Are you talented in the visual arts and thinking about starting your career in the graphic design industry? Most jobs in the graphic design sector require a creative mind and a original approach to problem solution. But to be an outstanding graphic designer you need to be good not only at visualizing and designing information and data but you also need to have good communication and interpersonal skills.
1. Come up with visual solutions for communication problems.
As a designer, you will need to understand your design users’ needs and wants to be able to come up with the best visual solutions and communicate the right ideas or concepts. Understanding your users is key for good design and user research can help you with that.
2. Put together proposals for meeting with clients.
Good designers need to empathize with their employees or clients and understand their role within each business model. Proposing a number of solutions to the same problem is key to letting your client choose the most appropriate approach and continue working on the design in the right direction.
3. Gather information and materials in order to meet the brief’s guidelines.
Every time a designer receives a brief, a research process starts. If you want to start your career in the graphic design industry you will need to be good at doing research, knowing which resources you should use in different situations to find the right info and material. Your design will be based on what you find during this initial step so doing it right will be critical.
4. Use images, text, color, fonts to complete the final product.
A good designer needs to be able to choose the correct design element to communicate the right idea or concept to the its public. Different font shapes and colors transmit different feelings so you will have to become an expert and understand the different design elements inside out to make the right decisions quick enough to meet your client expectations.
5. Review final projects before printing or release.
When the design process is coming to an end, it is very common to rush and forget to review the work before handing it in. Asking for feedback and reviewing your work from different points of view is extremely important. As you have spend many hours working on it your point of view may not be objective enough so ask other people for their opinion or steep back from the design and come back to it with fresh eyes.
6. Meet deadlines and quality standards.
Designers always work with deadlines – and more often than not deadlines are tight. That is why knowing how to work under pressure is an essential skill that every graphic designer should work on. To get more work enquiries from the client, you need to deliver a high quality work within the given time frame.
If you think you would be a brilliant graphic designer, you can find out everything you need to know in this infographic to start your career in the graphic design industry. From the types of roles you can apply to, to some fun and interesting facts about the graphic design sector.