A graphic designer’s role has become inevitable in almost all the digital controlled areas. Right from an associate or a junior level, designers can be placed at various positions. The graphic designer career path is well defined based on the responsibilities and skill development the designer takes through his/her career.

They can be a fashion designer, a teacher /lecturer, Illustrator designer, print designer, UI/UX designer, game designer, social media marketer (yes! you read it right) etc.

Take a look at this chart prepared by Rick Cornett which explains the career path of a designer.

Image Source

You can also read 15 Unexpected Career Paths Of Graphic Designers for more information.

Some of the graphic designer roles that comes to our mind are

All these fall under beginner, intermediate and expert level category.

Whatever level you are in, it’s very important that you give your 100% and always keep up your learning curve.

Design tools for modern day graphic designers

From product design, ad design, logo design, apparel design, to machine design, graphic designers have always had their place in any business.

A graphic designer is expected to showcase maximum skill and creativity to deliver a quality and unique output.

In the early days, designers used tools like brush, paper, inks, nibs, stamps, moulds to bring the desired output. Now, graphic designers have switched to tools/softwares that have opened the doors to more creative and user-friendly options.

Let’s take a look at some of the tools/software designers can use to wow clients.

Photoshop

Photoshop is the father (maybe mother) of all the design tools. Adobe Photoshop 1.0 was released in Feb 1, 1990. Right from that day, Photoshop has evolved to serve millions of its users with amazing filter and brush options.

Photoshop can be useful for:

Editing photos and videos

Digital Painting

Designing websites and graphics

Just name it, you can do it with photoshop! The awesome thing about photoshop is the filters and the brush tool. Pick any photo and start with it. Learn what happens with each filter and how each brush behaves.

To master Photoshop, you have to spend a considerable amount of time. More than using the tutorials, it is advisable to get hands-on experience with the tool.

Here is a video that will help you get started with photoshop:

If you are an intermediate, here are some tricks about photoshop that you don’t want to miss:

When it comes to Photoshop, it’s only the passion and thirst that will keep you going!

Happy photoshopping 🙂

Sketch App

Is there anyone who still uses Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator or Fireworks for UI designing?

If yes, then you are amongst the graphic designers who are very comfortable with old tools, but lazy to use the new butterfly that will conquer your creative heart!

Even though Photoshop still rules the world of image editing and digital painting, there are a lot of discussions about why Sketch app is better than Photoshop,

Sketch is widely used by graphic designers who are more into UI designing for web and apps.

It comes with a detailed and beginner-friendly documentation which covers everything you need to know about the app.

Sketch App can be used for:

Website UI

Mobile UI

Online banners

Advert designs

Sketch has attracted a lot of graphic designers because of its clean interface, proper gridding, and code friendly designs. You can switch between vector and raster while designing. You can create artboards of various screen sizes in a single canvas and export it in multiple formats and multiple sizes ( 2X 4X etc) in a single click.

Here is an informative video that explains the basics of sketch:

If you are an intermediate ‘sketcher’, this video will help you take your sketch skills to the next level:

Other tools that graphic designers should not miss

Below are some of the most widely discussed tools within the designer community. You can just have a look at these and decide which one works best for you 🙂

Adobe Illustrator

CorelDraw

Adobe Fireworks (Adobe has stopped rolling out updates for this tool. But it is still the best tool for beginners)

While most of the graphic designers would have already chosen one or a couple of tools for each kind of design work they do, it’s always a good practice to explore new tools and get hands-on experience in them. Learning new tools not only helps you to better your skills, but also helps to increase your creative base. You see a new canvas, new brush option, new UI – who knows your mind will also start thinking in a new way. Most of the new concepts arise from a fresh mind. So keep your mind open and fresh to the good dose of new things in the industry.