CASE STUDY: Lewis Csizmazia

When we spoke to Lewis he was studying on the Foundation Degree in Graphic Design at Amersham & Wycombe College.

 

I have always known I wanted to go into Graphic Design since I was 16 and taking my GCSEs. A neighbour at the time offered me a work experience placement at Barnet Council helping with their graphic design team and I had a taste of what it involved, and loved it. I decided I wanted to study a National Diploma as it offered more practical experience than the traditional A-level route. Using the help of a progression website I searched for all the colleges that offered a National Diploma in Graphic Design in the country, and settled on the one at Amersham, as it was both local and offered the right course. I enjoyed my time at the college during my National Diploma and my teachers suggested I look into continuing on to the Foundation Degree in Graphic Design at Amersham.

I really love the course, we get people in the industry come in to meet us as part of the lessons and they give me plenty of ideas both for my coursework and for what I may want to work on in the future. The most challenging part of the course is that the many tight deadlines, especially when we are doing work for clients in the industry, are a real challenge. The teachers and tutors here at Amersham have been a great influence and support, and I hope to go on to do the top-up to the Foundation degree to get my BA in London, so I can then be well placed to move into an advertising agency in the capital.

I certainly didn't think I'd be where I am with my studies today when I left school, but I think that attitudes to the National Diplomas and Foundation Degrees are changing, and I would recommend to anyone that they take the route I did, if I had my time again I would make the same choices for sure.

We spoke to Lewis in October 2008