What is the best multimedia course?

Should I do a course in multimedia or photography?

• I'm doing level 3 art and design at college, its a 2 year course,am almost finished my first year and in that year my subjects were photography and multimedia, in the second year ...show more

• Answer:

  If this an L3 BTEC diploma (what used to BTEC National Diploma) then provided the course hasn't changed too much since it was the ND then it is a good course. Are you wanting to go on to do a foundation and degree or an L4 Diploma (Higher National Diploma as was?) Is the multimedia computer and video focused or more traditional (mixed media.) If the multimedia has a strong digital and video focus then it could be useful if you want to go into web-design, but you would obviously need knowledge of programming too (which you can acquire if you are mathematically/analytically minded.) Multimedia could also be useful to someone going into branding and advertising alongside graphic design. On the other hand if you were planning on going on to a foundation/degree/HND in art and design and a career in design I don't think you will find multimedia terribly helpful (unless it is more traditional mixed media which is more valuable for general art and design education.) Obviously multimedia courses are a relatively recent thing and when they first came in they really weren't well regarded but I would expect that as they have become more established the courses have improved. Photography will be more helpful for design generally because it gives you a good method of recording work and inspirations to a better standard. Anyone who studies art and design is going to take a lot of photographs so it makes sense to learn to do it well. There are also possible careers in photography from wedding photography and portraiture, fashion photography, photojournalism to product photography for advertising.