We have to try to be better professionals every day, especially when we are starting in the professional world, we do not know very well where to go, what to do exactly or what line to follow to achieve our objectives. That's why I've decided to share with you this selection of free tips and resources so that you can begin your hard design journey.
Pay attention!
Work, work and ... keep working
Maintaining fluidity and activity in our work is essential to perfect our technique. As is logical and natural, a novice or beginner in the world of graphic design does not have a large number of projects to tackle. Companies and clients will be interested in our work when we have a certain background, experience, technique and knowledge to contribute. For this reason, if you are starting to develop in this profession, you have no choice but to work on your own projects. This does not mean that you don't have to follow rules, or that you can do whatever you want. This means that you are in your period of experimentation and contact, you should try to get as close as possible to the work of the most experienced designers. Create dummy brands, dummy projects, and roadmaps. In your first attempt you will lack organization, planning and you will surely skip many steps but this is also extremely important. What it is about is that you build your own work structure, methodology and follow a system based on objectives. Remember that if you don't make mistakes, you won't advance. Your first crappy, amateurish design is just as important as the design you make when you're working at an ad agency to design the next billboard. Without this first milestone (forgive me the expression, but the majority of first designs are milestones), you will not be able to start your career and know those errors in which you should not fall. Therefore, slowly and with good handwriting!
Criticize your work and always compare with the most professional
Once you are sitting in front of that first milestone, observing it and discovering details that in a first impression had gone unnoticed, you will develop your critical capacity. This is a very important ingredient. Maintaining a moderately high level of demand will help us to improve ourselves. Try to give 200% of yourself in each composition and over time you will see how little by little that milestone becomes an exquisite canvas. Of course, remember that in order to develop your critical and comparative capacity, you must have several references in your mind map. You will never be able to advance without taking a look or minimally analyzing the good designs, the great works of art (painting, photography and even sculpture, why not). We have talked many times already about improving our visual criteria and this is done through culture. It takes by habit to visit museums, web pages of big brands, fashion magazines, advertising catalogs. Everything and everything will be of great use to you and will give you good bases to start growing.
Get rich daily with all kinds of resources
In addition to analyzing other works and soaking up the best artists, you must cultivate the more technical side of graphic design. Read books, watch documentaries, follow magazines, blogs (like this: P) and do not forget to consult manuals of design applications.
Here is a series of articles that can be very useful for you to apply this point.
Several creative writing that can be very useful to develop your potential. In this post You will find a selection that will help you build the first foundations (although there are also some more advanced ones). I also recommend this other book on digital photography (if you are interested in developing the facet of photography).
As for the manuals You can get all the manuals in Spanish of the applications most used by designers such as:
As for the documentariesHere are some of them that do not have any waste:
Compilation of documentaries for graphic designers and professionals from the world of image, here you will find the second part of this compilation.
Documentary about next-generation cameras (Invisible Universe).
You can also take a look at these digital magazines and blogs about graphic design To keep up to date with what is happening in the world constantly, you can even create your own graphic design blog or a small corner on the Internet where you share information about the world, your projects, your tricks and what you are learning with each experience.
Socialize with your kind
It would be very interesting if either in class (if you are studying), at work or in your environment, you get a group of people who have the same concerns as you, who criticize you as a professional as much as possible (although it seems that not this It helps us a lot to see things from other perspectives and to evolve), that they share their work with you and with whom you can share resources and tricks of the trade.
Of course, once you have achieved a good level and moderately acceptable capabilities, it is time to start designing yourself. Since then you will be the product that other companies want to include in their templatesAlthough it sounds cold, it is like that. You have to sell yourself better than anyone. That means portfolio, resume, website and if you hurry me video resume. Here is an article that can be great for you to get the most out of your portfolio.
Has it been useful to you? Get creative! ;)
Staying up to date is important! Thank you very much for the ideas and yes, reading is always inspiring!
;)