Graphic Designer Learning Certificate Course – How to Speed up Your Design Process
In this day and age, it seems as if everybody’s in a rush and if they want something doing, they want it done yesterday. We know that time is money in a business sense, but we also know that you can’t rush perfection, and if you try to, you end up with mediocrity at best.
With so many people during lockdown deciding they wanted a new career path, more and more people signed up for a graphic designer learning certificate course with the goal of qualifying as a graphic designer.
- Becoming a graphic designer is very rewarding, but it’s also tough too. Not only do you have to learn the various skills and techniques required to become a designer, you also need to learn how to manage your schedule and deliver work to your clients in a timely manner.
- While you should never rush your designs, if you are taking too long your clients will likely grow impatient and look elsewhere for future designs, and we don’t want that. To help you speed things up a little, here’s a look at several tips on how to speed up your design process.
Get a clear vision of the design in your head
Before you even fire up your laptop and even consider starting your design, one of the first things you should do is make sure that you have a clear vision of the final design in your head.
- It doesn’t matter whether your client has hired you to create a new company logo for them, business cards, product packaging, an advertising flyer, or anything else, make sure you can visualise the finished design in your head before you begin.
- Obviously you don’t need to plan every last detail out in your head, but at least try to narrow down the large details so you have a rough idea of how the final design will look once completed.
- Once you sign up for a graphic designer learning certificate course, one of the first things you will be taught is visualisation. For a designer, being able to visualise a design before you’ve even started creating it yet is so important.
Communicate and be clear with your client
To save you a great deal of time and stress when it comes to graphic design, another tip for speeding things up is to communicate and be clear with your client at the start of the ordering process, before you begin the design.
Ask your client what they’re looking for, ask them the purpose of the design, ask for any special requirements, I.E a specific font or colour scheme, and try to get as much details from them as possible.
The last thing you want is to finalise your design, send it over to them, only to find that they’re asking for revisions because you used a colour scheme that they wanted to avoid. If you had known this from the start, you would know not to use it and consequently it would save you a good amount of time and stress.
The more info you can get from your client about what they’re looking for, and what they aren’t looking for, the quicker you can get on with bringing your vision, and their vision, to life.
Agree on a deadline and stick to it
Another useful tip for speeding up your design process is to ensure you agree upon a realistic deadline with your client, and obviously, that you stick to it.
If for example, they’re requesting a design which, along with the other orders you already have in your queue, will likely take you 7 days to deliver, make sure you agree upon a 7-day delivery with your client, and that you stick to it.
Of course, sometimes jobs can run longer, and life and technology issues can get in the way, so the occasional missed deadline isn’t the end of the world, but try to meet all of your deadlines, and if possible, meet them in advance as this will keep your clients happy so they’ll be more likely to order from you again, and recommend you to others.
Know where to draw inspiration from
A graphic designer, like any other creative, will need inspiration to create. Where you draw your inspiration from is entirely up to you, but just make sure that you find it.
When you’re studying as part of your graphic designer learning certificate course, your tutor will likely speak to you about inspiration and tell you what inspires them, and share their thoughts on what you can do when inspiration may be eluding you.
When you know you need to exercise, it’s always much easier to exercise when you’re motivated and inspired to do so, than it would be on days where you’re tired and uninspired. When it comes to graphic design, the same principle applies. It’s much easier to design when you’re inspired to do so, so make sure you know what inspires and motivates you.
Nail that layout
As a graphic designer, it’s important that you nail your layout nice and early, as this will form the foundation for your design.
It doesn’t matter what colour scheme you settle upon, text, fonts, typography, or anything else, if your layout isn’t right you’ll waste so much time moving things around, tweaking designs, and generally adjusting things so that they fit right with your vision.
If you nail your layout early, this is like the foundation to a home, in that it gives you something to build upon and it gives you a clearer idea of what the finished design is going to look like.
Invest in a good quality computer
As a graphic designer, your computer is one of your most important tools. Once you sit down and start learning as part of your graphic designer learning certificate course, you’ll quickly understand just how important a good quality computer really is.
Just like a carpenter needs a good set of tools, a graphic designer will need a fast, high quality computer. The last thing you want when you’re trying to get your designs completed quickly is to find that your computer is constantly freezing, buffering, and lagging.
We know that times are tough at the moment financially, but if you want to succeed as a graphic designer you are going to have to invest in a top quality computer. Don’t forget as an added bonus you can offset certain expenses on your tax return too.
Never take on too much work
While it will be tempting to take on as many jobs as possible so as to maximise your profits, if you take on too much work you’ll find yourself overworked, rushing, putting out sloppy work, and missing deadlines.
In order to ensure that you deliver your work in a timely manner, make sure you organise your schedule and workload properly and that you don’t take on too much work.
