Students,

Please listen when we say this:

Learn to code.

But wait, you say, your heart pounding out of your chest: I am a designer.

I draw; I create.

I need not code.

Well my friends, listen here and listen good.

We receive resumes every day from students just like you who do what you do: Branding! Print! Illustration! Typography, too.

And, we know, we know.

Sure, it’s your portfolio that stands above the rest.

But in reality, here’s what you have to realize:

Print/Brand designers are a dime a dozen.

Even if you did a brand refresh for Apple and hand-lettered your thesis in chalk on the Great Wall, don’t be naive enough to think that code is better left to programmers.

Why learn?

One of the biggest mistakes we see in young designers is their sacrifice of design decisions simply due to a lack of understanding of code.

They’ll come to us with one design and deliver quite another. The reason, we ask as they sweat and stammer, is quite apparent.

When it comes time to code the web page, making rounded corners on your boxes is far more difficult than just having sharp 90 degree corners… so, instead of honoring their design, they just scrapped the rounded corners because they don’t know the code.

Do not fear the mystical world of unicorns and rainbows.

Embrace the concept: if you can design it, you can code it. The sky really is the limit.

Now don’t get too programmer on us. When we say code, stay true to your design self, but do get some solid training in HTML/CSS and Javascript.

This will assure that you are well-rounded and competitive in a fierce job market.

Having all of these skills in your backpocket will make you a better, more well-rounded, capable designer.  And that’s what we love to see here at Go Media.

Love, me

P.S. Read on for Part 2: Learn to Code: Tips for Designers