How To Become A Designer Without Going To Design School

A well-designed training school will absolutely help you on the right track to become a talented, professional professional. However, it is not the easiest and best route for everyone (For some reasons such as tuition fees, training environment or simply you do not like to go to class). Fortunately, you can still fulfill your dream and become a designer without without going to design school or colleges, as long as you have the passion and determination to pursue it.

Going to design shool: Important or not?

With this same question, a lot of debate happened, not only in Vietnam but around the world. Some people are important to going to universities, others don't. After all, the most important aspect of creating great design is creativity, something people are born and developed over time, not what you learn from a textbook and Modules, you should remember "The definition of a trend is always changing over time and never can be predicted".

But again, your creativity won't give you a good design if you don't know the basics of design. While your concepts are unique, you must present them in the most professional manner, especially if you want a serious career. This is where the value of education comes in, they will teach you the basics of all possible tools and the theory that the basics of those tools are.

You can refer to some basic design principles and theories here.

Limitations of School of Design

What are the school's drawbacks? It's simple. Not only do you have tuition to go to school, it also takes at least four years of your life. This is not possible for many people, especially if they cannot afford it. So many children have to start working as soon as they reach the legal age, so how can we fulfill our dreams?

https://youtu.be/daC2EPUh22w

Frequent YouTube users will probably remember Karen Cheng as the girl who taught everyone how to dance for 365 days. The video she made was inspired by the whole experience in reality, it created a trend.

But for those in the design field, Karen Cheng is the former lead designer at Exec. And yes, she never went to design school. In a recent post on Quora, she shared her story.

"I don't have four years and $ 100,000 to study design," she said. Did this prevent her from becoming a designer? No it does not. And to a greater surprise, she admitted that she had no discipline.

"People think I'm disciplined because I was able to teach myself how to dance for 365 days," she said in an interview, "The truth is, I'm not disciplined. It's just I love dancing, I am. Did what I love. "

This is exactly what Karen advises those who want to realize the breakthrough achievements she has had. Do what you love.

She worked for Microsoft Excel for two years when she realized that this was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life. She knows that she intends to do something else. This is what made her think about moving into another industry. These are her early steps in design.

"I don't have design skills. I don't want to go back to school."

As for Karen after completing her daily work she rushes home, and reading the documentation allows her to learn more about the basics of design. She incorporated her own curriculum, and she went to school for about six months.

Gradually, she became a designer. Of course, it's not that easy. She doesn't study as much as the others and she certainly doesn't have a lot of relevant experience. But she didn't give up. She decided to find a way to separate herself from everyone else. That's how she became a designer at Exec, and has since continued leading the company's design team.

Inspired by the story of Karen Cheng? Well, if Karen did it, you can too. Just get started and seize the opportunity that many people won't.

Here are a few steps that can help get you started and closer to your dreams:

Build basic knowledge

At first, Karen was probably not as good as someone who spent four years studying design. But she still does her job enough to occupy her position in the industry. She just has to learn how to start.

Her biggest mistake? Jump straight into Photoshop. Just because you buy a brush and paint bucket doesn't mean you're an artist. You have to start with the basics. And for the design career, you have to start from scratch.

Learn how to draw first. You don't even have to enroll in an art class. Karen recommends a book You Can Draw in 30 Days. Spend at least 30 minutes a day for a month just trying to draw. Once you have learned the basics and practiced every day, move on to the next step.

Learn graphic design theory. The Picture This book is what Karen recommends when you take this step. It gives you the basics of typography, color and design with the grid.

Next, you have to learn a few user experience basics. Some of the books that Karen recommend are Don, Make Me Think and The Design of Everyday Things.

Finally, learn to adapt to your work. This is a basic design fact that many designers fail to do. When a design doesn't work, discard it and start over. Don't waste your creativity by trying to improve something that's not all. Just let go of it and create something new and completely different.

After you have been armed with the basics, it's time to move on to more complex things.

Master the software

In the graphic design field, everything is done digitally.

Get started better with Illustrator first. You'll find lots of video tutorials online, and you can also try a few textbooks. Learning Adobe Illustrator in Books has all the basics, and going through the first half of it can tell you pretty much everything you need to know.

You can read books, learn how to use Adobe illustrator at the illustrator tutorial section at the forum, do not hesitate to ask questions for everyone to help.

Adobe Photoshop. Finally, it's time to learn Photoshop. Again, you can find lots of tutorials online, but make sure you pick only the best methods. Try to find tools from PSDTuts and TutsPlus. They have great tips that are easy to understand and can really help you master Photoshop's craft.

You can read books, learn how to use Adobe illustrator in Photoshop tutorials at the forum, don't hesitate to ask questions for everyone to help.

There are many other design programs out there, but these are two of the most popular. You can try to learn about other programs one by one as the need arises. For example, if you're working on print design, you'll definitely need to learn Adobe InDesign.

Select a major you want to do

You must find out what expertise you want to be. You don't want to be a beginner, you want to be a master of a particular position. You have to choose an area for you to focus on so that there can be a clearer route for you, especially when it comes to the next steps you will take.

• Logo Design: Interested in building logos for your brand? This is a great option. If you think the logo design is just for a specific purpose then you are wrong. Most of the time, a designer is signed on the board to create not just a logo, but an entire brand identity. This means you also have to imagine that the logo is on the wall, on the office door, on a piece of stationery, and everything else that comes with it.
• Handwriting: If you like handwriting, there is a lot of demand for it right now. Everyone is in love with the handmade and personalized design. Why? Because it gives a human element to design. In today's digital brands the world is looking for a hand-made aesthetic. You can find great handwriting courses on Skillshare.com, Seanwes.com, Youtube.com and Lynda.com.
• Mobile application design: Mobile applications obviously have a huge need, but you also have to be ready for a lot of competition.
• Web design: Needless to say, this is one of the popular options when it comes to specialization. Try reading the Principles of Beautiful Web Design as it has all the basics you need. Pay attention to the design aspects you like best about each website you see. You can also refer to the article why should choose Web Design that we wrote to consider in choosing this industry.

From there, it's easy to start building an identity of your own. Start with a few concepts and then bring them to life. Find who you are in need of your services and try out some of your ideas. Your first attempt at acquiring customers will be very important. But once you make the first person happy, everything else will come.

Start your new career right now

Before closing, I want you to take a look at these key points.

Always learning: Experience is very important. Nobody wants to hire you without it. Use your free time to create, learn, and self-study. Find tutorials, try out different side projects, and focus on creating a great deal of work.

Be different: What separates you from the crowd? Find a niche or come up with a unique idea that will turn you into a hot commodity. A prime example of this is Sean McCabe. In his spare time, he really enjoys hand-drawing. He started posting his work on Dribbble, Twitter and Instagram. Everyone has taken notice and now he is known as a famous hand drawn man in the design community. Although there are hundreds, if not thousands, of talented hand-painted painters on stage, he always comes to mind first.

Learn design business: If you are planning a freelance business or building your own career, you should learn some business fundamentals. You should focus on learning client negotiation skills, how to create a proposal or brief design, how to evaluate your work, how to write a contract, how to track your time and how to bill your customers professionally.
Good luck.

Source: blebees.com

source https://blebees.com/how-to-become-a-designer-without-going-to-design-school/