Ten Ways to Learn Graphic Design and for FREE
hey everybody welcome back let's talk
about ten free ways that you can learn
graphic design and graphic design is an
incredible profession we live now in the
creative economy there are more
opportunities for creative professionals
than there ever have been in history so
now is a great time to be a graphic
designer
but what if you don't have the money to
go to school what if you've already been
to university for something else but you
want to make a transition into graphic
design you're not prepared to like lay
that money out for tuition in another
four years to do so well I'm gonna share
some ideas for you about how you can
learn graphic design for free
UNDERSTAND THE BASIC TERMS
now number
one you want to familiarize yourself
with the basic lingo of graphic design
the basic terminology because as you go
about learning graphic design you're
going to be barage with a whole lot of
terminology about fonts and imagery and
composition that you may not be familiar
with so you're going to want to
familiarize yourself with the general
terminology of graphic design a great
place to do this is on canva there's an
article link to it in the description
called 50 graphic design terms for non
designers it's a great place to start
and in fact canva is a great learning
platform for non graphic designers you
can also look on Wikipedia and look up
some of those terms or other terms that
are used in graphic design and study up
on those terms so as you go about your
learning and proceed through your
learning journey you will have a basic
understanding of those terms
LEARN YOUR DESIGN HISTORY
now number
two number two is learn your design
history you can understand historical
movements in design by looking through
Wikipedia looking through a lot of
resource online about design history we
want to understand the influences on
modern-day graphic design and where they
came from in history it also helps you
understand historical trends in graphic
design that continually show up in
modern graphic design
all sorts of historical movements in
graphic design are present in modern day
graphic design there is no separation in
the historical timeline in lots of
respects in how graphic design manifests
itself aesthetically and strategically
in today's world
LEARN YOUR DESIGN HISTORY
the number three is you
want to explore the greats
in graphic design you want to learn
about the Titans in graphic design the
people who are historically significant
the groundbreakers the innovators the
people who moved the ball forward
historically in graphic design what
their beliefs were what their missions
were what what kind of rules they were
looking to break what rules they
actually had a hand in creating what
work they did who they did it for where
they were when they did it who their
clients were some of the greats include
people like Saul Bass or polisher or
paul rand milton glazier david carson
massimo vignelli
all sorts of incredible titans of design
that are only a google search away so
you want to try to learn about those
historical figures now number four is
that as you start doing and playing with
actual graphic design and you've learned
that history and kind of focused in on
some of those greats of graphic design
you want undoubtedly come across pieces
of graphic design that are inspiring to
you that you think are amazing
RECREATE YOUR FAVORITE WORK
one of
the ways a free way to learn graphic
design is to actually copy the pieces of
those greats find some of the great
designers or the great design pieces or
even non famous designers whose work
really inspires you and copy those
pieces number one it will help you learn
design software because it will force
you to learn how to do certain things on
the computer unless you were challenged
with having to figure it out you might
not come across and learn on your own it
also will help you learn aesthetics and
aesthetic choices that are made in great
graphic design
USE FREE ADOBE ALTERNATIVES
now number five use free
Adobe alternatives you've got to
eventually start learning some software
but you may not have the money right out
of the gate to buy the Adobe Creative
Suite and pay
that hefty subscription fee so until you
can afford those more professional level
tools there's a lot of free tool options
out there for you things like affinity
designer which is very popular and has a
90 day free trial period
there's there's Inkscape if there's
any number of Adobe Photoshop
Illustrator InDesign like programs that
are available for free online all you
have to do is explore it a little bit
and many pros really are starting to
abandon Adobe products because of
Adobe's pricing structure and how they
kind of put handcuffs on you over time
and so there are pros who are abandoning
Adobe and going to more free
alternatives so it's not to be looked
down upon to leverage these free
alternatives especially when you're at
the beginning and beginning to learn
WATCH GREAT TUTORIALS
now
number six watch great tutorials seek
out the best youtubers there are
hundreds of thousands maybe millions of
design tutorials on YouTube free for the
taking
it is an unprecedented time in history
to be trying to learn graphic design and
all of the resources that you have at
your digital fingertips to watch and
learn from practice at your own pace
practice the tutorials that they show
you you have to get in there and start
pushing a mouse or Wacom tablet dial us
around in order to learn I always tell
up the story that if you want to learn
tennis you've got to start hitting some
tennis balls around you can buy tennis
clothes you can watch tennis videos you
can kind of go to tennis matches but
until you start hitting a ball around
and knocking it over the fence you're
not going to learn tennis so in graphic
design it's very the same way you really
have to kind of get in there start
pushing the mouse around start playing
with the program start doing bad stuff
at the beginning in order to learn
graphic design
CRUISE DESIGN BLOGS
number seven is you want
to cruise design blogs you want to
search out blogs and websites that speak
to your aesthetic and I encourage you
though not to focus on only what you
like because here's the thing when you
become a professional
graphic designer a lot of times you have
to do design in aesthetics that you
don't like an aesthetic that's right for
a particular client's industry or that
serves a particular product or service
or customer set that you're going to
have to excite and get the work to
perform for but it may not be in the
aesthetic that you particularly enjoy
because in business it may be demanded
of you that you are able to do that sort
of work the difference between art and
design is that design is art with a job
to do it's got to perform and it's got
to create some sort of action or
movement on the point of a consumer by
all means get inspired by what you love
but don't turn your back on other
aspects of graphic design that you may
be called on to do
MAKE SOMETHING DIFFERENT
number eight is try
something different you may as you start
off kind of get into a particular groove
or like a particular aesthetic or start
doing a particular kind of work but I
encourage you to try something different
push yourself to new aesthetics push
yourself out of your design comfort zone
because it's outside your comfort zone
well you will learn and grow the most
TAKE FREE ONLINE CLASSES
now number nine take some free online
classes Skillshare you can get started
on Skillshare for absolute free linkedin
has an amazing amount of learning they
absorbed lynda.com and so LinkedIn has
an incredible amount of learning
available on it YouTube like I said here
we are on this platform this is the best
learning platform there is for graphic
design for free
FOLLOW AND STUDY OTHER DESIGNERS
and finally number 10
follow other designers on social study
their work go to websites like you know
Instagram behance Communication Arts
AIGA so the American Institute of
graphic arts the graphic artists guild
and you could also join my new Facebook
group it's called brand design masters
and it's at facebook.com slash groups
brand design masters it's a private
group you have to answer a couple
questions to get in but if you want to
start getting to know and networking and
meeting other creative professionals
that's a place to go do it there are
people in there who are just starting
out there are people in there who are
very senior in the industry it's a great
place to meet
and grow get feedback on your work ask
questions it will accelerate your
learning curve as a graphic designer and
it's free so I encourage you to head
over to Facebook and join the brand
design masters Facebook group I also
offer a paid Master Mind level the brand
design masters guild which is a private
group of 810 people and that takes
learning to a next level I've even got
junior level people in those paid groups
where we set goals for each other give
each other feedback and push each other
to grow and expand and get better and
what we do faster than you would on your
own so I hope you enjoyed this video on
10 free ways to learn graphic design and
if you did please hit subscribe below
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post something new visit me at Phillip
Van Dusen calm if you need help with
your brand strategy or brand design or
coaching in your professional creative
career please reach out to me and let's
see what we can do to take you to the
next level and with that thanks again
for watching and bye for now
The fundamentals of graphic design
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