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One of the great occupations nowadays is designing. Graphic designing is the craft we do while producing visual content to spread and express our message. Graphics, styles, and colors are used extensively in this technology to convey ideas through print design, the internet, and social media. Additionally, to help with various graphics, the best graphic design tools are available in the market – if you just look!

Importance of Graphic Designing

A company presents information to consumers (or prospective consumers) and other stakeholders through graphic design. Without it, a business would be unable to reach customers and market heights. Hence, let’s read more about the advantages of graphic designing.

  • Your brand can create and maintain a lasting impression with good graphic designs.
  • It is a tool that will improve your ability to communicate with stakeholders effectively and supports establishing your brand.
  • It facilitates an effective and appealing presentation of your ideas and products/services.
  • Good designs help retain the audience’s interest longer.

Additionally, graphic design can increase sales, establish credibility, and elevate customer expectations. However, to do all of this, you need the right tools and abilities to showcase your talent. Let’s look at some of the best graphic design tools to improve your graphics.

10 Best Graphic Design Tools

All visual designers need reliable tools with all the attributes required to produce excellent graphic designs. Thus, if you are a graphic designer, this list of the best graphic design tools may assist you in perfecting your portfolio and advancing your career.

Affinity Designer

Affinity Designer is a sophisticated graphic design software tool that even amateur designers can use. With a comparable set of design tools and user-friendly capabilities, it offers a less expensive alternative to Adobe Illustrator. Without needing to open another program, the software’s dual environment lets you work in pixel and vector art worlds.

Affinity Designer’s flexible grid system is one of its best features. This tool allows designers to create grids for isometric video game visuals, logos, and more. Thanks to the snapping feature, designers may easily lock and position objects and elements using grids, alignment guides, shapes, and other tools.

Inkscape

For those on a tight budget or who strictly support the open-source movement, Inkscape is the ideal platform for illustration work. You may also work with image formats like SVG, which is built-in natively into the Inkscape graphics processor tool.

Blender

For graphic artists looking for a complete, open-source solution for their 3D animation and design needs, Blender is considered one of the best graphic design tools. Blender provides all the tools you need to produce models suitable for production.

Grease pencil mode, one of Blender’s best features, makes it simple to produce vector-based artwork, animations, comics, sculptures, and other media. The program is free to use and accessible on Windows, Mac, and Linux, making it an excellent choice for designers on a small budget.

Pixlr

Pixlr has become one of the top online image editing programs for many good reasons. You can access fully optimized mobile and desktop apps and the flexible image editor within your browser. You will have a lot of freedom to edit your images wherever you choose. There are countless font styles, photo effects, and endless time for experimentation.

Canva

Whether a novice or an expert, Canva is a tool for everyone. It is particularly useful for those who lack design knowledge because it only takes a few clicks to transform you into a designer. If you’re a first-time user of the platform, you may also go through a rapid learning procedure to help you understand it even faster.

Additionally, Canva allows you to design anything you need for social media, websites, blogs, newsletters, logos, and presentations. When using Canva, the power to produce design gems is in your hands with creative templates.

GIMP

A wide range of functions for photo enhancing and digital retouching are available in the flexible graphics editing program GIMP. The highly customizable interface of GIMP lets you choose the color scheme, icon sizes, spacing, and toolsets.

Moreover, it provides transparent virtual file system support, enabling users to load and save files from distant sites utilizing protocols like FTP, HTTP, and SFTP/SSH. If you need a feature set equivalent to Adobe Photoshop but can’t afford a license, GIMP is a wonderful substitute.

PicsArt’s Photo Editor

You don’t always need to use these sophisticated tools when altering images. In many cases, PicsArt’s Photo Editor will do the trick and assist you in producing a true photographable masterpiece. Additionally, the instrument is easily accessible and cost-free, so you can use it immediately. Additionally, the procedure of image enhancement and styling is rather simple. You can quickly produce a finished product and present it to your client.

Adobe Illustrator

Leading vector design software Adobe Illustrator provides various tools and capabilities to help users create beautiful artwork, logos, illustrations, and graphics.

The drag-and-drop features in Adobe Illustrator’s user interface make it more effective yet open to customization and accessibility. Designers can edit many artboards simultaneously using the in-panel editing functionality, and the software is very adaptable to Mac and Windows devices. Illustrator’s interfacing capability with other Adobe applications is one of its main benefits.

Autodesk Sketchbook

For creative professionals like architects, designers, and concept artists, Autodesk Sketchbook is a painting and drawing tool that can be accessed on desktop and mobile devices. Its extensive toolset, specifically created for artists and designers, includes drawing and line-work tools, brushes, textures, gradients, and blending modes.

The tool is frequently used for painting, drawing, and quickly producing artwork in addition to picture editing. It also offers many features like brush blending, simple gradients, perspective guides, rulers, and distort transform. A different animation style called “Flipbook” is also available in Sketchbook. 

PixTeller

PixTeller is the best for having a large selection of pre-designed templates. It immediately sets itself apart from competing for online graphic design tools by combining an image editor with an animation creator. To help you create great graphic designs, you get a good amount of predefined templates, pictures, graphics, styles, and effects.

Wrapping Up

The use of graphic design has changed along with technological developments. It incorporates the digital realm into a virtual reality beyond print media. The best aspect is that you don’t need to invest a lot of money to begin learning graphic design.

Although many graphic designers have a natural skill for creating masterpieces, being a natural-born artist is not necessary to produce good designs. However, with some effort, graphic design is a skill that can be easily learned, just like anything else, with the help of the best graphic design tools mentioned above.

Maintaining a profitable firm depends heavily on advertising. You may build your new consumer clientele and keep coming back to clients by using effective promotional techniques. An important part of marketing and advertising is graphic design.

Graphic designers are in charge of developing and conveying concepts that educate, motivate, and fascinate consumers. They produce the production design and layout for various media, including brochures, periodicals, corporate reports, and ads, either manually or with computer software.

Thus, a graphic designer in advertising plays a crucial role in combining their passion for art with technology to communicate ideas with clients. The impact of graphic design on consumers is significant and serves as the primary determinant of whether they will purchase the specific good or service featured in the advertisement. Here are some explanations as to why having good graphic design will increase the efficacy of your advertising strategies.

What Does a Graphic Designer Do in Marketing and Advertising?

Graphic designers create visual representations to communicate with the audience. They create all the packaging, logos, promotional content, billboards, and posters. Graphic designers use shapes, colors, typography, images, and other design components to communicate ideas to viewers. Since each design reflects the brand as a whole, each has a distinct personality. Thus, graphic designers in marketing and advertising help in the following ways:

  • Creating Brand Identity

One of the main purposes of graphic design is to distinguish your company from the competition. Your business must have rivals in the industry. Thus, graphic design can leave a lasting impression on your target market and make your brand stand out when done well. They highly recall every brand impression seen by viewers.

Marketers and graphic designers work together to establish a strong link with the brand’s history, vision, and philosophy. Moreover, the graphic design represents your business and conveys to your target market the high levels of professionalism and knowledge you hold.

  • Helping in Brand Positioning

Every shade, pattern, logo, picture, and message can convey a lot of information about the brand. You can position your brand properly per your needs with a decent design that evokes customer demand. A well-known brand that makes an impact has a high brand recall value.

Effective designs also convey a clear message and encourage customers to choose your firm as their first choice for top-notch goods or services, boosting sales and profits.

  • Increasing Sales and Profits

Graphic designers can increase business sales if the graphic communicates that your organization provides high-quality goods or services through a distinctive design with precise copywriting. Additionally, graphic design works better when customers can recall the style and color and are exposed to stunning visuals.

Thus, a more appealing design can draw in large numbers of potential clients and draw them closer to your company, increasing sales and profit.

  • Accurate and Convenient Flow of Information

In today’s busy world, thousands of photographs on social media platforms are often browsed by viewers without being carefully examined. A catchy design will grab people’s attention and spread the targeted message, whereas dull content may damage your business’s marketing efforts.

To reach your target audience, you must execute marketing strategies that build brand awareness and customer trust in your products. Graphic designers in advertising make the information delivered during marketing simpler to read and understandable.

  • Lead Generation and Conversion

Converting your target market into a loyal customer base is your primary marketing objective. A well-designed leaflet, advertisement, or web landing page can convert potential customers into paying ones. An expert graphic designer in marketing utilizes special call-to-action (CTA) components to persuade the target customer to buy the product or use the service.

If you involve customers in an activity, such as posting a comment or signing up for a website’s newsletter, they will feel like they are a part of the business. Thus, you must consider employing a designer with various design strategies to draw clients to your business and increase public awareness.

  • Facilitating Effective Communication

Another factor that makes graphic design necessary for on-point advertising is how it communicates your message to potential customers. Motivating visuals can help bring your ideas to life and effectively convey to your audience the specifics of your company and the products and services you provide.

Your advertisements indicate that your business is aesthetically appealing and can meet customers’ needs by using a trendy color palette and distinctive designs, good visuals, effective communication in your designs, and more.

  • Capturing the Audience’s Attention

Every day, we are inundated with various marketing initiatives. Advertising is present everywhere, both online and offline. Potential buyers and clients must be drawn in, but you must also keep them interested. This is the area where graphic designers in marketing shine. A skilled graphic designer can produce designs that captivate viewers and pique their curiosity.

Your marketing messages will miss the target if you have poor graphic design or have neglected this area of your firm. Thus, you need an effective graphic designer that can aid in capturing the audience’s attention.

Wrapping Up

Graphic design is essential in today’s intensely competitive corporate climate. Businesses need talented graphic designers to produce effective marketing materials. Stunning visuals have evolved into one of the most effective strategies organizations use. Just as beauty can mesmerize us when we look closer, so do graphic designers in advertising aid in luring viewers into discovering what lies beyond. It gives the customers access to an intriguing brand story lying inside.

We live in a world that is increasingly visual-focused. In all its glory, graphic design can be seen everywhere, including on social media, smartphones, and even the streets. Graphic design is, therefore, a crucial component of marketing. If you want to turn your audience into loyal customers of your company, you should always strive to use high-quality and skilled designers. It is a safe decision to hire a graphic designer or seek assistance from expert organizations to develop a strategy they know to meet your requirements.

Graphic designers use their diverse skills and tools in many exciting, educational, creative, and technical fields. If you have an imaginative mind, an eye for beauty, and a knack for using technology, graphic design may be your field. However, learning about your decision to choose this career path may give you a clear idea. The duties, salary, and required skills of a graphic designer are discussed here, along with advice on how to get into the field.

What Does a Graphic Designer Do?

Graphic designers create visual content using specialized software and hardware. Graphic designers are needed in any field where visual communication is essential. Graphic designers make visually appealing content for any industry, whether for marketing, advertising, software development, or entertainment. They make different creatives, from posters and logos to layouts and video transitions.

As a graphic designer, you will:

  • Gather information and conduct studies to inform your design decisions further.
  • Brainstorm new ways to improve existing designs.
  • Collaborate with the rest of the team, including the copywriters, editors, and photographers, and listen to their critiques to incorporate their feedback into the design.
  • Ideas and sketches should be presented to project managers or creative directors.
  • Pick the best fonts, color schemes, and other design elements.
  • Prepare the copy for print by setting the type and editing the images.
  • Upgrade and upkeep legally owned software.
  • Research cutting-edge computer tools and design programs for the visual arts.

Why Start a Career in Graphic Design?

  • Always in Style

If you’re looking for a job that will still be in demand once automation has taken over, graphic design is a viable alternative. Whether it’s for websites, product packaging, or advertisements, there will always be a need for a graphic design expert who can captivate audiences with visually compelling designs.

  • Never Stop Growing

The most efficient graphic designers are always learning. If you like learning new abilities, concepts, and tools, graphic design is for you. There are endless new ideas that could work in this field.

  • Multiple Career Options

As a graphic designer, you’ll have many job alternatives. Due to high demand, graphic designers can choose their sector and location. You may like professional sports, hospitality, or writing. Extensive and dedicated graphic design portfolios and resumes increase job opportunities.

Steps to Become a Graphic Designer

To work as a graphic designer, you need to know the fundamentals inside and out. It takes effort, patience, careful preparation, and understanding of design theory and practices to make something beautiful. Graphic designers must consider lines, colors, shapes, spaces, textures, fonts, sizes, placement, prominence, balance, and emphasis. All of these things have an impact on the final product and the way people respond to it.

  • Enrolling in a Graphic Design Class

You should start polishing your skills immediately to earn enough as a graphic designer. There are a plethora of guides and courses available online. Learn how to use programs and apps that can enhance your imaginative capacities. Knowing the capabilities and typical applications of each design tool or piece of software is quite helpful. Gaining a grasp of the nuances of graphic design and gaining insights into how to enhance your skills and construct a portfolio are both facilitated by self-education.

Coursework in graphic design is intended to introduce you to design fundamentals and help you hone your abilities through practice on real-world projects. Enrolling in a graphic design course is a great place to start if you’re looking to build your professional network. Most graphic design programs cover basics like color theory, typography, layout, and software and hardware.

Depending on the program’s scope, you may also learn about the evolution of the graphic design profession, best practices for creating a positive user experience, and fundamentals of creating an effective website. There are various approaches, from traditional classroom settings to the more fluid online learning format. Get one that works with your schedule and preferred method of learning.

  • Working on Projects

Now is the time to put into practice the graphic design principles and techniques you have learned. Working on your design projects is the greatest way to hone your skills and become proficient in graphic design software.

The first step could be to create fictitious or real-world adverts and logos. You can use an existing company’s ideas as inspiration for your own, speeding up the process of consumer discovery and design. It’s also possible to do volunteer work for local organizations and companies. Help these businesses with your design knowledge to gain experience and a resume boost.

  • Considering Internship Options

Internships at local businesses and studios may be available through your school. Professional office space can introduce you to useful processes, cutting-edge programs, and other resources that you might not have access to otherwise. The internship experience may be included in your portfolio. In addition to your resume, an impressive portfolio can powerfully market your skills.

  • Taking on Freelance Work

All design programs and tools are not prohibitively expensive. You might consider making a little investment to launch a successful freelance career. Maintaining a consistent practice routine can help you create the high-quality content your clients crave. Find freelance work through Internet portals, and raise your online profile by publishing samples of your work and positive feedback from clients. Since most graphic design work can be done remotely, you have more flexibility in where you choose to put in your time. You might also offer your design services to close friends and family members who may use your help.

  • Putting Together a Website/Portfolio

A portfolio comprises your best work in a specific field. Your portfolio can include anything creative you’ve done for work, such as photos, logos, or illustrations. Your portfolio is an excellent way to showcase your skills, expertise, and future potential to prospective clients. Establishing a web presence is necessary to sell products or services online.

Wrapping Up

Graphic design is a booming industry. To achieve great heights in graphic design, one needs to possess a specific set of creative skills. Enroll in any graphic designing course and gain work experience to understand design thinking. Taking huge leaps in the right direction will help you foster a culture of design thinking inside your company or your creative brand.

Graphic designing is a thriving industry fueled by the desire to bring originality and creativity to the emerging digital universe. Skilled graphic designers can now access in-demand designing techniques across various industries, such as manufacturing, production, multimedia, publishing, video games, and cinema.

As businesses strive to stand out in a crowded marketplace, the significance of professional design cannot be overstated. It helps graphic designers attain jobs in product design, video game design, and user experience (UX) design. In other words, the job prospects for graphic designers remain strong and promising for the present and future.

Besides, companies can also invest in innovative, high-quality designs to distinguish themselves from competitors and increase product recognition among the masses. This article guides you through the graphic designing salaries in 2023 and the jobs available for prospective individuals.

Why Graphic Design is a Lucrative Field? 

Graphic design is a lucrative field due to the increasing demand for visual content in organizations. With businesses serving online, visually appealing websites, logos, advertisements, and other marketing materials have become more important than ever.

Graphic designers help companies establish their brand image and create lasting impressions on potential customers. As a result, the demand for graphic designers continues to grow with good future prospects concerning job opportunities.

However, considering all the options, it’s essential to know the types of graphic design jobs for graphic designers in 2023. Let’s discuss them below.

Graphic design jobs and salaries in 2023

  • User Experience (UX) Designer

An individual whose job role requires designing a product (website, app, or service) from the user’s point of view is called a user experience designer (UX designer). Generally, interaction design for user interfaces is one of the most exciting aspects of graphic designing on the UX horizon.

Most organizations are looking for talented individuals with an eye for design and expertise in building websites and mobile applications. User experience designers in the United States may expect an annual income of $90,634, which is good considering the skill and experience expected by the organizations.

  • User Interface (UI) Designer

Skilled UI designers are responsible for the visual elements to improve accessibility and interaction when using desktop computers and mobile devices. Besides, UI and UX work together to enhance the technical aspects and gain good customer feedback.

A successful user interface designer must possess technical proficiency and an eye for aesthetics. These designers may expect a good income of $78,080 per year.

  • Logo Designer

Branding and marketing are integral components of a company’s success, and a professional logo designer plays a key role in creating a strong brand identity. Logo design is crucial in capturing attention and creating a lasting impression on users through websites or online platforms.

Brand identity design is a specialized aspect of logo design that involves creating memorable symbols and branding elements such as logos, business cards, and commercials. A career as a logo designer is financially sound, with an average annual salary of $50,430.

  • Fashion Designer

People interested in fashion and art can pursue a career in fashion design. Fashion designers help create apparel, accessories, and shoes. They balance everything with proportion, balance, and aesthetics, with an eye for detail and color.

Having expertise in a specific field, such as shoes or women’s clothing can open you up to various career opportunities. A fashion designer’s annual salary can range from $48,998 to $73,643.

  • Photo Editor

Photo editing is one of the common skills to learn today and is increasingly serving businesses selling a wide range of items. These businesses or organizations include e-commerce sites, social media platforms, apparel labels, and others. An image editor requires great technical expertise, creativity, and adaptability.

If you enjoy photography, you might want to consider pursuing a career in this profession. In the United States, the average yearly income for a picture editor is $39,029 per year.

  • Packaging Designer

Have you ever noticed the beautiful packaging for your purchased products? For instance, Apple’s packaging is simple yet appealing, thanks to the ones who designed the packaging. They are known as packaging designers.

The packaging design is usually diverse and comes in various sizes and shapes. Boxes, bottles, bags, jars, cans, wrappers, and other objects can all be aesthetic with a good package design. That’s why package designers develop good packaging for the products.

It’s a highly creative profession that requires novelty, product knowledge, and the proper balance of design feasibility. Customers must be able to open the package and utilize the items easily. A package designer earns $33,167 per year on average.

  • Art Director

Art directors are senior professionals responsible for managing a team of designers who work on creative projects such as web design, television, film, marketing, and publishing. They handle design projects and are knowledgeable in various art forms, filmmaking, fashion, and other art-related activities. The typical annual compensation for an art director might be $72,297.

  • Product Designer

Product designers create products required for daily life applications comprising consumer or industrial goods. They not only develop new products but also improve the old ones. They work with production, marketing, and technical teams to create designs that benefit customers and companies. These designers may expect to earn up to $62,400 per year.

  • Video Game Designer

If you like video games, you can turn your hobby into a career by becoming a video game designer. Video game designing requires innovative thinking with strong design skills covering various adventure, sports, or other video gaming sectors. The annual pay for a video game designer should be around $57,355.

  • Multimedia Designer

Multimedia designers can work as animators or artists, creating animation, 3D components, special effects, and other graphics using various technologies. They can work in many mediums, including television, video games, and film. A multimedia designer’s yearly compensation is $56,351.

Wrapping Up!

If you have a creative flare and the ability to bring your ideas to life, a career in graphic design might be profitable. As a result, investigate the graphic design jobs listed above and apply for the one you feel will be the best fit for you based on your interests and abilities.

Graphic design is a visual communication process that combines typography, photography, and illustrations to convey a message or solve a problem. The courses on graphic design for beginners can seem overwhelming for people willing to make their career in this field. Moreover, anyone can become a graphic designer with the right tools, techniques, and creativity.

This guide will provide a step-by-step introduction to graphic design basics, from choosing the right software to understanding design principles, color theory, and styles. With a solid foundation in these areas and a lot of practice, you can create visually appealing designs to communicate your ideas effectively.

Whether you’re pursuing a graphic design course or want to improve your skills, the guide will help you start your journey in graphics design.

Steps for graphic designing for beginners

  • Step 1: Choose the Right Software

First, you must choose the right software for your purpose. The market offers a wide range of options, with the most prominent ones including Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. Each program has pros and cons. So you can choose the best that suits your needs and expertise.

For instance, Photoshop is great for photo editing manipulation, while Illustrator is ideal for creating vector graphics and illustrations. InDesign is an excellent option for designing and laying out print materials, such as brochures and magazines.

But ensure to consider your design goals, budget, and experience when making a choice. Opt for free trials or demo versions to determine which software is best for you.

  • Step 2: Learn the Basics of Design Theory

Before starting with graphic design, you must have a strong understanding of design theory. It includes learning the principles of balance, contrast, hierarchy, and proportion. These principles will guide your design requirements and help you create visually appealing designs. The balance is the visual weight distribution in a design, while the contrast refers to the difference between elements.

Hierarchy is the order of importance of elements in a design, while proportion refers to the relationship between the sizes of elements in a design. By mastering these design principles, you will be able to create designs that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also effectively communicate your message.

  • Step 3: Familiarize Yourself with Color Theory

Color is crucial in graphic designing and can significantly impact the mood and effect of your designs. It’s essential to understand color theory, including how to use color to create contrast, choose appropriate color palettes, and evoke emotions to create compelling designs. That’s why, you must first study color wheel relationships and experiment with color combinations to find the right one for your designs.

  • Step 4: Experiment with Different Design Styles

Graphic designing offers many different styles to help you experiment with minimalism, flat design, retro/vintage, and other popular styles. You can find the one per your purpose and design preferences.

It will help you develop a unique style and create your creative identity as a graphic designer. Do not fear to try new things and explore new techniques. Remember, the main goal is to have fun and find your creative voice.

  • Step 5: Study the Work of Other Designers

The best way to improve your skills and get inspiration for your designs is to study the work of other designers. Look for designers whose work you admire and try to understand why their designs are practical.

Please take note of their use of color, typography, and composition, and try incorporating these elements into your work. It will help you develop your unique style and improve your design skills. Additionally, keeping an eye on current design trends and techniques will keep your skills up-to-date and relevant.

  • Step 6: Practice, Practice, Practice

The key to becoming a skilled graphic designer is to practice with graphic design tutorials. Start by working on simple design projects and gradually increase the complexity of your designs as you gain confidence.

Try experimenting with different design styles and techniques, be bold, and step outside your comfort zone. Consistency is also essential – set aside some time each day or week to work on design projects. It will help you develop your skills and improve your eye for design.

It’s also helpful to have a portfolio of your work to showcase your abilities and progress. Start by creating a digital portfolio and consider printing a physical copy to showcase your work.

  • Step 7: Get Feedback

Getting feedback on your designs is an essential part of the learning process and can help you improve your skills as a graphic designer. Share your work with others and ask for constructive criticism. It can come from friends, family, classmates, or online design communities.

Be open-minded and willing to learn from your mistakes. Try to understand the reasoning behind the feedback and use it to improve your designs. Remember that criticism can be hard to hear, but it’s an opportunity to grow as a designer. See feedback regularly, and don’t be afraid to ask for it. The more feedback you receive, the more you’ll be able to improve your skills and grow as a designer.

  • Step 8: Stay Current with Design Trends

Staying current with design trends is essential to keep your skills sharp and your designs relevant.

  • Follow design blogs: Many design blogs showcase the latest design trends and techniques. By reading these blogs, you’ll be able to stay up-to-date on the latest design trends and learn new techniques.
  • Attend design conferences: Attending design conferences is a great way to learn from experienced designers, network with others in the industry, and stay up-to-date on the latest design trends.
  • Participate in online design communities: There are many online communities where graphic designers share their work, provide feedback, and discuss design trends. Joining these communities is a great way to stay connected with others in the industry and stay up-to-date on the latest design trends.

Conclusion

Graphic design can initially seem intimidating, but you can become a graphic designer with suitable techniques and creativity. By following these steps, you’ll be on your way to becoming a successful graphic designer. Remember to practice, get feedback, and stay current with design trends, and you’ll be creating visually appealing designs in no time.

Color helps us remember objects, influences our purchases and sparks our emotions. But did you know that objects do not possess color? They reflect wavelengths of light that are seen as color by the human brain.

The visible spectrum for humans falls between ultraviolet light and red light. Scientists estimate that humans can distinguish up to 10 million colors with their eyes.

So, it is too important and significant for the design aspect of any product to be analyzed, studied and reviewed properly before it goes into the market through an Android or iOS Mobile App and Website.

The way the user sees the object makes an impression about it visually.

The way the user uses the object makes an impression about its usage.

What is UX and UI ?

UI refers to User Interface. It involves the appearance of an application when a user is interacting with it. User Interface ensures the user can easily interact with the application. UI includes the app’s design, graphics, and presentation. An effective User Interface should be attractive to the users.

User Experience (UX) comprises human feelings, perception, emotions, and preferences during and after using an application. An App’s accessibility, simplicity, usability enhances satisfactory user experience. To create an efficient UX design, you need to conduct thorough research on the needs of your target audience.

Who can learn it ?

If we recall our schooldays of childhood we were motivated to take up dancing, singing, painting, drawing, writing, sports, drama to make us more creative, confident and outgoing. So, indirectly we were engaging in these as a hobby and passion. This is the stage where we are acquiring life skills. But, by the time we finish 10th STD we all become part of the rat race to become engineers, doctors, accountants, family business and somewhere we become lost in the daily routine of conventional life.

Let’s talk about driving. You will find people from as young as 17 years till even late 70’s in the society learning the skill of driving.

Do you need to be a graduate, automobile engineer or very intelligent to learn driving ?

Obviously no.

You just need to get yourself trained from an expert and then practice till you feel confident and can drive through the city, across the cities, across the States and entire India.

ABCD – ANYBODY CAN BE A DESIGNER

 Where to use it ?

Let me share few examples of popular websites and mobile apps which are using it

  • Paypal – Before Paypal rolled out their redesigned website in 2014, the site was overly complex. Since then, Paypal has been in the process of simplifying their website and mobile app experience.
  • Mailchimp – MailChimp gives their web application a face, though not a human one. Their mascot, a chimp named Freddie pops up throughout their interface adding humor, high fives, and an emotional connection with users. This humanization of technology adds depth to the otherwise sterile and frankly boring experience of managing your email marketing.
  • Google: Loading Super Fast Since 1997. Fast loading has always been a priority for Google, but it’s especially important for ecommerce. Being fast and efficient helps users get what they want without waiting. The Google Store site loads in just over a second, which is good because every extra second a user has to wait makes them more likely to leave.

Who used it first in modern times ?

Donald Norman arguably deserves the most credit as a pioneer in UX, as he is the one who coined the term “User Experience.” He proposed the idea that machines and software should be catered towards the user’s needs. When creating a product, whether physical or digital, the user’s desires and needs should always be the dominant driving force behind the design.

If that is not enough to convince you that Donald Norman is a pioneer in UX, it is also worth noting that Norman’s time at Apple as a User Experience Architect in the 1990’s is the first case of “User Experience” used in a job title. Norman, is what many would consider, the inventor of UX UI Designing Industry.

Scope in India ?

The average salary in India for a UX UI Designer is 6.5 lakhs INR per annum (approx)

Source – https://www.payscale.com/research/IN/Job=User_Experience_Designer/Salary

When Apple originally introduced the App Store in 2008, it wasn’t going to allow any other company to create apps for the platform. Luckily, they made the right decision of letting this thought go and allow other developers to develop a plethora of apps – which led to them earning $10 Billion in the first year. Google also started their own android market in the same year, now commonly known as the Play Store, which boasts of hosting more than 2.47 million apps.

These platforms created an ecosystem of tech-companies and independent developers who created beautiful, problem-solving apps of all kinds giving birth to an important industry which is still steadily growing today.

In 2023, mobile apps are projected to generate more than $935 billion dollars in revenue.

With the introduction of Jio, the internet spread like wildfire across India, thanks to the cheap services. The number of internet users in India is said to grow to 666.4 million in 2023. Thanks to cheap smartphones, the number of smartphone users in India is expected to rise by 84% to 859 million by 2022.

People in India installed more mobile apps in 2019 than any other country, accounting for 4.5 billion app installs in the first quarter alone. App Annie forecasts that by 2022, India will have 37.2 billion downloads a year, a growth rate of 207% – which makes it by far the fastest growing app market in the world. In 2018, 38% of Indians used more than 6 apps on a daily basis.

The shift to digital is helping retailers acquire new customers, engage better with existing ones, reduce costs, and improve employee morale. India’s retail market is expected to grow to $1.2 trillion by 2021 from $795 billion in 2017, the report says. This will also be driven by e-commerce market growth to $84 billion in 2021 from $24 billion in 2017. Since stats show that 88% of online shoppers say they wouldn’t return to a website after having a bad user experience, many companies – small and big; are focusing on having well-designed user experiences through their websites and apps.

One of the interesting options as a UI/UX designer is, opting to choose to become a freelancer. India’s freelancer market is the largest in the world, with 10 million people freelancing in 2018. There are various Indian platforms that connect freelancers to companies in need for certain UI/UX work like Upwork.com, LinkedIn, Freelancer.in etc.

What is a portfolio and infographic CV/Resume and how it helps ?

Portfolio contains all your creative and problem solving works However, a portfolio demonstrates the process undertaken to reach a result, rather than just the result itself  Focusing on quality rather than quantity

Three important Portfolio Websites

  • Behance –

https://help.behance.net/hc/en-us/articles/204483894-Guide-Intro-to-Behance

  • Dribbble –

https://dribbble.com/about

  • Medium –

https://medium.com/about

Adding visual elements to your resume will help you gain the upper hand than the rest of the job aspirants.With infographic resumes, more employers and hiring managers will be engaged and intrigued by the value you have to offer.Make your accomplishments stand out by tweaking fonts and replacing texts with visual elements like icons and charts. Once you’re ready, print out your winning infographic resume in PDF, PNG, or JPEG formats. Sharing it via email or social media is also a trend.

Three important Infographic CV/Resume Websites

  • Canva –

https://www.canva.com/resumes/templates/infographic/

  • Monster –

https://www.monster.com/career-advice/article/best-infographic-resumes

  • Lucidpress –

https://www.lucidpress.com/pages/templates/resumes/infographic

Who else says this about UX UI Designing ?

 The following article came in THE TIMES OF INDIA please check out – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/jobs/career-as-a-ui/ux-designer/articleshow/69771688.cms

The career involving Photoshop in the Media & Entertainment sector is massive. Photoshop opportunities can be found in areas like Film editing, Photo editing, UI design, Digital painting, Matte painting and even more.  Aspiring students looking for a career involving Photoshop must first understand the history of Adobe Photoshop.

There are three keys for good photography: the camera, the lighting and Photoshop” – Tyre Banks

 

What is Photoshop?

Photoshop is considered to be the most powerful and popular image editing software in today’s market among thousands of image editing software, Photoshop is a graphic raster-based image editing software or in a layman’s language, you can define it as a creative hub.  Besides, this also allows you creating whatever you imagine.

What makes Photoshop the most powerful software?

Photoshop allows you to work on layers which helps to work on other images without interacting and mixing the pixel of those images.  Moreover, we can add them or delete them at any time we want. Adobe also introduced with CC (creative cloud) which allows working smarter with all adobe application.  It also syncs your settings, fonts, and colours – available across your desktop and also on phones.

There are many other features such as Camera Raw Filters, Liquefy, Stylize, etc. which has changed the world and especially changed the life of a graphic designer.

Photoshop is a proprietary software whose license is on yearly as well as monthly bases. Prices of software vary as per the plans introduced by Adobe on the basis of needs of customers. One can purchase software from www.adobe.com

When & who created Photoshop?

Two brother’s from America Thomas Knoll and John Knoll created a software in 1987 which they state as a coincidence and a  circumstance that came together at the right time. Thomas used to share his utility routines with John. John requested Thomas for more tools as he was interested in creating graphic images. After a lot of brainstorming and discussions, Thomas combined all the tools into a single application and named it as Photoshop. Prior to that, there were few other names such as Display, Image Pro, Photo Lab. The brother’s sold the distributed license to Adobe system in the year 1998 and the first version ‘Photoshop 1.0’ was released on 19 February 1990.

Photoshop gave the extensive power to Print and Publishing business and Multimedia industries as well. The Abyss” was the first movie to use Photoshop and John Knoll himself worked as a graphic designer for this movie, while Thomas Knoll is still working with Adobe system on the updates.  Adobe Lightroom, one of his recent updates is a Camera Raw Plugin.

Usage of Adobe Photoshop in Industries:

Career involving Photoshop
Percentage of industries using Photoshop

As per the survey of idatalabs, Photoshop in Graphics and Photo Editing categories is considered to have about 41.8% of market share. There are 168,609 companies that use Photoshop out of which 79,528  of companies are of United States and 5,937 companies are of India. Moreover, people are not aware that software industries (12,255) are the largest customers for Photoshop, whereas the design companies are only 3,444. 

Few companies that use Adobe Photoshop:

  •  iHeartMedia
  • Creative Circle, LLC
  • The UPS Store
  • Sinclair Broadcast Group
  • Townsquare Media Inc.

The Career involving Photoshop in the Media & Entertainment industries:

Many people have a misconception that every graphic designer ends up as an animator or in the entertainment industry whereas there is massive Career involving Photoshop in Branding, product design and even more.

­­­Branding:

logo
logo

Branding is not only a method of communication but also it is a  way of providing a unique identification to a company which help in giving recognition to a company. Now, what a designer has to do with branding? A designer is the one who designs logos, letterheads, posters, broachers, pamphlets and even more for the company.

Product design:

Every day we get acquainted with new products on the market, ever imagined what is the process behind it? Product designing is putting creativity and logic together. An Idea or a concept is a root of all creation which is then followed by preparing a 3d model on the software like Maya, 3Ds Max and even more, texturing the product is done in Photoshop.

Multimedia Design:

Multimedia designers are basically who combines various graphics, text, audios, animation together it is used in the gaming industry, e-learning, web development and even more. Various software like Photoshop, Premium, Audition is used for multimedia designing, Photoshop is used for image manipulation, image editing etc.

Films:

Everyone loves watching movies and T.V shows. Have you ever imagined how these characters are flying or how the city destroyed in superhero and sci-fi movies? Well, the answer is simple “Visual effects – VFX”, which requires software such as Nuke, Photoshop, Premier.

Careers involving Photoshop in the distinctive field:

There are various other Careers involving Photoshop in the distinctive field. Listed below are some of the career options:

Usage of Photoshop in other Software

There some software that needs Photoshop for texturing and matte painting like Autodesk Maya, Nuke and even more. Above all, it also helps in widening  your career options in photoshop even more such as:

  • Texture artist
  • Matte painter
  • Modelling artist
  • Accessory artist
  • Compositor
  • 3D CAD Designer

Other Career involving Photoshop:

Along with the above-mentioned fields other career involving Photoshop is freelancing, there is enormous work to get online some of the websites where a freelancer can find works are www.upwork.comwww.freelancer.com, and even more and another option is www.behance.net  by “Adobe” where they provide a platform to showcase one’s work and discover others creative work.

Where to Start From:

Many students who want to opt. designing as a career has a common question “where do I start from ?”. Self-learning can always be an option through online tutorials, blogs, books, etc. but one has to be committed towards it and spent at least 2 to 3 hours daily. Another option is joining a college or institute which provides you with a degree or a diploma this obviously will help you but to some extent, because this field solely depends on ones potential and creativity. Arena Animation Institute of animation is a great option but why?

Arena Animation believes in providing practical knowledge over theoretical, they provide multiple course options such as

  • Digital marketing
  • Animation
  • Multimedia
  • VFX
  • Web Design
  • Broadcast

Arena animation prepares equips its students with the skills required to become employable professionals in the Media and Entertainment Industry through latest tools and technology, honing talent with technique, Real Time exposure via formal and informal events and even more.

Himanshu Pal, Student

Arena Animation Tilak Road