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AnnaHope
Student
Frankfort, Kentucky
1
Question
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What Do I Need to Know and Do to Become a Successful Graphic Designer?
what classes in college would I need to take?
what do they do day to day?
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1 answer
Aml Omar
Marketing & Business Development Consultant
21
Answers
Egypt
Updated
Aml’s Answer
Graphic design can be a very good career if you enjoy visual problem-solving, creativity, communication, and working with clients or teams. But it is important to understand that professional graphic design is much more than making things look nice.
What would you need to learn?
If you study Graphic Design in college, typical courses may include:
Design fundamentals & visual communication
Typography
Color theory
Drawing / illustration
Layout & composition
Branding & visual identity
UI/UX fundamentals
Photography
Motion graphics / animation
Print & digital design
Design history
Portfolio development
Design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
The exact curriculum varies by university, so don't choose a school based only on its course list. Look at the student portfolios and graduate work as well.
What does a graphic designer actually do every day?
It depends heavily on the job.
A typical day might involve:
Brief → Research → Ideas → Sketches/concepts → Design → Feedback → Revisions → Final files
You might spend part of your day:
Designing social media campaigns
Creating logos or brand identities
Designing presentations, packaging, advertisements or websites
Editing images
Creating illustrations or layouts
Reviewing designs with clients or a marketing team
Revising work based on feedback
Preparing files for print or digital publishing
And honestly, a significant part of the job isn't "being creative." It's solving a communication problem within constraints: the client's goals, audience, brand, deadline and budget.
What should you do while you're in college?
Don't wait until graduation to build your portfolio.
Start creating projects now. You can even create fictional briefs for businesses and design complete campaigns for them.
Build a portfolio that demonstrates how you think, not just a collection of pretty images.
For example, instead of showing only a logo, show:
Client problem → Research → Concept → Logo → Color/Typography → Brand applications
Also learn skills beyond design itself: communication, presenting your ideas, receiving criticism, understanding marketing, managing deadlines and working with clients.
One final piece of advice: try the work before committing to the degree.
Spend a few weeks learning the basics of Illustrator/Figma/Photoshop and complete 2–3 small projects. If you enjoy the process of solving visual problems—even when the work becomes difficult—you have a much stronger signal that graphic design may be right for you.
You don't need to know today whether you'll be a graphic designer for the rest of your life. At this stage, your goal is to experiment enough to make an informed decision.
What would you need to learn?
If you study Graphic Design in college, typical courses may include:
Design fundamentals & visual communication
Typography
Color theory
Drawing / illustration
Layout & composition
Branding & visual identity
UI/UX fundamentals
Photography
Motion graphics / animation
Print & digital design
Design history
Portfolio development
Design software such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
The exact curriculum varies by university, so don't choose a school based only on its course list. Look at the student portfolios and graduate work as well.
What does a graphic designer actually do every day?
It depends heavily on the job.
A typical day might involve:
Brief → Research → Ideas → Sketches/concepts → Design → Feedback → Revisions → Final files
You might spend part of your day:
Designing social media campaigns
Creating logos or brand identities
Designing presentations, packaging, advertisements or websites
Editing images
Creating illustrations or layouts
Reviewing designs with clients or a marketing team
Revising work based on feedback
Preparing files for print or digital publishing
And honestly, a significant part of the job isn't "being creative." It's solving a communication problem within constraints: the client's goals, audience, brand, deadline and budget.
What should you do while you're in college?
Don't wait until graduation to build your portfolio.
Start creating projects now. You can even create fictional briefs for businesses and design complete campaigns for them.
Build a portfolio that demonstrates how you think, not just a collection of pretty images.
For example, instead of showing only a logo, show:
Client problem → Research → Concept → Logo → Color/Typography → Brand applications
Also learn skills beyond design itself: communication, presenting your ideas, receiving criticism, understanding marketing, managing deadlines and working with clients.
One final piece of advice: try the work before committing to the degree.
Spend a few weeks learning the basics of Illustrator/Figma/Photoshop and complete 2–3 small projects. If you enjoy the process of solving visual problems—even when the work becomes difficult—you have a much stronger signal that graphic design may be right for you.
You don't need to know today whether you'll be a graphic designer for the rest of your life. At this stage, your goal is to experiment enough to make an informed decision.