A career in graphic design can be extremely rewarding for someone who is creative and has great attention to detail. So, if this is something you’re considering and you’re not sure where to start, then you’re in the right place! Graphic design is profitable; you have the opportunity to always work on something different, it’s an accessible industry to get into as the demand is there; and it’s the perfect combination for people who love both technology and art! Take the right steps as you’re starting out and it’ll help to speed up the process of getting started on your fantastic career path in graphic design.
Develop Your Design Skills In Your Own Time
The first, and arguably best, thing you can do to start your career in graphic design is to develop your design skills in your own time. Get yourself access to Adobe Photoshop, AutoCAD, Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer, then there are so many fantastic tutorials all over the internet to help you learn how to use them. They are quite complex platforms so this will take time, however, even if you can set aside half an hour each evening to learn a new skill, it’ll soon add up. We’d recommend that you start by watching beginners’ videos and they’ll teach you the core skills. Later down the line, build upon these.
Be creative and try out lots of different styles of design across the different platforms and you’ll be surprised at how quickly you pick up the skills. While things like work experience and the right qualification can be important if, at the end of the day, you don’t know how to use the core software and you’re trying to enter the industry as a complete beginner, you might struggle, and this is a way to study smarter, not harder!
Complete A Course or Degree
Another important component of starting a career in graphic design is to complete a graphic design course or degree. Whilst these won’t always be essential for a career in graphic design and sometimes a great portfolio is enough, they can help you learn fantastic skills and invaluable knowledge to use throughout your career. You will learn things that you might have never discovered through your own research, so we’d highly recommend a course or degree to get you a few steps ahead.
Universities and colleges, both in person and online, have fantastic graphic design courses all across the country, so you won’t be limited in terms of opportunities.
Gain Work Experience
Something else you can do which is extremely valuable is to get work experience with a design agency Manchester or London and learn from some of the best talent. It can help you gain confidence, build transferable skills, experience a working environment, and build your personal development. One of the big benefits is that you can often explore different career options as you may be able to go into different departments. Some work experience will be paid; however, many will be unpaid, but the value you can get from a good placement is exceptional.
To find work experience, we’d recommend emailing different agencies with a CV and cover letter, and any examples of the designs you’ve been working on when you’re on your own, explaining you’d love to have the opportunity to learn more from them.
Create A Design Portfolio
One of the best things you can do to start your career in graphic design is to create a design portfolio. You should include a variety of different examples of work you’ve done, either in your course or degree, in your own time when you’ve been learning or when you’ve been at work experience, to showcase the different things you’re able to do. Graphic design is of course all visual, so this is your opportunity to show off! It’s important that you show off your personality and what makes you different, as usually people will look for someone with a unique style that will bring something different.
So, make sure that you choose the right platform for your portfolio (Adobe Express is a good one and has some templates) then make sure you’re including examples of your work, a backstory with them, any evidence of where things have been used in publications or on social media, and anything else you feel is relevant. You could also include examples of work from different softwares you’ve used, to show diversity in your skill set. Another great thing to have to support your main formal portfolio is to set up a social media profile and to post your work on there, as well as messaging graphic design accounts and trying to get your work featured, as these are great little references to help reinforce that you deserve an opportunity to start a career in graphic design!
Look For A Mentor
Kickstarting a new career can be difficult as there’s quite a few different stages to go through, so we’d really recommend looking for a mentor. This might be someone who you connect with through LinkedIn or perhaps work experience, to guide you through the process, provide feedback on your work and overall just help to keep you on the right track. Many people will be happy to help the next generation of graphic designers and you can return the favour one day! Just send out some messages explaining your situation if you are going down the LinkedIn route and if you don’t get replies that’s okay, but don’t give up as a mentor could really help you in the initial stages of your career.
Final Thoughts
Graphic design is a fantastic career choice for many people and also one that is accessible to get into when you take the right steps. For most agencies, the most important thing that they’d look out for is for someone to use their own time to learn their style and then create a fantastic portfolio to show off what they can do.