As a designer, your learning process should never truly stop. In order to keep up with constant changes in this domain of graphic design, you should always be open to new things and have the desire to grow, to develop your skills. The biggest mistake as a graphic designer is to stagnate, instead of trying to constantly develop yourself professionally. Here are a few useful tips that will help you improve yourself as a designer and become at the top of your game.

improve-yourself

Constantly improve your portfolio
You shouldn’t just put together a portfolio, then completely forget about it for ages. It should be a reflection of yourself and your skills. As you constantly grow and improve, your portfolio should do the same. It should be always up to date and neat. This includes replacing any bent or ripped pieces of work and cleaning fingerprints and smudges from the clear page slips.

Invest more time into research
Naturally, the design process should start with research. It may seem like a boring process to some, but it can make a lot of difference. Used correctly, it increases the chances that your graphic product will touch the desired target group and send them the right message. Choose your target group and gather as much information as you can about it. It can be helpful to think about your target group as a person – by asking yourself questions like: is it a woman/man? ; what age is he/she? ; what are his/her interests? etc. This way it will be easier to narrow it down and to get the intended message across to the right people. Try putting more time into the research part than you usually did and you’ll see for yourself how helpful it can be.

Keep your analytical sense sharp
A good designer should be capable of objectivity when appreciating design products . He should be able to make a difference between a good design and a bad one, and to know exactly why it works or it doesn’t work. This will help you to improve your own works or to recreate other works in your own way, by improving what you think was wrong with it in the first place. It might be helpful to look through your old works and see what you could have done better, just don’t cross the line and become over-analytical with yourself or with others.

Keep your curiosity aroused
Whether it’s visiting an art gallery or browsing online portfolios, it helps you stay interested in the subject and also to be up to date. It’s also a good idea to have a digital camera with you at all times, you never know when and where you see something that captures your attention and inspires you. Keeping your senses sharp will help you a lot, especially on the long run.

Learn to put yourself in the receiver’s place
It is crucial that you understand how people read things. Try to “test” your work, by putting yourself in the reader’s position and objectively observe your reactions to it. Maybe it sounds hard, but practice this at all times. Having good empathic aptitudes is very important for designers. It is very important that the reader gets the right message, and this is a simple but efficient method to avoid confusion. Of course, you can’t completely eradicate the chance of being misunderstood, but you can minimize it this way.

Be confident in yourself
Well this is a sound advice that every single one of us should keep in mind. Don’t stress yourself out and compare your work to others, just be true to yourself and grow as a designer in your own way. You must always have faith in yourself and your skills and try to adopt a positive attitude – it will get you far.