Marks, percentages, and grades are three words that have haunted us throughout our childhood. From our parents to our neighbourhood aunty, everybody wanted to know about our scores and had an opinion or two on them. Luckily, as we grow up to choose our professional courses, the competition for scoring good numbers or marks slowly decreases, and the need for practical knowledge and professional skills increases. However, scoring a good percentage is never completely ignored. Whether you like it or not, corporate companies and many other employers still ask for your board exam mark sheets and grades.
As a design student, you must be stuck between the two important spheres of practical knowledge and theory exams, not sure what to really focus on. Like two weighing scales, they keep shifting their bases according to what people around you say. While both of them are quite important, professional education is all about practical knowledge and how well you can adapt to your chosen field. It requires you to be creative and updated with the changing trends. The theory aspect of it teaches you about the techniques. However, at the end of the day, knowing how to implement these techniques in your day-to-day work life holds more importance.
If you’re still confused regarding the importance of grades and scores for a design student, let’s simplify this for you. We aim to do this through common experiences faced by designers who were once in the same dilemma as you are today. Take a look at some of the reasons why you should not be affected by marks as a budding designer.
1. Art Matters More
When it comes to design, there is nothing more important than passion and creativity. If you’re passionate about designing and your mind is filled with innovative ideas that could someday turn into great trends, you’re bound to do well in your career. Every artistic field is challenging in its own way and designing is no exception. This industry also requires you to be creative at all times and come up with new ideas. That’s why most of the art-based courses today have less theory and more practical examinations that enable students to be tested on the basis of their skills. If you prepare well in your assignments as presentations, you don’t have to worry about what your final score is going to look like.
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2. Future is Design and It is in Your Hands
No matter what career you choose, eventually, you should be able to perform well at your workplace. While theory can equip you with experiences and trends of the past, you have to build your own future on the basis of it. And, how can you do that? It’s simple. Practising your designing and sketching every day, improvising on your past work, and taking up internships where you can build your professional skills, can help you carve out a bright future. Eventually, if you’re good at designing, everything else will fall into place on its own. All you have to do is focus on your practicals, balance it out with theory and make enough time during your holidays, vacations or even after college hours to take up internships or part-time work in your chosen field. Be sure to ask enough questions during your internship period and make the most out of your learning time.
3. Marks Don’t Gauge Your Talent
Truer words have never been spoken. Marks aren’t the deciding factor of your capabilities, it’s just a system that needs to be followed whether you may like it or not. While certain employers do ask for your percentages or mark sheets, there are no set criteria for selection. From what we know, the selection process is never based on the marks but rather on your assignments and past work. So, make sure to focus on creating a portfolio with a range of exciting projects you've worked on while learning. This is an effective way to get work post your fashion design course. You can either create your portfolio with the help of a website or simply upload your work on digital portals meant for designers and creative artists.
4. They Are Just Numbers
By the end of your student journey, you'll realize that marks are nothing but just numbers. As young students studying for board examinations, elders often stress the importance of scoring well. But that's mainly because you need a good score to get into your preferable college. After board examinations, your world turns into a rat race where each and everyone wants to get into top colleges in order to give their career an edge. That's when we envy each other's marks and wish we had studied harder. However, once you've selected your professional designing course and entered into your dream college, your major focus should be on building a successful career after your course rather than scoring a good percentage.
5.Focus More on Building a Diverse Portfolio
Source: Medium
Designing is all about creativity. While your professors can introduce you to different concepts, styles and techniques, it's you who has to sort all the information coming towards you and create your own signature style. In designing, the best way to build good skills and speed is by exploring different art forms and tools. Scroll through digital media every once a day to look at what other designers are doing. You can check various artists and draw inspiration from their work. Then create designs of your own and showcase them on a digital platform or on your portfolio. However, try not to get too comfortable with a certain style or a pattern. Instead, be open to different ideas and keep exploring new design trends. Based on these old and new concepts, prepare a diverse portfolio to show your prospective employers.
The importance of marks is so deeply ingrained in our minds that it's hard to consider any practical exposure or skill-building activity above it. Since we've stressed over getting grades for so many years, it won't be easy to let go of that habit so easily. That's why you need to slowly convince yourself to focus more on practical knowledge rather than theory. If you happen to balance both of them efficiently, you won't be disheartened with low scores and prioritize practical knowledge instead.