Sharing… it’s a funny thing. Some of us get it, and thrive on it. Others are less quick to lend their secrets to this culture of curiosity. The great thing about the creative community, is the numerous organisations and individuals that subscribe to the philosophy that the more we share good ideas, the more we all benefit.
Founded in 2011 by Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Skillshare’s manifesto tackles the problem at the heart of traditional education: “Education is what someone tells you to do. Learning is what you do for yourself”. It offers classes on business, design, fashion, film & video, music, photography and technology.
Each ‘class’ usually lasts a couple of hours (divided up into smaller bite-size videos), and encourages you to work alongside the other ‘students’ by submitting your WIP to the gallery. It gives Skillshare an interesting community aspect, and a platform for constructive feedback from their peers. It also allows the class tutors – who include some of the worlds most renowned professionals amongst their number (typographer Jessica Hische and poster-design royalty DKNG Studios, to name a few) – to give individual feedback to the class members.
I’ve taken part in about a dozen of the classes thus far. They range from beginner to more experienced level, though I expect the more you do it won’t be long before your tackling the trickier stuff. Its totally flexible too. You work to your own pace, and the tutors generally check in at regular intervals months after the classes have gone online to give further feedback.
Thinking of young ambitious graphic designers – short of bagging an internship with one of your creative heroes, Skillshare strikes me as possibly one of the best ways to learn new skills, challenge yourself and develop as a creative.