Looking for a career that doubles as an outlet for your creativity? Becoming a graphic design specialist could be perfect for you. As a graphic design specialist, you’ll be responsible for combining your artistic touch and technological prowess, creating web pages, logos and more to produce unique designs that reflect the essence of a brand. As a professional with graphic design experience, you’ll be qualified to find employment in a range of settings, including advertising firms, marketing companies, publishing and printmaking, graphic design departments of larger organizations and much more.
Before launching your graphic design career, it’s important to prepare for success by building a few key skills. When you complete a graphic design diploma program at Saskatoon Business College, you’ll develop competencies in essential areas of graphic design, while building the soft skills necessary to excel in this path. Below, discover four essential skills to build before launching a career as a graphic design specialist.
Technology Skills Are Required in Order to Earn a Graphic Design Diploma
Being tech-savvy goes hand in hand with a successful career in graphic design, as these professionals use computer applications for virtually everything that they do. Graphic design specialists must be able to utilize a number of different software programs in order to develop their designs and bring them to life. While completing a graphic design program at SBC, students become experts at using various software applications, including Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, Adobe After Effects and more. Through the use of these tools, you’ll be able to create a variety of advanced designs with ease, enhancing your employability as a graphic design specialist.
Typography Skills Are Essential
As a graphic design specialist, your ability to develop and use the right typography will be important for the quality of your projects and the success of your career. Typography design, otherwise known as the arrangement of a worded message in a legible and appealing type form, is essential when it comes to conveying the intended message through a particular design. It’s a skill which requires an understanding of different fonts and how to place them through typesetting, kerning, leading and tracking. During your graphic design career, make sure to focus on developing a knack for typography in order to help your clients connect with the right audience.
An Understanding of Design Principles and Ideation Is Key
Above all, the job of a graphic design specialist entails putting different design elements together into a final product that is appealing and engaging. After earning your graphic design diploma, you’ll want to possess a strong understanding of how typography, lines, colour, shape, texture and other elements of design can be brought together and experimented with to create an exceptional final product. Additionally, a sense of ideation – the steps involved in creating and developing new ideas – is an asset for any graphic design specialist. When starting a project, applying the principles of ideation, which include research, critical evaluation and application, is a key component in bringing great designs to fruition.
Graphic Designers Must Be Strong Communicators
While communication isn’t necessarily a technical skill, it’s still one that’s necessary for any graphic design specialist to possess. Communication skills are necessary for graphic design specialists to understand the wishes of their clients and, in turn, explain their design and thought processes to clients or colleagues. What’s more, writing proposals or preparing presentations will require the development of verbal and written communication skills. While completing your graphic design training, make sure you focus on building communication skills in order to thrive in any workplace environment and ensure client satisfaction.
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