Career Opportunities and Work Life

Skills You'll Need

Salary Ranges

The Classroom Experience

Certificate & Degree Options

The first two years of your design education are the most important. It is the foundation on which you'll build your career. Professional standards are developed in this time and you will cultivate your passion for the profession.

Design training needs an academic base coupled with hands-on practice. In the student-focused, personalized studio atmosphere at Lake Michigan College, you'll connect and build off of the creativity of your classmates as well as the faculty. It is an exciting learning process challenged with healthy competition and rewarded with camaraderie.

Expectations & Skills Taught
At LMC, your graphic design education will be a combination of art fundamentals such as drawing, 2-demensional design, and art history coupled with training in the technology-based design tools used in today's graphic design occupations.

In your first year you will begin working on projects patterned after ones you are likely to see in a real world setting.

Make sure to check prerequisites. You must take GRDN 110, GRDN 101, and ART 122 before moving into any other GRDN course.

Technology in the Classroom
Macintosh is the most widely used platform in the graphic design field. At LMC, you'll learn computer design skills in a state-of-the-art Macintosh lab located at the South Haven Campus.

Industry standard software you'll learn to use will include:

• Adobe Illustrator, a vector graphics drawing program
• Adobe Photoshop, a bitmap image manipulation software
• Adobe In-Design, page layout software used to produce digital files for the printing press

A variety of technologies are used in conjunction with traditional lecture and hands-on activities. Videos, DVDs, and the Internet play an important role in class.