Tips for you to avoid headaches in the future and stay strong in your professional career
If you’ve just graduated or are in the process of learning, it’s interesting that you work or graduate in an agency, creative studio, office etc. After all, learning in practice is the best of all, besides having the chance to work alongside good professionals. Here are the 11 best tips for beginner designers:
Always ask. Think for yourself
No idea or trend about design is absolute and unquestionable. No trend is necessarily legal just because someone said it is. And this may include your teacher, your boss, your co-worker, that designer you admire, that other one who is a famous youtuber.
In the same way, not everything that is popular is bad. Sometimes what is fashionable may be something cool, but you need to have discernment to evaluate and see what is best for you and your project. Always ask yourself and do not forget to also question yourself.
Have critical and analytical sense
Everyone has their tastes. It’s normal. But liking one thing does not necessarily mean that it is a good thing, or at least it is good for other people. A design project is like a child you create for the world and not for you. Sometimes we may err in certain projects because we are bound by certain manias, prejudices and beliefs, which is pretty normal.
The project is not a work of art where it exposes its world view and its most hidden murmurs. Do not let vanity interfere with your design. Do not let prejudices and dogmas interfere with your creativity. Be receptive to new ideas and proposals and use them if you want.
Validate your ideas
Something is not entirely true just because you think it is. That color you applied on the button, for example, may, perhaps, not have the expected effect. That source you have chosen thinking in a way can convey a different meaning to your customer’s audience. Test your ideas, test your layouts. Experiment, observe and learn from the results, be they positive or negative. If your layout is disapproved, do not go whining and go for another idea. Analyze the result and follow the trail it generated. Most importantly do not delete the unsuccessful design from your system as it may not be useful now, but it may turn out to be in the future on other projects with other clients.
You too may be wrong, if so, get over it
From the most experienced designers with years of profession to the youngest with weeks in the field, everyone has one thing in common: they are human beings. Humans are always liable to error. To err is normal and is part of learning. The sooner you make a mistake, the faster you can correct, improve and evolve it. Do not get scared because you forgot to send the file in curves for graphics, because you uploaded the site with some wrong image, because what you thought would work would not happen.
Make the mistake, apologize (if necessary), and start looking for solutions. It is not healthy a nightmare to last longer than one night.
Do not accept all kinds of work.
Especially when we are starting in the area we have the custom to accept everything that comes along. The problem with this is that sometimes we accept certain “bombs” that we cannot even deal with or even that we do not have to deal with. Avoid picking up bigger jobs than you where you will not be able to deliver with the right quality. Avoid picking up work from problem clients. There are things that are better to lose than win!
Your career is like a plant where you first plant the seed, water it, apply fertilizer, leave it in the sun. Take care of it with affection. Only after a while it will begin to flower and bear good fruit. You’re a marathon runner and not a sprinter.
Be honest with yourself
It is impossible to be 100% at all. No one manages to corner and run to head the ball in the area. As important as knowing your potential is acknowledging your limitations. You should recognize your limitations so that you can improve them if it is in your best interest, or if not, so you do not waste time investing energy in something you do not like.
If a client asks you to make a website but you do not understand anything about Web Design do not expect to learn everything you need in just three days. In such cases be sincere say you are not aware of it. There’s no harm in it. You do not need to know everything. If this limitation is an aggravating factor for your career, look for ways to improve and even cure that difficulty.
Work in moderation
Lack of work is bad, but excess is too. Too much work can hurt your health and your emotional health. Often that famous caught in creativity may be just because of overwork. So getting out a little from the front of the computer may be the solution. Often the idea for that project can appear when you are doing other activities, so pay dearly for your well-being as well. Physical, mental and emotional health are super important. If you are not well, you will not be able to do good work.
Beware of Partnerships
Most creatives have the dream of starting their own business and working on their own, so they end up hastening and starting partnerships with people they do not know enough to create an agency, a startup, a bureau, etc. Being in partnership with someone is something serious. It is a relationship of trust and partnership. Unfortunately, not all people have this in mind, especially when you have money at the table. In fact, people often reveal their true self when they have money in play.
Think hard before joining any project with any college classmate, with a relative, with a former co-worker. Analyze what you can lose if it does not work, what risks, etc.
Save money to invest in your career
Yes, you can learn a lot with free content. There are great deals on the internet. You can learn from them and even start your portfolio with only that kind of material. But if you want to progress faster, find more quality, learn more and give a boost in your career, you will surely have to invest in courses, online and / or face to face, lectures, workshops and so on. Consider this as an investment in your career and not as an expense whatsoever. Reserve a little of what you earn to invest in your progress.
Gathered here some tips can be helpful to anyone who is starting a career in graphic designing. Although everything works hard, study always and do things with ethics and dedication that in the end everything tends to work. It is very good to act with design, creation and communication.
Author Bio:
Sarah Feldman is currently working as a Marketing Manager for Digital Express, a Web Design Agency in Dubai. She loves to write about latest trends Graphics and Website Design.
