A graphic designer is a visual storyteller. By combining colours, images, words and graphics, designers can communicate, excite and appeal to a wide audience.
Graphic design is an essential part of marketing and advertising campaigns, of a company’s or a product’s image.
We know it’s not easy to get started, but if you’re passionate and follow a few basic steps, you can learn and improve. So, in what follows, we’ll provide you with some tools and tips to help you pursue your passion.
Graphic design – getting started
Here are the most important first steps you need to take as a beginner to learn graphic design:
- Be motivated
- Be passionate about design and visual art
- Learn design principles
- Get familiar with graphic design tools
- Work on your own projects
- Build your portfolio
- Be patient and consistent
Now, let’s understand each step in turn and how it can help you get started.
Motivation
There may be many reasons why you want to start learning graphic design, maybe you want to design a logo for your company or learn something new or maybe you simply want to channel your creativity into a career, whatever the goal, the motivation must be strong enough to keep you focused on the end goal.
Motivation is the fuel that will fuel your desire to learn and improve and keep you going when you encounter difficulties.
Be passionate about design and visual art
In order to become a graphic designer in the true sense of the word it is essential to be passionate and love everything related to graphic design in particular and visual art in general.
Constantly read and inform yourself about new directions and trends in graphic design and visual art.
Learn the principles of graphic design
Every discipline has certain fundamental principles, and graphic design is no exception. Good graphic design is carefully crafted, involves planning and information in the application of design theories and principles. A graphic designer works with lines, colours, shapes, textures, proportions and harmonies, all of which are essential in the creation of any graphic design work.
Get familiar with graphic design tools
There are numerous graphic design tools as well as photo and graphic editing tools. The most common types of software are vector and pixel-based editing systems.
In general, vector graphics is used to make digital designs and shapes, such as logos and technical drawings of objects.
Pixel-based graphics are used in photo editing.
As a beginner, it is not so important to choose a particular software, more important is to understand their logic, how they work and their tools. Tutorials can also be very useful to get familiar and understand graphic design tools.
Work on your own projects
To develop your graphic design skills and to better understand the principles of graphic design, it is very important to work on your own projects. Once you have acquired the basic theoretical knowledge and learned how to use graphic design software, you need to practice and to do that you can work on your own projects. You can start working on logos for existing or invented companies, create the visual identity of a fictitious company for a specific target audience, etc.
Another way to practice is to volunteer for NGOs or small start-up brands.
Build your portfolio
A strong portfolio is essential for any graphic designer, it can include personal or work projects as well as those done for companies or NGOs.
It is important to remember that in creating a portfolio you should focus more on quality than quantity, the portfolio is your business card, choose the projects you are most satisfied with and that best represent you.
Be patient and consistent
Don’t be discouraged if you don’t get the results you want quickly or on the first try, or those seen in experienced designers. Remember what your motivation is, stay patient and be consistent, the results will not be long in coming.