Hear straight from our graduates.
Shillington really prepared me for the fast-paced nature of the industry, so I was able to hit the ground running.
Designer, Oink Creative
Ray Wong
Before Shillington you were a self-taught web developer. What made you want to make the cross to graphic design and what attracted you to Shillington in particular?
I was lucky to pick up a few skills on my own whilst working at a small web design agency prior. There were no designers above me, so I had to become sufficient at creating visuals, but wasn’t confident in being able to explain design choices, let alone understand them properly. I knew I wanted to bolster my skillset and to expand my creative capabilities, which is when I found out about Shillington. The thing that really struck me was that Shillington didn’t seem like another run of the mill course where you show up, sit in a class and just take notes.
What was your experience of Shillington, any stand-out moments you’d like to share?
Shillington was actually quite transformative for me, which is something that I hadn’t initially expected at all. I think so many of the best experiences I had at Shillington were due to the people involved; the teachers who went above and beyond typical responsibilities, their passion and enthusiastic drive which then bled over to the students. I don’t think I would have done it without the collective community-like aspect of the course either, and that’s coming from someone who went into the course being a shy recluse. It made me evaluate so many things beyond just learning about design; it taught me how to treat it as way of life, and realigned me in such a way that curiosity was allowed to just take control over everything. Most of the time it was incredibly intense, but also immensely rewarding—it was hard to imagine how far we’d get 3 months down the line, but everyone was so supportive of each other and on our final day we all had this sense of, “we did it, we actually did it!”. We were all able to take a step back, look at our amazing output, and just share the immense feeling of pride over all the hard work. I couldn’t say that there was any one particular stand-out moment for me; every day it was like something incredible was happening.
Visit Ray’s website and read his full interview on the blog.
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Ray Wong
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Shillington really prepared me for the fast-paced nature of the industry, so I was able to hit the ground running.
Designer, Oink Creative
Ray Wong
Before Shillington you were a self-taught web developer. What made you want to make the cross to graphic design and what attracted you to Shillington in particular?
I was lucky to pick up a few skills on my own whilst working at a small web design agency prior. There were no designers above me, so I had to become sufficient at creating visuals, but wasn’t confident in being able to explain design choices, let alone understand them properly. I knew I wanted to bolster my skillset and to expand my creative capabilities, which is when I found out about Shillington. The thing that really struck me was that Shillington didn’t seem like another run of the mill course where you show up, sit in a class and just take notes.
What was your experience of Shillington, any stand-out moments you’d like to share?
Shillington was actually quite transformative for me, which is something that I hadn’t initially expected at all. I think so many of the best experiences I had at Shillington were due to the people involved; the teachers who went above and beyond typical responsibilities, their passion and enthusiastic drive which then bled over to the students. I don’t think I would have done it without the collective community-like aspect of the course either, and that’s coming from someone who went into the course being a shy recluse. It made me evaluate so many things beyond just learning about design; it taught me how to treat it as way of life, and realigned me in such a way that curiosity was allowed to just take control over everything. Most of the time it was incredibly intense, but also immensely rewarding—it was hard to imagine how far we’d get 3 months down the line, but everyone was so supportive of each other and on our final day we all had this sense of, “we did it, we actually did it!”. We were all able to take a step back, look at our amazing output, and just share the immense feeling of pride over all the hard work. I couldn’t say that there was any one particular stand-out moment for me; every day it was like something incredible was happening.
Visit Ray’s website and read his full interview on the blog.
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