Non-design degrees that can benefit you as a designer
Some of the most talented designers I've worked with have no formal design education. If you insist on getting a degree, keep in mind that the school, professors, and alumni network are often more valuable than the degree itself.
Some of the most talented designers I've worked with have no formal design education.
If you insist on getting a degree, keep in mind that the school, professors, and alumni network are often more valuable than the degree itself.
All because the people you meet and learn from will usually shape your education and help you make friends afterward.
Whatever curriculum you choose, focus solely on developing skills, experiences, and friendships that you can apply to your career.
Finally, don't overlook the value of informal learning and mentorships in boosting your education.
If you want to work in design after graduation, consider the following majors:
Computer Science
It goes without saying that having a CS background can help you succeed as a digital designer by broadening your job opportunities. We design with code, even if we communicate with pixels and vectors.
Understanding the systems, foundations, and principles that govern how our designs are translated to the screen aids (rather than hinders) your creativity.
Economics
Economics is fundamentally the study of systems. This degree will provide you with the foundation for understanding incentive structures, institutional and cognitive bias, feedback loops, behavioral psychology, and trend analysis using qualitative and quantitative research.
It's essentially a computer science degree for liberal arts majors, and it's a good introduction to understanding how design affects and is affected by the world.
Film studies, architecture, industrial design
As digital design moves away from the screen with technologies like AR and VR, the traditional print design paradigm becomes less useful.
Many emerging tech designers look to the film, architecture, and industrial design for inspiration on how to make their designs immersive and understandable.
Learning spatial thinking will provide you with transferable skills in these areas.
Psychology/Sociology
The mainstream has embraced the human-centered design. A psychology degree can help you understand human behaviors, cognitive bias, incentive structures, and other skills that will help you better understand your users and the needs of different groups who will use your designs.
Some programs may even provide you with first-hand research experience if that is of interest to you, which is invaluable if you are interested in research or UX design.
Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
Programs in this area are known by various names (interaction design, design computing, information systems, etc).
HCI is a relatively new field, but these excellent programs provide you with a human-centered view of technology, which is ideal for a designer.
Communication
This is useful whether you're designing a social product, developing the tone and voice of your product, or simply learning to work better with your team.
History & World Cultures
Most of the time, you're not "normal," and it's critical to understand and empathize with people from different cultures, especially if you plan to scale globally.
Basic examples:
"thumbs up" is an insult in the Middle East - yet is treated as a universal symbol for "Like" on Facebook,
red means "danger" in the US - but means "happiness" in China
Conclusion
In most scenarios, you don't need a formal education to become a designer. So don't be discouraged and learn with free resources (YouTube, courses, books) or get a mentor.