So I got accepted to Columbia College in Chicago to study graphic design. I have the option to minor in something but I’m not sure what. What minor would benefit me the most as a graphic designer working either for a design firm or free lance?

Are you more interested in Paper based design or web design?

-J

I haven't decided yet but I pretty sure I'll lean towards paper design.

There's a few ways to go here.

What comes to my mind:

1. Based on discussions here, it is getting harder and harder to just be a graphic designer since there is more and more focus on the web. You can hedge on this by minoring in something that covers your bases on things like HTML, CSS, PHP and other scripting languages.

2. Maybe minor in marketing, to set yourself in an advertising design kind of future.

3. You can also go in the full creative direction and minor in art, which if you have some talent here can really help you with illustrating and other creative skills.

I'm not a designer though, I'm more of a techie with a pre-press background. So that's just my 2cents.

Business..or marketing.....


Seriously.. it will set you apart from so many folks who just don't understand the business side of things.

Honestly it wouldn't hurt minoring in something that you might be able to fall back on just in case you can't find a graphic designing job right away. Being realistic, it is a tough field to get into and live comfortably due to the fact that there are so many designers out there now. It is always good to have something to fall back on. This will allow you to find the right company to work for someday and not be rushed into taking peanuts from some fly by night company out of desperate measures. (This happened to me) I am fine now, but it took me several years working for scrap until I found something suitable. If you take marketing or business, you will just gain that much more so when you hit the big picture, you will be unstoppable.

Anyways, you can also go in the full creative direction and minor in art.