Learning graphic design online from home with video training

Lynda.com now offers video training in Graphic Design NOT JUST how to use the Software

You may have already heard of http://www.lynda.com they have been offering video based courses in many different design programs which is great but they didn’t really have anything to teach you the principles of design. Fortunately this has all changed and they now include courses such as

• Designing a Logo Hands-On workshop
• Designing Business Cards Hands-On Workshop
• Designing a Brochure Hands-On Workshop
• Designing an Event Poster Hands-On Workshop
• Designing a Newsletter Hands-On Workshop

Along with this they also feature videos of creative inspirations where artists and designers discuss their work. Lynda.com offers subscriptions starting at $25 month where you can watch their entire video library. Lynda.com is available on a subscription basis of $25 month to watch all their video collection. You can get a free 24 hour pass to lynda.com here

Knowledge City also offers online video training in Graphic Design you can study at home

Less well known than Lynda.com http://www.knowledgecity.com also offers training in graphic design as well as teaching you how to use the software

They have a video courses called

• Graphic Design Principles – which teaches you all about structure, grids, balance and colour theory
• Design and Layout Tutorials

Knowledgecity also gives you access to all its videos for a subscription of $29 month

Learning graphic design using sample design briefs

Once you have a good understanding of design and layout the best thing to do is start practicing, on graphic design blog I have a section with sample design briefs which you can try or alternatively you can write your own briefs.

Graphic design software

Try to learn the main graphic design packages if you can afford to, most give educational dicounts or at least let you download trial versions. For print Quark or Indesign, Photoshop and Illustrator. For Web you might look at Dreamweaver or Flash or just use a text editor. If you can’t afford the main packages you could look at open source options shown in the video below.

Getting help learning graphic design

There are a few graphic design forums if you need someone to help you. Take a look at my design resources page (near the bottom of the page) where you will find a list of design forums. My design resources page also has a good list of places you can find cheap and free royalty free images to use in your designs.

Keeping up with what’s happening in graphic design

There are a lot of great graphic design blogs that provide excellent information to help you learn graphic design as do graphic design books. Also don’t forget printed magazines, the majority include tutorials Computer Arts, Net Magazine, Web Designer Magazine, Creative Review (inspiration rather than tutorials).

With a lot of hard work you can teach yourself graphic design

My best time for running 2 miles is 10 minutes and 13 seconds. But before that, I did it in 15 minutes and 45 seconds. It took me 4 weeks to get that low.

I improved by monitoring and adjusting:

• Arrival times at certain waypoints
• Running strike (toe vs. mid)
• Bursting interval (burst on the last waypoint)
• Breathing pattern (deep vs. shallow)
• Cadence

I consistently drove my times down by a minute or more each week because I knew the intricacies of the route and of myself.

So how does my experience relate to you designers?

In the Information Age, obviously information flows freely. And in that flow information can take on the form of words and even visual art. Information is aggregated, channeled, packaged, repackaged, socialized, and consumed.

Here is an example flow of information:

After posting your artwork on your website it gets…

• Searched by Google, Yahoo, and Bing
• Gets Tweeted by curious web surfers
• Tweeters see the Tweet
• Gets Tweeted again by there 2000+ followers and their 2000+ followers
• Then someone emails to their friend
• Then it gets forwarded to other friends
• Spreads on FaceBook
• Blogged about by art aficionados which gets sent out by an RSS feed
• And finally someone sees and prints your design on t-shirts without your permission and makes a lot of money

From a designer’s context, when you follow and monitor this flow you’ll begin to ask questions (after all humans are curious).

• Where does the information go?
• How does my design get spread and consumed?
• What is their reaction?
• How do they feel about the design?
• What brought visitors to your client?
• What design elements are they attracted to?
• Is the design understandable?
• Will they come back for more?
• Is it popular?
• Is my client seeing favorable results?
• How does my design fare against their competitors or even my competitors?

Why is this important? Because it tells you what is or what’s not working. Just measuring revenue is not enough.

Information can be monitored especially on the web. And in each sector, market, and industry there are sets of metrics that determine successes and failures. Find out what metrics matter to your client when you consult them. Then you can draw out what metrics relate to what design elements.

If you are not doing this already, start now. AND if your client is not doing this already, it will make your job an up hill battle because the Attention Age is upon us. If you’re designs are not capable of getting attention, you’re more likely to fail.

About Jae – he has intense interests in art and business. He has founded KnowledgeCity.com, an online education company for the general market. Jae has been a designer of all sorts for 15 years, runs two other business, and has never been to college.”

You can start sharing your screen once you start voice or text chat with one of your contacts, see below:

How it could work for your design clients
You could talk through design projects with a client. Instead of just sending through a PDF this gives you the ability to point with your mouse at various design elements or even alter things live on screen while talking with your design clients. Of course if the client has a pdf of the design they can also then show it on their screen and point to things they want to change. This could be especially useful when working with non local clients.

How this could be useful for working with other designers
The share screen feature allows you to show your designer friends/colleagues your projects to get feedback instantly. You can also use it to show someone live how to do something – a mini live tutorial. For example my friend had never used Cyberduck so I showed her how to set it up and she followed what I was doing on screen.

In Safari go into your preferences and under the advanced tab you will see an option to click a check box for show develop menu in menu bar.

Then when you are using safari go to the top menu which says develop and scroll down to web inspector.

Just as with Firebug the web inspector panel will appear at the bottom of your Safari browser. Use the magnifying glass icon to select elements and view its HTML and CSS.

If you still want to stick with firebug I have also just found out that Firebug Lite will work with Safari though I haven’t tried this out.

The Designer’s Graphic Stew

What is Graphic Stew

Graphic Stew is a book which basically breaks up design elements that you would have on the printed page and shows you lots of different things you can do with them. For example there are pages devoted to possible grid systems, colour pallettes, typeface combinations and options amongst many other items. At the beginning of the book there is also a very good grounding into page layout and good composition that would be ideal for newbies.

First Impressions of Graphic Stew

I have to admit my first impressions of Graphic Stew were not good. The cover was ok but inside the layout and style is very dated, I am not sure if this is intentional as they are playing on the idea of a menu or recipe book. I even turned to look at the first print date as I expected it to be the nineties – but read on the content was better than the look.

What’s Good about the Graphic Stew Design Book

Are you ever working on a design and get stuck in a rut with your layout or trying to get something to look a bit different then Graphic Stew could help you be a little bit more experimental. I know personally that layout for layouts sake is not my favourite thing (I prefer conceptial work) so when a client gives me some text and a few pics I sometimes sit and sketch and think ummm… what can I do different with it this time. This is where Graphic Stew could come in handy, perhaps for a bit of inspiration for a way I could use typography for a blown quote or a heading maybe using a leading symbol or an abstract background. The elements in Graphic Stew may not be works af art (or to be copied directly) in themselves but there to stimulate your creative brain to try out new things. Those small things that can make a difference to your design work are covered too – like different ways of styling folios on your pages.

Graphic Design Examples in Graphic Stew

Nearer the back of the Graphic Stew book are actual pieces of design work with an explanation to the layouts. This is a bit of a mixed bag again, with some of the work looking quite dated.

Should you buy Graphic Stew

If you want a graphic design book which is something you can flick through when you are stuck for what to do on a page layout this book is well worth checking out. If however you are looking for a graphic design book with beautiful typography and imagery this is not the book for you.

Examples of page indexing

Examples of page grids

• When you feel all the other designs are looking prettier than yours
• When you see a brochure and say – Why the “bleep” would you make typography that small – I would need a magnifying glass to read that (or my reading glasses). Thinking about it why did I used to laugh when someone suggested making body copy 12pt – it’s just perfectly sensible.
• When you want to get rid of your old Mac and get a newer more attractive model
• When you want an Ipad because – why?… well that still makes you hip doesn’t it?
• When you still have a fax machine in the corner of your office just in case anyone ever wants to send some amends through
• When you’re thinking about changing to Radio 2 for your background office music – because Radio 1 just repeats itself all day and what’s the “bleeping” dance stuff all about anyway
• When you still have a can of spray mount in the cupboard and have a little reminiscent sniff of its lid when you see it
• When you still think tranny means a 5″ x 4″ or 35mm slide you need to get scanned
• When you still love quark – and you don’t care what anyone else says, you know you’re right

So how did you do?

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A little while ago I was watching a video on Gideon Shalwick’s Blog about creating video content by looking as though you are being interviewed by someone and it struck me that it could be an ideal way for graduate designers to try and promote themselves. I can remember when I left college (pre internet) the only thing that you could really use to make yourself stand out was an unusual CV or piece of literature.  Youtube gives a graduate designer so many more options and I know this is something I would try if I wanted to try and stand out from the crowd.

Step 1 – Write out questions that a company might ask a graduate designer

This could be general questions such as what is your name, age, which town do you live in, but then add questions such as:
What do you like about graphic design?
What do you think are your strengths?
Where do you see yourself in 5 years time?
What experience do you have in graphic design?

Step 2 – Video yourself answering the graduate designer interview questions

Using a webcam, phone or camera set the questions up somewhere near the camera and record yourself answering them.

You can see how Gideon Shalwick does it in his videos.

Step 3 – Make a screen capture video of your design work

Take this one step further and after your interview produce a screen capture of you briefly talking through some pieces of work. There are various free and paid screen capture programs – including Camtasia (paid) and Jing (free). For a large list of screen capture options please see 35 Irresistible Free and Commercial Screen Recording Tools.

Step 4 – Upload your graduate designer video to Youtube and your website/blog

Once complete upload your video to Youtube and other video services through TubeMogul. Make sure you include a link back to your website in your Youtube description. Also upload it to your website. This will allow you to point potential employers to your video. I would still have a normal online portfolio available too in case people just want to quickly look at your work. You can also promote your video through facebook, twitter, LinkedIn etc.

If there was a specific design company you really wanted to work for you could make a video directly targeting that company.

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Concept feedback is a site which allows designers to post up their designs to be critiqued by other designers. If you work in a design studio environment it is easy to get feedback from your peers before presenting an idea to a client but if you work freelance it is not always so simple. Concept Feedback could help fill that gap. There are both paid and free options to have your work critiqued. The free option means you also have to give your time to critique other designer’s work.

Andrew from Concept Feedback is offering 3 graphic design blog readers the chance to try out the service – with one Mainstream concept posting and 2 basic postings. The first person who would like to try out the service please let me know in the comments and you will get a Mainstream posting, the next 2 people to comment interested in trying out the service will get to try the basic concept postings.

A well-designed flyer can provide a great marketing tool. Imaginative and compelling design, combined with efficient, targeted distribution, can make Flyers a cheap but effective element of a marketing campaign. Despite the emergence of e-mailers, mobile apps and other new media forms of communication, flyer design remains a useful skill. Below are a few tips aimed at designers who are new to creating Flyers:

1. Decide on your ‘creative concept’
The creative concept is the main theme that will flow throughout your publicity campaign. It must balance the need to catch the attention of viewers with that of promoting/selling your product/show/idea.

2. Make it eye catching
People are bombarded with advertising – so you need to ensure that your design leaves an impression

• Analyse your competitors’ efforts, and identify what sticks out and makes you focus on that particular design.
• If you are promoting a recognizable product/event/service, then a prominent photo of the topic is a good way to start.
• Another technique is to parody or play-on the theme of a well known, successful advertising campaign. (Be careful to respect the Intellectual Property of others – when using pictures for example, you must seek permission from the owner.)
• Simplicity. It is always better to choose simple designs for your flyer, as complex illustrations can make your flyer design look too busy.

3. Emphasize the selling points of your product
Identify what sets your product/event/service apart, often called Unique Selling Points (USP’s)

• A well known brand that will sell itself?
• Separate the features from benefits and focus on the latter
• Offers something new/niche/original?

4. Wording is key
It’s all too easy to overload a flyer with information. People typically have very short attention spans, thus a word heavy flyer may put people off reading it.

• Try to express selling points concisely
• Use imaginative, exciting, punchy, catchy language
• Phrase your message using “you” opposed to I or we. People want know what the flyer is offering THEM
• Create a “call to action” – persuasive words that hook the interest of readers. These can be as simple as “Order It Now” or “Call Today”, or alternatively a provocative headline/question may also be successful

5. Create a Professional Impression
Font choice

• Try limit the number of font types used to 2
• Use easily readable font-types for critical information (telephone numbers / web address / etc)
• Limit the number of logo’s displayed
• Avoid using all capitals, as these can be difficult to read

Layout

Give consideration to the printing process – e.g. leave bleed space (don’t place text or vital information too close to the edges of the design as these may be omitted during the printing process)

Proofing

• Ensure that at least a couple of people proofread the text
• Try to arrange a proof from your printer – they will produce a 1:1 copy of the final product. This is particularly important as the colour gamut displayed on your monitor varies considerably from that of printing presses.

Paper Choice

• Choose your stock carefully – paper weight/density / paper size / after-effects such as gloss laminate
• Heavier weight, finished/coated paper can help to achieve more “up scale” aesthetics

6. Make sure you communicate with your supplier/printer

• Identify what your printer needs of you – colour scales (RGB/CMYK) / file types
• Familiarize yourself with the dialogue your printer may use in correspondence
• Gain estimates for the lead-time – checking files (proofing), creating plates, printing, and delivery
• Take feedback from your printer (e.g will colours reproduce as you intended)

7. Allow yourself ample time for the design process!

• Give yourself at least 2-3 weeks before the flyers need to be distributed
• Account for at least a couple of proofs

8. Example Design
The following design has proved popular with our estate-agent customers. It is a simple use of a property related library Image, which instantly conveys the desired message, whilst also being easily adaptable for different customers.

Key Points:
1) The typography is clear and modern.
2) The layout is simple and uncluttered.
3) It can be colour coded to the estate agent to reinforce their brand.
4) It is a generic concept that appeals to all, and requires no previous knowledge or brand awareness.
5) The design suits a mailing card/flyer format as it communicates the purpose of the postcard at first glance.

Article Submitted by Alistair Boughton on behalf of Booklet Printing

Just lately I have been meeting up with an old friend of mine who did the same graphic design course as me years ago. A lot of the work she currently does is very corporate and a style is already set so she doesn’t get much opportunity to be creative. She was very nervous about designing a logo for a friend of hers because she felt she hadn’t been using her creative brain for a long time, so we got together so she could show me her first logo design ideas.

We went through the logo design options she had with me throwing in suggestions for new directions she could take the designs in. I am always wary when giving critism as I have been given terrible feedback in the past, you know the sort if thing, when someone tells you that’s not what they want but they have no idea why. What I found however was that critiquing her designs gave me a real buzz and ideas were flowing far more than in my own work at the moment. Now why is this? Perhaps because it is not my project the pressure is gone, perhaps because I am an outsider seeing something fresh it is easier, perhaps its because I am talking it through with someone else – two heads are better than one. She has also helped me with feedback on some logos designs that I produced for a charity.

What I have learned from this is, that as freelancer designers working from home, we miss out on seeing and talking about other peoples work as well as our own. We are going to continue meeting up every few weeks to talk through ideas (and of course have a nice lunch at the same time ). Purely the act of getting away from your desk and getting out and talking face to face with a friend in you own field can help too.

Try meeting up to critique each others work or brainstorm graphic design ideas

Do you share your ideas and critique designs with your designer friends?