Lizzie Pinniger has a real focus on what it is she wants to achieve with her design career.

A natural artist and designer who brings a lot of different styles and attributes in her work started studying our Graphic for Beginners Level 1 course. She then progressed on and completed our Advanced Graphic Design Level 3 course with distinction.

Lizzie is now about to complete our Visual Communication Professional Diploma course before she focuses on the next stages of her career. Here is what Lizzie would like to share with those who are thinking about studying Graphic Design.

I’ve always enjoyed being creative and I love trying new things. Growing up, I had a passion for textiles and sewing, so I learned to hand sew at an after-school sewing club and went on to develop my sewing skills to a high standard.

Lizzie’s journey.

Previously I studied Art and Textiles at school, followed by Textiles A-level, but I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do after college. I knew that I wanted to be in a creative field, so the obvious next move was to do an Art Foundation Diploma year. This was a great year as I got to try out lots of different areas of art and design, however, my strengths still lay in textiles which I specialised in for my Final Major Project. As part of the foundation year, I had to develop a portfolio and apply to Universities. I was offered places at all the Universities I applied to, but I wasn’t keen on the courses on offer and wasn’t sure if I wanted to go to University at all.

I started working when I finished the Art Foundation Diploma as a Fabric Assistant in a local homewares brand. At the same time, I began creating my own digitally printed textile pieces that I sold at markets, craft fairs, Etsy and through my own website.

After a few years of working in retail and making textile pieces on the side, I realised I wanted to focus more time on creative work and less on retail. Although my passion had always been in textiles and sewing, the element that I was actually enjoying the most in my little side business was designing the retro repeat patterns for my fabrics. As I enjoyed this a lot more than sewing, I decided to look further into digital arts which lead me to Graphic Design.

Lizzie’s discovery.

I found The Creative Design School International after lots of research into different Graphic Design courses. I needed to carry on working whilst I was studying, so I was looking for something part-time and preferably online so that I could structure the course around my retail job. The school stood out to me as the courses were all online, with an option for a part-time flexible course length and every course came with a tutor who you have one-to-one Skype calls with weekly. I especially liked how the courses were structured, where there is an initial learning section followed by the ‘application of knowledge’ in the form of projects.