Graphic design is a thriving industry with numerous prospects. Graphic designers are involved when organizations aspire to brand themselves. This is why, regardless of academic background, many startups and MNCs recruit creative graphic designers. As you’re reading this, I’m guessing you want to learn graphic design as well, preferably without enrolling in any graphic design classes.
The good news is that you don’t have to go to any institutes to learn graphic design; you can also do it at home. The only thing that can strongly impact your progress in learning graphic design is a lack of patience, as this discipline takes a lot of patience.
I was once in the same boat as you, unsure how and where to begin learning graphic design. Slowly, I made my way through it, though I made many mistakes along the road, which I will share with you so you can avoid them since I know the pain of regret and I will spare you that agony.
Let us begin with the most fundamental question:
Where to learn graphic designing?
When I first typed these terms into Google, there were plenty of possibilities, with numerous institutes claiming to be the greatest in the business. The issue with the internet is that it provides us with far too much information, which confuses us. I contacted a couple of those institutes, and they told me they would teach me Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Coreldraw, and Indesign for 3-6 months. But how can simply learning new tools turn you into a graphic designer? These tools and their applications can also be found for free on YouTube. Then I started learning on my own.
Learn Fundamentals of Graphic Design
You must first master the foundations of graphic design before diving into Adobe or any other software tools. You must learn what colour, shape, hierarchy, contrast, balance, and so on are, but you do not need to grasp all of this at first. However, mastering the fundamentals will be helpful while using tools. I completed the Fundamentals of Graphic Design course on Coursera App to learn the fundamentals of graphic design. It is a paid course in which you will learn about shape, typography, font pairing, image-making processes, and so on.
Although it is a paid course, you can view the entire course by using Audit Options. You will not receive any type of certification for completing this course. You can apply for financial aid For the course ( this means you will ask course creators to give me this course for free with a certificate). Learning the principles is simple, and you will gain a new perspective on image-making techniques and graphic design.
Learn Graphic Design Software
There are basically three major types of software for graphic design. Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. Affinity Design, Corel Draw, and other software are frequently used by designers. However, I’ll suggest learning Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator first as they will serve as the foundation for your graphic design career. Photoshop allows us to create everything raster-based graphics related, including retouching, modification, social media posters, business cards, and brochures. The one-stop solution for all media-related tasks is Photoshop.
Adobe Illustrator, on the other hand, is a little bit challenging. You may create vector-based artwork using Adobe Illustrator, such as blog creatives, icons, and logos. The artboard and vector quality of Adobe Illustrator are two significant benefits. With the use of an artboard tool, you can effortlessly switch between multiple artboards. Once you understand illustrator, you get obsessed with it. Adobe Illustrator is used to create vector or print-based work, while Photoshop is used to create images and media-related works.
Graphic design software is simple to learn. All you have to do is watch some simple Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop videos on YouTube. And be familiar with the tools and concepts. On YouTube, there are lots of free tutorials. You can watch any Photoshop or Illustrator entire playlist to learn how to use the tools. You can also explore Udemy and skillshare courses.
I usually watch Tutorials on youtube to learn Adobe tools, however when I want to learn something useful for my career. I plan on spending some money on online courses through skillshare and Udemy. Spending some time and money on that will be beneficial if you want to learn a certain skill or become an expert in any subject.
Practice Graphic Design each and every day
Even if you watch lessons on a daily basis, you must prioritize practice. I mean, practising tools and learning new concepts in Designing is far superior to watching tutorials. So we should spend 30% of our time watching lessons and 70% of our time practising. Practice does not make us perfect; it just enhances our skills.
For example, if you follow a lesson to create a social media poster, it will take longer than the time of the course. However, if you continue to practice designing comparable posters, you will be able to accomplish that design in less than the tutorial duration the next time.
As a result, the more you practice, the better the results will be. For example, if you start designing a social creative for Instagram for the first time, it will take 1-2 hours; however, if you keep practising, you will become familiar with the tools and shortcuts, so that the next time you will finish the design in 40-50 minutes; it all depends on how you practice and how you finish.
Choose Your Style
After learning graphic design, you must decide what kind of graphic designer you want to be. There are lots of different types of graphic designers available on the internet. You must pick what type of graphic designer you want to be. For example, I’m a graphic designer who enjoys social media creatives, websites, logos, and online invitations, among other things. I’m familiar with certain common social media post sizes, and I can easily design anything related to social media and web media.
When it comes to print designs, I’ll spend some time planning and fine-tuning everything. My friend is a print and package designer; he works in a print-based design firm, and he can easily develop anything linked to print since he understands what size to use when designing for print, what margin size to give when preparing for print, and so on.
There are various professional paths in graphic design, including Brand Identity & Logo Design, Packaging Design, Web and Mobile Design, Layout and Print Design, Visual artist, and others. So take your time, research everything, and decide what you want to create.
Create a Great Portfolio
A portfolio is designed to demonstrate what you can design and how your design and thinking reflect. You could include some of your prior work to show your clients or recruiters. You can create your own website to showcase your work as I did, or you can publish your work on Behance, Dribbble, and other sites. If you’re just starting out in graphic design and don’t know anything about websites, hosting, or domains, I recommend going to the Behance platform and creating a profile and showcasing your work there.
Behance is a social networking site where artists from all over the world can share their work and be inspired by others. It’s similar to the social media sites used by graphic designers and UI/UX designers. Make your ID on Behance and don’t forget to include your contact information. If someone likes your work and wants to assign you a project or assignment, they can quickly contact you.
How do you make a portfolio? This is an extremely tricky question. Creating a portfolio is challenging for beginners because they do not have any past projects to showcase. To be considered for high-paying projects, we must have a strong portfolio. It’s like trying to make an omelette without breaking an egg. So, how do we create a strong portfolio in the absence of projects?
Simply looking at other graphic designers’ portfolios and social media profiles will help you understand what a portfolio looks like. After that, go to some of the leading firms’ social media pages, such as Google, Amazon, Nike, Flipkart, and others, to see what their graphic designers are designing, how they are using text, colours, and shapes to create posts on social media, packaging, and so on.
I’m saying to go ahead and explore more, collect some, and design their works in your own style. You can redesign an Apple logo, create a social media post for Amazon, or design packaging for a coffee shop. Just imagine what you want to create and make it a reality with Photoshop or Illustrator.
Meet and Greet with Other Graphic Designers
Creating a good portfolio and waiting for clients to contact you for projects is nearly difficult at first. You have to communicate with other graphic designers or freelancers to build a strong network. Understanding how they design and get client projects, help you in your career.
Communicating with expectations can help us to discover new opportunities. throughout my career, my senior designers and mentors helped me in the completion of so many projects, and I helped beginners by guiding them along the correct graphic design path.
Working on all of the tasks by yourself is very difficult. Sharing your project with other graphic designers and helping them with their projects can be really beneficial. If you do this, you will end up with highly profitable outcomes and a lot of opportunities.
Start your career
It’s time to acquire some hands-on experience. You can work as a freelancer in graphic design or as an entry-level employee in a good company. All you have to do is choose which side you want to be on.
Create an attractive social media profile and promote your work to launch your freelancing career. You can also get clients by promoting your posts. You can also contact business owners, digital marketers, or agencies to get freelancing projects. When I just started my freelance career, I created a good portfolio on Instagram and promoted an ad. Following that, several youtube channels, photographers, and business owners contacted me for projects. To grow in the freelancing industry, all you need to do is work smartly, complete some projects, and ask your clients for referrals.
High-paying opportunities are also available in the graphic design field. As earlier said, no professional certificate in graphic design is required; however, if you have completed any certification, it is a plus. We need a solid portfolio and a resume to get into good startups or MNCs.
You can design a resume using templates from canva.com or from scratch. You can also use behance.net to create your showcase for the portfolio part.
How to Apply for Jobs?
If you want to apply for graphic design jobs, there are a lot of websites available on the internet. LinkedIn, Naukri, Glassdoor, and Internshala are the best websites to apply for jobs, especially if you are a fresher, you can use Internshala to launch your career.
How to grow in a graphic designing career?
If you want to grow in the graphic design field, you have to remember some important tips.
Never Stop Learning:
No matter how much you master graphic design, there is always something to learn. New updates and trends come every day. We have to make sure that we are updated with the current trend and have a place for ourselves on the internet.
Always curious to learn something new:
as a graphic designer, you have to be ready for new challenges, new information
Observation is the key to the design
Design inspiration is not only found on the internet, sometimes you can find it on the wall, on the street, or even in the structure of an office building. Search for layouts and observe how people solve problems using design. Great observation is the key to the design.
Don’t limit yourself:
sometimes we limit ourselves because we can only design small things and can’t do big things or take on big challenges. Because we are scared we will fail if we take on big challenges, “a few years ago I was also scared of designing a logo for Bigger companies or large-scale startups because I didn’t know what will happen if I do mistakes or what will they say after seeing my logo design” then my brother guided me how to handle the situation and how to get feedback and how to finish from the beginning to end. After that, I was never scared of anything, even if I don’t know how to begin I just accept the project do some research about it and I’ll started my work. So don’t limit your creative brain to only small tasks. Look for bigger challenges and try to push your limits for better results.
Conclusion:
So I provided you guidelines on how to start a career in graphic design. The field of design is always evolving. Keep going with your education, stay current on new techniques and tools, and maintain your relationships with other graphic designers. You can contact me on my social media accounts or in the comments section if you have any more questions about a career in graphic design.
