Get to Know How They Do What They Do

We create visuals for a purpose.

That is the line of every graphic designer hired to contribute to a business’s brand identity.

You have to understand that they work differently from artists. In a sense, they can be creative, but their work has a professional meaning behind it.

The goal of their piece is to grab the attention of people around the globe. And to let people know that a particular brand exists.

But what does a graphic designer do exactly?

A Walk In The Shoes of Designers

The graphic design market is worth around $42 billion. It’s a growing industry that indeed shows promise.

It’s especially true now. Since the pandemic started, businesses have relied on graphic designers to aid them in their pursuit to stay relevant.

Designers use visuals to convey thoughts, actions, anything under the sun that brands want. It’s on-demand and quite a process to behold.

If you’re a new business owner who wants to learn how to design your graphics, welcome here!

But if you’re a veteran and just reading more on design, welcome to you too!

In our blog today, we’ll answer the question of how to become a graphic designer?

Now, let’s dive into the process itself–we plotted seven steps.

1. Analyze the Logo Brief
2. Draft the Blueprint
3. Feel the Mood Board
4. Illustrate the Sketch
5. Pick the Palette
6. Feedback Time
7. Polish the Mock-Up

Analyze the Logo Brief

Upon accepting a request from a brand, designers would read through a logo brief.

It comprises of:

• Brand Values: What does the business stand for or believe?
• Budget: How much are they willing to spend?
• Product Description: What are they selling?
• Target Audience: For who are their products and or services directed?
• Project Timing: How long are they giving you to create their design?
• Wanted Design Style: How do they want their brand identity to look?

Since you are designing for yourself, just answer those questions, so you have a goal to reach. After all, planning takes step by step.

The statement above is especially true around the budget, style, target audience, and project timing. Budget because you have to ask yourself if you are going to buy software or use tools online.

The style, you’ll learn how to do this in the following bullets below. For the target audience, it’s great to have one specific demographics for now, like hipsters or salon owners in Australia.

Here’s our sample logo brief. Let’s say we want a design for a pastry shop.

You can branch out later when you’re ready, and business is thriving. Lastly, for your project timing, you have to give yourself ample time.

Depending on the scale of your project, small projects take four months to complete. For medium-sized projects, it’ll take you around five months or more.

Draft the Blueprint

Your blueprint is writing down everything related to the design you want. Let’s say you’re a pastry shop whose target audience is people how to love customized food.

In this section, we’d be answering, what is mind mapping?

Welp, mind mapping is precisely the meaning that we said earlier. Let’s say the name of the business’s name as stated in the logo brief.

You’d write down anything related to the name. Nyanko is Japanese for kitty or how they meow. So you can write down kitty or cat or even the different breeds of cats.

Also, since munchies are related to pastries, you can write down each idea on top of your head–muffins, cakes, cinnamon rolls, doughnuts, anything under the sun.

Doing this gives you a clearer view of what you can use for your final design.

Feel the Mood Board

Now let’s get into the inspiration for your design. You can visit pages like Pinterest, We Heart It, Dribble, etc. These platforms allow you to look at photos that spark your creativity.

Like the example below, we searched for pastries, cats, anything related to sweets for the mood board.

You can save any photo you want as long as it sparks that creativity. And you know that it’s the style you want for your overall branding.

Illustrate the Sketch

Now we’re getting into one of the heavy lifting areas of designing. You can draw what you want by hand.

You don’t have to be a good artist for it as long as you draw the basics. Once you have finished your hand-drawn sketch, you can add it to the editing software you would use–like Adobe Illustrator.

Take a photo of it first, then transfer it to the editor to add the final touches to the elements. You’d be refining your piece with better tools and removing the grainy look of the photo into looking at the logo as sharp as ever.

Pick the Palette

To complete the look of your design, you have to add color. An excellent way for you to decide which ones to use is to base it on color psychology.

Each color has the meaning that it represents. Use that to your advantage. Mix and match hues as you please. Some great combinations are:

• Cyan, Yellow, Magenta, Black (Printer Ink)
• Goldenrod, Turquoise, Brick, Magenta
• Pink and Brown (Shades)
• Grey, Charcol, Gold
• Tan, Deep Turquoise, Black

Don’t be afraid to try different tints and shades. You’ll get the best combo when you take some time to look.

For our example, here is the color palette we used—pink and brown shades with a hint of white. The combination is charming.

Try the template yourself here.

Feedback Time

After finishing the initial design, designers make sure that they get feedback–especially from the client. Getting their opinion on the plan will help you steer in the right direction or compliment your work.

Make sure to incorporate any necessary comments and missing elements as needed by the client.

Voila! You can now proceed to the last step of your design process–the application of the graphics in real life.

Polish the Mock-Up

Now, to test if your design is excellent for your brand, put them on mock-ups. Mock-ups are basically how your design would look on actual merch.

Choose a stock photo with a blank canvas for merch–like a t-shirt, towel, phone, or a tote bag. Add your design on it, and voila!

You now have your final design. For reference, here are our example mock-ups:

The More You Know!

Congratulations. You know graphic design skills that you could use for you

Though we know that sometimes we have brain farts, no inspiration or ideas come to life. That’s why we’re here.

You can either hire a designer to help actualize your vision here at DesignCrowd or edit one yourself at BrandCrowd.

Happy designing!

Read More On Design Here:

Written by DesignCrowd on Monday, November 22, 2021

DesignCrowd is an online marketplace providing logo, website, print and graphic design services by providing access to freelance graphic designers and design studios around the world.