that I know what it is. But I'm sure that better overall design is more important.
At my job, I used to format text within an existing look, space it out and kern, that must count for something, but I can't call it layout experience can I? I've done it so long that I can spot sloppy spacing on TV, wherever. Though what I do see more often is bad color correction - a guest on CNN who is a bit bluer or redder than they should be, or crappy green screens. I have had 13 years of looking for bad kerning and green facial tones, (not to mention checking spelling) surely that eye for those details is useful to some employers? I need to express all that on my resume somewhere, those skills did not come without a lot of time observing and making changes myself. One person, she was tweaking the color on a feed, I couldn't tell the difference, but she has been doing it longer than I have.
Reply
Yes, you should absolutely have nice prints for the interview, displayed in a nice book. The size is up to you. I personally like letter sized for my work, but if you think a bigger size will showcase things better, you can certainly do so. You shouldn't need a CD. If they want proof of skills beyond what you can speak about relating to your portfolio and experience, it is more common for you to be asked to do a test.
When we last hired a junior designer/photographer in my department, I developed a Photoshop test for the interviewees. I gave them a specific set of instructions that included: make initial adjustments in Camera Raw and then bring into Photoshop. Save your file in TIFF format. Create a path and mask out the background of this image. Save the path in your file. Colour correct the image (in Camera Raw and possibly more in Photoshop). Remove any glare and/or colour cast. Use non-destructive edits such as adjustment layers. Fix the perspective (compensating for lens distortion and the angle the photo was taken). I then gave them four images to choose from (two easy and two hard) and an hour to work on whatever they could complete.
The applicant we hired did most of the work on the two hard images and followed instructions better than anyone else.
That's not to say that's what I was expecting to happen, but he did a fantastic job well above the rest. My main priority was to see if they could follow instruction, what was their attention to detail like, how much skill did they show, and how long did it take them to do that type of editing. It was important to me to get a baseline more than anything so I would know exactly how to structure the way I would train them if hired.
You don't have to do a click through gallery, but I think you can try something else in terms of layout that would better show design ability and attention to things such as SEO and accessibility.
The design is more important than fancy fonts. Generic fonts are very common online, and there's a lot you can do before you go to fancy fonts.
Formatting text isn't necessarily layout experience. It's good to have typography skills, but there's more to it than that for layout. You have nothing showcasing that in your portfolio, so it would be difficult for someone to know what your ability is in that area. If you don't have something already, you can always take text that is in the public domain and use it to create mock up layouts. If you want a job doing print layout, you need to show a few pieces that showcase your ability to handle that. Some single page and some multi-page.
You can, by the way, include a list of key skills with explanations on your résumé. That style might actually be more helpful to you for your transition.
Reply
I peeked at some slide shows about layout, and I see some things I know, and a lot I don't know. I think I know good layout when I see it, but I can't tell why bad layout is bad.
I know about grouping items in proximity, aligning text, and that you don't use a display font for a block of text, but I guess those are just the basics. Knowing those things makes me feel like I know more than the folks at my work, however that doesn't make me a graphic designer either. (I tried going back to school but work kept getting in the way, but I may get my chance if I quit my job I guess)
I think if I re-design bad flyers and pamplets, that should give me practice, right?
Reply
It sounds like you have some knowledge of typographic design, and that will help a fair bit with certain things. It's pretty easy to find more details about typographic best practices. The textbook I used in college was quite good, but it was about $80 at the time, so I'm not sure you want to invest in that.
You should also look into designing with a grid and the principles of design. Using a grid will come more into play with multi-page design. See if you can figure out what kind of a grid was used for other pieces, where were certain parts aligned and such.
Yes, definitely redesigning things that you think were done poorly will give you some more practice.
InDesign tutorials are out there as well, which can help you get the basics of using the software and eventually you can expand to more advanced techniques (e.g. grep styles). Please get in the habit of using paragraph and character styles at the very least. I have seen quite a few people who don't do this, but it is so important for consistency. And makes it so easy to apply mass changes. I personally always use paragraph styles, character styles, object styles, and master pages at a minimum. Table styles are good to use when applicable as well, especially if you need to make tables look the same over and over. Also, interactive elements are great to add in InDesign if you are creating interactive PDFs, you can do most of the work in InDesign itself for those. You just can't add in scripting or calculations (at least not up to CS6, I haven't played with the latest CC version much).
If there are specific things you want to learn, it might be better to get a private tutor than take classes. Either way, what's most important to a potential employer is if you have the ability to do the job. Your portfolio should show examples of how you're qualified (while also looking nice, which I'm sure you know!).
Reply
I did learn the principles of design, I learned 6 anyhow, but some other variation of them. I learned them in a first year university course, but then after first year, I took photography and sculpture. It seemed at the time, that the other design students were competitive, and I didn't go to school specifically to become a graphic designer, so at the time I was like no big deal, I will do sculpture. (which I enjoyed)
I did not get much practice, aligning things to a grid, at a TV station. Usually there is not a lot of text on the screen, so maybe bullet points to space out, or a short paragraph. Too much text on the screen on TV, the viewer won't have enough time to read. The things with the most text, were slates with technical info, meant for employees to see.
I bought Design Basics by Lauer & Pentak, awhile ago, I have the 5th edition. It looked like a good textbook, for sale at a college bookstore.
This slideshow seemed to be teaching something I needed to know, however some of her points were cut off, which is really too bad. http://www.slideshare.net/hollykatharine/layout-and-design-basics I could find some crappy community newspapers and maybe try to rework them, or maybe think of why they don't work. But yeah, I know a bit of theory here and there, I feel I need to do actual work and have it critiqued, to let things sink in in a practical way.
Thanks for helping me out!
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While it mainly focuses on typography, there are also parts that talk about layout and hierarchy.
Quite a few design textbooks will have Philip Meggs attached, take a peek inside though to see if it is relevant to what you want to focus on. It might be a good idea to go to your local library and see what they have.
The slideshow you linked had some good points, but ironically didn't show that they understood good layout practices with text overflowing out of boxes or off slides.
I can imagine you wouldn't have much opportunity for layout practice in television. This means you will need to try more things on your own. Think about what kind of place you want to work for too, what kinds of layouts would be common there? Newspapers are very different from catalogues, for example. Also, anything you have in your portfolio -- do your kerning and watch for widows and orphans. In the real world you might not need to be so picky, but you should show in your portfolio that you know how the rules of typography.
Feel free to show your stuff here to get critiques as well. Sometimes that is the best way to learn.
And you are welcome. Best of luck in your transition.
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http://www.lorrainequirke.com/ManitoulinStreams1a.pdf
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The pamphlet is a good start, but I think for your portfolio you can push the typography more. You also don't have to use blue for all the text, especially since it would be a full colour print job. Generally you want to show caution for large amounts of text in a colour that is a CMYK mix because if registration shifts it can be hard to read.
I think you could also experiment a little with adjusting the shapes of your image boxes. They don't have to be rectilinear, you can add in some curves to tie with some of your other elements.
Basically, don't be afraid to experiment a little more :)
Hope that helps.
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