Is Design School Worth It

Trying to figure out whether or not design school is worth it? Me too. Read this article where I compare the pros and cons of going to design school.

The point of this article is more so to figure out my own interpretation of whether or not I feel it’s truly worth going to design school to pursue a career in design of any sorts based on statistics and fact.  In our generation, we have to face the cold facts that our economy isn’t in the shape we might have hoped it would be in when we reached the age of pursuing a college education.

                Let‘s get down to the facts.  When it comes to education, there isn’t a better way to increase your income, right?  Not necessarily.  Although a student with a Bachelor’s degree is statistically shown to make more than a student who has earned only an Associate’s degree, it isn’t a substantially larger amount.  On the other hand, you’re bettering yourself by getting an education, something that will remain with you throughout life and a useful set of skills that no one can take away from you.  Unless you don’t utilize them after college and forget, right?  Regardless of how skilled, the degree you’ve earned sticks with you.  So yes, it probably is worth the $40,000-$100,000+ student loans you will incur plus interest.  Or is it?

                You are not guaranteed a job after college by any means.  If you graduate from a technical college or state college they may offer certain help to point you in the right direction after graduation or may even offer you a couple of reasonable jobs.  But unless you’ve graduated from a health care position, most other opportunities are a lot more difficult to come by than just the referral of an office worker at your college.  So without the determination, you could just end up back at McDonald’s flipping hamburgers- nah, that’s a bit extreme.  How about back at the Gap selling clothes?

                The last thing you want is to end up back at square one (not that I work at the Gap or anything), and have incurred student loan bills and interest in the mean time.  So back to our main question, is design school worth it? Well, what are we referring to?  I’m specifically referring to graphic design, interior design, and fashion design and marketing.


Graphic design is one of those things that you can stay current with.  You can incorporate your own personal touch and make it modern while utilizing your skills to advertise products to your peers or people with similar interests.  Statistically, the numbers are in their favor if the skills are top notch.  A newly graduated graphic designer is statistically shown to make $2,000-$4,000 a week if they work in a studio (without overhead costs, you save a lot of money).  If you’re more of a free lancer, you will be looking at around $400-$800 a week depending on the volume of customers you acquire (remember you will be responsible for any advertising and might have overhead costs if you have an office).  The average yearly salary of a graphic designer would be somewhere between $40,000-$45,000 dollars.

                An interior designer on the other hand, could charge at an hourly rate for consultation and then charge an additional rate for floor plans, and execution.  Roughly, a skilled interior designer can make anywhere from $65-$80+ an hour and charge somewhere between $1000-$2000+ for floor plans and execution.  A yearly salary for a skilled interior designer would be around $70,000-$80,000 dollars.  This is quite a step up from the graphic designer’s income- no offense.

                A fashion designer has all the elements of the other two with similarities to creating and advertising but they also have to learn at least the basics for marketing as well.  They may own their own shop one day or work under a well known designer.  There are some perks however, to living in the Internet age.  Our brilliant technology erases the need for overhead of a store, when you can sell directly online reaching customers of indeterminable masses.  The lack of a store also erases the need for you to pay someone to stay in the store for potential customers that might mosey in and look at a few items but not buy.  A fashion designer has so many options as far as working for themselves or someone else.  But what is the income of a fashion designer if they are freelance?  The Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the average salary of a fashion designer in 2008 was $61,160 dollars.  High end designers of course, statistically make millions.  But why just talk money?  To most artistic types that pursue these careers, it’s not about the money.  It’s about setting out to create a beautiful piece of work that can be admired by others.  To some it’s about getting their vision out there.  Or putting their name on something they can be proud of.

In the end it’s always up to you to pursue any career.  But in my opinion if you’re just sitting at home like me, an education in anything would pay off.   Everyone has some type of passion in life.  It’s about finding that passion, exploring its potential, and going for it!