7 Essential Graphic Design Skills Every Designer Should Know

An image of a silver laptop on a white desk, displaying the words ‘Graphic Design Skills’ in black. Next to the laptop is a yellow and orange color palette and a green plant in a white pot. The background features a black banner with ‘BrandVillage™’ and ‘Give us a Call. 0406 856 882’ written in white.

Published: September 28, 2023

Graphic designing is a hot-take industry in today’s time. It is a very potential and lucrative option to start earning big today. However, more than just becoming a graphic designer is required.

Having the right set of graphic designing skills will help you become aware of visual styles.

Graphic design is one of those industries that is here to stay and the experts at BrandVillage have some of the best graphic designers in Melbourne.

Essential Skills for Graphic Design

Establishing yourself as a graphic designer in the market requires you to have the right set of skills. This will be essential in understanding how to design a logo.

Our professional graphic designers are trained in tools and soft skills that have helped them create a mark in the industry. Below are some of the important skills you need to acquire as a graphic designer to excel in the industry:

1. Creativity

Graphic Icon of Creativity

You know the drill.

Creativity is one of the most important skills that you need to have to become a graphic designer. If you’re not creative, you’re not winning.

As a graphic designer, your prime role will be developing new ideas and innovative business designs. A graphic designer is one of the most important assets in any company. You must tap into the creative resource properly to be able to deliver. You should know what medium you will be working on and how.

2. Communication

Graphic icon of Communication

Graphic designers need to be very thorough with their communication skills.

Not only do you have to sharpen your skills as a speaker, but also as a listener. Communication is the key to understanding what exactly your clients require.

You need to listen well to your clients to process the feedback. When you communicate with your clients properly, you can explain the design elements properly. Proper communication skills will help you avoid being technical in an effortless manner that your audience can understand.

3. Typography

Graphic icon of Typography

Not only writing but making the fonts visually appealing is also critical. Professional designers would agree on how much of an impact typography can have on the design.

Fonts have become highly accessible in today’s time. Properly trained graphic designers can easily understand the difference in typography. Depending on that, they will be able to use the complimentary logo colours.

Trained and skilled graphic designers are aware of different fonts. As a result, depending on the different business requirements, they can include the fonts with colours accordingly.

4. Interactive Media

graphic icon of Interactive media

Interactive media has become one of the most important aspects of graphic design. As an aspiring designer, you need to acquire this skill and hone it with time.

Interactive media is an umbrella term comprising all media the user can engage with. It can range from moving images, texts, animations and more.

When training to become a graphic designer, you must expose yourself to as many interactive media as possible. This will help you understand different media types and eventually include them in the design for your clients accordingly.

5. Branding

Graphic icon of branding

Branding is one of the most important skills for graphic designers.

As a graphic designer, when you’re familiar with branding, you can understand the client’s needs. You need to understand your client brands to cater to their needs.

Social media branding and graphic design go hand-in-hand. You should choose branding efficiently so that you can cater to their needs.

6. Coding

Graphic icon of desktop PC and some code graphic into the screen

Being proficient in coding has become a basic requirement for most graphic design jobs. When working on different tools, you must be familiar with coding to work on colour grades.

Although you don’t have to be excellent at coding, basic HTML knowledge does not harm anyone.

Being familiar with coding can help you understand how a website is created. Eventually, you can learn the fundamentals of C++ and Java to make a mark in the industry.

7. Creative Apps

Graphic icon of creative apps

There are a lot of creative apps that graphic designers need to be familiar with.

As a graphic designer, you must start learning free graphic design apps. Once you establish yourself, consider moving to expensive and advanced creative apps by Adobe and other leading companies.

Conclusion

Becoming a graphic designer is no child’s play. Not only do you have to dedicate years of effort, but you also need to be diligent and gain experience. Thus, professional graphic designers with extensive experience in the industry charge so much.

Every brand needs a graphic designer who will help to elevate their efforts. If you’re a brand in a growing stage, you need designs that will not only win the trust of your audience but also let you build a new strong customer base.

Let’s work together.