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Jagpreet
09 October, 2024
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Are you creatively charged? What do you think is the best way to put it to work? Your friends may call you “nerdy” and “tech-savvy” for knowing every font by heart and having an eye for details. But that’s alright as long as you inspire people by blending creative and design elements seamlessly. If this description fits your personality, the best job role for you is that of an eccentric graphic designer. It involves ideating creative and relevant concepts, choosing the right design elements, and blending them to create stunning and meaningful visuals. All this is done using advanced software and tools. It is creativity powered by technology.
In this blog, let’s dive deep and understand where graphic designers stand in today’s job market, their work responsibilities, top skills, and more.
The job of a graphic designer is to create visually appealing multimedia content to communicate a message or idea. Every industry needs graphic designers, whether in marketing, advertising, software development, or entertainment. From the logo on your coffee mug to the banner on your website, graphic designers are the ones making things creative and beautiful around you.
As a graphic designer, you get to create diverse content and bring your imaginative ideas to life across various platforms. You can stay updated with new trends in visual design and create logos, posters, visual effects, website banners, layouts, and video transitions.
If you are a graphic designer, your key responsibilities in a corporate ecosystem will be as follows:
Research and gather information to design creative and relevant designs.
Collaborate with other team members like copywriters, editors, and photographers to take valuable inputs for the task.
Sometimes, you need to pitch ideas and outline sketches to project managers and creative directors.
You must pick the best-suited fonts, colour schemes, and design elements.
Your responsibilities include creating original illustrations, infographics, email templates, website banners, and landing page layouts.
It also includes designing print materials like brochures, flyers, catalogues, and posters and developing brand identity visuals for social media and online platforms.
As a creative artist, you’ll craft UI interface designs such as icons, buttons, and other visual elements.
You must communicate with clients and stakeholders to understand their design needs and manage multiple design projects from concept to completion.
You not only craft and develop images, but you also have a significant role in image editing. You’ll have to edit and retouch images to make them high-quality visuals.
You must stay updated on the latest design trends, tools, and technologies. You might also have to maintain and upgrade licensed tools and applications.
Are you thinking of taking up graphic design as your career? Then, you need to understand the essential skills required for success in this field. Here are some examples of the hard and soft skills necessary for a graphic designer.
Creativity and Innovation
You must use your creativity and innovative ideas to conceptualise different designs that relay the message clearly and effectively. The designs should meet the client’s expectations and speak directly to the audience.
Use of Design Tools and Software
You should have a good grasp of standard design tools and software. Mastery of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, helps artists to create, edit and produce high-quality visual content.
Knowledge of Layout Design and UI Designs
A strong understanding of layout designs and user interface designs can help you create visually appealing, functional layouts and user-friendly interfaces.
Typography and Colour Theory
Designers should have a good knowledge of colour palettes, combinations, font selection, and spacing to effectively use them in designs and create appealing visuals that resonate with the target audience.
Time Management and Organisation
You may work for an organisation, design agency, or as a freelancer. Irrespective of that, a graphic designer has to juggle multiple tasks. Thus, it is important to manage your time effectively for each task.
Basic Coding Skills
You must have an understanding of basic coding like HTML and CSS to collaborate effectively with developers. Having coding skills may help you design functional sites that maintain an appealing look.
Teamwork and Collaboration
The graphic design profile explicitly requires collaboration and teamwork. Teamwork skills allow designers to collaborate with others and provide valuable input to the team.
Design skills are the foundation of graphic design, and honing these skills is a must to produce fresh and appealing content. Since most illustrations and designs are showcased on online platforms, graphic designers must adapt to work with various creative and innovative software tools.
Some of the most important software tools used by a graphic designer are as follows:
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe InDesign
CorelDRAW
Canva
SketchUp
Figma
Procreate
Adobe After Effects
Blender
If you want to become a graphic designer, having illustrative and creative skills alone is insufficient. You must also have some academic qualifications or experience certificates to stand approved. In this section, let’s discuss what qualifications you need to become a graphic designer.
You may pursue diploma, undergraduate, or postgraduate courses to become academically qualified for graphic design. Some of the top courses for professional graphic designing are listed below.
Bachelor of Design in Graphic Design
Bachelor of Arts in Graphic Design
Bachelor of Science in Graphic Design
Diploma in Graphic Design
Postgraduate Diploma in Graphic Design
Master of Design in Graphic Design
Certificate courses in Graphic Design
Many global organisations offer certification courses in graphic design. Certifications from such reputed institutions add credibility to your portfolio and help you stay relevant to the job market. For example, you may consider pursuing Adobe Certifications to learn in-demand software skills and show your expertise.
If you want to kickstart your career as a graphic designer, you can choose one or more avenues to excel in this field. Let’s check the different career paths that one may take to start a career in graphic design.
If you find internship opportunities in nearby institutions or studios, you should definitely pursue them. A professional workspace can be extremely useful for you to learn corporate ethics and get hands-on experience with the latest software and tools. Your work in these internships can be recorded in your portfolio to give you an additional boost.
Remember, along with your resume, an impressive portfolio can be a strong marketing tool for you in the job market.
You can always consider affordable career paths to excel in the role of a graphic designer, such as freelancing. There are numerous credible online job portals today such as Upwork, Inc., Fiverr, People Per Hour, Freelancer, LinkedIn, etc. You can easily find freelance jobs through these portals and collaborate with employers to gain relevant exposure and experience.
Additionally, you can also upload work samples and testimonials to improve your online presence and practice your skills regularly.
To start your career as a graphic designer, building a portfolio is essential. There should be a space where you would make a collection of your best work from one or different industries. It may include a collection of illustrations, logos, photographs, or any other creative work. Your portfolio reflects your strengths, experience, and potential, helping the recruiter to get a clear picture of your profile.
Yes, you can definitely learn graphic design on your own! YouTube and Vimeo have some of the largest repositories of tutorial videos for any tool and designing techniques. You can familiarise yourself with the basic principles of design, use of colour, typography, and graphic elements in the work.
Additionally, Coursera, Skillshare, Udemy, LinkedIn Learning, and Adobe Creative Cloud Learn are unique global platforms that offer online instructional courses. These platforms deliver the course content and provide valuable certifications to add to your corporate portfolio.
The graphic designing field is vast and versatile. It is a demanding job position that every company with an online presence needs to enhance its visual communication and branding efforts. Let’s discuss how much a candidate can earn in graphic designing and related streams annually in India:
The average salary range for Graphic Designers – ₹ 2.16 LPA to ₹ 4.44 LPA
The average salary range for Video Editor – ₹ 2.40 LPA to ₹ 4.80 LPA
The average salary range for Senior Graphic Designers – ₹ 5 LPA to ₹ 9 LPA
The average salary range for Freelance Graphic Designer – ₹ 1.92 LPA to ₹ 4.56 LPA
Regardless of your academic background, you can become a graphic designer with the right skills and an aptitude for design. Focus on gaining professional qualifications and certification, and there you have the doors open to graphic designing. Over the years, you can grow in this field and take senior executive roles, such as Creative Director, Art Director, or Design Manager, overseeing projects and leading design teams. Start preparing for the course through formal degree courses in design or online certification courses. Embrace your creativity, and let it guide you on this exciting journey in graphic design.
