8 Graphic Designer Skills That Are hiding Under Your Bed
The days of getting away with unattractive websites and purely text web contents are over; people are more interested in the visuals on your website nowadays. The demand for graphic designers has been on the increase since the new trend of having great visuals for your content and website started.
Having striking visuals on your website will glue your readers to your website and will also make you achieve your aim of having the website in the first place.
There are some essential skills that every graphic designer should have. This article will tell you about seven of them, so keep on reading.
1. Typography
Typography is a part of a design that is really old (ancient) but yet still important in the modern digital age. People studying art have spent a lot of time doing so, and still, there is something new to learn.
Typography plays a big role in design as people react either negatively or positively to how your font complements your design. This is why designers, in this case, graphic designers must understand the topography. Things like font family, font sizes, tracking, line height, etc. must be well known to a graphic designer in order to be successful.
The ability to make written language not only legible but also visually appealing is “more important today than ever,” says Jankowski. “These days, pretty much anyone can access every kind of font imaginable online, but someone who has been highly trained and understands how fonts are made and utilized is going to be a more effective designer.”
2. Color theory
Color is another important part of the design that graphic designers must have a good understanding of. Judicious and prudent use of color in a design is one of the things that make a great designer. Your readers decide for a split second whether or not to stay on your site or buy your product based on your color decision.
You need to grasp and understand color theory, which involves lightening, shadowing and other effects.
3. Conversion Optimization
Having a balance between wasting too much space and cluttering everything together is crucial to graphic design. As a designer, you need to know how to arrange the different elements on a page so as to guide the readers towards the aim (conversion). If it’s a retail website, for example, the layout needs to be arranged so it’s easy for visitors to purchase from the site.
4. Print Designs
Prints are still very much important for a graphic designer to know even though everything is on the web nowadays. Printing processes, separation of colors, master pages, knowledge of color space, grid layout, and bleeding are things a designer should know.
5. Basic HTML & CSS
These are programming languages, but a graphic designer should have a hang of it so as to be able to manipulate the site they are working on by going through the back-end. Having this skill will also widen your scope of opportunities as a designer.
6. Multimedia Design Software
You might be required to provide more than images sometimes; that is why it is important to be able to operate multimedia design software like Acrobat. Learning to use multimedia design software will help you develop more complex skills that will be essential in accomplishing your projects and provide your clients with multimedia-rich designs.
Knowing how to use Adobe’s creative software—specifically Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop—is a base requirement for many graphic design jobs. In fact, “it’s so integral to being a graphic designer that we’re now seeing students using the software in high school and even middle school,” Jankowski says.
7. Creativity
Well, this part can’t be stressed enough. To be a great graphic designer you have to know how to make original sketches with little ideas given to you by your clients. You have to be able to think wide and come up with visual ideas that would portray the mind of your client. You also need to be good at drawing even though the designs will be on screen. As a graphic designer, you should be able to cope without copying existing images or stock images and create!
These are just some of the skills I feel a graphic designer needs to have. You might share a different view or have wider knowledge. We would love to hear from you as well.
You probably don’t need us to spell it out for you, but let’s drill this home: Creativity is one of, if not the most important skill for graphic designers. After all, it’s hard to come up with new ideas and innovative designs if you don’t know how to tap into your creative resources. Having a visual eye is essential no matter what medium you work in.
