When looking into school to study graphic web design, the searching can be hard going. Is a traditional university best, or should you go to a technical school? It majoring in a more established field, and minoring in web design the better route, or go should you go straight for the major in web design and get out of college as fast as possible? These are the questions that have been bouncing though my head for weeks. What is the right answer?

After searching the Internet for the answer and looking at site after site I have come to the conclusion that there is no perfect route. Many established graphic web designers from Digital Web Magazine have stated in a thread, “Formally Educated or Self-Taught?”, that most of them consider them selves self-taught designers. Before anyone despair, consider this. Most of these designers are established working men and women, meaning that they are from the generation that have developed the field of graphic web design. They were the one who created the careers that we are now interested in. Like all pioneers, there were no guilds to what to do.

But that is not the case anymore. After some research, some schools have come up that  offer courses in graphic web design. The Art Institute has over 40 campus location across the United States, including an on-line division. Yes, it’s true that The Art Institute can be seen as a trade or technical school and not as good as a four year university, but if it has what you need, and more importantly, what you want then that shouldn’t matter.

But it isn’t just The Art Institute that has graphic web design programs. Both the University of Washington and Washington State University have programs that have bachelors degrees. The University of Washington offers a course call Digital Arts and Experimental Media, or DXArts. At Washington State Universityy students can study in the field of Digital Technology and Culture. They both offer students a wide range of courses to choose from. Students looking into anything from 3D animation, photography to graphic web design have a good chance of finding what they need to do what they want.

The field of graphic web design is still young and it’s true that while there are still many things that will need to be self-taught, there are still many reasons a degree in a field that is related to graphic web design is important. Not only does it give you an edge over others it allows you to get some insight to what is meand to be in this field. In the end it gives you more choice, security, and directions to go in.

Sources:  Digital Web Magazine, The Art Institute, University of Washington, Washington State University