How to Be a Good Graphic Designer: The Ultimate Guide for Aspiring Artists

Graphic design is a great industry to be a part of, but it’s also an industry that is constantly changing and evolving. This means that sometimes graphic designers can feel like they’ve been left behind in the industry and their graphic design skills are no longer up to scratch. Does that sound all too familiar? Not to worry, you just need to bring your design skills back to their former glory!

So, if this is you or if you’re a designer who’s left the industry for whatever reason and wants to come back, here are eleven different ways of how to improve your graphic design skills.

Graphic design is an exciting and rewarding career that allows you to use your creative skills to produce visual communications. As a graphic designer you get to work on projects like logos branding, advertisements, brochures, packaging, websites, and more. It’s a great field for creative types who want to make a living with their art.

But how exactly does one become a truly exceptional graphic designer? It takes more than just knowing the software and having an eye for aesthetics. Truly skilled designers have a range of competencies that help them create engaging and effective visuals.

If you want to take your graphic design skills to the next level, here are the most important things you need to focus on:

Get Proper Training and Education

While it’s possible to be self-taught most professional graphic designers have an education in the field. Formal training helps you thoroughly learn principles of design, typography, color theory, software programs and more.

There are a few potential paths to getting an education

Earn a degree: Many designers get a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design or a related field like Visual Communications. This provides comprehensive training along with general education courses.
Take certificate programs: Another option is to enroll in a certificate program focused specifically on graphic design. These usually take 1-2 years to complete.
Do online courses: If you want a flexible option, you can take online courses at your own pace. Sites like Skillshare and Udemy have extensive graphic design course libraries.
Get individual classes: Community colleges, art schools, and universities often offer standalone design classes you can take a la carte.

Education teaches you the foundations and gives your skills more legitimacy. Combine it with self-teaching and practice to become a consummate professional.

Master the Essential Design Software

While creativity is important, you also need to be proficient with standard design software. These programs allow you to execute your ideas and are used across the industry. Make sure you’re comfortable with key programs like:

Adobe Creative Cloud: Products like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign are must-knows. Practice using them to create designs until they feel second nature.
Adobe XD: For UI/web design, XD is great for wireframing sites and mocks ups. Get familiar with all its capabilities.
Affinity Designer: This budget alternative to Illustrator is popular for its versatility and affordable one-time pricing.
Procreate: If you want to do illustrations or drawings on an iPad, Procreate is the top choice for many designers.
Figma: A growing number of teams use Figma for collaborative design and handing off files to developers.
Canva: While more limited, Canva is a useful basic design program for simple graphics and social media posts.

Master these programs, and you’ll be able to produce professional-level design work. Don’t be intimidated—they just take practice.

Build Up Your Design Skills

Beyond pure software skills, work on growing these essential graphic design competencies:

Visual hierarchy: Learn to create layouts where the most important elements draw the viewer’s eye first. Use principles like size, color, contrast, whitespace, and more to develop strong hierarchies.

Typography: Practice combining fonts, adjusting kerning/tracking, choosing appropriate styles and sizes, and using type effectively to enhance designs.

Color: Understand color harmonies, palettes, the psychology of color, and how to use it for branding, emotion, and visual interest.

Composition: Lay out elements in a visually pleasing way that leads the eye through the design. Master compositional principles like the rule of thirds, symmetry/asymmetry, and simplicity.

Visual metaphors: Come up with creative visuals that represent ideas and brands. For example, an owl for wisdom or a lightbulb for ideas.

Styles and techniques: Try your hand at different aesthetics like minimalism, maximalism, retro, lettering, isometric designs, flat graphics, and more to expand your capabilities.

Layouts: Work on crafting common layouts like brochures, ads, flyers, magazine spreads, book covers, packaging, and more. Consider how sizes, grid systems, and margins affect layouts.

Brainstorming: Generate ideas for designs quickly through techniques like mind mapping, word association, sketching, mood boards, and visual research.

Improving all these core skills takes practice but will make you a well-rounded designer.

Find and Develop Your Personal Design Style

While you want to be versatile, it also helps to have a distinct visual style as part of your personal brand. Think about what makes your work unique including things like:

Favorite aesthetics and genres
Recurring themes and visual metaphors
Common color palettes and typeface choices
Specific textures, shapes, or artistic approaches you gravitate towards
Subject matter you feel most passionate about designing for

Take inspiration from styles and artists you admire, but put your own spin on things. Having an identifiable style makes your work more memorable.

Specialize in Specific Areas of Design

Many designers focus on and become known for specific specialties. Some possibilities include:

Print: business cards, stationery, brochures, magazines, books, posters, etc.

Packaging: product boxes, bottles, bags, food packaging, etc.

Branding: logos, branding guidelines, visual identity systems, etc.

UI/web: website pages, mobile apps, dashboards, user flows, etc.

Advertising: display ads, social media ads, billboards, campaigns, etc.

Illustration: custom artwork for books, editorial, merchandising, etc.

Information design: charts, graphs, diagrams, infographics, maps, etc.

Motion graphics: Animated videos, kinetic typography, 2D/3D animations, etc.

Choose specialties you enjoy and that align with your skills and interests. Become known for those to stand out.

Build an Impressive Portfolio

Your portfolio is one of the most vital things for landing clients and jobs as a graphic designer. Take the time to curate it well:

Showcase your best work: Only include your strongest, most polished designs that show your talents. Quality over quantity.
Organize neatly: Group projects logically, make great title pages, and lay out the portfolio cleanly.
Explain each project: Include a brief description of the purpose, process, and your role for each piece.
Format attractively: Use a visually engaging, easy-to-navigate online portfolio site or PDF.
Customize for roles: When applying for jobs, you can tailor which projects you highlight.
Get feedback: Ask other designers how you can improve your portfolio.

An exceptional portfolio will get you noticed and impress potential employers or clients.

Learn from Experienced Designers

Look for opportunities to learn from more seasoned designers who can mentor you:

Many recent design grads do internships with leading firms to gain experience under the guidance of senior designers.
If you work at a firm, connect with art directors or principals who can teach you and offer critiques.
Attend networking events and creative conferences where you can meet accomplished designers.
Follow top designers on social media and read interviews with them to get insight into their thought processes and tips.
Ask respected designers if they’d be open to giving occasional feedback on your portfolio or offering career advice. Many are willing to pay it forward.

Having an experienced designer take you under their wing is invaluable for taking your skills to new heights. Be humble and eager to learn.

Join Online Design Communities

Connect with fellow designers through active online communities. These are great for getting feedback, staying inspired, and making connections:

Dribbble: This community of designers share their latest projects and give feedback.
Behance: Adobe’s portfolio site has groups focused on critiques and career advice.
Reddit: Subreddits like r/graphic_design and r/design offer chances to share work and chat.
Discord: Graphic design discords let you meet and chat with other creatives.
Slack: Join a Slack group of designers to collaborate and support each other.
Facebook Groups: Interact with designers across the world through niche Facebook Groups.
Twitter chats: Follow hashtags like #designchat to connect in real time on Twitter.

Surrounding yourself with talented designers will push you to improve and open doors.

Learn to Accept Constructive Criticism

Honing your skills requires regularly seeking out honest, thoughtful feedback from others. You need to:

Have a thick skin and try not to take critical feedback personally. Focus on the work, not your ego.
Ask clarifying questions if you don’t understand something in the critique. Don’t get defensive.
Note down aspects you could improve that get pointed out frequently.
Say thank you

how to be good graphic designer

Brush up on design theory

If you feel like your skills are a bit lacking, then it might just be a case of letting design theory, the thing that should be the basis of every one of your designs, slip. Design theory is ultimately what will make your design successful—so you’re not going to get very far without it.

Design theory includes the five principles of design (alignment, repetition, contrast, hierarchy and balance), the design process, colour theory, design thinking, process and application and a whole lot more. If you’re wondering how to improve your graphic design skills, then making sure that you’ve got your design theory knowledge in check is a great way to start.

Practice graphic design briefs

We all know that famous phrase “practice makes perfect” and in this case it really rings true. If you’re pondering how to improve your graphic design skills then get practising. Practice is important, especially if you’ve strayed from creating, as it gives you the headspace to think about how to design properly without the pressure of having to create work for a paying client.

There’s several ways to find briefs that will allow you to practise and improve your design skills. First up, you can simply write your own briefs. Not only will this allow you to work on something that you’ve always wanted to, but will also give you a great opportunity to experiment with your design work. If you want to get there faster, then there are dedicated websites, such as Briefbox, where you can find briefs to practice.

The ONLY way to become a better graphic designer

How to become a good graphic designer?

The amount of work you put into it depends if you want to work as a graphic designer or become adept at creating graphics for marketing. To further improve your design skills, follow video and text tutorials. These will help you learn how to use design tools and also how to get better at design.

How do you know if a graphic designer is good?

Someone who isn’t a professional designer can look at your portfolio and tell you if the designs are visually appealing and easy to understand, two hallmarks of effective graphic design. Online forums and communities like Dribbble are a great resource for graphic designers looking to get feedback on their work.

Should you learn graphic design?

Learning graphic design can be an excellent skill, whether you want to land a job as a graphic designer or become a well-rounded communications professional. Graphic design is a broad creative discipline that encompasses many types of visual design and communication, from designing brand logos to touching up photographs.

Do you need graphic design skills?

Graphic design is a skill needed in creative fields such as brand marketing, to government agencies that need infographics, to UX departments that need UI designers to create web pages. In this article, we’ll guide you through the steps to learn essential graphic design skills and point you toward resources for kickstarting your journey.