Hello and welcome to this beginner's guide series to graphic design.
From what graphic design is, skills to be a graphic designer, design theory, education you need,
equipment you need to the graphic design portfolio and interview advice.
This series is for anyone at any level.
So if you're interested in graphic design and considering becoming a graphic designer
join me as I discuss a series of graphic design topics.
So you're thinking about getting into graphic design and
you're wondering how to begin. In this video I'm going to discuss and suggest a
few things you can do to help you get started. To get started I would suggest
you undertake six key steps and I would recommend you do them in the following order.
Step one: Learn research, Step two: Collect, Step three: Be inspired,
Step four: Practice, Step five: Seek education
and Step six: Apply your skills.
Now these steps can be taken at any stage in your life if young
still in school and looking to get into graphic design you can follow these steps.
If you're older perhaps you're thinking of a career change
you can also follow these steps. In this video I'm going to talk about
Step one: Learn and research. To begin I would recommend you spend some time learning
and researching. At this point I would recommend you not only look to learn
aspects of graphic design but also seek to learn aspects of other art
disciplines. I would encourage this because graphic design can often
incorporate many aspects of creativity. As well as looking at graphic design
look at photography, look at advertising, look at fashion, look at interior design,
look at architecture, look at illustration, look at contemporary art, look at fine art,
look at sculpture and so on.
Learn how artists see the world and express themselves through their craft.
See how photographers capture the world and compose their images. Look at how
fashion designers use texture and patterns on the human form.
Look at how an illustrator tells a story in a graphic novel.
Look at how an architect shapes and construct a building. Look at how an advert sells
something with a single image, a headline a metaphor or an idea. Start look and
be inquisitive about everything and ask yourself: How does it make you feel?
What does it make you think? What does the artist or designer want you to think or feel?
and how do they do it? Look all around you. Look at magazines, observed
photography and layout, look at posters, look at leaflets and flyers, look at branding
and how a theme carries itself over various mediums such as print and digital.
Look at websites, see graphic design working in a practical everyday
sense and look at how graphic design is used in an artistic sense.
Observe what has already been done and what works and try and take it all in.
Be open minded to everything. Seek to ask the question why. Always ask yourself why.
Next I would encourage you start to learn about more specific aspects of
graphic design. Learn about typography, understand the anatomy of type the
terminology of type. Familiarize yourself with type classifications. Start to study
and questioned typography in the things you see, magazines, logos, books, business cards.
Look at how it's being presented. Look at the typeface or typefaces that
have been used and how they have been used together. Look at colour look at
composition and ask yourself why those choices were made. Next research some
well known and successful graphic designers. Look at the work that made
them famous and understand why the work was successful.
Next go online and look at a variety of graphic design agencies. See the work
they showcase to understand the type of work they do and what is out there today.
So by spending some time to learn and research, this process will give you a
good understanding of what has been done in the past and what is happening now.
This should help clarify your ambitions and hopefully help you focus on the type
of work you may want to do going forward. So this is the first step on how to
begin as a graphic designer.
Well I hope you enjoyed this video If you did hit the like button on my facebook page.
and you can also follow me on twitter at TastyTuts.
So in the next video I am going to talk about the next step, step two and talk about
how collecting your inspiration can help you begin as a graphic designer.
So see you in the next video!