How to practice and improve your graphic design skills
While doing an online graphic design course it’s very important to practice the design concepts on your own. The practice is not only important for freshers or graphic design student but also for expert and experienced graphic designer.
Practicing graphic design skills is essential to create and produce a unique, attractive, and marketable design. And it will also help you to increase your values and demand for your skill and you will get a high paying project for jobs as well.
There are various ways that you can use to practice and improve your graphic design skills. And I am sharing with you all of those that I used and practiced:
Graphic design skills are not only about the knowledge of tools such as adobe illustrator, adobe photoshop, CorelDRAW, Adobe InDesign, and many others but it’s about how you think creatively and freshly about things. For example, you’re using a document editor such as Microsoft Word to create a simple printable application form. Now in this form, you’re using well-matched fonts, sizes, shapes, color, and text automatically but not intentionally. It means you like to do things beautifully or like to do things that make anything beautiful and amazing. It’s a practice and it will naturally inbuilt in you after practicing and working in the graphic design field.
So, let’s explore the ways you can use to practice and improve your graphic design creatively and productively.
1. Practice on already popular designs:
Practice on the existing design of other companies and people is the most important and best practice to improve your graphic design skills.
For example:
If you want to practice and improve your logo design skills then learn to create the 40 to 50 logos of popular companies such as Pepsi, Coca-Cola, disnep+hotstar, Toyota, Nissan, BMW, Dell, Asus, and many other top brands.
When creating these logos, you will learn the simplicity, uniqueness, and composition of creativity and skills.
This practice will help you to understand how logos are designed. You will become skilled in selecting colors, shapes, and fonts.
Now use this technique (Practice and create designs on your own from already existed top quality designs and brands) things such as banner design, button designs, App Design, Web Design, Brochure Design, and Business Cards.
2. Practice inspiring and beautiful designs:
Whenever you see something inspiring and beautiful design while working or surfing the web then try to create that design on your own. For example, you got a banner advertisement in your mailbox from a bank. Now the design of that banner is so beautiful and very clear. Now think and create that same design on your own in Photoshop, Corel draw, or whatever graphic design tool that you’re using.
3. Use the concept of Before and After Design:
Search on Google “graphic design before and after” and you will see what I am talking about. It is the most essential practice that you can do to improve your graphic design skills.
Why this is important?
In 1st point, you practiced already existed design.
At this point, you create another design or visual or different design from existed design.
For example, you see an advertisement on social media. And you get inspired by the design. Now think, can you create another design of this advertising content. Yes, you will.
But now you have to use the same text(content) but in different designs (colors, backgrounds, shapes, fonts, direction).
Once you have created the new design. Then add both designs in a single page and showcase “Before and After).
This practice is also used to show sample work to clients. It will also help you while you start working as a freelance graphic designer to showcase your expertise and skills.
But you don’t have to publish this on the web. It’s just for your expertise.
4. Create designs for social occasions, cause, and events:
Graphic design is another way of communication. In this way, you can create a design for various social events with your own creativity and imagination. Pinterest is full of such type of images from brands and individuals.
But you have to create it on your own and then you can share that on your own website or social media for feedback and reviews.
For example, you can create Merry Christmas wallpapers, quotes design, Christmas trees in adobe photoshop, adobe illustrator, Corel draw, and affinity designer.
It will give your friends and relatives a very personalized feel. Not only that it will also help you to judge your design based on audience response. Similarly, you can create happy Diwali wallpaper, new year designs on your own.
This practice not only improves your graphic design skills but also inspire your kids and near and dear ones.
5. See and Understand various graphic design projects on freelance websites:
This is one of the professional graphic design practices that you can do. In this practice, you have to see various types of graphic design jobs and tasks on the web or freelance website. And then you have to create and practice those things.
It’s also very important for those people who want to build a career as a freelance graphic designer. And also for students learning graphic design skills.
It’s because if you practice on these graphic design projects then it will build professional graphic design skills in you. It’s because these are designs and tasks that are actually used in the market.
So when next time you work on any project it will help you use that skill in the current design.
6. Watch Video Tutorials or join online courses:
You need to understand a few tools and tricks that you can use in your graphic design projects and jobs. Each graphic design teacher or trainer has some kind of unique talent and skill. When you learn from such a teacher while watching their tutorials, you will learn and identify that skill. And then this skill will be built in you. And you grow it by practicing and using it.
There are so many graphic design tools these days that you can use. But each tool also has some unique method of doing the same thing. You always have to remember that graphic design is not about mastery in tools. It’s also about what to use and when.
So, watching graphics design video tutorials on YouTube or doing online courses will give you more knowledge.
7. Take full interest the in graphic design class or JOB or Project:
Focus and interest in the subject or task are very important to enhance creativity. If you’re not feeling interested and focused on the job and subject then it will become tough for you to practice or complete the task successfully.
So, each new project or task is also a practice. But this practice is related to goals. And that goal can be to create a high-quality logo, banner, UI, or App design and software design.
So always make yourself composed and guide yourself to feel good and interested in the graphics design related works and events.
Learn more:
How to Start your own Graphic Design Business Successfully
How to become a graphic designer with no experience
Strategies to practice:
- Set 1 to 2 hours daily for practicing and learning. It will help you build discipline. And discipline is the most important thing to learn any type of computer or non-technical skills fast.
- You can also use practice and improve your skills before bidding for a new project or before working on any new project. It will sharpen your tools or creativity that will help you to complete your next graphic design project or task successfully and effectively.
- Practice after completing the project. Yes, it’s very important. When you complete any graphic design job or task, you feel comfortable and relax. But you keep yourself in relax mode for 2-3 days then it will also make you lazy. It’s because you have done the last project successfully. But that’s ok at some point.
- But if your goal is to become the successful and most productive graphic design in this generation then you have to think differently and more productively. That’s why I think it’s very important to practice or learn new things after completing a project.
So, friends, I hope the above guidelines and tips will help you to practice and improve your graphic design skills. If you liked this article, then please share this with your friends and network. If you want to learn more then let me know.
