How To Start Graphic Designer Journey

If you notice fonts on signage, logos in the environment, take photographs, draw by hand, or are inspired by the beautiful, then take a closer look at the graphic design profession, it might be your vocation.

A few months or a year will pass and you will have created a portfolio in the form of a pdf file. The portfolio is your best work that you've built up over a year of work. To get your first commercial commissions, upload the file to the cloud and send the link to the portfolio to local marketing and advertising agencies.

Graphic design can be different.

Decide what you prefer: web design, brand design, fashion design, print design, motion design, package design, or game and mobile app design.

Don't be too rigid in your choice, you might change your design direction later on with competencies in one of the specializations. Try your hand at a few specializations to see "what your heart is in". Work in a print shop, an advertising agency, or a publishing house.

Don't worry if you don't know what your graphic design direction is. The graphic design landscape is changing rapidly, by the time you become an expert and have mastered one or more of the competencies, things may have changed.

Digital design is the main thing you need to know. Today's graphic design profession is closely tied to mobile app and game development. The world is moving towards digital. You need to prepare yourself and get the necessary knowledge as quickly as possible. According to studies, the web design and web development market will grow by 15-20% in the next 10 years.

Don't limit yourself with knowledge from one area, study print design along with digital. Sure, on a global level, social media gathers millions of readers, but today's local publishers continue to print books and magazines too.

Start learning about the history of design. Read the history of a company's corporate identity. Research the history of graphic design. You can check these free poster mockups from ls to add interesting facts and don't miss anything.

Online courses are the easiest way to get the basics of graphic design

Visit the most famous graphic design resources every day: Behance, Dribbble, Pinterest.

Learn the interface, the basic techniques, and skills, and master the profession of a graphics package specialist.

Unlike learning graphics packages remotely, disciplines like drawing and painting can be studied comfortably in a classroom with other students and receive feedback from the instructor. Although there are online courses in painting and drawing. The main thing is to understand the theory. You can get practice by taking a pencil and finding a nature.

Becoming a designer in 5 steps

Let's see how you can dramatically change your life and become a paid specialist in computer graphics from scratch in 5 steps. The following algorithm, developed by experts in the field, will help you:

1. You need to acquire basic drawing skills, and that's okay if you've never considered yourself an artist before. You can do this by simply hiring a tutor if you can afford one. However, you can also take other routes - for example, enroll in an online course or get your hands on some books and take some lessons from an experienced artist.

2. If the first point is already done or even in the process, you can simultaneously learn the skills of graphic design games and other programs. To do this you will need to take courses on related topics - there are many such training seminars and applications on the Internet.

Independently you can learn flowers and fonts because they will be what will have to deal with in your daily work as the future designer of computer graphics. There are paid and even free video tutorials on the topic. For those who find this insufficient, I recommend reading the book "Picture This", which explains in detail the intricacies of design and drawing.

3. The next mandatory step is knowledge of UX, without which no designer in the field of computer technology can do. This concept includes many disciplines: graphics, visual design, architecture, interactive design, and more.

4. An in-depth study of special software. First and foremost, these programs are Illustrator and Photoshop. It is better to start with the first program that is very useful precisely in the creation of icons. There are also special channels that offer detailed video tutorials that allow you to create images using a variety of tools.

What else is there to do? More complicated in terms of mastering the user software Photoshop, but tutorials on the Internet more than enough. The Photoshop Tutorial channel has proven to be a good way for beginners and experienced users alike. If you study for at least an hour a day, you can become a more or less experienced user in a few months.

5. Specialization and portfolio. As in many other professional fields, graphic design has its specialization. Some might do logos for RK, some might do drawings for mobile apps, some might specialize in web design.

It's a good idea to know right away which area is preferred from a professional perspective. Also, potential applicants should take care of their portfolio beforehand to find customers. Even if there are no finished projects, unfinished sketches and sketches of web pages, website interfaces, and online shops, sketches of fictional logos, etc. may be suitable for a catalog.

All these things work just as well as a professional portfolio and will help an aspiring artist to find his or her first employers.

Conclusion

First, you have an alternative - you can study the traditional way, in an educational institution, or remotely, in an online course. Secondly, in an online course in graphic design, you will learn to understand design theory faster than in the traditional method.

Learn graphic design on your own or in an online course. Read the best books on graphic design, watch channels with video tutorials, look for inspiration on design resources. I wish you an enjoyable learning experience!