Introduction to Graphic Designer Assistant
To create a two-hour film filled with gripping scenes with unimaginable sequences and visual effects that you have never seen before, a Graphic Designer Assistant is a wizard in disguise! You must have heard often that ‘A Picture explains a story better than words ever can’. This is the sole motto for Graphic Designer Assistant.
Graphic design is the field where graphic designer assistant brings their creative geniuses in all forms and features, be it news, advertising or entertainment in the print publications or digital and broadcast media such as television, web browsers, social platforms, and portable devices or giving you real-life experience in the gaming machines. Designing is a work of art and a Graphic Designer assistant makes it look exquisite.
Technology has not ceased to advance and therefore, the role of the graphic designer assistant is only going to amplify with time. Creative, fresh and quick is what the market demands from graphic designer assistants, and they must deliver. This can be very challenging but equally rewarding.
We dream of superpowers and graphic designer assistants have them. The skill to create visions captivating the consumer is one such power only a handful of us possess.
To make everyone see the same what you see makes you one mighty superhero! Graphic designer assistant inspires, inform and mesmerize the consumers by communicating their ideas on paper or by using a software.
A graphic designer assistant has a pool of activities to work on. Animation, book design, illustrations, webcomic, web design, branding, and advertising are just to name a few. Print or Digital, the graphic designer assistant is present everywhere.
But nowadays, possessing skill or talent is never going to be enough. One must follow a set of guidelines to achieve success. These guidelines help you march towards your destination by giving you the right directions and also, help you avoid some genuine mistakes that might hold you back.
Here are 10 guidelines you must follow if you aspire to become a successful Graphic Designer Assistant:
- Start with the basics, decide your field of interest.
- Choose the media you are most comfortable working with.
- Expose yourself to the tools required as early as possible.
- Read about it.
- Take a course, you will need a degree.
- Originality is the key.
- Create the best portfolio for marketing your skills.
- Learn the basics of the Business, get yourself an internship.
- Be bold and start your own business.
- Be open to alternatives and make strategies accordingly.
These tasks might seem daunting but are pretty easy and simple in reality. The rule is simple- Do what you love!
Steps for Becoming a Graphic Designer Assistant
Below are the steps you need to follow to become a Graphic Designer Assistant:
1. Start with the basics, decide your field of interest
It’s an obvious fact that you cannot be a designer if you don’t know how to design. Realization of your talent is the first step, it cannot be skipped.
Explore the field, descend yourself in the history of graphic designing and identify what appeals to you because once you study about it, you will come to know that there are plenty of options to choose from.
Graphic designing is the tree that branches out into the following sub-categories:
- Web Design
- Animation
- Branding and Advertisements
- Commercial Print Designing
- Publication Designing
- Multimedia Designing
- Typography
- Logos
If you are in high school and a bit confused, don’t worry. This is the time to experiment, change your choices, dig deep into it because only then can you completely be sure about what you are good at and what your field of interest is.
Once the decision is made, don’t procrastinate. Move forward, this is just the beginning of a long journey.
2. Choose the media you are most comfortable working with
Now, this is crucial. The media you work with sets up the stage for your future in graphic design.
If it is the paper that you love, print designing is the medium for you. Work within your comfort zone. Communicating with the targeted audience of print media is the traditional way of designing and is still quite alive even though technology is taking over the world.
The advantage of long-lasting, engaging a greater audience, and knowing its credibility has kept the print media alive and has become a favorable choice for those who are not what we call ‘Tech Geeks’.
So don’t be scared to have a future in print design. It is not gonna die so fast! For those who think bringing out your creativity sitting in front of a computer gives you more power and the idea of virtual communication excites you, then the digital graphic design is the one for you and seeing how the technology is developing, it might be a good choice.
Digital graphic designer skills work on software which gives them the edge over print media designers because they are quicker and more precise with their designs. Also, the fact that more and more of the population is shifting towards the Internet and social media really opens up the field to another dimension.
The prospect of Digital designing becomes even better when you learn about the different specializations available in it. Animation, web designing, multimedia designing are all exciting fields to work for the graphic designer.
The obvious drawback is that Digital graphic designer skills learn efficient use of the software and adapt quickly to the advancements in technology. But challenges are a part of all the good things, the more you face them, the better you get!
3. Expose yourself to the tools required as early as possible
Done with the decision-making and getting accustomed to your domain of work, then move forward, don’t just stop there. Get the tools you need and start working on them as early as possible because the more you work with them, the better designer you become.
Don’t forget that there is competition in every field and graphic designing is one of the trending ones and if you wish to excel in it, you need to sharpen your graphic design skills.
As far as digital designers are concerned, you have a lot of work to do. First of all, get graphic designer skills online and search for the latest technology in your field of interest. Loosen your pockets and get yourself an Apple i-mac Computer or a Wacom Bamboo. If you want to be the best, use the best!
Do you know what else you just CANNOT afford to miss? Use of the Adobe Creative Suite software pack. It is a must-have for all you aspiring graphic designers. Other software and graphic designer software help you develop a great web design are time-tracking apps to help you work within a timeline and other is social networking sites. Why? Don’t you have to publicize your work later on?
So know your tools and work them out. Designers are incomplete without them.
4. Read about it
Seriously, read as much as you can about graphic designing. It is the best way to master art.
The following books must find a place in your bags:
- The Elements of Graphic Design.
- Making and Breaking the Grid: A Graphic Design Layout.
- How to be a Graphic Designer, Without Losing Your Soul.
And never hesitate to read about it online as well. There are loads of information available from a variety of sources. You must never stop gathering.
5. Take a course, you will need a degree
Put a Seal on it! Get yourself admitted to a good college and earn a degree. It will help you get a good job in the future and a much-needed experience to put on your resume and enhance your portfolio. The duration of the course varies and it completely depends on you. A course designed for a shorter period of a few weeks, six months, or a year won’t give a very in-depth education, just the basics. The two-year and four-year programs are ideal for those looking to genuinely pursue graphic designing as their profession in the future.
To be good at what you do takes time, so take some time out and enroll yourself for a longer duration program and develop your skills as much as you can.
6. Originality is the key
It is obvious, isn’t it? If your style already exists in the market, why would you be hired?
Believe in yourself, you have your own unique style. Don’t let the pressure of getting chosen and doing good change your creativity. Always remember, only you are the master of your thoughts. Don’t let fear, pressure, and failure cloud your instincts and judgments.
Edwin Land once said – “The essential aspect of creativity is not being afraid to fail.”
Just write this down on a page and paste it on the wall in front of you and let these words inspire you!
7. Create the best portfolio to market your skills
Now, let the market know how good you are in your field. Create a portfolio featuring your best work. You are your best critic. If any design of yours doesn’t make you 100% happy, don’t feature it.
Always start your portfolio with the most creative of your work, the one that showcases the skills you have acquired in your learning process, but never forget to put your best work at the end as well.
A key point to focus on is never put everything you created in the portfolio. You never want to be entering into a room full of people who have seen all of your work and there is nothing left to talk about. Leave them wanting more! Your aim is to get hired as a graphic designer animator.
Be smart! Put your portfolio online to expand your boundaries. Your chances of getting viewed and being chosen for a better opportunity increases when your graphic designer software work is featured online.
8. Learn the basics of the business, start doing an internship
There are a lot of options open for a graphic designer animator. If you have always dreamt of starting your own business and be self-employed, knowing your job as a graphic designer animator will never be enough. You must know how to build and run a business well.
Your legal contract, tax filing policies, the continuous inflow of new projects are just the basics of running a successful business.
To get hands-on experience on how to run a business well, get an internship. Internships are the quickest way to learn and gain experience about your desired field and the opportunity to work with designers who were once like you, can prove to be very beneficial for you.
Meet the experts and talk about your plans, you will then learn about the obvious mistakes you make and avoid making them. The learning process never ends, so don’t stop!
9. Be bold and start your own business
Being an employee in a successful enterprise can be a real learning experience. But remember what I said in the beginning, don’t cease to move forward!
Gather up all your courage and start your own firm. You have everything you need. Take a leap of faith and be brave. You were born to lead. Self-employed is the best employment.
You are innovative and creative, all the skills set of a graphic designer. Start your own business, you can do it!
10. Be open to options and make strategies accordingly
In your working environment, you will always end up facing clients who are not at all clear about the product they desire. What they want is a professional to work for them in order to achieve whatever ‘it’ is that they want to achieve.
In situations like these, it is your job to be open to all the possible options and present them to your clients to get a clearer picture out of them. You need to adapt quickly and plan your strategies according to the situation and of course, your client.
To stand out from the crowd, be unique in your planning. There are a lot of prominent designers out there, you have to outshine them all.
Hopefully, these 10 ways make you an awesome graphic designer animator. There is an amazing world out there waiting to see what you have created, it can be of any form that is what makes you WIZARDS of the real world!
I would like to conclude this article with a very beautiful quote by Paul Rand
“Design is the method of putting form and content together. Design, just as art, has multiple definitions; there is no single definition. Design can be art. Design can be aesthetics. The design is so simple, that’s why it is so complicated.”
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This has been a guide to a Graphic Designer Assistant. Here we have discussed the basic concept with 10 steps to become a graphic designer assistant. You may also look at the following articles to learn more –
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