Shillington School

I can confidently say that going to The Shillington School of Graphic Design was the best decision that I have ever made.  I absolutely LOVED it.

I graduated with a Bachelor's degree in Communications not sure of what I really wanted to do and then came across Shillington.  I was a little bit hesitant at first with the price for such a short amount of time but it was WELL WORTH IT.  

After being in traditional college and transitioning to a bootcamp atmosphere I believe that the you definitely do get your money's worth.  Everyday from 8:00 - 5:00pm you are learning and designing and it was SO MUCH FUN.  You have very little lecture time and more of the time is spent designing which I thought was fantastic.  You are given a real world brief and real world deadlines. The teachers are great and the class size is perfect.  I could not believe how much I learned and how much skill I had obtained at the end of each week.  If you have any doubts, 3 months is ABSOLUTELY enough time to learn graphic design.

At the end of the course you leave with a beautiful portfolio that your teachers make sure is perfect before putting you out in the "real world".  Each interview I went on, I could tell that people were impressed that I was a new graduate out of a three month program.  The quality of the work you will be able to create is aligned with top trends, top software and best practices.  If you have an eye for design, Shillington will take care of the rest. (But you do have to put in the work and have the drive for it).

When speaking about the Job assistance, there wasn't much.  They had some designers come in and speak about their positions and what options you have entering the field and what to expect.  They also had Creative Circle, a creative agency, come in and speak about how to get a job and how to go through recruiters. After graduation you can feel free to e-mail for assistance, but you are pretty much on your own.  To be honest, with the skills you acquire, along with the portfolio you create you really won't need much else.

Shillington is a great school for a student who wants to develop a portfolio with a nice range of projects - ranging from web to print.

Going into the school, I think it would  beneficial to have a basic understandning of design concepts and the Adobe programs, but if not, then there's time for the student to catch up. From my experience, the majority of the students in my part-time course already had some design experience or were working artists. The other challenge is that the class size is very large and it was difficult to get the attention of the instructors sometimes due to the class size. 

The teachers are very knowledgeable and approacheable. I like the school environment. 

I learned a great deal in the program and apply the skills I learned at my current job. The school doesn't offer career assistance, but they do help you with developing the online portfolio and selecting your strong pieces. Also, the blog on the site has regular postings.  

I do not regret taking this course. I think it was very useful. I personally prefer the part-time course since it's still quite intense. I feel like that full-time is too rushed, unless of course you are at the junior designer level and are just looking to get a portfolio oafter graduating. I really liked the briefs and gaining the experience as though we were working in an actual design studio. The wide range of projects were challenging in a good way.

 

I just recently graduated from the full-time Graphic Design course at Shillington this past July. I was very impressed with how much they taught us in the short 3 months that we were there. The course is very fast paced and the studio-like environment is structured in a way that really prepares students for work in the real world. We received new briefs every day with deadlines ranging from a couple hours to the end of the day as well as more intensive briefs towards the end of the course. The instructors are also all still currently working in the industry so they are very helpful and well-versed in what they teach. I left Shillington with a beautiful, professional portfolio full of projects that made sense to employers as well as the confidence to talk about my work. I am now working at a creative agency as well as a magazine publishing company and I owe it all to Shillington!

Gets a lot of glowing reviews but I think it depends where you study. I was at the Manchester campus both before and during lockdowns and the tutors were under lots of pressure. The first class I was put in before any lockdown had over 20 students so it was very stretched. It’s a large workload and very difficult to manage with a full time job, especially when you start from absolute scratch so be aware of that. One of the tutors put my work on a scale of “0-5” with “0 being absolute sh*te”, asked me “what the fu*k is that?” and also told me during portfolio time “I can’t wait to get this over with” which I found super unprofessional. Whilst I did learn a lot, my overall experience was disappointing. It ran itself as a business first and foremost, making you feel as though you’re an employer rather than a paying customer. 

If you think you will be a graphic designer in 3 months or a year, than i am afraid you are illuded. 

I did that course in london because my background was graphic designer, honestly if I think about it now I would have gone on holiday with all that money. 7000£ its f*** a lot. 

Think that time is too short to learn and become a graphic designer, especially if you are a bigginer to degital design. We were using Adobe cs3 when cs5.5 was out. 

furthermore mastering illustretor doesnt happen from today to tomorrow, u need time and a lot of practice. indesig has so many features u cant simply learn it like that, it's unbelievable to do it in 3 months, photoshop there is a lot to learn as well.  SERIOUSLY are u crazy???? i was so stupid ;( 

I come out with a elementari portfolio which is very much for beginner, You can literally tell that, and a printed certifcate which wasnt even recognised . Anyway I knew that but  I thought I would get the right tools to look for a new job, WRONG! Agencies are looking for professinals or with some sort of experice. 

i also took the course because I thought they would have had some connection to other agencies which were looking for a new junior designer WRONG!! 

The only good thing was that I had a few works done for my portafolio, so honestly do u want to pay £7000 for that. I was so crazy and so disappointed, but at that time I was desperate to look for a carrier change. I would not raccomend to anyone this college. 

I had to lear more watching lynda.com it was great and i really learned a lot, also inexpensive .

sorry for my english but i hope u got the point. im a foregner heheh!!, i hope my experience can help someone, especially who hasnt got so much money. i had to work double hours to pay that shit course. Anyway anything they say, of course it will look great and wonderful from the outside. if u dont believe me that go for it . good luck !!!

This review comes a little late but better late than never. I attended Shillington back in 2013 and although it may have been a good fit for some people, it was not a good fit for me. I learned a lot about graphic design but it didn’t seem to take me very far. I feel this program leads you to believe that you can learn graphic design and launch a decent career without any prior experience in the industry which in my opinion is not an accurate assessment. I myself had no experience and the ability to find work after graduation was non-existent. In addition, a majority of my classmates had prior design and Adobe operating knowledge which only made my experience more challenging. If this was the case than the course should have required prerequisites. Perhaps if the instructors had also been somewhat encouraging, I would have been inclined to leave a more positive review.

All that remains from my time with Shillington is a huge binder filled with handouts and a dusty unused portfolio. The course was pretty pricey and I think people should think very carefully before enrolling because I regret taking it. If you love designing or have prior experience in Adobe and want to build on that, then go for it. If you are new to the industry however and are looking for a job or new line of work, I would save my money. You are better off working in retail.