With campuses in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, New York, London and Manchester, Shillington Education offers an innovative graphic design course aimed at producing top quality graduates for a 21st century professional practice.
Shillington’s courses are designed around intense, short term learning. ‘Shillington has been turning people’s careers around for 20-plus years, making us one of the very first “bootcamp” style alternatives to traditional education,’ explained Shillington’s Global Managing Director, Anthony Wood.
‘If you factor in the potential lost income from studying for up to four years, Shillington makes great economic common sense. After just three months of full-time study, Shillington graduates are ready to work so can enter a studio and start earning,’ Wood explained.
A full-time course at Shillington will involve over 520 hours of face-to-face learning. ‘Compare that to your average degree program that can have as little as 15 contact hours a week. I would say that there is immense value in intensive courses,’ Wood told ArtsHub.
How Shillington can turn your career direction around
The intensive nature of a Shillington course allows people to change careers without the time and cost involved in returning to university and retraining.
‘By the time all those students who took the university route are graduating, Shillington graduates will have already had years of real-world design experience under their belt and the skills to show for it,’ Wood said.
Shillington offers three full-time courses of three months and two part-time courses of nine months, with five intakes per year across all its campuses. You can even take an adventure abroad and study at one of their international campuses.
Wood said that Shillington tends to attract motivated and passionate people who are ready to change careers. Another key difference is that Shillington is run like a design studio. ‘Design theory, the technical and the conceptual side of design is interwoven into every day and applied to industry relevant briefs,’ explained Wood. ‘So essentially, by the time you have graduated, you have already experienced what it is like to work as a designer.
‘Our teachers themselves are award winning graphic designers who are passionate about design and helping others change their lives. The curriculum is agile and innovative, but the part that really makes the difference is that the teachers really care about their students and their subject,’ he said.
Showreel: Shillington Education.
Can anyone shape their career at Shillington?
‘One of our tag lines is “no experience required!”,’ Wood told ArtsHub. ‘We have had students come and study with us from so many backgrounds – former professional football players, surfers, maths teachers, people from finance and even a High Court Judge!’
Wood believes that a great graphic designer is an effective communicator and a passionate problem solver, noting that Shillington’s courses are exciting, ‘because you always keep learning and are adding to your skill set, like taking your static brand and turning it into a fully animated brand experience.’
Isabella Coman, Student Brief. Image: Shillington Education.
What are the prospects like for graphic designers today?
A recent report for the New York Department of Education showed that 91% of Shillington graduates were working in design or a related creative field within 12 months of graduating.
Wood said that the sector has changed dramatically over the past decade. ‘Just over 10 years ago, the iPhone app market was in its infancy. Now, app design forms an integral part of graphic design.’
He continued: ‘We have seen an explosion in UX, UI and digital design jobs. The amazing thing about being a designer is that it teaches you to solve problems and communicate – skills that can always be applied as the world evolves around us.’
Discover how you can be part of the Shillington learning experience.
