Graphic Design Essentials For The New Designer
Are you new to the word a graphic design? That’s awesome. Graphic design is a great way to express yourself and add some personal flair to the world. Now that you’ve learned a few things about graphic design, you might be wondering what tools you’ll need to get started. Well, I’m here to help you out with that. I’ve composed a list of a few things that you’ll need to get off on the right foot of your graphic design journey.
1. A Computer, Smartphone Or Tablet
Let’s start with the very basics. You’ll need something to create all the wonderful designs on. Ideally, you would pick up a laptop or a desktop for this task, but that’s not really necessary anymore. Traditional computers offer the most choices in robust design software, but many graphic design smartphone and tablet apps have come on the scene recently. Depending on your style of graphic design, you might be better served with a smartphone or tablet. Check out traditional computers versus something like a tablet to see what works best for your design style. No matter what you choose, you will need at least one device to create your designs.
2. Design Software For Your Computer, Smartphone Or Tablet
Once you pick the device you’ll be designing on, you’ll need some design software. If you’re sticking with a traditional computer and you have the money to spend, Adobe makes a great set of design apps. Most people are very familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. If you’ve never heard of them before check out: A Brief Overview of Photoshop, Illustrator, and Indesign. If you’re looking for a cheaper alternative, check out Affinity Photo or Pixelmator for Mac. If you’re looking for an open-source and free option, check out GIMP which is available for Mac, PC, and Linux.
If you’ve picked up a Chromebook, check out a web-based photo editor such as PicMoney, Canva or Spark. These options can be used on any computer which makes them great for on-the-go graphic design or for those who aren’t interested in learning to use a full visual design application.
If you are taking the smartphone or tablet route for your graphic design, check out something like Photoshop for mobile, Canva, or Spark. You can also look into something more robust such as Procreate or Affinity Photo for iPad. There are hundreds of really great apps available on both Android and iOS. Take a look at the photography and design categories on the App Store for your device to get some suggestions and app recommendations.
3. A Stylus or Pencil And Paper
Many of the best designs start out as hand-drawn sketches. Sketching has many benefits. I won’t go into all of them in this article, but if you want to learn more about why sketching is so important, check out: Why You Should Start Sketching Everything; Even If Your Drawing Is Terrible. If you opted for using a tablet or smartphone, pick up a stylus. Most of them are pretty inexpensive, and if you’re in a real pickle, there are even tutorials online for how to make your own stylus. Also, for most tablets, your stylus is your finger. Your finger might not be the desired drawing tool, but it’s better than nothing. On the opposite end of the inexpensive stylus is the very pricey, pressure-sensitive drawing devices like the Apple Pencil or the Wacom stylus. These are some great options if you’re looking to take your digital sketching and drawing to the next level.
If you don’t have a smartphone or tablet, or you just hate drawing on glass, pick up some pencils and paper. Just like with style, you can get inexpensive supplies, or you can go super fancy and get dedicated artist pencils, pens and paper. The choice is yours. Pick up the products that fulfill your needs and fit within your budget. There is no need to go super extravagant when you’re first starting out with graphic design. Remember, you’re not stuck with the first set of materials you purchase. You can always upgrade what you bought as your skillset improves and your budget increases.
4. Freepik
Freepik is a friend of any designer or creative professional, no matter how experienced you are. You can use it as an inspiration and create Collections with your favorite resources or download elements and mockups to use in your designs. Freepik works on a Freemium model so you can use the free or the paid version. The free version allows you to download ten resources per day and only from the “free” section. You also need to attribute the author of each vector, photo, or PSD you’ve used. Premium subscription you give you access to a larger amount of vectors, photos, and PSD. Apart from resources, Premium has many perks. For example, no-attribution license, unlimited downloads, priority support, and browsing without ads. There are two subscriptions available: Monthly for the price of 9.99€ and the Annual one for 89.99€. If you can’t afford the subscription right now, I recommend you to subscribe to Freepik’s newsletter and get all the info about their upcoming promotions. Plus, by doing so, you receive a bundle of free Premium resources in your inbox, which is always lovely.
These are the essentials you’ll need to jump right into the graphic design. Several other products will make your graphic design journey more pleasant, but those things aren’t absolutely necessary. If you’re looking for just the basic materials, this is an excellent place to start. What would you add to this list? Feel free to contribute any tips and suggestions that you might have for all the new designers out there.
