How To Improve Graphic Design Skills

[jaker52]

Since I started here, I've developed a passion for graphic design and gotten a bit better. (Improvement example below) I realize it could be a decent career choice for myself one day and I was wondering how some more experienced people here got to the point where they could do creative, professional looking work (mostly mean as far as logo design)

here is where I've gotten from last summer until the last week.

[slapshot]

Don't confuse craftiness with graphic design. While you may be able to color between the lines (which in a sense is what most concepts are), there's more to graphic design than knowing how to use Illustrator, Inkscape or Photoshop. Just like knowing how to use a hammer and nail does not make you an architect, knowing how to draw a bezier curve and use the paint bucket tool does not make you a graphic designer. It's not just a "hobby", it's a vocation.

Graphic Design is about the relationships elements have in a design, and being able to unite all of them together to present a cohesive message. It's not just about knowing WHAT looks good; it's understanding WHY they look good.

You should study as much as you can, read up on all the designers whom you admire and wish to emulate. Early 20th century poster design, movie title graphics, book covers album artwork, magazines, etc.

There's a quote in the industry...clients think that they don't need to pay designers because anyone can do what we do, or it must be easy because it may not take long to work up a design. The truth is, when you study and hone your skills, over time you can do in a few days what used to take weeks or months. Like any other skill, practice leads to efficiency, and continual study leads you to be able to back up your work.

[officeglenn]

Practice. Practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice, practice.

Experiment. Push yourself outside of your comfort zone.

Learn. Always keep learning. Never assume you know everything there is to know about design, even if you get a university degree in the field. Things change, and you need to keep up or get left behind.

[pagan696]

good advice from the previous posts.

i also like to deconstruct images. like JP said, find cereal box logos, album art, anything and try to mimic the elements of design to learn techniques of 'how did they do that?', 'what tools or actions were used to get this effect?' there's plenty of books and online tutorials to offer step by step lessons for testing. design is something that is learned over time and experience (even bad experiences) as they offer lessons to build from.

[BrandMooreArt]

really good replies above me here. and to add to it and expand on Slapshot's post, i would say that your knowledge of "why" IS the most important but don't ignore craft either. i dont think thats what Slap was saying, but craftsmanship is a part of being good at design and it will come with time. one of the ways i improved my craft was by remembering how i learned to play guitar. i didn't start out playing original music, i learned other songs note for note and copied them. taking that same approach to design was pulling all the NFL logos and tracing them in Illustrator to learn how to build and cut shapes, and use the pen tool. then, i could apply those skills to my original designs.

it's hard to tell how far you've come with only seeing the 2 concepts. yes the latest one is better overall, but i dont know your decision making process has changed by just seeing the 2. that said, progress is progress and at the very least, your taste has gotten better.

when it comes to improving further, definitely read all you can. books are great and come cheap enough on Amazon. blogs like CreativeBloq and Brand New (Armin's writing, not the comments section) have great opinions. podcast like Design Matters is a good one.

to me design is presentation (design elements), organization (principles of design), and communication (messages). be comfortable with those things and you're well on your way. then, like Olly Moss says "read anything but design books". look outside of your niches and bring something fresh to your work.

[derschwigg]

This is a great thread.

I'm reminded of a story my professor told me before we all graduated - whether or not it's true, I don't know.

Pablo Picasso had a series of very minimalistic prints (Google 'Picasso Dachsund'). He was commissioned to do a similar one of a swan. He was able to complete the job on a pretty tight turn around, but his buyer had immediate "sticker shock." "Why would I pay you this much money for something I could have easily done myself?" The man asked. Picasso closed his eyes and deeply exhaled. Without a word, Picasso opened his eyes and motioned to the man 'follow me, this way.' Picasso approached his art studio door and opened it. To the amazement of the buyer, the studio was filled, wall to wall, with variations and versions of the same swan print. Hundreds of them, pinned to the walls. Picasso looked at his buyer and said "You're not just paying for this piece, you're paying for the time and the years it took me to get good enough to make this piece in a single stroke."

Never stop doing. Never stop designing. Never stop learning. Everyone in the world knows something you don't.

[drdougfresh]

It certainly helps to be naturally curious. I feel like we see plenty "how do I get good at logos" threads -- it's such a hard thing to explain to someone who only looks at it as a finite skill to achieve and be done with (like learning how to perform an oil change or something). I don't think there's ever been a creative that sits back and goes, "Welp, looks like I've finally mastered it. Done learning this craft, on to the next one." So I really hope you (and anyone else asking the same question to themselves) take the great advice in this thread to heart. I honestly wish we had more discussions like this on the boards.

I peruse Behance and Dribbble and am consistently amazed by how other artists solve design problems and challenges. It motivates me to explore their methods if it's something that catches my eye. A perfect example would be the NCFA Yearbooks I've worked on the past two years -- I credit 3 main inspirations for those: Chris Smith (IceHL Yearbooks), GladSadMad (Jersey Swaps), and Chris Modarelli (Player Treatment). All three of them have produced amazing work over the years that I was inspired by, and I found myself consistently coming back to "man, I wish I could do that." So I started experimenting with replicating those same ideas in one publication.

That's where practice comes in. Practice until you are tired of it, and then do it a few more times. I find that each time you run through a logo/project, each iteration improves on the previous by a little bit. Whether it be through simplification, creating more balance, adding something that was missing, etc., going through your work many times is always a good idea. I think in the past two yearbooks we did, I've scrapped the entire layout design a total of 5 times. Did it create a ton more work? Hell yes. But in the end, the design was a lot more sound, and I was more proud of it. The more you do something, the better you get at it. Design is no different.

Remember that we all start somewhere, so don't get discouraged when comparing your work to the work of others. I'll be the first to admit, when I started with logos, they were a disaster. I cringe looking at them now. I got some advice that I didn't like, and I was personally offended by it. Looking back on that now, it was so trivial (and 9erssteve was 100% correct ) -- but that's why you have to keep practicing and improving. If you keep at it and heed the relevant advice given to you, you'd be amazed at how much difference a few years makes. This set of rebounds on Dribbble features quite a few members from here, and it's a testament to the "never stop" credo Jordan mentioned above: https://dribbble.com/shots/886409-Then-Now/rebounds

Lastly, challenge yourself. Safe ideas are all well and good, but you get a lot more out of challenging yourself and the status quo. That's how you learn and grow your skill set. Here's a great tool for that: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Workshop-Challenges-Sharpen-Design/dp/1600617972

[FGWB]

This is a great thread.

I'm reminded of a story my professor told me before we all graduated - whether or not it's true, I don't know.

Pablo Picasso had a series of very minimalistic prints (Google 'Picasso Dachsund'). He was commissioned to do a similar one of a swan. He was able to complete the job on a pretty tight turn around, but his buyer had immediate "sticker shock." "Why would I pay you this much money for something I could have easily done myself?" The man asked. Picasso closed his eyes and deeply exhaled. Without a word, Picasso opened his eyes and motioned to the man 'follow me, this way.' Picasso approached his art studio door and opened it. To the amazement of the buyer, the studio was filled, wall to wall, with variations and versions of the same swan print. Hundreds of them, pinned to the walls. Picasso looked at his buyer and said "You're not just paying for this piece, you're paying for the time and the years it took me to get good enough to make this piece in a single stroke."

Never stop doing. Never stop designing. Never stop learning. Everyone in the world knows something you don't.

I've never heard that story. I'll be sure to keep this in mind. Great post.

[SG30]

I joined these boards as a young kid who just messed around and was good at drawing.

If you look at anything I have posted that I've made, personally I'll look at it and cringe. I've taken so many classes and practiced so much. Drawing is an underrated skill, I think. (But maybe I'm biased ) I have a notebook where I do *something* by hand at night every night. It could be as simple as writing a quote down in an aesthetically pleasing way, but its a way for me at least once per day I focus on creating something meaningful and visual.

I now know that IT IS ALL an opportunity to learn.

And don't be afraid to try things! The worst thing you can do is create something you don't want to share, and you don't have to.

[oddball]

My career started as kid, drawing football helmets and sports logos on the covers of my books and peechees at school. And then when I went to college was about the time computer graphics were starting. I will give you this piece of advice. You can learn Illustrator, Photoshop, etc and know how each of them work. You can learn about color, space, and shape relationships. The one thing you will NEVER be able to learn in school, in a book, on a YouTube tutorial, is dealing with clients. You can be the "greatest skilled" designer in the world, but if you can't relate to or understand what the client wants, it won't matter. The skill set of graphic design is half of the issue, the other half is the human interaction. I don't know how old you are, but one way of learning graphic design, is go out and do flyers, posters for bands and small mom and pop shops.