The education and the journeyman exam: the path to media graphics specialist.

Media designer is a vocational education where you learn the profession through an alternation between school teaching and practical training in a company. The entire education lasts 4 years and 5 months including both parts of the basic course (if you start directly on basic course 2, it takes 3 years and 11 months), and it concludes with a journeyman's examination that makes you a qualified media designer.

§The basic course: the foundation

The education starts with basic course 1 and 2, each lasting 20 weeks. If you come straight from 9th or 10th grade, you begin on basic course 1; if you come later, you typically start directly on basic course 2, which is targeted at media graphics specialist education. Here you work with graphic design, typography, image processing, and graphic programs and conclude with a basic course exam, which must be passed to continue.

§The main course: apprenticeship and school periods

The main course lasts 3 years and 5 months for young people and requires a training agreement with a company — an agency, a printing company, a marketing department, or a media company. School instruction comprises 30 weeks spread over at least four school periods, and the rest of the time you work at the company on real tasks under training. The training can also be taken with eux, where you simultaneously get subjects at gymnasium level.

§Entry requirements and apprenticeship search

To begin a vocational education you must as a rule have passed elementary school's final exam with at least 02 on average in both Danish and math — or meet admission another way for example through an entrance exam or an education agreement. Graphic designers is a popular trade and competition for apprenticeships is real. Start your search early: build a small portfolio already in the basic course apply broadly — agencies printing companies marketing departments and media companies — and use the school's apprenticeship consultants and company visits actively. A well-thought-out application with relevant work samples says more than the grade sheet.

§The portfolio: your thread

Throughout your education you work with a portfolio. The purpose is to show that you have acquired the education's professional, general and personal competence goals. You continuously supplement the portfolio with assignments, products and productions that you yourself have performed or independently participated in — both from school periods and from the company. The portfolio is also your most important business card when you later apply for jobs.

§The journeyman's exam

The education ends with a journeyman test as part of the fourth and final main course. The test is oral and is based on your presentation of an overall graphic concept for a campaign where you have developed two campaign products — the masterpieces. The presentation is supplemented by your portfolio products from the internship so the assessment is based on both the final project and your documented development through the education.

• 01Show that you can think in concepts: an overall idea that ties the campaign's products together.
• 02Justify your choices of typography, colours, images and media from a professional perspective — not with 'I like it'.
• 03Ensure technical excellence: proofreading, colour control and correct preparation count.
• 04Practice the presentation: you're also assessed on being able to communicate and defend your work.

The grade for the apprentice exam reflects both the craftsmanship and the conceptual: Is the idea compelling and implemented across the products? Are typography, colors and images selected and executed professionally? And can the apprentice stand on their own feet in the professional conversation with the examiners? In other words, it is the entire education that is brought together in one performance — and therefore the ongoing portfolio is the best preparation you can give yourself.

§After the journeyman certificate

With the journeyman's certificate you are a skilled graphics technician and can work in agencies printing houses publishing houses and marketing departments — or study further. The vocational education provides access to several further education programmes especially in design media and communication and with eux the path is even broader.

“The journeyman's exam tests not whether you can make something nice — it tests whether you can go from idea to finished, flawless product and explain why.”

— About the purpose of the journeyman's examination