Design Fine, Every time! – Using Simple Tips & Tricks

Graphic design is one of the strongest pillars of the marketing industry.  Design is art – which is why one can’t be subjective with the approach. If you’re into graphic design, terms like Photoshop or Illustrator must’ve been a part and parcel of your daily routine.

Enhancing your graphic design skill set doesn’t mean you’ll have to take up a particular course for it. If you’re hellbent on cementing your foundation, go through the below-mentioned tips and techniques –

• Make a Customised Catalogue

Once you’ve set your mind to learning design, begin developing a catalog of work that you admire or love the most. From bookmarking images in your web browser, creating a Pinterest board, or saving items to a folder on your laptop – just keep collecting! The catalogue will motivate and encourage you to distinguish trends in design and you’ll be able to perceive patterns in design better. This simple exercise will also aid you in comprehending your own personal sense of preferences and interests.

Consistently take references with leading designer portfolio sites such as Behance and Dribble. These forums display a plethora of premium-quality work from top designers throughout the range from freelancers, and UX designers, to graphic designers and typographers. The designers available on these sites frequently offer insight into their design processes, that will benefit you in initiating your own creations.

• Analyze the process in detail

Analyzing and evaluating the process behind a design will enable you to comprehend the steps needed to create a piece of work. Based on your present skill level, you may have an added advantage in identifying the tools to be employed, or which aspect was made initially. Make sure that your creative juices are flowing well!

Upon determining loopholes in that context, you’ll have a better idea of what techniques or concepts you need to explore to narrow the gap.

Download free vectors or PSD design resources, and dissect each layer to understand how the designer engineered the object. Upon selecting your file, open it in Photoshop, then go to the Layers Panel and un-collapse some of the folders, so that you can see the layers included within them.

Just by altering the visibility of the layers, you can start to see how the designer utilized each shape to build upon one another.

• Be particular about your online search queries

Once you’re comfortable with making your own designs, you’ll be bound to hit a minor roadblock. This usually happens with most artists. So, when it happens to you, it’s better to clear off your head and not let the block affect you. The crucial part is to be very precise with your searches, so you can get an extremely relevant tutorial in return. For example, if you search for “how to create an icon” you might get really broad search results. Rather than that, type in exact requirements of what you want to learn, such as, “how to create an embossed icon with no shadow.”

You can also explore a design terminology glossary to get to know the specific terms for techniques that you’re interested in learning. That can aid you in finding what you’re searching for online much more easily, furthermore, it’ll make you more familiar and well-versed with the language.

• Practice your favorites often

To be clear and precise, it is essential as a designer to never steal any other’s copyrighted piece of work.

However, you can re-create a design of your choice, without advertising it as your own piece. This will help you develop an increased awareness of design techniques. As with reviewing a design in detail, it’ll aid you in learning new technical skills which will be useful when you’re producing your own designs.

So, channel your creative senses and with the kind of technique you’ll incorporate to recreate the design. This is simple so this exercise will utilize both the left and right sides of your brain. Also, it’s completely fine if you don’t duplicate the design as it is – remember the essential part is the process rather than the result.

Therefore, it’s best to start with a design piece that is highly famous and successful – and try creating it with your preferred mode of software be it Photoshop, Illustrator, or any other.

Design is a redundant process, so can continually work on them to enhance and refine accordingly. We’ll update you regarding more graphic design essential techniques in our upcoming blog. Happy reading!