Graphic Design Video Tutorials Free Download
Cherly Womeldorff
This is a basic introduction to graphic design. You won't be a pro designer after reading through this but you will be armed with a few simple things you can do to make anything you are working on look much better.
When most people think about good design they think about making something that looks amazing and mistakenly think they can achieve this with bells and whistles. This can actually work against you. Well designed and stylish items present material in a way that best suits how our subconscious takes in information and draws meaning from it. What you will find is that things which look stunning are normally very simple but in a way that makes it crisp and clear.
A colour scheme is a set of colours that you select for your design. All aspects of the design should then use only these colours. The number of colours you will need will depend on your work and its complexity. Typically you would want a base set of colours, then a few that are richer or brighter in colour and a few that are lighter in colour (these could be variations of your base colours or complementary).
The Colour Wheel is a basic tool that designers use to create colour schemes. Two quite good ones are Kuler by Adobe and Color Scheme Designer. The basic idea is that the 3 primary colours (red, green and blue) are spaced out around a wheel and evenly transitioned between. You then pick your colour scheme by picking points evenly spaced around the wheel.
There are many different fonts out there and they can have a big impact on legibility. A general rule is that on the screen sans serif fonts are easier to read and printed serif fonts are easier to read. Feel free to mix and match however. A common combination is to use a sans serif font for the content and a serif font for headings. Keep your use of fonts limited too. Most designers like to work with only 2 fonts on a piece of work. They may touch 3 but only as a last resort.
This will largely be affected by the overall design of your work but is something you should consider. The recommended number of words per line is between 9 - 15 but you can generally get away with a bit more than this if you get your other aspects (font, font size, leading and tracking) in balance. One think to keep in mind, if you're designing web pages particularly, is lines that adjust to the width of the screen. This is especially so nowadays with larger widescreen monitors being common. You want to make sure your lines don't become too long and unwieldly.
The following ideas relate to the ways that our minds naturally percieve information and the world around us. When things are designed to fit in with the way our minds work then they can absorb and understand what is being presented with much less effort. When we can do that we are happy and that is good design.
The mind is happy when it can easily make out simple regular shapes in what it is seeing. Although you don't need to restrict yourself to only using them, incorporating them into your overall design in subtle ways can add style.
As we saw with Gestalt Theories above, our minds naturally seek to draw meaning from what they see. They want to know what is important and what is not, what is related and the order in which they should work through the information. Quiet structure seeks to prevent our minds doing this in areas where it is not needed. We achieve this by having even spacing around the different sections of our design.
The Golden Ratio is one of those things that 'just works'. It's found in nature all over the place and if you use it in your designs it has a tendency to make things balanced and pleasing. We don't really know why but it does so just accept it and benefit from it.
Whether you're just starting out in graphic design or a seasoned pro, there's always something new to learn if you want to stay ahead of the game. Graphic design's such a vast discipline covering so many different areas that it's hard to know it all, so learning some new skills is always time well spent.
Jim McCauley is a writer, performer and cat-wrangler who started writing professionally way back in 1995 on PC Format magazine, and has been covering technology-related subjects ever since, whether it's hardware, software or videogames. A chance call in 2005 led to Jim taking charge of Computer Arts' website and developing an interest in the world of graphic design, and eventually led to a move over to the freshly-launched Creative Bloq in 2012. Jim now works as a freelance writer for sites including Creative Bloq, T3 and PetsRadar, specialising in design, technology, wellness and cats, while doing the occasional pantomime and street performance in Bath and designing posters for a local drama group on the side.
You can put tutorial work in your portfolio provided you explain that it is tutorial work. Alas, I don't know if that would gain you much in an interview. The fact that you can finish a tutorial doesn't necessarily translate into design and problem solving skills which is what the person looking at your portfolio wants to see.
Most of the creative people who are going to review your portfolio for a job are probably poking around the design sites, and reading the magazines you got the tutorial from anyway. So, if you just include the tutorial files in your portfolio, they will probably recognize it pretty quickly.
But rather than hiding the fact that your works are tutorial-based, which could be considered deceit and grounds for disqualification (from jobs, contests, etc.), I suggest you address the tutorial works directly, explaining why you included them and what you gained. It's professional, sincere, and shows a commitment to improvement. Just remember to finish with something marvelous, like your best work. Keep in mind that if you don't emphasize the tutorials then, at least as far as jobs and competitions go, they might as well not be there.
For your second question, following a tutorial like "balance your color scheme" with your own image is safe. Following a tutorial like "make a barcode" is questionable. Changing a work's design, however, would be a derivative work that could become plagiarism if you're not careful. I suggest getting the author's permission to be safe.
Whether you want to design a logo, create ebooks, or just learn how to use a Pen tool, our in-depth design tutorials can help. Get to know Illustrator and InDesign, explore typography, and learn the nuances of designing for print.
Indeed, although Photoshop has an intricate core and provides advanced tools to work wonders, its environment is intuitive. With the right tutorials and guides, anyone can deal with it single-handedly. Let us go into more detail about Photoshop, learn its basics, and familiarize ourselves with some good tutorials that help unlock the power hidden in this beloved Adobe product.
Available for both Windows and Mac and even mobile OS, it has a large fan base with brand evangelists from various niches and with different skill levels. Although initially, the software was created for representatives of the creative industry such as designers, photographers, art directors, today, it is a tool for everyone. Therefore, whether you are an expert who needs to create a mind-blowing poster or a housewife who wants to populate your Instagram with flawless selfies, Photoshop can meet your needs, requirements, and abilities.
Once regarded as a complicated software for graphic designers only, now nearly anyone can master Photoshop. However, merely opening the program and trying to figure things out on your own may require lots of time and effort; more so, this may not work for some people at all. It is here where you need to seize learning opportunities that are awaiting Photoshop users on the web.
You can take in-person or group live online Photoshop classes, read books, and simply learn new stuff from free Photoshop tutorials. Each way has its own merits; however, the last one is the best practice.
So what should you do? Decide on a technique that you want to master. If you want to get acquainted with essentials, then you need to seek tutorials for newbies. If you want to fill your arsenal with some new or advanced solutions, you may benefit from tutorials made for artists with intermediate or advanced levels. Though the great thing is, regardless of your skill level, you can easily try any tutorial, just stick to a routine and try to do your best.
The first place to start your search for free Photoshop tutorials is Adobe. As the manufacturer, it provides a whole collection of valuable materials, guides, and how-tos to advocate its product and onboard as many customers as possible.
The directory is broken into several sections. There are Get Started courses, Quick Start tutorials, Beginner photo editing courses, Beginner selection courses, and even several courses for those who want to use iPad in their creative process. Each tutorial includes sample files and accompanying videos.
Another good thing is that you can filter the free Photoshop tutorials by skill level. This way, you will find how-tos for beginners who are up to learning some essentials and tutorials for experienced artists and graphic designers who want to refine their skills.
Although Photoshop Essentials cannot boast of a massive community of artists who constantly share their expertise and techniques, still this platform has been with us for ages. Its team knows a thing or two about educating users; that is for sure. Offering fun, exclusive, step-by-step free Photoshop tutorials for more than a decade, it is a perfect place to find a lesson to polish your skills. Believe us; there are some real gems.
Tuts+ covers various fields of study; however, we are interested in design or, more precisely, free Photoshop tutorials. The Design subdirectory includes hundreds of helpful step by step guides created by professionals and amateurs. There are quick and long tutorials. There are tutorials for beginners, artists with intermediate level, and, of course, experts.
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