Graphic designing for beginners

Expressing ideas thru the use of graphics is a necessary skill nowadays. Whether you are an artist, a presenter, a student, an employee or an entrepreneur, we all recognize the importance of being able to convey our thoughts and ideas to the world using images or graphics. 

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

If you happen to listen to a presentation that is made up of pure words and no  graphics at all, you would agree to me if I say it is boring. But have you ever experienced listening to a presentation filled with engaging and interesting pictures? The difference is obvious, one does not encourage interaction but the other one entices the audience to think and have a wider understanding of the topic.

This is one of the reasons why I can say knowing even the basics of graphic designing is a wonderful skill that everyone needs to learn. Learning graphic designing is not an easy task. It takes lots of practice just like any other crafts you know. But as I have said, everything will be worth it because of the wide range of applications it could bring to you. I want to share the basic tips in graphic designing that I have learned over the past 6 years since is started doing it.

How to create a great design

Before anything else, the first thing you need to understand is that in order to produce a great design output, you have to be willing to go through dozens of revisions. Most of us when we do things, we stop when we feel it’s “good enough”. But if you really aim to WOW the audience with your design, make it a point to scratch draft after draft until you come up with the design that  really makes you feel great and excited to create one more.

1. Don’t overuse fonts

It is really overwhelming to choose among thousands of beautiful fonts available for us to use. A common mistake is putting all the fonts you seem to like in one design. If you do that, your output will look like a mess with no direction. I suggest using 1 to 3 font styles when you do a design. What this does is that it makes your design much clearer  and easier to interpret. When you use too many different font styles, the attention of the viewer goes to the chaotic look of the fonts. But when you use for example two font styles, you are giving the viewer a better clarity therefore they can focus on the more significant message of your work.

2. Choosing the right colors

Choosing colors could be as daunting as choosing the right fonts to use.  It is because it takes year of practice to really master the art of choosing the right pigment for a particular subject. The color must perfectly fit the subject so that it will be interpreted with most clarity. One method I use when choosing the right colors is getting an idea from a logo or a visual representation of a subject itself. For example I am designing a poster for an advertisement by a company. For sure, most organizations and companies do have a logo that represents them. What I will do automatically is copy the color schemes of the logo and use them for the design. Not necessarily use them as is, but at least I have some kind of a basis for the colors to use. I can also choose to mix these colors and see which one I can come up to. It works and this saves you the time of choosing among many color choices.

3. Explore which platform fits you

There are many design platforms out there that you can use like adobe Photoshop, Coreldraw, paint and etc. What I suggest is that you try every one of them  and see which one will most probably suit you. These platforms have their own features and it is up to you which feature will be useful in your design activities.

4. Play with the forms

Whether it is a font or a shape, it is always fun to play with the scale or form. Don’t hesitate try different things on your design. Besides, you can always put it back when you realize it does not look good. It takes time to try different possible outcomes on your work but it’s one way of being creative. Slowly you will discover some forms that actually look great and you can use them in your future projects.

5. Spacing

Spacing between the different elements of your design is important just the same as choosing the right color. If a design looks crowded, the perception of it is twisted. Allow enough spaces within your design in order to give clarity about  which one is significant and which one is has less significance. If there are no enough spaces, you might be giving emphasis to those that does not need emphasis.

6. Simplicity is always priority

If I want you to remember the most important thing I can suggest in graphic design, it is about simplicity. But keeping a design simple yet enticing is such a  difficult feat and also a wonderful achievement that takes lots of time to learn. We thought creating something simple is easy since we call it “simple”. The truth is that it difficult to create something simple and great at the same time. Simplicity is not about the fewer elements you see but rather the subtraction of all the things that have no significance leaving what is only essential for the viewers to see. It is hard most of the times to determine which is necessary or not unless you have been doing it for a long time. In order to master this skill, you should be willing to dedicate hours and hour of practice until it becomes a default setting for you every time you create a graphic design.

These are only a few of the things that you should remember when you want to learn graphic designing. Btu these are enough to get you started. Allow yourself to learn more new things as you go along. What is important is that you begin to try your first work and then another and another. After your first five to ten outputs, I am pretty sure you will become more confident about your craft. Remember, learning new things do not take overnight to accomplish, what is important is that you decide to do it and continue until you master the skill.

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