The Silver Bot

I was roaming on YouTube the other day, when I typed in “graphic design” to search the videos. I found only one relevant one. I couldn’t help but wondering that there are many graphic and web designers in the community and a few heads-up for them may be very helpful. I’m not giving these advices in the position of an expert because I have only been self-studying for a couple of years. However, the internet has offered me the opportunity to learn much more than I could learn in classrooms.

Please note that the following four tips are of equal importance.

1. DeviantART account.

   A deviantART account is essential for anyone who wants to have a go in graphic and web design. People share wicked thoughts about designing on it. Useful tips and tricks can also be found. The account can offer you a place to show people your works as well. Some MySpace Layouts are inspired from deviantART

2. Think ’small’ at first.

   In your early stage, there’s no way that you could get any major assignments from huge international companies. Starting from the local community will be much easier. Once your works have been appreciated by others, news spreads quickly.

3. Fonts: what to use and what not to.

   Helvetica, a font which is probably known by most people in the business can still be found on Mac for free. While if you are operating under Windows systems, you’ll have to purchase or download this font. What’s really cool about Helvetica is that it can literally make anything look beautiful. Your job is to find the right thickness and spacing for the word, Helvetica will make it look professional. In fact, our life is surrounded by Helvetica whether you have noticed or not. Shop banners, local newspaper, ads boards, they are everywhere.

   On the exact opposite of the scale is a font called Comic Sans, its notoriety even cause someone to build a whole website to ban its use. So delete it off your computer with no hesitation.

4. Make good use of free stuff.

   The wondrous invention of the internet has offered us the access to ever growing free resources. Finding the right ones means you could greatly reduce the time you spend on your tasks. Resources are created to be utilized, so why not make full use of them. DeviantART is just one example of useful resources. If you are looking for free tutorials about web and graphic designing, YouTube is definitely the place to go.

These tips only represent my personal opinions and I hope they’re helpful to our fellow graphic design geeks.