Are you finding it hard to win a design job? Discouraged by how fierce the competition is? It doesn’t have to be this way. There’s a sure-fire way for you to stand out and be noticed by potential clients here on DesignCrowd.
One of the key things you need to do is to master your skills and become an expert in your field. And in order to achieve this expertise, you need to learn from other crowdsourcing designers.
Learning from other designers – why it’s important?
Inspiration is one of the first things a designer must have in order to create and design things, and design inspiration is everywhere you go, if you know where to look.
Once you have found a creative brief on DesignCrowd, the first stage of the process is research. Whilst most research is done across the vast expanse that is the world wide web, another great source you may be overlooking is one that is right under your fingertips.
You can take a look at some of the past designs from DesignCrowd. It’s great to look at other designers’ work for inspiration, research, and understanding. DesignCrowd has a lot of galleries that you can explore. You can view galleries that display logos, posters, or even t-shirt designs. You can also browse through different categories such as corporate identity and branding, web design, graphic design, and print design.
If you are a freshly minted designer and new to crowdsourcing design platforms such as DesignCrowd, it pays to take a look at past contests to see which designs have won and how they compare to others. Analyze the body of work of a winning designer or a design studio, see what makes them tick, and what made them land the win.
Note that looking at designs is an entirely different thing from copying designs. The latter is plagiarism while the former is all about learning and getting inspired by other designers. Discover 5 ways to avoid design theft with this article.
What to look for from top designers
When looking for design inspiration from other people’s work, it is important to look at elements such as the following:
1) Colors
Analyze the color scheme of the winning design. How do you think the designer came up with the colors? A great designer should be able to take the target audience into consideration when choosing the colors that are going to be used in a website, a logo, or a flyer.
Moderation should be taken into account when choosing a color palette, and you will see that most of the designs on DesignCrowd limit the color schemes.
2) Shapes
Check the winning designs in DesignCrowd and see how their shapes have influenced the overall design. Shape is an important element of design because it suggests physical form, boundaries, and even physical movement.
3) Trends
As a designer, you need to stay relevant and be on top of things. This means being knowledgeable about the latest design trends. While not all trends stay or need to be followed, it pays to get to know them first before deciding whether or not you will use them in your own designs. You can get up to date with the latest design trends by reviewing the most recent work posted in DesignCrowd.
4) Focal points
In a winning design, check where the emphasis is placed. What part of the winning design managed to capture and hold your attention? That’s what is called a focal point. In a perfect design, the focal point guides the viewer to a key area in the design, such as a call to action button or a form field.
5) Layout
Imagine the kind of layout used behind these winning designs. Having an effective layout is crucial because it makes the final design more visually appealing. A great basis for layout is using the grid concept.
6) Typography
Check how typography is integrated into the winning design. A great graphic designer takes advantage of typography in order to make the words within a design stand out. It makes the client’s content easier to read and it improves the visual presentation.
7) Balance
Another important element of design is balance. This gives stability and structure to a design. Check how the designer managed to implement balance in the overall design of the winning work. It could be a symmetrical balance, which is achieved through repetition of various design elements, or asymmetrical balance, which is achieved by providing contrast in the design.
Doing your homework pays off
Once you have taken all of these elements into account, look at the client’s brief and see the key points they are asking for. Then look at the designs (including the winning design) and see how the designs meet the requirements that were mentioned in the brief.
Researching through past designs on DesignCrowd is a secret tool that you can, and definitely should, take advantage of. It will show you how to come up with a winning design that will help you stand out and get ahead of your competition.
Scope out DesignCrowd’s best designers
You can also take a look into the work of DesignCrowd’s top designers, and see how they manage to remain in top form and create winning designs that clients absolutely love:
Aside from looking at the designs created by these top designers, find the Inspiration Galleries we mentioned above by heading over to Designers on our website and clicking on Inspiration Galleries. This is where you get to look at specific categories such as Graphic Design Gallery, Logo Design Gallery, or Web Design Gallery, and many more. The categories come in very handy if the brief you are working on has a very specific niche.
Another useful DesignCrowd resource are the Best of DesignCrowd Design round-ups, which are showcase the caliber and creativity of the best designers on our site. These can inspire you, whilst letting you in on the current trends for specific businesses.
Whether you are a newbie designer or a seasoned pro, it pays to never stop learning. You can learn new things simply by looking at the work of top-notch designers, and there’s no better way to do that than by browsing through the various designs right here on DesignCrowd. Best of luck!
Want More?
Design can be a tricky business. Thankfully we’re here to help you navigate it. Check out these articles for more tips:
How to Come Up with Creative Ideas (5 Step Creative Process)
Master The Qualities of Effective Beautiful Design
4 Reasons Why Research Will Make You A Better Designer
Written by Jessica Walrack on Thursday, November 17, 2016
Jessica Walrack is a professional freelance writer with a background in sales and marketing. After 7 years in the corporate world, she stepped into the online sphere and has now been freelancing for 4 years. She specializes in helping businesses to create a stellar online experience for their audience in order to build industry authority and increase profitability. In her spare time, Jessica enjoys traveling all over the world with her family.