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Graphic design course skills to improve upon over the weekend

Graphic design is all about communicating concepts visually. It’s an integral part of advertising and marketing your brand.

It utilizes typography, photography, and illustration to convey both tangible and abstract ideas.

Since this is an extensive field that is useful in all industries, it’s a viable career choice for those who are artistically inclined.

Here are the basic skills you must equip yourself with to pursue a job as a graphic designer:

  1. Understand the Fundamental Principles of Graphic Design

While some people naturally have the instinct for producing beautiful imagery, there’s still a need to know the fundamental principles of how shapes, pictures, color theory, typography, and layout work together to produce exciting works of art.

You can improve upon those skills by taking a course (HubSpot Academy offers a free graphic design course) that teaches you how to create compelling visuals that can engage your target audience.

These basic principles can help you create better graphics:

  • Alignment – Alignment pertains to how various elements in an image are lined up. Understanding this principle allows you to create a sharp, ordered appearance in your designs.

  • Hierarchy – This principle refers to the practice of emphasizing the most prominent part of the design by giving it extra weight visually. You can do this through larger or bolder fonts, placing it higher in the page, or taking advantage of shapes to draw the viewer’s eye to a focal point.

  • Contrast – It’s another essential factor in design since it also enables you to emphasize significant elements in your design. It entails setting a particular point apart from the background through the use of opposing typefaces or colors.

  • Repetition – Repetition ties the entire design together. It’s the practice of creating a consistent look by taking an element then using it again and again throughout a space.

  • Balance – It provides form and stability to your design by evenly distributing the elements, resulting in a visually pleasing image.

  • Colors – As a crucial element of design, colors play a significant role in dictating the mood of an image.

  • Each color evokes a particular emotion while a mixture of two or more hues produces a new feeling entirely.

  1. Master Graphics Editing Software

After learning the principles of how to create appealing designs, you must become proficient in using graphics editing software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, among others.

You have to be able to translate the design you have in mind into reality if you want this to be your career.

A brief look at each program:

  • Adobe Photoshop – It was initially created as a raster graphics editor but has been used for various forms of digital art. You can edit or compose images with its layering features and alpha compositing.

  • Adobe Illustrator – This software is a vector graphics editor mainly used for typesetting and logo designs.

  • Adobe InDesign – Adobe InDesign is another typesetting software that’s used to produce posters, flyers, magazines, newspapers, and ebooks.

  1. Try Your Hand at UI Design

UI or user interface design is the art of laying out an application or software’s appearance or style with the intent of making it easy and pleasing to use.

The primary objective of designers in this field is to create a design that’s efficient for consumers.

An excellent UI design makes users feel that they aren’t interacting with a machine and, instead, have them focus on their goal while using the app or program.

Some guidelines for making remarkable UIs:

  • Prioritize Predictability – Elements such as icons, colors, and even gestures should follow the standard or common functions such as having a red button to end a call or a cogwheel icon for the settings.

  • Keep It Simple – As mentioned above, UI designers must give the illusion of invisibility to the device.

  • Sticking to a minimalist interface eliminates clutter and enhances this impression.

  • Lessen the number of actions that users have to make to perform tasks; as much as possible, offer only one function per page.

  • Highlight Hierarchy and Readability – Draw users’ attention to significant features by placing them in focal points of the page. Readability also reduces the chances of misinterpretation and confusion regarding the message you include in the app.

Conclusion

These are just basic skills that you can learn over the weekend quickly. You can find lots of graphic design courses on the topics mentioned above and start gaining the knowledge you need to pursue a career in this industry.

As with every profession, you must commit to improving your ability to keep up with the demands of the modern consumer.

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