Learning the fundamentals of Graphic Design, using industry-standard tools, and working towards building a portfolio that stands out are all key attributes to becoming a self-taught designer. A daily routine to learn Graphic Design techniques can help you climb the steep learning curve of many of the design programs. The creative industry is competitive but with the right combination of drive and ambition, it is possible to become a self-taught designer.
I have worked as a Graphic Designer for 15 years, working in-house for Google, YouTube, being freelance, working at an Agency, to now leading a design team at a start-up. I personally have helped multiple designers get their first jobs within the industry by helping them focus on the right things and build a portfolio that will land them their first jobs. This is the advice that I gave them.
What part of the design industry do you want to be in?
Being self-taught means that there are no clear guidelines to what you learn and when. This can be tough for many people. So narrowing your focus to just one area of design can really help in working out what to learn and when. Before you jump into learning all there is to know about design, it is a good idea to take a step back and critically look at Graphic Design around you. What sparks your interest? Perhaps creating designs for physical products such as labels for fancy Beer cans pops out at you. Or creating the next big social media app sounds like fun. These two examples are completely different areas of design even though the skillset overlaps. So when you are first starting out it is a good idea to isolate the area of design that appeals to you so that you can target your learning to this area.
Design skillsets and how they overlap
Becoming a self-taught designer is a great way to begin a career as this motivation and dedication to learning new skills will help you massively as you move through your career. One of my favorite things about the Design Industry is how often I find that a skill set for one type of design, overlaps with another. For example, I started my career doing VFX for films, but I realized that my skill set could easily be transferred to working in the Game industry. Being able to switch between massively different areas by just learning a couple of new things is one of the best advantages of going into this career. You are never truly locked down into any one path. The more you learn, the more options you have available to you. As I said above, focusing and narrowing down what area of design you want to start in, is important as it will help you initially learn enough to get a job. However, over time you will find that your interests change and that you want to try out different types of design or even different ways of working and see whether you like them or not. There isn’t really an end to being a self-taught designer.
I am 15 years into my design career and I am still learning daily. In fact, I never see a point where I would stop learning!
Design Programs and Tools
As a self-taught designer, you will need to learn industry-standard software to compete with other designers. Adobe offers a program for all most every type of design. There are free alternatives to Adobe programs, but honestly, it’s worth getting the Adobe package as that is industry-standard software. If you went for an interview and didn’t know the appropriate Adobe program for the design job you were going for then I doubt you would get the job. Many beginner designers dislike the fact that they have to pay to get the Adobe Software, but here’s what I do to make it free! If you are freelance then you can add the cost of your monthly subscription to Adobe to the price of a design job. That way your clients are paying for your subscription. Or if you are working full-time then you can request that the business pays for it as a business expense. You can visit Adobe here to find the latest deals on their design packages.
A basic rundown of a few of the most popular programs is here:
Illustrator: Vector-based for print design, but can also be used for digital images
Photoshop: Digital design, social media graphics, Images for websites, newsletters, etc
Indesign: Print-based layout for creating magazines, books, etc
XD: Creating vector-based UI designs for mobile apps and website design
After Effects: Create slick motion graphics to be used digitally across the web
Once you know what area of the design industry you want to go into then you can choose the appropriate design program to learn. If you wanted to make the next social media app then learning Adobe XD would be a good way forward.
Design fundamentals
Every design follows a few fundamental design principles and you can see them whether you are looking at Computer Game UI or the latest Vogue magazine cover. No matter what area of design you wish to specialize in, it’s important that you understand these basic building blocks of design. It could be that you actually already know them, you just haven’t thought to put a name to it.
Alignment: to make sure that elements are aligned consistently. If something is out of alignment by a few pixels it will through the design off, use guides and the Align tool to help with this.
Repetition: Having elements repeat or mirror each other can create a pleasing composition
Contrast: The most obvious is the use of color to create contrast between headings and body copy but there are others to learn also
Hierarchy: Where do you want the viewer to look? Or where do you want them to click? Hierarchy helps solve this problem
Balance: Having a feel for the weight of an element, that if you have a large image on the left, balancing it out with a paragraph of copy on the right
Daily Practice
Becoming a self-taught Graphic Designer takes time and dedication. This is even more true when you are a self-taught designer. There’s no one telling you to hand in a piece of coursework or setting your deadlines. It’s all self-initiated and as such requires a daily and weekly schedule to help define what needs to happen to achieve your goals. If you find yourself in a lucky position of not needing to work whilst learning Graphic Design then you can probably go from zero to Pro in about 6-8months. This is with some dedicated practice and being really defined in what it is you want to do. If you are currently working then it may take longer, but actually, I find that it helps to keep that motivation strong. Waking up earlier to work on a design because you want to further your career into a more creative direction is a powerful motivator. For me personally, I try to wake up at 6 am and begin my side project until 9 am when real work starts. Having this time set aside means that I get a few hours to play and create with few distractions. Obviously, your life will be different from mine, so just try your best to carve out at least an hour and a half each day for your practice. Chipping away until you learn the design skillset you need to get a job.
Recreate designs, remix designs
A great way to learn Graphic Design is to download other designers’ files and see how they put them together. Or go to websites such as Dribble, Behance, or Are.na to name a few, and take a look through the designs on there. You can then bring a design into Photoshop for example and try to re-create it as closely as you can. In this way, you can help improve your technical skills by re-building existing designs. It can be a great way to practice, however, you wouldn’t be able to use these re-created designs within your portfolio as they still belong to someone else as you didn’t actually design them, only copied them. So as a learning exercise this can be hugely beneficial, but don’t use it as a way to build your portfolio!
Join Communities
Being a part of a community is a great way to know that even though you may be at the start of your journey as a self-taught designer, you are not alone. There’s a whole internet full of communities to find and interact with. There are YouTube channels with Graphic Designers who share their experiences of the Design Industry – such as my YouTube channel for instance! Adobe Live creates some great content aimed at beginners where you can ask questions to an expert who creates a design onscreen in real-time. This can be hugely beneficial as getting almost one-on-one time with a professional designer is a little rare if you are just starting out. So take advantage of these Live streams and ask questions. You can even show your design work to them and join in with the community discussions. Twitch in the Art category can be a good place to interact with Live streams but it can be hard to find professional designers on there. but when you do it’s an excellent community to be a part of.
Build your first portfolio
It’s good to keep in mind the reason you are learning Graphic Design. It’s not about creating cool images to impress your friends, it’s to create a portfolio that can get you paid work. Going from a self-taught designer to a freelancer or full-time in-house designer is the end goal of many hobbyists. To start with you will need to learn the basics of Graphic Design and the programs you need to use to bring your ideas to life. But once you have a handle on these you should start putting together a professional portfolio. Look at the design output from companies you like. What types of message do they put out and what visuals do they use? Set yourself some design briefs to help structure your portfolio projects.
Become an Intern
A great way to get your foot in the door of a company is to become a Graphic Design Intern. If you want to find out more about this I have a full article of exactly how to become an intern and what to expect. Take a read of How to Become an Intern here.
Go from self-taught to employed
This is probably a tip you won’t find elsewhere. But this has got me more jobs than many others! So let’s say you are a freelancer or an intern, and you want to know if there’s a job coming up in the company you are placed at. Well if you befriend the person in the Human Resources (HR) then you will be the first to know about any jobs and you have someone on your side to get it! Another tip is to work fast – if you deliver quality work and beat those deadlines you will be held in high regard and become the Go-To designer. I have an article on How to Design Faster, it’s full of tips to speed up your design!
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