5 ways to improve your graphic design skills
Improve your graphic design skills to ensure the best variety of work.
Improving your graphic design skills should be a constant goal. As in any profession, it's always possible to improve, but also the technology, techniques and approaches are changing all the time, and it's important to keep on top of development to avoid being left behind.
As a graphic designer, it's quite easy to stagnate, especially if you become known for a particular style or niche that you really excel at. Very quickly you can develop an identifiable style, and your portfolio starts to look somewhat all the same. There are things to be said for that if it's a style that customers are looking for, but trends tend to come and go and the danger is that at some point demand for that style will dry up and you'll be left with a portfolio that fails to show a wide enough variety of work to win other clients.
So how can break out of the mould and improve your graphic design skills? Here are six practical, achievable ways to continually improve your graphic design skills.
01. Study design theory
If you've got this far, then you already know that graphic design skills involve a lot more than simply putting elements together and seeing what looks nice. All the same, it can always be useful to go back to the theory – and they're almost always more to learn. Graphic design is a profession, and while there is plenty you can learn by doing, and lots of opportunities to enter the industry without having a degree, a proper, deep understanding of the fundamentals is the first step to improving graphic design skills.
02. Get the most from feedback
Feedback is essential for a graphic designer, and yet dealing with criticism is also one of the most emotionally draining parts of the job. It can be all too easy to cast feedback aside and to assume at the client doesn't know what they're talking about (which can certainly be the case, but remember that they're the customer). How you deal with feedback is a skill that's just as important – perhaps even more important than you're actual design skills. It can make a difference to how long projects take, and to whether a customer comes back to you.
Listening to feedback can really improve your graphic design skills, especially when it's negative, or shall we say constructive criticism. It can make you more sensitive to smaller details that you might initially have overlooked and improve your ability to see things from different viewpoints and interpretations. This doesn't only apply to feedback from clients. Feedback from colleagues or even the larger community via social media or platforms like Dribbble and Behance can help you open up to different perspectives.
One key to getting the most useful feedback is to consider how you ask for it. Instead of asking a colleague 'What do you think?’ (probably answer: ‘It’s great’), ask specific questions, for example, 'This is the brief, do you think I’ve fulfilled it?' or 'Which part of the design did your eye focus on first?' That way people will be able to critique your work in a constructive way, without coming off like a boorish troll.
It can also be useful for you to give your own feedback on other designers’ work too. This can help you to empathise and improve the way you critique work in order to then apply that to your own projects.
03. Start a side project
If you're designing the same kind of pieces over and over again in your nine-to-five job, that can quickly lead to your graphic design skills becoming stale, not to mention the impact on your own enthusiasm and passion for the discipline. One way to keep up your drive to learn new things is by starting your own side project.
Learning a new design skill is always far easier if you need it to create a specific thing, particularly if that’s something personal to you. So a personal project can lead you to learn new skills you’d never even thought of, without needing the kind of self-discipline associated with formal study.
04. Experiment
There's a popular saying in the world of web startups: fail fast. In other words. it’s only by trying out lots of experimental design ideas and putting them into practice that you find out what works best and what you’re good at. It’s an approach that graphic designers can learn from when it comes to experimenting with new media, skills and techniques in order to avoid getting stuck in a rut.
Rather than always using the same fonts, colours, layouts or software for every design you tackle, mix things up a bit and try something new. Throw in a crazy new typeface. Try 3D rather than 2D. Sketch with a ballpoint pen or charcoal rather than a pencil. Break a rule and see what happens. Ask yourself: how would this design have been approached in a bygone age? Use illustration not photography. Double the amount of whitespace. In short, throw convention up in the air and see what lands.
Most of the time, what lands will be an unusable mess. But just occasionally, you’ll hit gold. And even if you don’t, the very process of experimenting will help free up your mind, to better see which of your creative skills need improving, and why.
Logo for Bargate Homes, Bishops Meadow
05. Talk to other designers
One of the best ways to develop as a designer is to interact with a lot of other designers. But sometimes that can be difficult. You might be the only designer in a big company, a freelancer who works from home alone, or perhaps you’re employed by a two- or three-person studio.
But really, these are all just excuses. There are many easy ways to get out there and chat with other creatives.
Go to meetups, events and conferences. Hit people up on social media. Check out forums. Make friends. Talk design. Discuss problems, challenges, questions. Collaborate on a project. Email a designer you admire. Ask them to be your mentor. Appear on their podcast, or start your own so you can interview your heroes.
In short, force yourself to just get out there. You’ll meet some fascinating people, and learn more than you could possibly imagine.