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Culture July 6, 2018
Learning Photoshop, Illustrator and more at ENTITY was integral to my future professional success. Here's why.
During our seven weeks at ENTITY, we’ve done a lot of amazing things, from taking Krav Maga classes to learning about an L.A-based organization called Piece by Piece, which helps people living in poverty create art they can sell and display. Out of all of those experiences, though, there was one that stuck out to me—design week.
Learning design at ENTITY Academy actually lasted a week and a half. In that time, I learned more skills that I can see myself using after ENTITY than any other part of the program. In that week (and a bit), we evolved from Photoshop to Illustrator to InDesign to Adobe XD. We spent more days on Photoshop and Illustrator, and we switched to InDesign to design and create our own personal style guides and portfolios. On our last day of design week, Adobe expert Demian Borba give a talk about using AdobeXD to create prototypes of designs for online interfaces.
I’m not a natural designer. However, knowing the basics of design (and designing tools) is incredibly useful for someone hoping to go into media. Furthermore, knowing some design is not only helpful but also empowering when one works for magazines or newspapers. For example, I’m currently the editor-and-chief of a feminist literary magazine at my university, and knowing how to use InDesign and Illustrator is going to let me help our design staff with their work and improve my leadership abilities; I now understand more about the programs that actually build the magazine.
While I may not use the design skills I learned in this program all the time, having them will help me in my future professional endeavors. Additionally, learning design at ENTITY Academy will allow me to be a better leader and team player with other creatives, as I have a better grasp on what is required to create photos, illustrations, infographics and websites–and which applications to use to create each.
