Starting with the general educational path of a designer, secondary school seems to be where young people tend to find a sense of direction to their future as they are able to carry out subjects that they find interest in alongside the other compulsory subjects. GCSE (or equivalent) level education is where you can build some basic knowledge on your selected subjects and apply this to a wider range of subjects at college level and Art or Digital Design are the creative options for subjects that secondary school students often choose if they plan on designing in the future. While I was at secondary school, I studied a very wide array of subjects, just like most children but the only influential subject that got me on the design path was GCSE ‘Design & Technology: Graphic Products on which I got a B grade. I did not have a straight line to follow at this point in time, I simply knew that I wanted to design whether it’s architecture or anything I would go on to find interest in. With studying this creative subject, learning how things are made, and learning to make them yourself would encourage me to continue to learn how even more things are constructed so I chose to progress in the design path in the next educational stage.
The next stage is usually college which has creative options such as A-Level 3D Design, Art, and Fashion & Textiles. The great thing about college is that it’s the stage in which you still have time to explore different career paths because you don’t limit yourself to a single subject just yet, but you instead build a wider range of skills from the subjects you study and then you can transfer these skills into a focused, specialised course in university. I didn’t actually start college with the intention of becoming a footwear designer. I actually had no idea that it was an option at the time, and it wasn’t until one random day during a college lunch break that I had decided to draw up my first shoe design. I then went on to finish college with two A-level qualifications (Spanish and Art & Design – 3D Design) and an Extended Certificate BTEC in Digital Content Production. I am very grateful that my somewhat local college was holding the two creative courses as they improved both my making skills and digital design work, so I felt ready to begin university learning and the ‘DCP’ course taught me many skills for the various Adobe software such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign so once I had finished college, I knew how to layout newspapers, magazines and all sorts of professional compositions and I also knew how to create vector and raster artworks, things that generally come in very handy for digital footwear production.
Following college, you will have a few months or even a gap year of holiday time to relax and research the possibilities you can take on in university. For aspiring footwear designers in the UK, there aren’t too many options to research and since casual sneakers and sportswear are becoming increasingly popular, more and more people take interest in their design process. DMU advertises this possibility very well and has 90% of students in work or further study 15 months after graduating so it’s definitely a valid option. I’m not finished just yet with university, but I can say that I have learned a whole lot since I’ve started. Looking back at some of my earliest work from the Foundation Degree, I can easily pick out things that I should have done to a better standard, but I’ve enjoyed every part of my university study so far and it’s definitely a path I would recommend to anyone interested in design.
While at university, you’ll have opportunities to build your unique CV and learn how to write clever cover letters that will make you look like a great candidate for a job role in the industry. Of course, a student will not graduate and be instantaneously handed the role of senior designer at Jordan brand so mentors and university educators will direct the student towards internship opportunities to get them comfortable in the industry’s working environments. Ultimately, a design role can be earned from the internship brand or you can look for available jobs. Not only does LinkedIn show you when companies are offering job positions, but it is also a great way to build your network and familiarise yourself with people in the industry.
My personal plan is to complete the bachelor’s degree at DMU in flying colours, take on an internship at a footwear brand and work my way up to a design role at the brand or another. It’s great to see where De Montfort University alumni have gone since graduating and, not too long ago when I received the New Balance industry project briefing from Jonathan Morss and Samuel Pearce, Sam had mentioned that he graduated from DMU, went on to an internship, did freelance work and has now been designing sneakers at New Balance for 10 years. This showed me a path that I could also follow and helped me to realise that, after all, making it in the industry is not entirely impossible. To be very honest, I was shocked when I saw first Sam on my laptop screen delivering the project briefing as I have been following his Instagram page for a long time and had no idea he graduated from DMU, but I also should say I’m glad such a knowledgeable and humorous creator designs for my favourite footwear brand.
Thank you very much for reading the blog and please feel free to leave any comments and feedback for me to read!
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