How to become a Graphic Designer?

this video is all you need to become a graphic designer in 2025 hi my name is anik Jin a logo designer with more than 4 years of experience in the field I run a 15 member Design Studio in Mumbai where we craft brand identities we have worked with many famous personalities and million dooll companies and I'm sure you have seen our work somewhere or the other I am making this video specifically for a student a freelancer or an experienced designer who wants to learn refine or get good at graphic design for those who cannot watch

this entire video till the end will not be able to make till the top 1% let's start with my story as a graphic designer about 2 years ago I landed my first internship at a design agency where I worked for 3 months my internship salary was almost around 15,000 rupees which was as equal to the full-time designers back then when my internship ended I planned to move on but the agency's founder called me into his office the next day he offered me a blank check to stay in hisy company because he saw the impact I

had made while working in his agency as a graphic design intern although I was flattered I chose not to accept it because I had some other plans I wanted to build my very own team fast forward to today I run a design studio called designer with a team of 15 full-time professionals we work with multiple million dollar clients and we even just got a very own office here in mumai all this is like a dream for any graphic designer and I want you all to achieve the same that is why I'm making this video so

let's start with what is graphic design now before we start it's important to understand what exactly graphic design is graphic design is just not designing logos it's much more than that graphic design is a creative discipline that involves combining visual elements such as typography images colors layouts to communicate a message or an idea effectively graphic design can be found everywhere from apps we use every day to the Billboards we pass on the street it's used in advertising branding digital media print packaging and even the environments like museums exhibition a good graphic design doesn't just look

great it also serves a purpose guiding the viewer to understand a message take an action or simply experience something in a more meaningful way with that we will start with our first step of understanding graphic design principles which is very very important these are not just rules they are the foundation that separates amateures from professionals at first we have balance balance ensures that no part of the design feels too heavy or to light it can be symmetrical evenly distributed or asymmetrical uneven but still visually stable a very good example is Apple's homepage website it distributes

text and images and wi space in a way that feels stable and structured next up contrast contrast helps elements Stand Out by using differences in color size shapes or textures it directs attention to key areas that makes design visually interesting for example blank text on a white background is high contrast making it easy to read in posters using bold typography against a light background creates emphasises and elevates the contrast you need then we have alignment alignment creates a clean organized look by positioning elements in a structured way it avoids clutter and makes the information easy

to follow a good example in magazines text is usually aligned left or Justified to make a very professional look on Instagram Carousel designs use alignment to maintain consistency across slides Pro tip if you just want to play it safe make sure your text is always Left Alive then we have repetition repeating certain Design Elements such as colors fonts or patterns helps create unity and brand recognition for example McDonald's always uses the red and yellow in its branding this repetition strengthens the brand identity and makes it instantly recognizable now if I just show you an image

of normal french fries with a red basket you will know that it's from McDonald's without even having the logo on it then we have something called Pro X imity which is basically grouping related elements together makes design more readable and improves user experience it helps Vier quickly understand connections between different elements which exactly what proximity stands for for example on an event flyer the date time and location are placed close to each other because they are related to each other if scattered randomly it would be confusing and difficult for viewer to gather all the information

at once then we have one of my favorite design principle which is hierarchy hierarchy guides the viewers eye by by making the most important elements stand out it's often achieved with using size color or placement this is used a lot in packaging let's say when you go to a grocery store or a departmental store just look at the packaging look at what catches your eye first and what catches your eye next and next and next whatever that's happening is properly planned by the designers who have designed those packaging and then we have white space which

is also called an negative space white space or empty space is the breathing room around the Design Elements it prevents clutter and improves readability a good example is Google's homepage which is mostly widespace making the search bar the main focus you also see this often in logo designs a good example would be the FedEx logo which has that negative space Arrow inside the enx and then we have Simplicity basically less is more simple designs are more effective because they are easy to understand and remember avoid unnecessary elements that don't add value or serve any purpose

to your designs again take the example of the FedEx logo it has a hidden Arrow between the en andx a simple yet clever design choice that reinforces the idea of movement and delivery FedEx does not have a moving cart or a box or fancy lines to show that the speed of the delivery or to show a plane that it delivers from it's simple just an arrow to convey the message and last but not the least we have movement movement guys the viewers ey across the design in a specific way ensuring they absorve all the information

in the right order websites often use the Z pattern or the F pattern layouts because they naturally scan in those Direction now mastering these principles will change your work from good to highly professional and now that we have covered all the core design principle let us move into the real building blocks of great design these are the things that will separate you from an average designer and help you build a distinct style first and my favorite typography typography is more than just picking cool fonts it's the backbone of great design it affects readability brand perception

or even human emotions let us break down the basics of typography we will start with type face versus font many people still don't know the difference between a type face and a font a type face is like a family think helvetica a font is a specific member of that family like helvetica bold or helvetica light I hope that's easy to understand and makes it clear then we have font categories typography is grouped into different categories for example serif fonts like time New Roman sanserif font like Futura which feels more modern and clean script fonts which

mimics handwriting and adds a lot of personality and human touch to it display fonts which are bold and great for grabbing a lot of attention then we have hierarchy and legibility good typography guides the eye use size weight spacing to create hierarchy titles and show to stand out body text should be easy to read and spacing should be there to give breathing room at Fourth we have Corning leing and tracking by now you should know this if not these are very important these are like your best friends when you're playing with typography King means adjusting

the spacing between individual letters leing means controlling the line spacing and tracking means adjusting the space across a whole word or a sentence and lastly for the topic of typography we have alignment and consistency left align text is the easiest to read Center text is best for short sections and Justified text use it carefully it can create awkward spacing but if you know how to use it it's amazing now as I said before mastering typography isn't just about picking fonts it's about using them intentionally whatever I said get these Basics right and your designs will

instantly look much more professional I'm focusing so much on typographies because every single day at least I get five applications from you guys from different people out there in India even outside to actually work with me and work in my company and the only thing I see and filter out those designs and those portfolios is judging by how good you are in typography now let's learn a little bit about basics of color theory color isn't just about making things look pretty it shapes emotions builds brand identity and directs attention let's break down the basics of

color theory at first we have the color wheel the foundation of color theory is the color wheel which is divided into primary colors red blue and yellow secondary colors green orange and purple and tertiary colors which is the mix of the primary and the secondary colors like red and orange or blue and green then we have color harmonies this is very very important certain color combinations naturally work well together we have complimentary colors opposites on the color wheel like blue and orange high in contrast and energy the reason why I'm wearing blue right now and

there's an orange bulb in the background is because of the color Harmony of the complimentary colors analogous the colors next to each other like red orange yellow which is smooth and harmonious then triadic three evenly spaced colors like red blue yellow balanced but vibrant and then we have monochromatic another one of my favorites which is different shades of the same color adds subtle and lot of sophistication to your designs you must have seen this a lot of places because this was a trend which was really picked up last year now understanding color psychology is also

very important uh I'm going to be talking about what different colors make you feel these are not always fixed and can vary on how you actually use it Red evokes Energy passion and urgency often used in sales and food brands blue evokes trust and profession ISM popular for coroporate and Tech Brands yellow has happiness optimism and warmth great for playful and friendly branding green is for growth nature and health often used in eco-friendly Brands and black and white is for minimal luxury and Timeless often used in high-end branding then we have saturation brightness and contrast

saturation is how Vivid a color is more saturation feels bold less feels muted brightness lighter shades kids feel Airy and soft while darker ones feel bold and dramatic and then we have contrast strong contrast helps readability and makes your elements pop color isn't just about decoration it's communication whether designing a brand or a poster understanding color theory helps you make intentional and impactful choices now let's talk about books that will help you you can learn a lot online but books will take you much deeper here are some books that I have read and actually have

helped me in my design Journey the elements of graphic design by Alex W white it is a foundation of layout balance and structure a very good book thinking with type one of my favorite books by Ellen Lupton it's a typography masterclass still like an artist of course by Austin Cleon in fact all the three books in this series by Austin Cleon is amazing for creativity and finding in Inspiration the Design of Everyday Things a very very good book by da Norman uh designed Beyond graphics and user experience are must read for all the designers and

one more book which is very good is how to graphic design by Michael beut it it is it is a master class in graphic design and branding pick one of these read and apply don't just collect book recommendations actually use it now that we are done with book recommendations let me tell you some online resources that will help you you don't specifically need a designed degree to be great trust me I still don't have a degree the internet has everything you need for free some YouTube channels like the future sator Graphics gfx Mentor Abby conic

and will Patterson for design tutorials and to understand the process the future is more for how to turn your design hobby into an actual business scis has a very good way of explaining sales and how to run a design studio websites like behance and dribble for inspiration and there's also this website called Awards with three WS for the web design Trends then we have courses there are tons of courses in the market but I would say skill share has really uh been the best ones to find from and uh it's a good platform to get

all your courses from communities uh join Facebook groups Discord servers or subreddits like r/g graphic design you need to stay updated with all these things and need to have that passion to actually learn from online resources because the thing with online resources that you yourself need to make that effort into learning no one is going to come and tell you what to learn unless like the traditional college now the best designers never stop learning if you're not improving you are falling behind up next we have portfolio website one of the most important things every designer

should have as a graphic Des designer your portfolio is everything it's not just about showcasing your work it's also about making an impression to someone who actually sees it you have multiple platforms to Showcase your work but if you really want to stand out a personal website is the way to go and where else to create a personal website then odu's website builder itself with odu's website builder you can create a professional portfolio without writing a single line of code because we graphic designers hate coding let me quickly share my screen and show you how

you can actually create a portfolio website site on Odo for absolutely free you go on odu.com and you click on this button called start now it's free it will take you to choose your apps you can choose whatever apps you want but for this one we're going to go with the website and then click on continue you on the left you'll get all the details which you sort of need to fill in um to sort of get started you can put in your website name your number email stuff like that and then you'll get greeted

with this welcome sign um then here we have four step process which we are only going to be needing to create the website and we'll click on let's do it so you want a website for a business website or an online store whatever you want and what I'm going to be choosing a Business website because uh this is a portfolio website for my agency or for myself you can choose a Business website for your own business for your design business um your own agency or anything and your main objective is either to get leads develop

the brand sell more anything you can choose for then again you can choose a color palette a color theme this you can change later also so don't need to worry about it if you don't find your perfect color palette you can always change it later but this is what we are going to go with and then this most important one you can add pages and features right uh from here again this one also you can edit later but I just really like to add all the pages which I really need so it creates and goes

ahead and creates a custom website for me so I don't need to edit again and again later on U and then I'll choose it and click on build my website after that you will choose your favorite theme from the three set themes Odo has given to you I in my my experience always the middle one is the best one to go for so we can choose with anyone and and this is how we do it it will load and then within a few seconds your website just like you saw is created it's a standard website

you have all your details the color padlet you filled in the type of uh website you are building for uh you have your logo uh you can edit and put on all the services home screen Services pricing about us contact stuff like that okay first of all go ahead and unpublish it on the top right you don't want want your clients to see this because there's so much more you have to still do it uh then you have the contact us page and with that on the right hand corner you'll click on the edit sign

and your is everything you need to edit your own website first thing first you can edit your logo add your own logo if you don't have a logo you can just add your name as well after that you can even change the layout as you want it uh there are a lot of features like dragging drop images adding images changing the templates here and there everything is customizable take your own sweet time and just try to be as creative as possible with all the tools Odo has given which is which in my opinion is more

than you actually need uh there's also an option to actually see how the website looks on the mobile phone because be honest like a lot of clients nowadays don't check websites on the laptops or desktop they have the mobile phone where they actually check your website on so that is how so that is how you can actually see uh from that mobile icon that how it's going to actually look on the mobile app itself and of course with the contact contact us button you can attach a separate form wherein if you want the clients to

fill out the form and then reach out to you or you can also in fact just add an email or a number to directly reach out to you well folks that was all and that is all it takes to create a portfolio website so stop procrastinating go on Odo right now and create your very first portfolio website trust me it you will see a difference from having a PDF portfolio something which some uh some images or random Port projects you have on your drive to having a portfolio website which is much more professional much more

easily accessible for other people to discover you it's going to change your life so trust me go on the first link in the description and check out oo.com as you saw it's intuitive drag and drop interface lets you design customize and manage your site effortlessly whether you want a Sleek Gallery a client showcase or a personal brand page Odo gives you the freedom to bring that Vision to life do not let complex website tools show you down build your portfolio with ODU and stand out from the $999 other designers out there in the field competing

with you you can find the first link in my description then we have finding a design process every great designer has a workflow you should to this is my workflow and what we follow at the company which I'm running research and mood boarding understanding the project collecting references sketching and wireframe rough ideas first and then polish later design execution work in iteration and then refine refine refine feedback and revisions always a step back and check your work and then final delivery which is package the files neatly and then present your work professionally a structured process

will save you hours of frustration and make your work consistently high quality then we have something which a lot of designers don't do work for free but smartly I know nobody wants to work for free here but here is the reality early in your career clients do not care about your potential they care about proof do free projects that add value work for local businesses ngos or personal projects make it strategic do not work for free endlessly use it to build a killer portfolio barter instead of free work in the beginning a logo for a

free gym membership a poster for a shout out think creatively how you can use your magic and your tools exponentially your first 3 to five projects set foundation for getting paid work so choose them wisely up next we have something I tell every graphic designer to follow publish your work great designs sitting in that folder will not get you noticed you need to put your work out there post on beand and dribble which builds credibility share your progress on Instagram and LinkedIn because people love behind the scenes and the person who is actually working on

that project build a portfolio website you know the best place is Odo to do it even a simple portfolio can make a huge difference right about your progress design thinking is just as important as design execution now that you have the principles tools and mindset it's time to start creating consistently well folks that was everything you need to get started to become a graphic designer in 2025 five if you a beginner do go through every single point I talked about take a note of it and learn it if you're already in the field this video

would have just given you a revision and if you're an experienced person you might have missed out something from this so I hope this helps each and every one of you and if it did please don't forget to drop a like because your free like is going to help me make future videos like this and don't forget to check out odo's website builder to create your first portfolio website because it's very important to stand out in this cluttered Market that's all from I hope this video really helped you and if I missed on something let

me know in the comments so I can include that in the future videos thanks a lot for watching and I'll see you in the next one