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Whether you’re interested in digital or print graphic design for creative or strictly professional reasons, you’ll learn how to build a career doing what you love in Pickens Technical College’s Multimedia Graphic Design pathway. In addition to learning to begin, intermediate, and advanced digital and print graphic design techniques, you’ll learn how to build your portfolio and market yourself to clients who need your skills on a freelance basis or to companies looking for in-house graphic design help. 

There are plenty of success stories out there to learn from. Many graphic designers both locally and throughout the country have started in programs just like Pickens. It usually takes a ton of work and some struggle early in your career, but with the tools, you’ll pick up in John Lawson’s Graphic Design course at Pickens, you’ll get started on the right foot. 

One example of how you can achieve success in graphic design is the career of Diane Gibbs, an award-winning graphic designer, and educator who moved from Colorado to teach design at the University of Southern Alabama. 

Diane Gibbs, Successful Graphic Designer

Gibbs began her professional graphic designer career in 1996. Six years after that, she founded her own design firm and became a professor at the University of Southern Alabama. As both an artist and a small business owner, Gibbs is often focused on the business side of graphic design, helping her students become successful with the skills she teaches in her classes. She even took her lessons from running her own graphic design business and created Recharging You, an organization that helps connect creatives with each other and talk about issues affecting them all, complete with a podcast.

Probably the most prescient lesson you can take from Gibbs’ career is that hard work pays off. You know this already because you’ve heard it about a million times. But Gibbs had to be focused on her graphic design work, her ability to sell her services, and her personal brand to be as successful as she has been. 

Victor and the Vroom

Even though Gibbs hasn’t lived in Colorado for some time, she still maintains connections here. This year, Gibbs helped Arvada writer Lydia Rueger illustrate a children’s book Rueger published based on her son’s ADHD diagnosis. 

The book, Victor and the Vroom raises awareness of ADHD and how it affects kids. The main character, Victor, looks the same as all the other cars in his class, but his motor runs like no one else’s. For the illustrations, Rueger turned to Gibbs. 

In Gibbs’ hands, the book became a unique, stylish hit. Gibbs collaged Victor from the interior patterns of reused business envelopes to create a cute, lovable car that’s a little different. 

You can take more lessons from Gibbs’ career to build your business and personal brand. Gibbs, after creating her own business, Littlebird Communications, started a podcast, Design Recharge, to help other graphic designers become successful and create a community. If you’re creative and you don’t stop pushing yourself, you can create a successful, exciting career just like Diane Gibbs.