Read till the end, this might give you good directions in starting off with a good career.

Tip 1 – Learn ONLY from the best 

Once you have decided to make a career in the field of Graphic / Web designing, the first thing you ensure is that you gain the necessary knowledge (or) the right training from the best place.

There are hundreds of training institutes that claim to be the best & they try to attract aspiring students with huge discounts, free gifts, etc.

So, be fully prepared to conduct a thorough research abt the institute, their teaching standards, their placement records, etc before committing yourself to the course. 

Never ever compromise on the quality of the education, especially for the sake of saving a few thousand or avoiding the travel of a few extra kilometers.

Remember that this is a solid investment you are getting into & how much ever you earn in the next 30-35 years is going to be based on the few months you are going to spend there.

Tip 2 – Join relevant communities & forums 

Allow the professional web designers to be your “godfathers” by joining in relevant forums & communities, where you can share your work-related issues, ask questions, request for solutions, seek guidance in a project.

Just absorb as much as knowledge from the old-timers’ experience & learn the nuances of the creative process, which not many institutes can teach. 

Tip 3 – Practice, practice & more practice 

Practice makes perfect – this universal truth is the secret behind all successful persons from any field.

You have to practice most of the time while studying the course and see the world like a designer would see it, i.e. capturing all the interesting information and transforming it into the design.

Theories are important to understand the software & their functionalities, but it is those practical sessions, which actually converts you into a professional designer.

So, with more practice, more professional you become. 

Tip 4 – A good portfolio

Before getting the dream job in the designing field, you will need a solid portfolio, which is nothing but a showcase of all your works and projects (only the completed ones).

The Graphic/Web designer degree might help a bit, but potential employers would like to see your skills before they shortlist you for an interview.

We recommend that you create a blog (or) a personal site (or) a microsite, where you can post all your good works showcasing your skills in designing, interface creation & functionalities.

Whenever a client/employer wants to see your portfolio, you can just send him the link to this page.

A good portfolio plays a big role in bagging you an interview from a reputed company.

Tip 5 – Prepare well for the interview

This is such an important point, that we have written a separate blog on this.

Please click here to know those important interview tips. 

       If you can check all these boxes, you can be assured of an excellent start to your career in the designing field with a high paying job in a reputed company.

Most companies want their logo to be instantly identifiable, easily interpretable, and everlasting. As overly complex logos often fail to achieve these objectives, ‘keeping it simple’ has become the mantra for most organizations.

As Apple figured out early on, the most important factor in logo design is simplicity. Logos need to be simple so people can remember & connect with them. The more often you see a logo the more your business will ingrain in the hearts and minds of consumers.

2) Tell a story 

Your logo represents your business and is extremely important to the branding of your company. Apart from being appealing, a logo must also tell a story – the story of what your brand stands for.

People connect to a good story in any form & so if you can capture your brand’s story in your logo, then capturing the attention of your targeted audience can become easy.

If you wonder how to encapsulate a story in a logo, here are some great examples  – 

3) Be creative

 “What’s important is to create something that you believe is different from anything already out there,” David Airey.

A logo is what differentiates a brand from its competitors, so it’s important that the design stands out from the rest. Think out-of-the-box to design a logo that is creative, unique, clever & relevant.

4) Consider typography

Typography is described as “pictures of words.” Typography can be an important factor in invoking a wide array of feelings and thoughts, thereby creating an image of your brand in people’s minds. 

By using the right typeface, your logo would not just look distinct and different from any other brand, but it also helps in people relating to your company in a more humane way. 

5) Use power symbols 

Companies use powerful symbols like crown in their logo because they want to exhibit their brand as a symbol of prestige, lavishness & classy. And what could be better than a crown – a symbol of royalty and authority – to showcase such qualities of the brand.

6) Use animal symbolism 

Few companies use animals in their logos, as animals have long been a source of symbolism, and their images connect well with customers, especially if they’re creatively intertwined with the brand individuality. To give a couple of examples, Firefox uses a fox to symbolize speed & MSN uses a butterfly to denote freedom. 

7) Use Shape psychology

Shapes have emotional implications and can initiate distinctive images and memories in people’s minds. Straight lines, curves, circles, and pointed edges all indicate different meanings and so an experienced logo designer can use shapes to deduce specific virtues of the brand. 

8) Employ negative space 

Negative space is the empty space around and between the subjects of an image. It can be used to depict a subject in a chosen medium by showing everything around the subject but not the subject itself.

Remember Fedex logo? The negative space between the letters E and X has been designed to look like an arrow, symbolizing speed. Spectacular logos can be created with a clever mix of design and negative space.

9) Use color scheme wisely 

Every color, including black & white, has a distinctive feel and several associations. Colors will evoke certain feelings and opinions towards your brand in people’s mind & so it is essential to choose the right color(s) that will represent your company effectively.

Designers need to pick the colors carefully to enhance specific elements of the logo and add relevance to the idea with the use of shade and tone.

10) Black & White can be cool too

Black and white are too of the most poignant visuals & when used creatively in designing, the results can be outstanding. The designers must understand that black and white shouldn’t compete, but rather complement each other when used in logo designing. To make the point more clear: contrast creates completion. 

The effect that black and white have is subconscious on people’s minds & so, it is essential to carefully consider the significant impact they will inevitably have on your designs.

11) Convey right message 

The main purpose of a logo design is to convey the brand message to its customers. The most important work for a designer is to integrate a relevant & meaningful concept in the logo, where the idea is to create an insinuation of the brand’s purpose using creative symbols and colors. 

Major brands like Amazon, Wiki & Cisco all have logos that are not only conceptual, but also meaningful.

12) Logo marks can help branding

Not all companies can use logo mark, as the company must be big enough, probably with fine experience and existence of quite some notable years of work and excellence. 

Companies like Nike, Apple & Volkswagen use logomarks as there is no need for them to mention their company’s names & just by the logo mark, people recognize their identity and importance. 

Line

Lines, in graphic design, can be used for a wide range of purposes: connecting content, stressing a word or phrase, forming patterns etc. Lines can be vertical, horizontal, diagonal, circular, patterned, free form or solid. They are used as roadmaps to direct the viewer’s eye movements. If you use trees for example, which are standing straight up (vertical), there is no movement felt by the viewer. On the other hand if you have the trees bent at an angle this will make the viewer feel motion and a sense of movement. 

Shape

The three basic types of shapes are Geometric (Circles, Squares, Triangles etc.), Natural (leaves, mountains, people etc.) and abstract (icons, stylizations and graphic representations). They give volume to the forms in a design. You don’t always have to use similar shapes in your design work; instead you can mix it up and put them together making sure that the placement of them keeps your piece balanced. Sometimes adding just a small shape to a blank area will make the piece look more balanced. 

Colour

People process color in the artwork subconsciously. Colour is used to generate emotions, define significance, create graphic interest and unify branding. To establish mood, build appeal, create interest and get a message across, color is the most powerful tool in your graphic design arsenal. The Color Wheel is a great tool for a graphic designing artist and you will use it repeatedly to create a great piece of artwork.

Texture

Texture relates to the surface of an object, where it creates an illusion of a surface that is not flat or smooth. By using texture, we can add depth and visual interest in graphic design. It enhances a sense of feel, especially with two-dimensional images. In graphic design, texture can take the form of layers or progression of text, lines or shapes, which can be applied in the form of pattern or through the choice of printable surface. 

Size

The functionality of a graphic design layout centers heavily on this element – size. In graphic design, size is used to express importance, draw attention and create contrast. People generally use size to attract attention to the most important part in the design; typically, a larger sized object or form attracts the most eyeballs inside an artwork. Also, different sizes within the same graphic design or layout create a order of dominance. So, you must learn to use variations in size to guide the observer’s eye through the track you want it to take.

Value

How light or dark an area looks in a design is termed as Value. It is everything from the blackest of blacks through to the lightest of whites. If you learn to use values in the right manner, it will add enormous depth, contrast and emphasis to your design. The knowledge of Value plays a big role when you want to express the illusion of movement or bring one element into sharp focus while another fades into the background.

Space 

An important part of any good graphic design, Space is the area around the elements in a design, which is used to separate or group information. You must learn to use it effectively to define importance and lead the eye to where you want it to travel. In design language, white space is called negative space, which is used to connect, separate or maximize the relationship between the elements making up the design. Space can also be effectively used to give the illusion of depth or multi-dimension to the observer.

There are many more principles of graphic designing, but these are the essential ones. As a graphic designing student, you must think of these principles as guidelines to help you understand what is visually appealing and why it’s appealing in the designs you see. 

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If you are looking to learn or enhance your designing skills, we offer the best graphic designing course in Chennai at Web D School. Kindly send your course enquiry here.

Anyone would be lying if they say they have never been interested in designing. Because everyone at some point of time would’ve thought about making designing as a career or at the least learn it. We see designs everywhere and we get inspired looking at them and wonder if we would ever be able to do it. 

So here is this blog to help everyone out there on how to make designing as a career. 

Types of Designing 

Designing is any form of information provided visually to make complex things look simpler for the better understanding of humans. Design has made our life easy in many ways possible, mainly to understand things better and in a fun way. Design makes boring things look interesting and engaging. I have listed out a few types of designing.

Graphic Design

Graphic designing is one of the forms of visual communication created with an intention to solve a problem or communicate an information to people in a creative manner.  The design could be anything a poster, logo, product design and much more. 

Web Design

The process of creating a website by deciding the layout, color, images and overall design of the website is called web designing.

User Interface and User Experience Design

User Interface(UI) is the designing of the visuals that the users get to see on screen when they open an app or a website while User Experience(UX) design is a much broader term which involves on what the users interact with and the overall experience of the user.   

Motion Graphic Design

Although graphic designing and motion graphic designing pretty much comes under the same line, there is a slight difference between the two. The application of graphic designing into videos, film making using animation and visual effects.  

Animation

The process of making still images or pictures look like moving objects with the use of computer softwares is called animation.

Apart from these, there are other designing fields as well like Game Designing, Mobile Designing, Interior Designing, Fashion Designing, Architecture etc. 

Evolution of Design

When we say design these days, what comes to our mind is that a few 20 something-year-olds sitting in front of a system continuously clicking the mouse, working around with a software like photoshop or illustrator to create a design. That wasn’t something that would come to mind before computers made its way to the world. 

Designing was once a whole set of process requiring a lot of people doing separate things manually to bring out a single design. To put it simply, division of labour was involved to create a single design. It was a process where you had to be ready to get your hands dirty to bring out a pretty design. 

With computers came new technologies and new softwares, all the tools used physically were included in the software and a design could be created with just one person. There are many softwares with different purposes to create a design like Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, CorelDraw etc.

In today’s world, the designers can easily connect with each other, share their works and get feedback from other designers who have been in the field for a longer period than them. That wasn’t quite possible before the digital world.

Why choose Designing?

1. Good demand for good designers

If you’re someone who is just starting out your career or someone who is thinking of a change in career, designing is a good career to go with. Designing has a huge demand all over the places but it is not easy to find a job in designing unless and until you’re good. If you are talented and have the skills and the urge to learn new trends, you should have no trouble finding a designing job. 

2. Never-ending Learning

Design evolves with technology. There will be new trends, new tools, new technologies every now and then. As a designer, you will be required to always learn. If you are someone who believes learning is a never-ending process and follows the belief in your life, you will keep exploring new things and enjoy designing as a career. 

3. Designers will never be replaced by Machines

With the growth of technologies like Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning and every industry feeling the threat of being replaced by machines, designers have no such things to worry about. AI can do all kind of things but it cannot create a design. Designing will forever be a humans job and that can never be replaced. 

4. Location will never be a problem

What’s interesting with designing is that it doesn’t require to stay in a particular place. You can be from any part of the world and work from anywhere you like. Opportunities are around the globe for good designers. While some people choose to work for a company, the others go with freelancing which offers them the freedom to work as and when the like from wherever they wish to.   

5. Creative Visuals – All day, every day

The most interesting part of designing is that you are always working around with pictures and images all day. You won’t just be designing only but also looking at various other works of designing, get inspired and again create a design. This way you’re always surrounded by creative visuals. 

6. Your day will never be mundane 

Designing is a creative field. A design is not just created to make things look beautiful. It has evolved to the level where a design is created to solve a problem and give the solution through visuals. You would never feel like you’re doing the same thing. Everyday you’ll come across different challenges and you will you’ll get to create a new design every day. 

7. Freelancing

Designing doesn’t require you to go to the office daily and work staying in a place. You might already be a working employee or you’re someone who travels around and doesn’t stay in a place or you’re just not the person who wants to go to a day job but you want to do designing. Freelancing is the way. There are many companies who look for freelance designers to get the job done. If you’re good with designing but don’t want to stick to a company, you can take up freelancing and work as it fits you. 

8. Good Growth for Designers

Designers rule the world today. People love when an information is provided with good visuals. Not every industry had a separate designing department before. But nowadays every company has a designing department or they give the designing work outside. Every company somehow integrates with designing and that is only going to keep growing.

9. Engage with Design Community 

Unlike other fields, designing is a cool industry to work in. There are websites like Dribbble, Behance on which your can share you work, look for other designer’s work. You can make use of these websites and get in touch with people who are at the same level of mind, creativity as yours. This helps you to understand how good your work is. You can also give feedback to others’ work and get advice or tips from experts on the website. 

Prerequisites to become a Designer

Designing is a creative field. Anyone cannot just come and become a designer because they think it’s “cool”. Designing is created with an intention make things look simpler for a better understanding of the humans. To create a design, a lot of thought process is involved. You can’t sit in front of a computer software and  just create a design.

There are a few things you need to have regardless of any kind of a designer you want to become. 

You will need to 

• Have basic computer skills.

• Some level of creativity

• Innovative thinking

• An eye for colour

• Analytical skills 

• Problem-solving skills

• An eye for detail 

• Be able to see things at a different level

• Be curious and always ready to learn new things

• Be flexible

•  Be a story-teller

What to learn?

Graphic designing – To become a graphic designer, you need to become hands-on with certain tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, CorelDraw, InDesign. 

Web designing – The basic things you need know to become good web designer are Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Fireworks, Dreamweaver. These softwares are used for designing. But for web design, you are also required to learn some coding like HTML, CSS, Javascript, JQuery, Bootstrap. 

UI/UX – The first step is to analyse the competitors so there is a lot of research involved for UI/UX. So you need to learn how to research and get the competitor analysis. After that designing is done for which you need know how to work with softwares like Auxre, Balsamiq, Adobe XD, InDesign. 

Motion Graphics Design – You will need to learn softwares like Adobe Animate, Adobe After effects, Adobe Premiere Pro, Illustrator, Photoshop

Animation – For animation you should learn and understand about Computer Generated Interface, Visual effects. You need to how to work with Adobe Animate, Adobe After effects,  Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3DS Max.

Choosing the best designing institute

If you have come to this part of the blog, you’re most likely interested in designing and probably wondering where to start and how to go about it. 

Designing is considered a major subject in almost none of the colleges. Architecture design, interior design and industrial design are some exceptions. 

But for graphic designing, web designing, UI/UX etc. there are not colleges providing a degree. The best way to learn is to join a certification course at the place. 

There are many institutes offering various designing courses all over the world. But what’s important is to know how best they are. To make sure that this is the best place for you to study, you need to do a lot of research. There are few things you need to ensure before joining an institute

• The first and foremost thing you need to look is the curriculum. Make sure the syllabus of the course is wide enough covering everything you need to learn from designing.

• Find out the the faculties and how much of an experience they have and if they’ve good subject knowledge. 

• Ensure if they provide both theoretical and practical training

•  If it is nearby, go and visit the institute in person. Look how the environment and infrastructure of the institute is. But don’t leave a good institute because it a little far away. 

• Make sure they provide 100% placement assistance. Nobody can help you get a job unless you do the interview but the see if they’ve a placement cell and train you for the job interviews.  

The process of designing keeps changing. The way the designing was once done is not the same way it is done now. As a designer, you should always be ready for change and welcome the new trends and technologies with open arms. You should be able to adapt to changes and figure out a way to integrate your designing skills with advanced technologies.