10 Habits to Help You Master Graphic Design

Good learning habits are a powerful tool to master design, especially if you practice them long enough so they become like second nature. So for those who want to master graphic design, some habits work better than most.

Here are 10 habits to help you master graphic design.

1. Creating

This is an obvious start but nevertheless, creating something every day is the surefire way to success. Why? Because perfection comes from repetition. The more you do something, the better you become at it.

2. Competing

If we rule out our survival instinct, plain old competition is one of the best motivators out there. Once you know someone else is chasing after the same thing you are, you go way over your head to catch it first. Competition makes us grow.

3. Switching projects

In real life, we gain experience by wrestling with different problems and obstacles. It would be impossible to learn anything new if we stayed at home the whole time.

The same rules apply to your design ability. If you keep doing only logos, or only websites, or only illustrations, you’ll surely get good at it — but you’ll also lock yourself into a different type of house, the one that keeps you away from the design knowledge and experience waiting for you.

Change the projects you do once in a while. Use the experience you gain to grow your understanding of design and become even better at projects you prefer doing.

4. Switching styles

People are creatures of habit, and designers are probably the worst kind. They keep doing the same things to their artwork, which eventually gives them their “style”. While having a style is a very good thing for a painter or musician, for designers it’s kind of a hindrance. Their job is different from art because it requires them to adapt their style to requirements of the project and its audience. This is very hard, because it asks them to deliberately ignore their own preferences in favour of doing the right thing.

Switch styles often and learn to design for the project, not for your own taste. This is what graphic design is about.

5. Imitating

Imitation is a form of social learning. It means we mimic what other people do, so we don’t have to learn things from scratch.

In design, this means you’re free to use the layouts, styles and typeface combinations you’ve seen somewhere else. If it works, why bother inventing it all over again? In fact, imitating the approach of more advanced designers out there will give you some instant improvement in the quality of your work.

However, be careful not to confuse imitation with plagiarism. You should never, ever copy every aspect of another person’s work. It’s illegal and you get nothing from it.

6. Analysing

You just started a new project and decided to get some juices flowing by sifting through online portfolios. But have you ever stopped to wonder why a certain design works? Is it because of the layout, the photography or a specific combination? This is where analysis comes in.

Try to be scientific in the way you observe other people’s work and derive some conclusions concerning principles and rules behind their looks. It’s useful to know graphic design principles, so you can recognise them at work, but just thinking things through will give you great results.

7. Reflecting

Reflection is a powerful learning device and it works just as well for design work. It’s worth to occasionally look at projects you’ve done months or years before and see the mistakes you’ve made. You’ll understand the progress you’ve made, and more importantly, where you need to go.

8. Studying

Most designers agree on one thing: you don’t really need an education to get ahead in this industry. It’s true. If you’re talented, you can do very well just by doing, and no one will ever ask you for your educational background. It’s the way it goes with visual arts.

But “doing” is a very limited experience. Just like practice, studying is indispensable. Whether you decide to do it by reading some good design books or by taking an online course or college, education always makes you better at what you do.

9. Perfecting

Rehearse! Rehearse! Rehearse! Anybody taking acting or speaking classes will find these 3 words very familiar.

In design terms, it means a very specific thing — do not stop working and reworking until your design “works”. If something doesn’t look right, trash it and start all over, even if it took weeks to complete. The only thing that counts is the end result, not the time you’ve put in. Perfect until it’s perfect.

10. Respecting

Do you know how designers and artists worked 20, 30, 50 years ago in your country and in the world? Do you know how they influenced the design community, including you?

Make a habit of recognising, respecting and sharing great work you see today. It helps you understand where design is going and build a sense of design zeitgeist.

SOURCE: 99 Designs