Many of us wish we grasped the basics of graphic design to explore another revenue stream or add a new skill to our toolbox.
What a lot of people don’t realize is that gaining graphic design skills doesn’t require you to have a college degree or a dozen certifications.
You just need to have time, commitment, and knowledge of fundamental design principles, which are learnable via any graphic design course.
This complete guide to beginner’s design will cover the basics in an easily understandable way. You’ll feel like a junior designer in no time!
The Fundamentals of Graphic Design
Graphic design, at its core, is about the visual representation of a brand identity or concept across print design, websites, and other mediums.
Here are the essential design elements every graphic designer should know.
Color
Credit: Helena Lopes
Take a spin on the color wheel and get to know complementary colors, an element of color theory.
These opposite hues enhance your visual design because, despite their disparities, they go well together.
Another element of color common in graphics and web design is color palettes. The colors in any palette should be related, such as monochrome, shades of one color (like blue), or pastels.
Typography
Credit: Canva
Determining the typography is an important part of the design process that determines how readable your creative projects are.
You must choose a legible font in a good size, adjusting the kerning, tracking, and leading as needed. Here’s an explanation of those terms:
- Kerning refers to how much spacing is between certain fonts, such as in a header.
- Tracking is the amount of space between characters, often reserved for capital letters.
- Leading measures the amount of space between text lines.
Imagery
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Design projects require imagery, as this is the crux of graphic design work.
Besides selecting pictures that speak to a project or brand guidelines, you have to place the images nicely on a design layout.
Space
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The amount of space between other elements is what makes graphic designs appealing. Get to know and love white space and negative space, which lets elements breathe by introducing intentional blank space between them.
Texture
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One of the fundamental principles of graphic design is texture, or adding brushes, lines, and other graphical details that take your creative work to the next level.
Shape
Credit: Anna Shvets
Shape refers to graphic design shapes and how you create them, whether through freehand or using tools to make perfect shapes.
Form
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While shape is two-dimensional, form has depth in addition to height and width.
The shape influences the form, which can also be geometric or freehand.
Graphic Design Tips and Best Practices
You’ve got the basic visual elements; it’s time to apply them to new projects with these handy tips.
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Simple Is Always Best
Most beginners want to create something amazing with their first forays into graphic design.
As a result, they often get carried away with color combinations, letter spacing, and other basic principles in an attempt to impress an art director or client.
However, you’ll learn through experience that the best designs are not the most complex ones but the ones that clearly communicate to the viewer.
Avoid going complex initially. Choose one design element to spotlight, then purposefully strip back the other elements so that the main component can shine.
Follow a Visual Hierarchy
Another design element to keep in mind is building a visual hierarchy. It’s a vital concept in designing, especially in product packaging and magazine covers.
Based on visual hierarchy, the most important element should be positioned in an optimal spot to guide the reader’s eye toward it, like a largescale image or headline. Then, the secondary elements get arranged in less important positions.
Visual hierarchy involves all elements of design, including color schemes, typography, and white space.
Use Color Psychology to Your Advantage
Selecting colors shouldn’t only be about which are complementary. You should also incorporate certain hues based on the moods and feelings they represent.
For example, red is a fiery, passionate, energizing color, perfect for the creative director with a new brand that wants to make an impact. Green is a softer, more calming, and healing color, making it an excellent choice for an eco-friendly company.
Selecting colors based on their psychology is a great example of design thinking.
Top Graphic Design Tools to Explore
Credit: Canva Studio
You can’t effectively learn graphic design without the right tools, so here are a few of the best graphic design apps you should begin with as your design journey gets underway.
Adobe Photoshop
Photoshop is a part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, along with another recommended software, Illustrator. It lets you do a lot of advanced graphical work, including retouching, working with layers, and using generative AI to improve your projects.
The only downsides are that Photoshop can be tough to learn for complete beginners, and it can be expensive.
Canva
If the cost of Photoshop is outside of your budget, try Canva. It’s a mostly free tool that will let you dive deep into your own design world as you play around with elements, backgrounds, and text.
Regardless of its simplicity, you can easily create professional projects using Canva.
Here’s an easy Canva beginner’s guide to get you started.
Adobe Illustrator
A great tagalong tool with Photoshop is Illustrator. This layout and mockup tool lets you build and edit your graphics, create your own colors using prompts, edit vector text and font, and change graphic dimensions in a single click.
Figma Design
Many designers prefer Figma because it’s free. You can work in layers like you can in Photoshop, build prototypes, standardize all your design variables, and design vectors.
It’s a great cross between Illustrator and Photoshop but without the hefty fees.
FAQs
How Often Should I Practice Graphic Design?
As often as you can. The more time you spend improving your skills, the closer you can get to entering the job market and creating work in-house.
Which Graphic Design Certifications Should I Consider?
Certifications like Adobe Certified Professional, Google UX Design Professional Certificate, and Adobe Certified Expert are some of the best ones out there.
Is Graphic Design a Crowded Market?
It is indeed. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that graphic design jobs will grow at a rate of three percent between 2022 and 2032. This means more graphic designers are likely to flood the market.
Conclusion
Your portfolio is your ticket to building a viable career.
Having a breadth of work to show off, whether you were compensated for it, did it as part of an internship, or created a graphic in your spare time, will impress potential clients and hopefully lead to a snowball effect where your career launches fruitfully.
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