I am currently in the second year of my graphic design studies and throughout my years in education and as a freelancer I have a learned a thing or two.

I recently got together with some fellow graphic design students and my tutors to discuss see what top advice we would offer to budding graphic designers who are keen to become a professional in this environment.

Now, I don’t claim to know everything but there are a few things I have learned both from my own experiences and through advice from other designers.

Take a look at some of our top tips for aspiring graphic designers.

Don’t Imitate Other Designers

You’ll never find success if you’re constantly trying to mimic others. What makes other peoples work so great is that it is distinctly their own and their style can be produced by them time and time again.

If you imitate someone else, you’ll only fall down on the second, third or fourth piece of work when you find it’s hard to keep up someone else’s style.

Work on finding your own stamp and you’ll quickly discover your niche.

Gain Experience

Throughout your whole graphic design career, you’ll be building and working on your portfolio but the first few years are really important for gaining invaluable experience.

From interning at agencies to completing work experience during your college years there is so much you can be doing to build your portfolio in the early days.

There is nothing worse than graduating with only your college or university portfolio, it highlights how you don’t have any real-life experience which could be harmful to your applications.

Welcome Constructive Criticism

We’ll never know it all (as much as we’d like to think) and we’ll constantly be developing our graphic design careers. Accepting and welcoming constructive criticism may feel like a personal kick but it can really help to grow our skills.

Listen to clients, teachers, and peers and take on their advice and seeing if it works for you.

Be Confident

If you’re not 100% confident in your own work, how do you think a client or teacher will feel about it?

Believe in what you do and have confidence not only in the end product but in your ability and pitch!

Never Quit

When we’re faced with hurdles, we’re often tempted just to give up especially if we have a particularly tricky client who isn’t happy.

But work on through it, evaluate the work and give yourself time but never, ever quit. If you’ve invested all that time and effort into a piece of work, don’t waste it!

Network, Network, Network

The graphic design word is a community of its own. From getting job recommendations to making vital contacts, networking in graphic design is key to growing as a designer.

So there you have some of Girl Thing Designs top tips for aspiring graphic designers, what advice would you give to someone who wanted to enter this work of work? get in touch today, we’d love to hear from you.