Understanding Graphic Design Course Basics.

– What is Graphic Design

We all know that graphic design course has been trending for a few years now.

But what exactly is graphic design? And can just about anyone pursue a career in it? Let’s figure it out.

Graphic design is a structured form of design that helps a user achieve a particular goal through visual communication techniques.

There are three responses to a piece of design — yes, no, and WOW! Wow is the one to aim for.
Milton Glaser

– Why become a graphic designer

If you are a creative and organized individual, a career in graphic design might be ideal as it requires imagination and organizational skills. A graphic designer’s life is full of everyday challenges about how to express a creative brief through design.

You can choose between working full-time with a company or freelancing, which gives you the flexibility to choose your clients and your working hours (albeit only sometimes!). And once you find what works for you, you will eventually be more productive and be able to harvest the benefits of working for yourself.

The demand for graphic designers is also increasing by the day. In fact, the graphic designing field is expected to grow by over 10% in the next 5 years. This is good news for those entering the field. Even though there is a lot of competition, almost every company nowadays needs an in-house design team.

– How to become a graphic designer

You do not need a formal education to become a graphic designer, although you do need to have a solid understanding of the fundamentals of the field.

In creative domains like this, a portfolio holds more value than a degree. You could try doing a part-time diploma or even a certificate course. They give you the benefit of a cohesive learning experience, with all material in one place.

Some graphic design courses include tasks or projects that you can complete to get a practical, first-hand experience of the design field and the different applications involved. A few courses even offer internships or jobs, so you can apply your theoretical know-how directly with a company or client.

– Required Skills

Analytical skills- Graphic designers should be able to perceive their work from the client’s point of view to ensure the desired message is being conveyed.

Computer skills– Most graphic designers use specialized graphic design software like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator or Figma to create their designs.

Creativity- Graphic designers should be able to think of unique ways of communicating their design brief to their consumers.

Time-management- Graphic designers, especially those who are freelancers, often have to work on multiple projects at the same time, each with a different deadline.

-Understand the principles of design

You need to keep an eye out for design details that both improve your work and also impair it. It goes without saying that there are a lot of intricacies in the course of graphic design, but these basic principles should help you get started with creating all kinds of graphics- whether they are logos, app designs, banners, advertisements, or web content.

Contrast– Contrast is an important design principle, as it lets you emphasize the most important aspect of a design. High contrast, whether in terms of colour (black and white), font (traditional and modern), or weight (thick and thin), can help guide the viewer’s eye to the most important part of the design first.

2. Balance– Balance lends stability and structure to a design. This doesn’t mean that all your elements have to be the same size or completely symmetrical, but that your design should be comprehensible to the viewer. Every element that forms your design (text boxes, images, and shapes) has a visual weight of its own, so it’s important to be familiar with them as you create. Now, symmetric balance means that the weight of the elements is evenly distributed on each side, whereas asymmetric balance uses colour, scale and contrast to achieve a flow in design.

3. Alignment– Alignment helps create a pleasing visual structure and flow to your design. It creates a seamless visual connection and gives an orderly appearance to the design elements. Left, right and center are the most common styles of alignment, but you could also align elements with other elements in your design.

4. Hierarchy– Visual hierarchy refers to the weightage being given to different aspects of design. For example, if you want to emphasize a particular heading, you could increase its font size or use a different, bolder style to highlight it. You may also place it higher than other elements in the design, giving it more focus and adding to the visual weight it carries, thus giving it a higher place in the visual hierarchy.

5. Repetition– Repetition is a fundamental design element, especially when it comes to creating cohesive designs, as in the case of branding. Consistency in the use of elements such as brand colours, fonts and illustration styles, help people recognize the brand.

6. Proximity- Proximity helps create organization on a design, grouping together similar or related elements to form a relationship between them. It is used such that bringing together similar elements helps declutter and organize the entire design. Proximity is usually employed in menus, lists and grids.

7. Colour- Colour is one of the most important principles of design, as it is a very obvious visual element. Colours can help you communicate feelings and emotions without the use of a single word, alluding to the adage- a picture is worth a thousand words. Understanding the basics of colour theory helps you use colour to your advantage. For example, yellow is considered a warm colour and is associated with energy and happiness, whereas blue is a colour that tends to make people feel calm and trusting- that is why a majority of logos are blue in colour. Another important use is brand colours. Defining how each colour is used can help create consistency within your work and improve the overall brand image.

8. Space- Aside from the part of the design you are filling in with text and images, there is some empty space wherein no elements have been placed. This white space, otherwise known as negative space, creates shapes and can help highlight the most important parts of your design. Negative space is used extensively in logos.

9. Typography- Typography is a principle of design that deals with arranging a message in a legible and aesthetically-pleasing composition. It is different from calligraphy or lettering in that in typography, we use pre-existing typefaces. Typography helps create visual consistency and harmony in a design, whether it is on a poster or a website.

– How to create a design portfolio

Your portfolio should contain written and visual overviews of projects and significant pieces that you’ve been involved with. It should also include an insight into skills you have, methods you’ve used, and the impact of your work, along with any relevant outcomes and/or lessons you’ve learned.

Here are a few tips that can help you build a graphic design portfolio:

Choose only the best of your creations. You might want to showcase all your work, right from when you started, but that isn’t such a good idea because potential clients or companies really only care about your best work.
If you have worked for any client in the past,or if you have done a professional case study for a brand, be sure to add that to your portfolio as well.
Describe the creative thought process behind your work, so it may be clearer to someone who isn’t a designer.

– Applications of Graphic Design

Graphic design is used in various functions. Some of its applications are:

Complete branding
Packaging (anything from food wrappers to appliances)
Print media (books, magazines, newspapers, flyers and hoardings)
Online art (websites and banners)
Apparel design (t-shirts, tote bags)
Album covers, film and television graphics

– MyCaptain’s Graphic Design Course

MyCaptain offers a course on Graphic Design wherein the learners not only understand the basics of design and work with different tools like Adobe Illustrator, but also practically apply their theoretical know-how and build their first portfolio.

After the 4-week LIVE course, learners can also get internship opportunities in the field.

77 percent of the learners who took up the Graphic Design course have said that it has helped them and they are likely to recommend this course to a friend or colleague.

– Future scope in the field

The employment of graphic designers is projected to grow by 5 percent through the course of 5 years, that is, up to 2026. In fact, the employment of graphic designers particularly in computer systems design and related services is projected to grow 20 percent.

Companies are continuing to increase their digital presence, requiring graphic designers to help create visually appealing and effective layouts of websites.

Graphic designers need to keep up to date with the latest software and computer technologies in order to remain competitive.