You may not have realised this but Graphic Design is a very tough thing to do and if you are going to apply for a Graphic Design job, then know one thing. If you aren’t very good then you will face a very high level of pressure and will probably consider the industry to be the worst in.

You need to become very good at what you do and know the theory behind the top designs and look at other people’s work and learn from their style and processes and how they got to the final piece.

Just look at the new Pepsi Logo – Looks very simple but cost millions.

Becoming a master graphic design takes a very long time and a lot of experience. Most people who become half-good with Photoshop and only Photoshop consider themselves to be master graphic designers however this is not the case.

You need to also know Illustrator as much as you know photoshop. Along with this, years of experience is required and before you begin, you need to know how to think for that particular project and design as every design will require a different way of thinking and thus a different way of design.

So, once you know a few tricks in Photoshop, don’t consider yourself a Master.

Do Graphic Tablets Help when designing? Back in the the initial years of my designing a few years ago, I was strongly considering buying a Wacom graphics tablet such as the Wacom Intuos or their Bamboo Fun.

I really considered it and then finally got to play around with some of the more basic tablets and then realised that although this is a basic one, the more advanced ones aren’t really going to assist me so basically a waste of my gold.

So, I didn’t buy one but do note that if you are really going to go into detail and you’re going to spend ours on your work piece, then you may need to buy one.

Company branding is important.

For this very reason many companies will set aside a large chunk of their budget for Business logos, business cards, business calendars amongst others.

As a designer, it is our job in making sure the customer gets exactly what they want with some sturn direction when it comes to the design elements. If delivered correctly the company will be well on the way to establishing themselves as a decent brand to their competitors and to their customers.

Once in place, branding can then be used to branch out into advertising and marketting. If the company is big enough branding can be a huge part of a TV advertisement campaign with customers familiarising themselves with the Company logo and colours.

By providing a complete package, we, as designers can deter our clients away from cheap logo services and cowboy services that are making the need for professional services defunct.

So in summary, when designing brands for you client make sure you cover all your bases. Research their market and competitors to see what they are up to, to gain any ideas you wouldn’t of previously thought about. Make sure your brand works well in printing making it easy to print across a large spectrum of products.

Which is better when it come to graphic design; Macs or PCs? Well personally I find this a very easy answer, but not wanting to swade you in any way I’ll layout the arguments for both below and you can make up your own mind.

When analysing for Graphic design we need to look at how each of them handles graphics and colour. When it comes to colours, Apple have a long history of focusing and improving on this aspect, but now the same results that were once only available with a Mac are now possible on PC.

In terms of the graphic software available for both the Mac and the PC, there are no significant differences. The main adobe suite of tools are available for both the Mac and Windows platform.

So lastly we will need to look at how easy each of the computers are to use. Apple have always focused on user experience, and while Microsoft are improving on this they are still playing catch up to the Mac.

Apple Macs have a long history of being used for Graphic Design, but it is clear that Microsoft are making considerable efforts to improve the their PCs for this purpose. Macs are typically much more expensive that PC’s but with more and more options available from Apple, this is set to change.

I’ve given you some information and now I’ll leave to you to make your own mind up.

So you want some graphics for your site! But how should you go about getting them? Well it is important when using graphics to avoid any legal issues. Here are a few basic rules that you should be aware of when putting graphics on your site.

Be careful of copyrighted graphics. If you use these graphics for the purpose of making a profit then you are stealing from the artist. This also means building a website for others and making money from it.

Graphic designers will often let you use their graphics for free, for use on personal sites. This means a site that is not for profit. Sometimes you will have to include a link back to the artist’s site, and at other times you will not, so it is important to find out what the how the artists would like you to use their graphics.

There are also images available on the internet which artists have not copyrighted. These images are available for anyone to use.

It is important to know which images are actually free and which images you can use with agreements between yourself and the artist. That way you are not going to get into trouble!

Getting the colour scheme right is important for first impressions but it can often be difficult to choose colours for layouts in both graphic and web design, so here are few tips to help you and get you thinking.

Who is your site aimed at? For example if the site is corporate then you will need a clean corporate style utilising colours such as blue and white. However if the site is aimed at children then you will want to make the site look exciting with a variety of colours that look attractive to keep them on the site.

You will also need to think about the connotations of the colours that you want to use. For example, red symbolises anger, love and heat; Where blue symbolises calm and harmony. Pick your colours to suit the type of site you want are representing.

Lastly think about colour combinations, and which ones work together. Remember to be careful with the colours green and brown as people who are colour blind will have issues with these. A good way to see if colours will go together is put together a simple colour swatch.

Contemporary British Graphic Design is still a relatively new concept as it has only been around for about 50 years. This type of graphic design originated in 1962 when the trio Alan Fletcher, a Royal College of Art student, Colin Forbes and American Bob Gill. The team’s work won international acclaim and even today young designers follow their work and their concept of independent practise.
Britain has always been a place where contemporary graphic design has thrived and from which designers have flourished and come up with truly creative pieces whilst always connecting with popular culture.
If you would like to discover the work of Fletcher, Forbes and Gill and to find out more about them, visit http://designmuseum.org/design/alan-fletcher

With any company the logo and branding is very important. Really good logos are typically those where audiences take one look at it and instantly know which company it represents. The best logos are often very simple; For instance if I was to say Nike, we immediately know their logo as the tick symbol, or MacDonald’s as the two golden arches.

When designing a logo yourself there are several questions which you should ask yourself:

• Is it Memorable?
• Is it relevant to the industry it is representing?
• Is it describable ?
• Is it scalable? If the logo is too detailed, it will not scale down well.
• Is it still effective without colour?

It is important that you cover all the bases when designing imagery that aims to catch the eye of passes by.

A few important factors to improve your design may include:

• Great use of colours – Picking the perfect selection of colours will set the mood of your design and will also attract the public to your design. Picking the correct colours for your scene can be the difference between people understanding your design and people becoming confused about what you are trying to portray. (Dull colours in a summer scene.)
• Good use of contrast – Now that you have picked the perfect range of colours the correct use of contrast can really make them stand out and come to live. A contrast that is too low will keep the impression that colours are too similar and will therefore look washed out.
• The fine details – When you think you have finished your work, take a break and come back to it. Try to spot as many little details as you can that might need improving and spend the final amount of time tweaking and perfecting your design to make it even better.

Taking the above factors into account will achieve a much higher level quality of design overall.