Become a Graphic Designer in 2025: Step-by-Step Guide
August 16, 2020
A graphic designer is the one who makes boring stuff appealing. He makes the ideas and experiences take a new form. Visual elements are his keywords. A graphic designer’s work ranges from creating an invitation for a college event to designing a commercial website. Graphic designers in Delhi insist on the following guidelines
But how do I become one?
Well, it’s not simple like
Learning what is a graphic design
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Acquiring ancillary skills
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Landing on a gig
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Becoming a graphic designer
Becoming a graphic designer is not a herculean task too. You need to work on the essentials and yay! You will be ready.
Essential skills for a Graphic Designer
Coding
Though many design tools that are available today don’t require coding skills, a graphic designer is expected to possess coding knowledge. At least the basic knowledge of HTML, CSS, or JavaScript. Learning these fundamentals gives you a competitive edge over those who don’t. And when you are a pro in coding, it gives you more confidence in the jobs you undertake. Many educational platforms offer free courses on coding. You can make use of those free sites to learn to code.
Adobe Master
Adobe is considered to be a master in design tools. So you need to be well acquainted with Adobe tools to have a clear picture of graphic designing. In fact, most of the designers use Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator and all other products of Adobe Creative Cloud to design websites. Hence it becomes necessary for you to become an Adobe Master.
Sketching
Before putting up your designs on the client’s page, try sketching the design. When you have a rough draft ready, make a fair draft by improving the previous one. Learn artistic skills, it will enhance your designing skills.
Communication
Like every other job, graphic designing too requires good communication skills. You may wonder why! “If you just communicate, you can get by. But if you communicate skillfully, you can work miracles.” So develop your communication skills if you are lacking at it. You can make use of online free resources and also sign up to many English Teaching programs.
Creativity
Well, this forms your core. A graphic designer is required to be creative, innovative, ever-learning. You should incorporate creativity in everything you do. Take examples from other designs. Mix it, blend it, alter it, add colors, change style, combine two odds, invent a shade, do whatever it takes to become a successful designer.
Perceptivity
A graphic designer should view the same dot in multiple angles. He must be able to figure out the original meaning of an artwork. Besides, he should be capable of allotting different meanings to the same work. Listen to others’ perceptions also. MonaLisa may not be the same girl to your neighbor. It may differ.
Updating
Update yourself with the newly-emerging trends in the design industry. You can always work on formulas like Traditional + New design + Innovation = Your design. Hence you are required to observe keenly on what other designs are doing on the websites.
UI UX design
Learn the UI UX design. It is popular and not something special. All designers possess this knowledge. So you need to develop too. UI stands for User Interface. This is about what the user sees on the website. User Experience stands for the quality of the website access and utility, the user experiences on the site you developed. These are commonly backend efforts that portray the website on the front end. Get the best designing services from the master-class graphic design company in Delhi.
Typography
The art of making the written language legible and attractive is Typography. Many fonts are available on the tool itself. What makes you worth is how you arrange those fonts and letters in such a way that it attracts all users.
Microsoft Office
Well, kids are learning MS Office. It’s high time you do too. MS Office contains many applications but the widely used are PowerPoint, MS Word, and MS Excel. Be an expert in MS skills. This will help you in giving presentations and keeps your foundation strong.
Branding
Not only businessmen but also a graphic designer should know what branding is. It allows him/her to align the goals of the design with that of the business. You can go through online resources to know about branding or can contact an expert for guidance.
Time Management
What makes a graphic designer professional, is his deadline meeting ability. Don’t skip out time limits on your projects. Work and submit much before the mentioned timeline. This will increase your credibility and who knows? Sometimes salary too…
Marketing yourself
- Your resume
- Your portfolio
- Your cover letter
- Your social media posts
- Photo-editing
- Art projects
All should reflect your designing skills. At times, interpret artwork for the common people. This will definitely benefit you in the long run. Do petty jobs for your friends and acquaintances without asking for money. People will start looking for you if your design satisfies them. When it amazes them, you get an amazing job offer too…
Analyzing Criticism and improving
Learn to accept constructive criticism. Work on your flaws and improve on your designs. Innovate, innovate, and innovate. Let your design speak for your ability. Do as many designs as you can. Ask your kith and kin about the design. Understand what the client needs and work accordingly. Sometimes you will have to work for a short project, sometimes for a big website. Have a picture on the mind to help you proceed with the design.
Technology
You don’t have to be a tech-geek. But you need to be a master of various technological advancements. In the design race, you should stop behind just because you don’t know about the evolving technology. When a client trusts a particular technical tool, he wants you to work on the same. So you need to be ready to work on any canvas.
Flexibility
You should be adaptive to the changing requirements of the client. One day, the project may reside on Adobe but the other day he may want you to work on Invision. You must not hesitate. Instead, try to learn what changes the variety of platforms have and perform brilliantly.
Strategic
Be strategic in the designs you put forth. If a particular component of a website requires animation, and something else requires text designing, make sure you devise a plan to accomplish both simultaneously. Coordination, alignment, and planning are the key points here.
Color Theory
You can’t mess with colors. They create magic but at the same time can ruin your design completely. Pay attention to the color code your client prefers or the business requires. Different business types are associated with different colors. Learn the color theory. This is one of the basic things you need to know.
Troubleshooting
Work on your tools, if they are problematic, troubleshoot them to mend them. For this, you should work on computer applications. After trouble-shooting, work on improvements and error-free design. Always double check before submitting your work to the client. Trust depends on perfection.
Apart from these, build a network. Use LinkedIn and other social networking sites to work on building a strong and healthy network. Work on freelance gigs. Browse a lot and understand how the industry works. Here you go… Your first job as a graphic designer is waiting for you!