What You Need To Know Before Choosing A Career In Graphics
With graphic layouts and designs becoming integral parts of many industries, the demand for graphic designers is on the rise! Graphics help enhance communication and influence the actions of people on a daily basis. As a result, today, graphics are everywhere - from paper to screens to decals and signs. This immense demand for graphics makes it an attractive career option.
Graphics provide an exciting opportunity to be a creative professional. It allows you to use your passion for art to create communicative designs to sell products and services or promote social causes.
You get the chance to create something that’s greeted enthusiastically and seen anywhere from magazines to the papers, television commercials, billboards, posters, and across the world wide web!
However, becoming a graphics expert in a highly advanced market takes more than being artistically inclined. Besides creativity and passion, you need to build your people skills and be able to develop fruitful concepts that your audience can connect with.
To help you understand what it takes to thrive in this industry, Novatex Serigraphics Inc. has put together a list of things you need to know before choosing a career in graphics. Through this list, we will explain the essentials that go into making a successful career in graphics.
1. The fundamentals of design.
While your service quality as a graphic designer usually depends on your experience, you still need to learn the techniques of designing. You can learn the fundamentals of design by obtaining a degree or certificate in graphics at a college that teaches the subject of modern design. Many designers we know have art degrees, and others go to a college that specializes in training students in the various design programs. You can also join the Graphic Designers of Canada (GDC) for opportunities to share ideas and inspiration, and to seek education and employment opportunities to train yourself.
2. Excellent creativity and communication skills.
We often have high school students do work placements with us, and the first thing we tell them is that their English and Maths skills are of paramount importance. In addition to your creative talent, these are vital to determine what the client wants and deliver accurately.
Similarly, we believe that graphic designing is a skill or talent you are born with, and each person has it in varying degrees. For example, while I don’t profess to be a graphic designer, I set up signs, decals, and banners with no problem. Similarly, to excel in graphic designing, apart from talent, you need to understand the elements of design and be able to turn an idea into reality in Photoshop or Illustrator.
Graphic designers must be able to bridge the gap between a customer’s idea and reality, and this can be difficult. Excellent communication and the ability to listen to a customer are vital skills to have in situations like these. In addition to that, you must also master the ability to gently convince clients that their expectations are not feasible when they aren’t!
3. Tenacity to handle new challenges.
Being a graphic designer is an industry such as ours means that your day will be filled with numerous projects with a varying degree of complexity. It never gets boring in this industry as something new, and challenging comes along regularly.
4. Knowing the kind of commitment required.
As a graphic designer for a design agency, the hours can be long and the demands high. At a business like ours however, there is rarely the need for overtime, and you can forget about your work when you go home. On the other hand, the downside is that there’s more contact maintained with customers which can be exhausting, and sometimes, downright frustrating!
At Novatex Serigraphics Inc., we specialize in providing custom printing services in Saskatoon, SK. We have over twenty-five years of printing knowledge, and we possess the latest technology to handle printing requirements, regardless of the quantity.
If you’re interested in becoming a designer in our field, you’ll need to start out in production. This is the best way to discover what is required when you eventually move on to designing. We use a dedicated sign program in which we provide training. However, thorough knowledge of Illustrator (designing program) will give you a better understanding of how our program, Flexi Sign, operates.
To know more about the Novatex graphics team, email us at novatexgraphics@sasktel.net, or get in touch with us here! For details about work, visit our website or take a look at our portfolio here!