How to Learn Graphic Design at Home

 

Hey I hope you're all doing well I know this is kind of a tough time for everyone around the world and a lot of people are at home, I've got this mess of a set up behind me all these monitors if you look closely I've got a windows laptop that I switch between a mac laptop and I'm just trying to work on all these different screens and still create content for Pacers gaming the YouTube channel and the esports team that I work for. now I wanted to create a video because I know everyone's got a lot of time at home and whether or not you are in school out of school wanna learn graphic design or just interested in getting to know more about it I thought I'd create and compile a list of resources for you guys to get started with graphic design learning at home so first off if you don't even know this is pixel and bracket YouTube channel I create a ton of videos around learning graphic design especially tutorials, whether it's illustrator Photoshop premiere after effects any of the adobe programs so you can check this channel out for plenty of videos on all of those creative programs and I also, if you don't know, if you're already subbed then you can already know this, but you don't know I do have two free courses over on skillshare one about Photoshop and one about the illustrator these are like what I would teach for any beginner that wants to learn illustrator learn Photoshop and hasn't ever even touch the program and it's also everything that I would recommend to a seasoned designer if they don't already know so those are free you can sign up with just an email but I've got something even better if you guys go to the link in the description I can get you two free months of skillshare premium so even if it's not graphic design which there are tons of other premium courses on skillshare that you can watch and learn from there are also all sorts of online learning opportunities over on skillshare now this video isn't sponsored but because I'm a teacher on skills here I can offer that link I get a referral so you guys can help this channel out and you guys get two free months of all premium courses on skillshare. Which is pretty awesome no matter what you want to learn with your time here at home so that's enough about me what I would recommend you start out with is there's a play list I created called well it's called learning graphic design but it's got videos from G. C. 
F. learn free dot org and that's a you tube channel has a ton of great resources for educational things it's not just a graphic design but they have some amazing graphic design videos that they've created over there and I put them in a play list I think you should watch every single second of those videos there's an intro to design there's color typography branding all sorts of things layout and composition I think is one of the best videos they even have that tweet tends to the top of the pixel bracket Twitter regardless that's a great playlist a link that in the description as with anything else in this video another site that has an article for twenty free graphic design resources for learning design is creative blow. created blow is a great website in general you can go over there and find all sorts of things but this article that I linked has twenty different resources for learning more of like the hard skills and the lingo and terminology of design and typography as well as maybe just creating a poster, creating a brochure, or anything like that. and as you're diving into the skill sets of graphic design, if you want to freelance, or you want to learn more about the business side of design and how to create potentially portfolio how to charge clients how to learn more about how to interact in those sort of one on one situations where you're emailing potential clients or you're trying to look for people to do design work for, I would recommend the futur. it's a great channel over there with Chris Do and the crew, they are creating an amazing library of content that is super helpful all about the business of design. and they also have I think have the futur academy which is even more tutorial focused stuff so tons of great content over there I'll link that YouTube channel in the description. highly highly recommend it especially if you're already a designer and you're just looking to get some more freelance work or for ways that you can essentially monetize this career path that you've chosen. and then lastly on the practical side of things one of my biggest recommendations is that you guys go out there, if you want to learn design, you're like "I I can take all these to tutorials but I don't feel like I'm really learning how to do things", what I would recommend is find work that that inspires you that you think is really great and you're like, man I wish I could make something like that... and what I would do is try to copy that exactly. learn the spacing between the letters, learn the layout, the hierarchy of all the elements, how that black and white image really pops, maybe it's adding some more contrast, maybe is adding a little bit more detail to it through an unsharp mask or some kind of sharpening. I would look at work that you're inspired by and literally try to go recreate it. if you're looking for assets for design like photography or if you are doing video work even some video resources, I would recommend I think Pexels and Unsplash.com, I'll link those below as well lots of stuff in the description in this video you guys... so you can pull images copyright free from there, but actually it doesn't really even matter in this case because what I'm telling you to do is to create this stuff but not necessarily promote it or publish it or put in your portfolio. you're literally just creating something, copying the work of people that inspire you, other designers that inspire you, other work from brands or anything that you really enjoy, and want to learn how to get on to that level... literally copy it.
you're gonna learn so much from it, whether you're working in Photoshop, whether you're working in illustrator, all the different techniques that you're gonna figure out on how to create those designs are gonna really really really help you when you're trying to create work for your portfolio. and speaking of your portfolio if you're wanting to build up, whether it's an online digital portfolio which I would recommend anyway or something that you're gonna print out and and taken to a job interview... create work for that portfolio that is what you want to do. there's all sorts of design out there in the world there's all sorts of types, styles, everything. create work that you want to do and then take that to companies that you want to work for. and what I would recommend in that work is that you try to make it as practical as possible so if it's not real client work if it's not even student work if you're creating these projects on your own like just creating a sample brochure I would find a brochure find a flyer find a piece of design a business card anything out there and pull all of those elements from it and make sure you include them all into your sample work that you're putting into your portfolio. that'll make it look even more real, don't just try to come up with the information in your head on your own because you're gonna miss out on some elements that make it look like student work, look like just sort of sample mock up designs. you're gonna want to include everything that you find even the fine print the little details put it into that sort of spec/mock-up work and that is going to make it look a lot better and then create that portfolio of work of three to five really strong pieces of design put them in a place that's easy for people to find so whether it's behance or you have your own website or you just upload them to maybe even Instagram just to show off your gallery of I guess your portfolio make it easy send that link to the people recognise cover letter have a good resume if you're looking for work after this is all over or if you're already if you watch it's video three years later and you know there is no pandemic anymore go through all of these resources I hope they really help you out, create your portfolio, work on your skills, and you're going to learn a lot more about graphic design very very quickly.