Describe your job in three words. What are they?
If you’re not choosing words like, exciting, fulfilling and lucrative, you need a career reset. Perhaps you’re stuck in a dead-end job, or maybe you’re current career is too boring for your creative mind.
Whatever you’re dealing with, starting a new life as a graphic designer could be the perfect solution. Coming in just above the average national annual salary, graphic designers can make $55,000 a year, or more.
Are you ready to love your job? Read on to learn how to become a graphic designer.
How To Become A Graphic Designer
As you get ready to learn how to become a graphic designer, you’ll want to make sure you fully understand what the job entails. Being a graphic designer means being a master in communication. You have to have the ability to listen to what a client wants and make their vision come to life.
You could be responsible for creating a new brand or logo for a company or finding a unique color scheme that will set one company apart from the rest. Most of the work you’ll do as a graphic designer will be work you do on a computer.
You might also be using multimedia platforms and incorporating motion graphics. Certain projects you’ll have to make available for viewing on a wide variety of platforms.
To be the best graphic designer you’ll need a specialized area of study, in addition to the basic skills. For example, you could specialize in creating logos or you could make web design your area of focus.
Start Building Skills
You’re probably looking at getting into graphic design because you have a talent for knowing what looks good. However, graphic design is about a lot more than making things look great.
You also have to have a solid foundation of tech-savvy skills and the ability to navigate multiple different software. The sooner you start familiarizing yourself with all of the different platforms, the better off you’ll be.
It’s never too early to begin building your graphic design skills. If you’re still in high school, you’ll want to take classes that focus on website design and graphic arts. Art history classes, and drawing classes, will also be useful for your graphic design career.
If you’re no longer in high school, there are still plenty of opportunities for you to begin building your graphic design skills. Go to your local library and find out about any free courses that they offer online for graphic design. Finally, you can also learn by searching online for resources like https://setapp.com/how-to/best-font-manager-for-mac, to learn from.
Next, find a way to put your skills to use. You could start producing a local newspaper for your town, or if you’re in high school work on the school yearbook.
Grab Your Graphic Degree
The world of graphic design is a competitive one. Even if you have an incredible portfolio that showcases your working skills, many employers will still want to know that you have a degree.
You can start in the industry, by earning an associate’s degree or certificate, in graphic design. However, you’ll want your long-term goal to be to get a bachelor’s degree in graphic design.
Once you have a bachelor’s degree, you’ll be able to set yourself apart from a lot of your competition. It’s common for employers to want you to have a degree, just because they want to see how serious you are about the field of graphic design.
Pre-Degree Opportunities
When you’re working on a degree, you can still apply to internships and jobs. If you know you have the skill level to start working as a graphic designer now, start applying to these opportunities right away.
When you go to your interview, let the employers know about your long-term goals to get a bachelor’s degree in graphic design. Also, tell interviewers about any classes you’re currently taking. You’ll find that certain employers will see your pursuit of the degree as a sign that you’re serious about the industry.
Eye-Catching Portfolio
Regular jobs require resumes, but graphic design jobs require amazing portfolios. You’ll still need a resume to apply to graphic designing jobs, but without a portfolio, you’ll be wasting your time. The only way potential employers can get an idea of what you’re bringing to the table, is by looking through examples of the work you’ve done.
Here’s a shortlist of the items your portfolio can include:
- Website graphics
- Animation demo
- Commercial real
- Online advertisements
- Website graphics
Once you create your portfolio, you’ll want to create a digital version. You can either use a USB flash drive, CD, or DVD, to create a digital version of your portfolio.
Anytime you go to an interview, make sure you bring your up-to-date portfolio with you. To make things even easier, you could start a website that showcases all of your work.
Be In The Know
If you’re getting back into graphic design, or your brand new to the field, you have to make sure you’re up to date with all of the current practices. Commercial and artistic trends are constantly changing in the industry.
It’s your responsibility to know how to provide clients with the most up-to-date computer graphics. You also have to know how to use the latest design software programs. Finally, if you find that you’re having too much difficulty getting up to speed, you might need to go back to school.
Graphic designers can always advance their skills and increase their knowledge of the field by getting a graduate degree. There are also certificate programs that can serve as a great refresher course.
Make Your Mark
Now you know how to become a graphic designer. When you build your skills and create a portfolio, you’ll have more job opportunities than you ever thought possible.
The world always needs innovative people to share their artistic talents. For more ways to turn your creative skills into a paycheck, check out the rest of this site.