Tomorrow, January 7, 2008, I will officially start studying graphic design with the Art Institute of Pittsburgh's online division. I'm starting out there studying the basics of office and graphics software along with basic design principles. To me, all of this formal school work begs an interesting question: How will my formal education affect how I serve and benefit my clients?

Obviously, a designer can never know too much or be too skillful. Clients expect and deserve quality graphics. Getting a formal education at a respected school for me means that I can hone my skills and increase my knowledge to increase the odds that I can deliver a product that benefits my clients and meets their expectations.

Some arguments against formal schooling have some validity, of course. Perhaps the chief argument opposing formal schooling is that clients don't care so much what a designer knows—they want to see what he can do. I suppose there's nothing like a nice portfolio on a web site or in print to show off one's achievements. If you've done good work, and as a designer you can easily show a prospect that work, then a portfolio is all that's needed. It doesn't matter so much how you achieved those nice designs—either through self-teaching or formal schooling—as long as you have them then you're good to go.

Although this argument may be superficially convincing, I believe it contains a very subtle fallacy: The argument seems to say that what you have done demonstrates what you will do. Every client and his needs are different, and what may have sufficed for past clients may not satisfy the needs of new clients. Even if you've done good work for a client, you should not assume that future work will always suffice for him.

Knowledge then is important along with past achievements. If I can attain knowledge about graphic design at the Art Institute, then I can assure my clients that I can meet their unique needs and concerns. You can bet that I'll expand and improve my portfolio and make it available to my clients to see, but I'll also let them know I have the knowledge to meet their unique needs. If there's nothing in my portfolio that satisfies the purposes of the graphic that a current client is looking for, and there probably won't be, then I can assure my client that the basic skills I used to create those graphics can be used to come up with a graphic for their needs that need to be met in the future.

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