You Don't Need a Design Degree in 2025 – Do This Instead + TripleTen

Ten years ago in 2015, I got into graphic design. I remember just starting out. I love design. I was just passionate. You know, I loved creating logos and having fun in illustrator and doing all those cool things. And so I wanted to actually get into design on a two year course that I could get a bachelor degree in. For me, it really helped me start putting my portfolio in those early years. And you know, I've been doing this for 10 years now, freelancing, working on my own business. And I've had ups and downs. But I've learned a few key things you really need as a designer if you want to actually make this a sustainable career. Number one, it's real world experiences working for real clients on real projects. The second thing is actually learning the business side of design. A lot of creatives love just the creative designing and building and stuff, but they don't understand business and pricing and how to work with clients. Project management, admin, getting leads, all those things are really important as well. And then lastly having a mentor that supports you, a person you can go to for asking questions, personal person that can guide you. If I start thinking about the industry now, it's changed so much. Like back in the day we used to do a lot of print work. Everything was about graphic design and printing, you know, physical business cards and posters and all those things. But everything has changed so much. It's shifted to full digital and mobile apps and you know, AI tools and building software. Like if you look at the future jobs report for 2025 from the WEF, it actually shows that graphic design is actually on the declining list. It just general graphic designers. So it's starting to decline a little bit because new tools, you know, Internet technology. I did a bit of a search like what are the average salaries going around right now for like design jobs? And specifically I was like looking at more modern ones like UI UX and I actually found a few links that actually show the average salaries right now based in the us. And so if you live outside the US it might vary a little bit. But basically the new averages in 2025, if you're a junior UX designer, you could be actually making money 5,000 to 115,000 and then it goes up from there. So if you're a senior you can actually be earning 120 to $150,000 US if you're a senior UX designer. The industry is still growing in the digital space. UI ux, building apps, building software, building AI tools, that's I think not going to change For a while, end of the day, AI can help you make UI and create some designs and give you some ideas all about understanding problems, learning how humans think, psychology, understanding their emotions, what drives them, you know, understanding these core fundamentals are the things that clients are willing to pay a premium for. Not just fancy design, but how does it work, how does it connect to my audience, how is it going to increase conversions, how is it going to drive a movement around our product or you know, service or whatever it is now looking back, if I would start afresh, I really would pay attention to these things starting out and I'll be really having a clear learning path that focuses on real skills. Back in the day I didn't have like strategic thinking. I didn't understand the business of design. I was just winging it. Like I was just taking on any projects, any clients just to get money, you know, still living, my parents and I was just trying to build my client list, build my skills up. And so if I had a more of a clearer path, I would have made less mistakes and actually grown a lot faster. Practice with real companies, real projects. Sometimes you know, I remember I used to do help out some friends that just had little side hobbies. I was helping do a logo or like some friends in class from like university. I'll just like help them out with a project and then lastly having guidance from people in the industry, you know, having these mentors around you. I recently was doing a bit of research around like what's currently out there on the market. I do get a lot of designers like wanting to learn design so I'm always like trying to share the best resources that I actually use myself. But also that would be beneficial depending on where you live and your situation. Came across triple 10. It's beginner friendly, part time and 100 online. And it's made for people like us. We're already working, already working, we're doing something. Regardless of what industry you're in, they actually help people from all walks of life get the skills to actually start a career in design. Whether you're transitioning from branding to product design or yourself taught and want some more structure, it actually meets you where you're at. With all the AI tools I've used and AI has gotten so good right now you can generate whole dashboards, UI designs, websites, landing pages. My opinion is that AI tools and image generators are just going to get better with time because we want to still have our thinking process and our creative thinking ability, our imagination. We want to be able to think for Ourselves, like in the real world, during a UX project, you're going to be going beyond the visuals and looking at the business, looking at data, insights, looking at customers, you know, looking at the process or the screen flow, probably wondering like, what do I need to learn to actually become a UX designer? These days what I've noticed is that people rarely just focus on UI anymore. I is taking a lot of that process away now. Like you can generate ecom websites, you can generate fitness brands, create whole design systems already made for you in minutes. Like it doesn't even take like hours now. It's pretty crazy. But when it comes to like the business side of design, things like research, user testing and strategic design thinking, those parts of the process still need that human touch. And just quickly I want to tell you the things that you need to build a cree in UI and ux. And for this purpose I'm actually going to rely on Triple 10's course number one is User Research and testing. This is all about doing the research, getting data, getting insights, being a detective really and just like focusing on the nitty gritty details before jumping into design and building something. Next would be like the UI design and prototyping, which is like the craft, the love of creating nice UIs and hero sections and using images and all that fun stuff and then prototyping it into a functional, working, you know, website or app. When you present to your client, they can see like, okay, this is how it works, it makes sense. The next thing would be UX strategy. This is all about the brains, the thinking. In reality, it's actually what makes you get that higher pay. It's the thinking, it's the understanding the big picture and putting it all together, putting each part, understanding the process and making it work all together. The next essential would be real company projects. Yes, you can do fake content projects, but that only takes you so far when you're starting out. So I talked a little bit about the UX skills that you need to start a career, but now let's talk about applying AI into design. I've applied it into my process the last few years and it's really sped up everything. Number one, you can use it for art direction, generating mood boards. I use it to create quick ideas, build storyboards or mood boards. And I just love how I can, whether it's illustrating 3D realistic, whatever style I'm going for, I can generate any style and just use it to start building mood boards and get some ideas. Great for like UI projects and branding stuff where I need a certain style or look and feel. It's also really great at, you know, making mascots or making characters consistently. So if you instead of using stock images with different, you know, people that you can have one character that you're building around your brand or whatever and you can constantly have that. So once you've started using AI, you start learning the skills. Now you want to find a job that fits you because not every job is right for you. I found back in the day I used to apply on things like on websites like Indeed or LinkedIn or used to try and go on like freelance sites like freelance jobs or Upwork. But I always found that like I was tweaking my cv, running cover letters and I'll just never get read. And that's where Triple 10 comes in. They offer a free career consultation and support to help you secure that first 10 tech job. Hey, and don't forget about practice because I reckon it's crucial for looking for externship opportunities, especially after graduation. And that's why I don't like most bootcamps because they just leave you on your own to figure it out after just finishing the courses. Like that's not helpful. 82% of graduates actually get hired within six months. That's pretty wild. 53% land jobs before they graduate. 71% get remote roles, which is great for us freelancers. And the average salary is starting at 70k annually. You know, having that extra support and mentorship can really help kickstart your career. And actually one last thing, they are so confident in their program, they offer 100% money back, guarantee you didn't find a tech job within 10 months after completing the program. They will refund your money. You'll get your full tuition back. You know, early on in my career there weren't that many design resources. I'm so thankful that things have changed. Now you've got things like free YouTube tutorials, you've got paid masterclasses, design communities newsletters, you got a whole bunch of things. What really makes a difference are structured career focused programs. The ones that don't just teach you design skills or the new Figma updates, but they actually teach you how to how to think like a designer and how to get job ready with hands on support. Look, if you want to try a program like this, you can check out triple 10. You can use my code Jeremy and get 30% off all their programs. That's up to 3400 on savings on your education. Also, they do offer career consultation with one of Triple 10's career experts. Now, look, design is a journey. I know you're passionate. I know you love creating and designing and building things, and so you got to do what it takes to make it happen. If you do want to watch a video of me designing a full website design, then you can check out this video here where I take you through the whole process.