5 Essential Skills for Graphic Designers

Working in the graphic design is the dream job of many creative individuals. In order to become a well-rounded Graphic Designer, there are a variety of skills essential to handling a client's or employee's task efficiently. Below you will find some of the essential skills that a Graphic Designer will need to possess as he/she advances in their career and reaches a new height.

 

In many cases, a designer may have excellent artistic abilities and several years of experience, however, what separates from the rest is the following acquired skills. The following skills will make you a more valuable member of a team, and will also make you much more feasible hire, allowing you to raise your rates in exchange for quality.

 

#1. Creativity

 

First and foremost skill is that graphic designers need creativity. It’s hard to come up with new ideas and innovative designs if you don’t know how to tap into your creative resources. A graphic designer should be articulate about discovering and producing the picture that other people are trying to express with words and desire.

Determining ways to keep your ideas fresh and your mind sharp will help you succeed in a design career. You don’t necessarily need artistic skills to land a job in graphic design, but you will need to have a general understanding of basic artistic elements to help translate that to the computer.

 

#2. Typography

 

One of the more underrated design skills today is typography, however, the fact is typography is one of the core things top advertising firms review in a design portfolio. It marks the difference between a good and excellent designer. Typography requires a solid understanding of font families, appropriate use of line-height, leading, kerning and tracking. The advertising industry is basically about communication and therefore needs clear, readable, well-designed type.

 

Typography can make or break your design. It is essential to understand that fonts go beyond just fun names and interesting scripts; a lot goes into the technical design behind each letter. Understanding how to find the right font -and knowing how to create your own will take you a long way in design success.

 

#3. Software

 

Having artistic skills on paper could help you with a career in graphic design, yet most of the action takes place behind a computer screen. It is crucial to understand how to use the industry standard software in landing your dream graphic design job. A well-known and popular graphic design software comes from Adobe, with an entire creative suite including Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign.

 

#4. Web Design

 

Having a clear understanding of web development is more crucial than ever in an age where online advertising and web presence are critical to every marketing campaign. Graphic Designers are expected to have some basic understanding of HTML and CSS, as well as web design standards.

Much of what you see on a website was designed by someone with graphic design skills, and plenty of designers also hold enough knowledge to work with HTML and CSS. Adding web design to your portfolio will increase your chances of landing a job in best graphic design companies.

 

#5. Communication

 

The ability to communicate is fundamental to everything a designer does.Understanding what a client wants from a design is the key to designing a successful product. It might be tough to talk to clients who do not understand limitations or the right terminology, so you'll have to be patient and learn how to really understand what a client wants for their design. A lot of design requires good communication, from extracting accurate requirements, explaining how to utilize a tool, discussing changes and options, or why something just simply won’t work.