The modern economy is changing at a rapid pace. The driving forces that are defining are the ones that didn’t even exist a decade ago. The rise of technology has given a new face to everything that we use in our day-to-day life. Whether it’s cryptocurrencies, social media marketing, or even the existing economic structures such as the stock market, small and large corporate businesses, everything is moving online.
In a capitalistic setup like today, profits and wealth generation is kept at the forefront. Combined with the rapid insurgence of technology in the economy, understanding the skills necessary to take part in this tech revolution is the need of the hour. While technical skills such as data analysis, programming, 3D modeling, software proficiency and the like are the fundamentals of this movement, presenting these skills effectively through visual aesthetics plays an equally important role since the product should appeal enough to the consumers to purchase a product/service. This is where designing comes in.
In the past few decades, designing has emerged as a primary facet in making and developing software and services. This emphasis placed on design by the industry leaders and the market, in general, has led to a boom. According to recent data, the global market for design-related services soared nearly $153.2 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at 13% annually, reaching almost $249.5 billion by the year 2022 (global forecast). All the facts and data point towards an untapped economy that can turn out to be a life-changing career option for millions of people.
Apart from being a lucrative career choice, basic design knowledge can be a great skill. So, let’s get to know what makes designing worth learning.
Importance of Design in Learning
A student in design school. Image source:admi.ac.ke
- Designing nurtures creativity - Designing is an intuitive process. It helps you develop a thinking pattern that helps in ideation.
- Out-of-box thinking - Design knowledge encourages out-of-box thinking. This basically helps in new idea generation and seeing things from an unconventional point of view.
- Problem Solving - Modern design methods revolve around problem-solving. This means using a scientific approach to combine data and design to bring about solutions.
- Empathizing and pragmatism - Designing targeted at problem-solving deals with understanding human psychology. Combined with a pragmatic solution approach, designing helps in holistic brain development.
- Building a good EQ - Designing for consumers and brands is understanding the emotions related to it. While the technical aspect of something relates to IQ, participating in a design process can actually help in building a good EQ.
Now that we’ve covered the aspects of design related to its importance and role in the modern economy, market value, and why it’s a good idea to work on design intelligence, let’s come to the most important question of all.
What is design anyway?
In simple terms, designing can be defined as the art of creating with a specific purpose in mind. Designing can be done by an individual, a team, or sometimes a community that builds something with a purpose in mind. There are multiple areas in the design. This can vary from Graphic designing, visual designing, User experience design, product designing, and so on. Each of these fields in design serves a different purpose altogether.
Let’s now discuss some of the career paths in the field of design.
Career Paths in Design
Graphic designer working. Image source: blog.edclass.com
- Graphic Design - This is the most popular design field. The primary job of a graphic designer is to create designs for marketing, social media, and brand identity. These include creatives, posters, illustrations, logos and others.
Most graphic designers use software tools like Adobe creative suite. This includes popular designing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Indesign etc. Also, designers are now moving to 3D modeling software like SelfCAD especially when they want to create 3D assets as well as realistic renders with much ease. A good understanding of these graphic design tools together with an excellent design sense can help you become an outstanding graphic designer.
- User Experience (UX) design - User experience designers design websites, mobile applications, software etc. The major task of a user experience designer is to understand and empathize with how the consumer interacts with the product they design, the experience with the product, and hence, UX designer.
A user experience designer is expected to know the theoretical, practical as well as emotional aspects of a design. They are expected to know how to create wireframes, visual design and present it in its complete form by collaborating with the technical team. The software used by a UX designer should be familiar with tools such as Figma, Sketch, Adobe XD and the like. If your UX design requires 3D assets, you will also need to learn SelfCAD software.
- Multimedia artist and animator - A multimedia artist is a profession that deals with creating motion graphics, animations, special effects for movies, projects, games, and all kinds of media in general. These animations can be 2D or 3D. Most of the time, artists and multimedia designers work in a studio to create an end product.
A multimedia artist is expected to know how to create, render and run animation and put other artists’ work together in the required frame. They are expected to understand the working of software tools like Adobe creative suite, 3D modeling Software, After Effects and the rest. So these are some examples when it comes to career paths in the design field that make design education a crucial aspect of school education. If you find yourself confused over which design career to choose from, there’s only one way to find out - EXPLORE!
Importance of design education and CAD in schools
The most fascinating fact about being a designer is that you don’t need any formal education to start. You’d be surprised to know that most of the designers come from basically all educational backgrounds. These include engineering, education, psychology, economics along with others. This data signals that you can be a successful designer with a passion for this field and an experience good enough to build a decent portfolio to show to your potential employer or client.
This fact also raises a fundamental question related to the education pattern around the globe. As we’ve discussed earlier, the changing scenarios of required skills and emphasis on design, schools and educational institutions worldwide need to inculcate subjects promoting design sense among the students. This small step of helping children learn about design at a malleable stage of schooling can help them form better decisions about their lives and careers.
Ever-changing global needs for new skills and patterns of thinking also indicate that 80% of the jobs that will be there by 2030 don’t even exist right now. This calls for quick action by the existing educational institutions to start preparing students to have a fundamental mindset for aesthetics and design knowledge combined with a technical sound mind. These are the most critical skills that will define the dawn of the next decade in technology or otherwise.
Practically speaking too, we need to understand that more and more organizations and the global market are looking for these skills. The jobs and roles that we mentioned and discussed above will be leading career options in the coming times. As more and more people move online, the skill demands in the digital space are only going to rise with each passing year. This movement towards the online shift has seen a recent acceleration due to the COVID-19 global pandemic.
Moreover, getting trained and educated in the field of design has never been easier with access to the internet. You don’t need to have a college degree, have hefty college debts, or go through years and years of grinding in the college system. You can choose from hundreds of online platforms to start designing. All you need is a computer/laptop with standard technical requirements, an internet connection, and you’re good to go.
The world of designing has never been so open; you can reach out and connect to the best designers in the world. This shall help you gain more confidence and experience with time and start designing for your own projects. As more and more people look to start a business online, they’re looking for designers to pay and get the best work for their websites, applications, marketing, and whatnot.
Now, let’s learn about the CAD software used in schools.
CAD Software for Schools
There are many available 3D modeling software that has been created for schools. Examples include SelfCAD, TinkerCAD, Onshape, 3D Slash, and many others. We might not be able to describe each of these programs in this article but let’s have a look at SelfCAD.
SelfCAD is a CAD software used by many schools. It’s one of the most user-friendly and easy to use software that doesn’t require any experience to be able to create 3D designs. The SelfCAD team knew that students need a simplified program that won’t take them much time to get started and that’s why it was created in a most intuitive manner. Unlike other easy to use software for students which cannot be able to create complex designs, SelfCAD has advanced tools that makes it easier for users to create powerful designs with ease.
SelfCAD is the only 3D modeling software that has combined designing, rendering, animation, and 3D printing features all under one roof. Hence for students, they won’t have to struggle to download multiple programs or extensions during the design process. After 3D designing, they can render and even convert the files into 3D printable formats.
There is also an online as well as downloadable version. This ensures that you can always access your designs anywhere anytime without being limited in any way.
What sets SelfCAD apart from other CAD software is the interactive tutorial feature. These tutorials are a great way to learn 3D modeling for the students as they learn each and every tool of SelfCAD works by actually designing models. Unlike the Youtube videos whereby you can sometimes miss on which tool was selected, with the interactive tutorials, there are instructions guiding you on where to select and even that area is marked, hence learning is easier.
SelfCAD is affordable plans for professionals starting at only $14.99 per month or paying annually at $11.99 per month. You can opt for a lifetime of subscription at just a $599.00 one-time payment. For educators, SelfCAD offers great discounts. To sum it up, if you’re looking to future-proof your career and enter the world of designing, there can’t be a better time than right now. Join the community of thousands of designers and students across the globe using SelfCAD.
Enjoy powerful modeling, rendering, and 3D printing tools without the steep learning curve.
Need to learn 3D modeling? Get started with the interactive tutorials.