A Designer’s job is to use imagery to tell a story in a way that supports a brand’s message and evokes emotion. Graphic Designers create visual concepts for marketing or general business use by hand or by using specialised digital software. They communicate ideas to inspire, inform, or captivate consumers through both physical and virtual art forms that include images, words, or graphics. Designers develop the overall layout and production design for advertisements, brochures and magazines (among many other things). This usually starts out by producing rough illustrations of design ideas, either by hand sketching or by using a computer program and then building upon it until they have a polished result to present to the client.

Their role may be to use text and images to communicate a specific message, or it may be to create a consistent brand image across multiple digital platforms… these are something graphic designers specialise in. While the fundamentals of the role are the same, the result is slightly different, so you need a different mindset.

What are some of their responsibilities?

• Meet with the client or the art director to receive a briefing on a project and the client’s expectations
• Advise clients on strategies to reach their target audience
• Come up with a message for the design to portray
• Create images that identify a product or convey a message
• Develop graphics and visual or audio images for product illustrations, logos, and websites
• Using photo editing software, layout software and digital illustration to create designs
• Select colours, images, text style, and layout
• Present the design to clients or the art director – first draft
• Incorporate changes recommended by the clients into the final design
• Review designs for errors before printing or publishing them

Who do Designers work alongside?

• Other Graphic Designers
• Digital Marketing Specialists
• Animators
• Programmers
• Art Directors
• Web Designers
• Copywriters

What makes a great Designers?

It is a benefit for a Designer to have good knowledge of copywriting as some clients request this when looking for a Graphic Designer. A knowledge of copywriting enables you to do the text editing for advertisements yourself and save time sending it back and forth between departments.

• Adobe Photoshop – you need a competent level of understanding for this editing software
• Adobe Lightroom – to organise, store and retouch images, a good understanding of this enables you to streamline the editing process
• Adobe Illustrator – you need a competent level of understanding for this design software
• Adobe InDesign – you need a competent level of understanding for this design software
• Social media – understanding of the latest software and the requirements for visual digital marketing on each platform
• Typography skills – to select font type, size and weight and be able to arrange words and letters in a visually appealing way
• Ability to follow branding guidelines
• Design principles – know how to use white space, colour, hierarchy and other principles to compose well-balanced designs
• RGB and CMYK – be able to choose the right colour set for each project. CMYK is ideal for print projects, while RGB is typically used for digital designs.
• User Experience (UX) design – Skilled graphic designers understand how to create simple designs that are useful and meet established accessibility guidelines.
• Digital technology (HTML, CSS, JS) – for designing websites or work as a visual designer.
• Picture skills (photography)/photo – to have a good understanding of how to edit images

How to become a Designer?

A degree

• No specific qualification is required to become a Designer. It may, however, be beneficial to gain qualifications and experience in the industry – degrees may offer training in the relevant technology, and enable dedicated time to building a network of contacts. (https://www.ravensbourne.ac.uk/study/undergraduate/ba-hons-graphic-design)

Networking

There are different ways to network –

• Attending events is a fantastic way to meet people in person
• LinkedIn – make connections!
• Facebook Pages – join a group and they will post jobs and advice!
• Talk to your connections about work – sell yourself!

Courses

• The graphic design learning path on LinkedIn includes 11 courses to help you learn in-demand technical skills and improve the soft skills needed to collaborate with others. These courses include Illustrator 2021 Essential Training, Colour Trends, Photoshop 2021 Essential Training, and Color for Design and Art. (https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/become-a-graphic-designer)
• Udemy is a great platform with learning resources for a variety of different courses – including master classes on Graphic Design (https://www.udemy.com/courses/search/?src=ukw&q=Graphic+Design)
• There are online workshops on Dribble for Product Design – https://dribbble.com/learn
• Up and coming online design software, Canva offer lots of e-learning opportunities for Designers (https://www.canva.com/designschool/)

Portfolio

• A visual representation of your work helps to sell yourself – Behance, Dribble or The Dots are great platforms to utilise
• If you don’t have many projects to put into a portfolio, you can communicate with local independent businesses for unpaid work – network and exchange work!

How do I book a Designer?

If you would like to enhance your project, here at Yellow Cat we have a wide network of talented Designers to suit all client needs. We have a rich talent pool for clients to hire both freelance and permanent Designers. For more information regarding Designers, their market rate (salary and day rate), and the availability of freelance Designers, please us.