In September 2021, during the lockdown chaos, I found myself juggling a part-time job in retail and some freelance SEO work—both of which I knew weren’t where I was destined to be. I was desperate to move fully into freelance design, but impostor syndrome paralysed me. I didn’t feel “good enough” to call myself a designer, let alone to charge clients properly. So, I did what felt safe. I went back to learning.

I signed up for an adult education course at Brighton MET called Professional Development in Graphic Design. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Back to the Classroom

I hadn’t been in a formal learning environment since I left Uni in 2016, and I genuinely loved being back. Meeting other creative people, getting structured briefs, and having deadlines again gave me a real sense of purpose, and, if I’m honest, a bit of relief. Learning again felt like a pause button on adulthood. For those lessons each week, I didn’t have to figure everything out. I just had to create.

It turned out that I already knew a lot of what we were being taught, which was actually a massive confidence boost. But the course still pushed me in new ways. I learned new shortcuts, practised tools I rarely used (hello, InDesign!), and found the discipline to finish projects I’d otherwise have abandoned halfway. It made me show up creatively in a way I hadn’t in a long time.

Project Highlights

Here’s a glimpse into some of the projects I worked on during the course. Each one gave me something, whether it was a skill, an idea or just a reminder that I can do this.

Custom Icon Design

We started with a simple brief: create a custom icon to represent a piece of text. It was fun to dive into visual thinking, sketch out ideas, refine symbols, and finally place the icon into real-world mockups.

Book Cover Design

This project challenged me to tell visual stories by combining seemingly random ideas through image research and collage. I created a small series of book cover designs, which was a nice exercise in balance, concept, and restraint.

Venice Travel Brochure

This was a hands-on layout project that gave me the chance to practice using InDesign, a tool I rarely used before this course. I designed both a DL flyer and a full A4 bi-fold brochure. It was all about layout, typography, and flow.

Brighton Museum Brochures

This brief asked us to create brochures for the Royal Pavilion and Brighton Museum. One version had to be inspired by Swiss Style, clean grids, minimalism, and structure. It was another great chance to stretch my layout muscles in InDesign.

Type-Base Poster (Jackson Pollock)

We had to create a poster for a fictitious event about someone we chose. I picked Jackson Pollock and focused on expressive, experimental typography to echo his painting style.

Guerrilla Print Ad Campaign

This was one of my favourite briefs, a print campaign to encourage people to disconnect from their devices and engage in real life. I didn’t create the illustrations from scratch (shoutout to Envato Elements!), but I conceptualised and designed the whole thing. It was all about communicating a clear message with impact.

Creative Packaging

I was briefed to design packaging and promotional materials for an exhibition, choosing a specific artist or group of artists as the focus. I chose Vasjen Katro, known for his Baugasm poster-a-day project, and based my concept on Visual Playground, an interactive exhibition hosted in Romania that featured Vasjen in 2019.

For this project, I imagined he would be returning for a 2021 event. I created a visual identity that included a custom colour palette, type choices, logo design and pattern work, all influenced by his bold, abstract aesthetic. The existing Visual Playground logo (which I included on the packaging and webpage) was incorporated alongside my new event branding across web mockups, print pieces, and a custom-designed box.

View the full packaging project here >>

Personal Branding

Our final project was to create a personal brand identity that could be used across social media, print materials, and a design CV. Although I already had a basic personal brand at the time, I used the brief as an excuse to refine and push it further.

I created a new text-based logo and icon, explored typography pairings, developed a pattern and colour scheme, designed social media graphics, built a refreshed website layout, and completely redesigned my CV. Even though my brand looks nothing like that now, the process was something I really enjoyed, and it made me want to focus on brand design as a potential design service offering as a freelancer.

View the full personal branding project here >>

What It All Taught Me

Looking back, I can’t tell you the exact shortcuts I learned or list every technical skill I gained, but I can tell you this: that course helped me believe in myself as a designer.

It gave me structure when I needed it most. It reminded me that I wasn’t starting from scratch; I was building on everything I already knew. And it rekindled the joy of creating, for the sake of learning and growing.

A Final Thought

If you’re feeling stuck or not good enough in your creative journey, maybe the answer isn’t to push harder—it might be to pause, learn, and reconnect with the joy of making. Even if it’s something you “should” already know. It helped me believe in myself again—maybe it could do the same for you.

How College Projects Reignited My Creative Path