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Having achieved a Bachelor’s Degree in Pharmacy, Andrei Lefter followed in his father’s footsteps and became a full time Pharmacist. However, after four years working as a Pharmacist in Romania, followed by three years in the UK, Andrei yearned for a change of direction. He made the decision to do what he could to follow a more creative career path and began to look into his options.

Andrei discovered that if he studied online with IDI, he could achieve a BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design from the University of Hertfordshire while continuing to work full-time. Andrei is now well on his way to achieving the creative degree he always wanted.

Andrei always had a strong interest in art. He enjoyed drawing, sculpting and writing poetry in his spare time. He first encountered digital art when he was in college:

“I started to use Macromedia Flash and I was fascinated by the things I could achieve using it. I tried to learn as much as I could about it.”

After college he became interested in the possibilities of becoming a graphic designer and began to try his hand at various graphic design and digital illustration projects:

“In 2010 I got married and, because it was difficult to find the right kind of invitations, I had to design my own wedding invitations. It was really fun and I learned a lot.

“Later, a friend opened my eyes and introduced me to Adobe Illustrator. I was ecstatic! It was, and still is, a brilliant illustration programme.”

Since he started on the BA (Hons) Graphic Design course, Andrei has been pleasantly surprised at how much has learned, not just in terms of developing his skills and knowledge in graphic design, but also in improving his English:

“At first I didn’t realise how much was in the course, but now I can see how far I’ve come and I’m not even half way through.

“I’ve enjoyed everything; it’s a new experience, a new way of learning. The most challenging (and also rewarding) was to be able to learn in a different language.”

Studying graphic design online with the support of IDI’s subject specialist tutors has given Andrei the skills and confidence to make it as a professional designer. On completion of his studies he hopes he can continue to learn and achieve even more of his ambitions:

“I want to reduce my hours as a pharmacist, to work as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator and to have enough time to do what I really like.

“I want to experiment with a lot of things before I die. My friends think I’m joking when I say I’ll start to take music lessons when I turn 40 – I’m not!”