Sometimes, it is not easy to be a designer, and you find yourself stuck in a rut as a designer. You find a style that takes away most of the elements that you’re good at, and before you get to know, your graphic arts collection starts looking a bit cliché. Under these circumstances, you desperately search for new ways to enhance your art. Often you seem to be out of ideas to reach for. Only then, you need to break out from the mold and search for new ground. Here, we bring you 6 innovative ways you can set onto in order to improve your graphic design skills.
01. Study of Design Theory
If you want to be a sensation in the field of Graphic designs, you got to get your basics right. Hence, a proper understanding of integral concepts like grid theory and others can transform your work a lot.
Graphic design is a form of profession, not a trade. Although, there are plenty of things to learn without doing, and there are many ways to pursue design without a theory. However, without a strong grasp of the discipline’s basics and fundamentals that include crucial concepts like typography, color theory, grid theory, you might start falling out of the edge.
02. Learn how to extract from the feedbacks
As creative persons, one of the most difficult and emotionally draining things they need to handle is managed the criticism. Yet, it’s of primary importance, if you want to improve your skills. Positive feedbacks seem great when it’s rightfully deserved, but you don’t get to gain anything valuable from it other than a bulged-up feeling of self-worth.
This often hampers your creativity and work. The thing which really pays of is the negative feedback from the people or the critics. As they say, failure is important to climb on the stairs of success.
Whenever you create a piece of art, you either post it on Drizzle or Facebook. It’s your friends out there, they often tend to praise anything that id generated off you. hence, you must not get carried away with the positives only. Wait for the critics, the negative feedback. Ask the critics, if your briefs and ways are correct, or you need to develop some changes. At the e3nd of the day, all of the criticism you face is for the greater good.
03. Work on a side project
Doing your daily thing over and over again through a long time in your nine-to-five mundane desk job can lead to your skills getting blunt and find your enthusiasm hanging by the cliff. So, to back yourself up and keep up with your motivation, you must try to learn new things by working on some side projects.
Learning a new design skill is always easier, more effective, and more fun if you have the urge to be on the learning process continuously. It’s the learners who tend to make it big at the end of the day.
04. Experimentation
In the world of web startups and entrepreneurship, there’s a popular proverb: Fail fast. To explain in detail, it’s only by working upon lots of experimental ideas and implementing them you can find out what works the best for you and what you can be good at.
Approaching the same boring project, with a different perspective might be a lot helpful. You can keep altering your skills, colors, technology and start experimenting. Also, rather than working with the same colors, layouts, and software, you can mix things up a bit and try something that is new.
In most cases, you find yourself in a hot and huge mess. But sometimes, at least one out of five, you’ll hit gold. And even if you don’t get successful, the continuous process of experimenting will help you free up your mind, brush up your skills and find the points of strength and lacking.
05. Talking to other designers
Interacting with a lot of other designers is the best way to develop yourself as a graphic designer. But sometimes it becomes a bit difficult. For example, you might be the sole designer in a big company or a freelancer who works from home on his own, or perhaps you work under a two- or three-person studio.
Keeping all of these excuses aside, there are many easy ways to get out from your cabin in the world of designers chat with other creatives.
You must go to meetups, meetings, events, and conferences. Search for people on social media. Keep a check on artist forums. Make friends and talk design with them. You can also call them upon to collaborate on a project. You’re your contacts and Email a designer whom you admire. Ask them to guide you through your doubts and questions. In a nutshell, you must force yourself to get out there and be a part of the greater world. You will certainly have a chance to meet some fascinating people, and learn from them as much as you can possibly imagine
06. Read a book
Even if you have a degree hanging on your walls, as the quote goes: ‘Education is for life, and you must never cease learning. So next time you have a long break or holiday, put your phone on silent mode and lie down with a good book on graphic design. It would certainly be better utilization of your time than swiping through posts and reels on your Instagram.
There are plenty of innovative and inspiring books and reads to explore and get started.
As a graphic designer, possessing the power of creativity is the most important factor. Hence, it would be best if you stuck at it and never let it fade away. Keep up your experimentation to search for new ideas and to gain knowledge that would help you master your skills.