Teaching FAQ
Are you a graphic designer yourself?
I have been a graphic designer for over 24 years. I am a graduate from BealArt with a major in Advertising Art and a minor in Photography. I am also a graduate from Industrial Design from Fanshawe. In my third year in Industrial Design, my independent design project won an international student design competition.
What do you teach?
I am experienced in teaching Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and web design (story boarding or some would call it UX). I also teach colour theory, typography and elements of design. I also taught a creative thinking course at the Design School at Fanshawe College.
Why should I hire you?
Over 20 years experience teaching design and graphic software. I have done many things over the years, but teaching is what I am most passionate about.
Why don't I just learn any of this on-line?
If you learn that way, great. Most people I have spoken to, say that they learn best when someone instructs them on a topic, they then try the concept, corrections are made and there is a review what was just learned. This is actually a well documented way to teach adults also known as Explain - Show - Do - Review. I learned this very early in my teaching career, taking a train-the-trainer course offered by Productivity Point and have found it to be very effective.
Why don't I go to one of these training companies in London?
They are no longer here, not since the early 2000s.
How did you start teaching?
In 1992 I had the opportunity to create and teach the first Adobe Illustrator course at Fanshawe night school. 2 years later I created the original Photoshop course and over the years created more courses for Fanshawe, Western (FIMS and Continuing Studies) and many businesses in London such as 3M, Labatt's, and Canada Trust. Because of my technical and design background, I ended up teaching at manufacturing companies, printers and even at the Planning department at the city of Kitchener. My crown jewel was creating a course called Graphic Design Electronically which was a 54 hour course that covered elements of design, colour theory (RGB vs CMYK), and then went into Illustrator, Photoshop and at the time, PageMaker. After that I went over saving files for PC and MAC and the difference between print, web and presentation formats.
How did you get to do corporate training?
In the 1990s, there were two main corporate training companies in London, Productivity Point and Executrain. I was the Graphics instructor for both and was hired on with at that time, from my success with training at Fanshawe. It was very common back then, with the advent of desktop publishing, for companies to choose someone from their marketing department to have them create in-house flyers and other designs. These people where not designers and I had a lot of success getting them up to speed. As well as teaching graphic software, I taught MS Word, Publisher and Powerpoint.
You taught at Fanshawe Design (day school)?
Yes, for 2 years, I created a portfolio creation course for Urban Design students. I taught them how to take their CAD files, bring them into graphic software programs and create portfolios for web, print and presentation.
How do you know how to create custom courses?
Experience. I can go back and forth from one software to another and add in some design theory and typography. I deal with what is the most "painful" for the client at the start and with their input, create a list prioritizing what they want to learn afterwards. My corporate training experience have made me very skilled at targeting what the client needed to learn the most to remove the worst of their "pain".
What if I want to go to Fanshawe and take a course?
That will entail leaving your work or home, first of all, and the course may not cover exactly what you want to know. For most people, their time is important and taking a generalized course is not as effective.
How long is a training session?
Usually for one-on-one and small groups, sessions are 3 hours in length. Especially with one-on-one training, so much can be covered in that time. I then let the client go on and implement that they have learned. Each person is different on how soon I will see them again. It may take a month or two before another session is booked.
What are the usual class sizes that you teach for the 3 hour sessions?
I generally do not have more than 2 students at a time.
Would you teach larger classes?
Of course, I am experienced having 15-20 students as I did at Fanshawe night school and at the corporate training classes mentioned earlier. I can custom design courses for small or large classes if they are over a longer period of time.
I have been a graphic designer for over 24 years. I am a graduate from BealArt with a major in Advertising Art and a minor in Photography. I am also a graduate from Industrial Design from Fanshawe. In my third year in Industrial Design, my independent design project won an international student design competition.
What do you teach?
I am experienced in teaching Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign and web design (story boarding or some would call it UX). I also teach colour theory, typography and elements of design. I also taught a creative thinking course at the Design School at Fanshawe College.
Why should I hire you?
Over 20 years experience teaching design and graphic software. I have done many things over the years, but teaching is what I am most passionate about.
Why don't I just learn any of this on-line?
If you learn that way, great. Most people I have spoken to, say that they learn best when someone instructs them on a topic, they then try the concept, corrections are made and there is a review what was just learned. This is actually a well documented way to teach adults also known as Explain - Show - Do - Review. I learned this very early in my teaching career, taking a train-the-trainer course offered by Productivity Point and have found it to be very effective.
Why don't I go to one of these training companies in London?
They are no longer here, not since the early 2000s.
How did you start teaching?
In 1992 I had the opportunity to create and teach the first Adobe Illustrator course at Fanshawe night school. 2 years later I created the original Photoshop course and over the years created more courses for Fanshawe, Western (FIMS and Continuing Studies) and many businesses in London such as 3M, Labatt's, and Canada Trust. Because of my technical and design background, I ended up teaching at manufacturing companies, printers and even at the Planning department at the city of Kitchener. My crown jewel was creating a course called Graphic Design Electronically which was a 54 hour course that covered elements of design, colour theory (RGB vs CMYK), and then went into Illustrator, Photoshop and at the time, PageMaker. After that I went over saving files for PC and MAC and the difference between print, web and presentation formats.
How did you get to do corporate training?
In the 1990s, there were two main corporate training companies in London, Productivity Point and Executrain. I was the Graphics instructor for both and was hired on with at that time, from my success with training at Fanshawe. It was very common back then, with the advent of desktop publishing, for companies to choose someone from their marketing department to have them create in-house flyers and other designs. These people where not designers and I had a lot of success getting them up to speed. As well as teaching graphic software, I taught MS Word, Publisher and Powerpoint.
You taught at Fanshawe Design (day school)?
Yes, for 2 years, I created a portfolio creation course for Urban Design students. I taught them how to take their CAD files, bring them into graphic software programs and create portfolios for web, print and presentation.
How do you know how to create custom courses?
Experience. I can go back and forth from one software to another and add in some design theory and typography. I deal with what is the most "painful" for the client at the start and with their input, create a list prioritizing what they want to learn afterwards. My corporate training experience have made me very skilled at targeting what the client needed to learn the most to remove the worst of their "pain".
What if I want to go to Fanshawe and take a course?
That will entail leaving your work or home, first of all, and the course may not cover exactly what you want to know. For most people, their time is important and taking a generalized course is not as effective.
How long is a training session?
Usually for one-on-one and small groups, sessions are 3 hours in length. Especially with one-on-one training, so much can be covered in that time. I then let the client go on and implement that they have learned. Each person is different on how soon I will see them again. It may take a month or two before another session is booked.
What are the usual class sizes that you teach for the 3 hour sessions?
I generally do not have more than 2 students at a time.
Would you teach larger classes?
Of course, I am experienced having 15-20 students as I did at Fanshawe night school and at the corporate training classes mentioned earlier. I can custom design courses for small or large classes if they are over a longer period of time.