Graphic Design Video Tutorials

Graphic design is the art of creating vibrant compositions using computer-aided design software like Photoshop and Illustrator. Graphic design training helps students learn how to blend text, colors, images, and graphics to design posters, layouts, logos, advertisements, brochures, and hundreds of other artistic projects. Watching video tutorials online is a popular method of learning graphic design. They allow students to control the pace of their own learning, give students a glimpse into the design process that creatives use, and give students increased control over the structure and style of their training. This article will cover a range of videos, including what they teach and where to find them.

What is Graphic Design?

Graphic design is a field of creative arts that focuses on projecting visual communication, often built of combinations of text, images, photographs, and other visual elements, with specific goals. Graphic design covers a wide array of different artistic disciplines and endeavors. Still, at its core, it is the act of using visual imagery to communicate with audiences and convey feelings and ideas that language alone wouldn’t be able to express. As a subset of the fine arts, graphic design skills are used in virtually every industry, but they are particularly prominent in advertising and branding. Advertisements, product packaging, logos, branded merchandise, and other promotional materials all demonstrate graphic design skills. Any business or organization looking to reach an audience will want to hire those skilled in graphic design.

Since graphic design covers a wide range of artistic disciplines, no two Graphic Designers will be working with the same toolset or on the same kinds of projects. Some will work in traditional print mediums, such as the publishing or magazine industry. Some will work on designing logos and branded merchandise for companies to place on billboards, hats, and other promotional materials. Some will work on digital projects, building webpages and mobile application assets. Others will design infographics, posters, and signage for activist organizations or non-profits. Graphic design is a wide-open field of diverse artistic endeavors, and learning graphic design skills will open many doors for creatives.

Read more about what graphic design is and why you should learn it.

What Can You Do with Graphic Design?

Graphic design represents a wide-ranging field of visual expression, which means there is virtually no limit to the kinds of images that sufficiently skilled creatives can create. As the field of graphic design is so expensive, creatives can make use of their skills in both professional and personal contexts. As professional Graphic Designers, creatives will be tasked with building imagery that is both evocative and communicates complex persuasive ideas to their audience of consumers. Graphic Designers will build the iconography of companies and brands, build the images that audiences come to associate with those companies, and help construct memorable advertising campaigns, promotional material, and product packaging.

Graphic design skills are also useful for non-professionals who want to persuade large audiences. Small business owners, start-up entrepreneurs, or even creatives working in marketplaces like Etsy may wish to learn more about graphic design to build their brand identities and set themselves apart from their competitors. Activists and organizers can learn graphic design skills to build more visually appealing and persuasive designs for flyers and infographics. Politicians will hire graphic designers to build campaign materials. As long as someone is attempting to communicate visually to an audience, they will benefit from either learning graphic design skills or working closely alongside someone who knows them.

Why Are Video Tutorials Helpful When Learning Graphic Design?

Video tutorials are helpful tools for graphic design students for a number of reasons. They give students the ability to control the pace and style of their learning, and viewing a creative process is important to many students. While video tutorials won’t replace professional skills training, they are ideal for students to start learning graphic design basics.

Video tutorials allow students to pause, rewind, start, stop, and speed up their graphic design training. Beyond the practical advantages of being able to pause and restart a video at a student’s convenience, this allows students to return to prior parts of a lesson, skip ahead to more interesting content, and swap to a new video entirely. Since the cost of entry for a video tutorial is so low, students don’t feel obligated to continue any given video if it is not helping them. They can quickly switch over to a different video that they hope is more useful or simply try to find a different, more appealing training method. This gives students incredible flexibility in controlling the pace and style of their early graphic design training.

Videos are also useful for graphic design students because they are an inherently visual medium. Graphic design is the art of creating visual compositions, so seeing the process and learning the techniques is an important element of one’s education. Video tutorials allow students to see how decisions are made and how the process works from start to finish, which is good for both visual learners and students who want to see how a visual composition is designed.

Types of Graphic Design Videos

The most immersive kind of graphic design video is a lengthy tutorial that mirrors the structure of an online seminar. These courses are offered through Noble and provide the closest approximation to attending a live training seminar. These training resources will help students ease into using tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign and will provide students with the necessary background on composition and design theories and philosophies. While students looking to use their graphic design skills professionally will need more advanced training, these online seminars are a great way to start down the path of graphic design education.

Noble offers a wide array of free graphic design seminars through the Graphic Design playlist on its official YouTube channel and the Free Seminars page on its official website. These courses include free introductory seminars on Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign alongside seminars detailing more general theories of graphic design and its function in various industries. These courses will give students the chance to learn the basic features of graphic design tools to begin experimenting with their own designs and feel more confident in their skills when they enroll in an online course.

Another graphic design video tutorial model is a short, focused video tutorial that explores an element of graphic design, such as how to blend colors in Photoshop or how to use the pen tool in Illustrator. These more focused videos give students greater control over their graphic design training. Plus, since content creation algorithms encourage channels to produce videos in this manner, there are many different options for learning graphic design skills. This is also the video style that companies like Adobe provide for their free tutorials.

An additional kind of graphic design tutorial is a process-driven video tutorial in which a Graphic Designer walks audiences through the steps involved in creating a composition. These videos are ideal for process-oriented students who understand the basics of graphic design tools but still want to learn how experienced designers work on their projects.

Why Learn Graphic Design?

Learning graphic design skills, particularly industry-standard tools like Photoshop or InDesign, will allow students to expand their creative talents while opening the door to an in-demand career field. Learning graphic design skills will help creatives turn their passions into professions, as graphic design skills are utilized in dozens of industries to communicate important information and ideas to consumers and communities. Whether working in a small business to help establish a brand identity, working for a non-profit to build infographics, working for a politician to produce campaign material, or working for a massive company designing advertising campaigns, anyone whose job involves attempting to persuade an audience will benefit from learning graphic design skills.

Graphic design training can also help non-professional creatives gain new skills that they can use to expand their artistic abilities. Most graphic design training emphasizes either theory of design and composition or the specific tools that professional Graphic Designers commonly use. Learning applications like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign will expand the scope of projects that creatives can work on. Even if they aren’t intending to switch career paths because of their graphic design training, learning how to use these tools will open up new opportunities for artistic and creative expression.

Read more about why you should learn graphic design.

How Difficult is It to Learn Graphic Design?

Students may be worried that learning graphic design will be difficult or costly. For the most part, this isn’t the case. Graphic design tools are fairly easy to learn, and students can become proficient enough in programs like Photoshop and Illustrator within only a few hours of training. The challenge lies in perfecting these skills through constant practice and iteration.

There are no formal prerequisites to learning graphic design, though students should be comfortable using computers and navigating through multiple files, folders, and applications. In addition, while graphic design applications rarely have demanding system requirements, students wanting to learn online should ensure they have the hardware required to run multiple applications simultaneously.

The cost of practicing graphic design will vary depending on the number of programs and the kinds of programs that a designer wishes to work with. Students who want to license a single program, such as Photoshop, may pay about 20 dollars a month. In contrast, students who want to learn the entirety of Adobe Creative Cloud may pay upwards of sixty dollars a month. In addition, students can receive discounts on these programs or search for free alternatives like Inkscape and Darktable.

Read about how difficult it is to learn graphic design.

Learn Graphic Design with Hands-on Training at Noble Desktop

Interested in learning graphic design? There are a few different options available. It’s possible to either study individual graphic design tools in accelerated bootcamps or learn complementary graphic design skills in more career-focused training programs. Both graphic design training courses are available to students through Noble Desktop, both in-person and online. These courses are taught by experienced instructors who can teach students important graphic design techniques and give them vital feedback on their designs. Even online, Noble strives to keep class sizes small, ensuring that students can interface directly with their instructors. Plus, all of Noble’s courses have the option to retake the course for free within a year. This allows students to hone their skills, cover material that may have given them difficulty, or just get more hands-on practice and feedback on their designs.

For students looking to learn the programs most commonly associated with professional graphic design, Noble offers a wide selection of bootcamps. These include training courses in Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign, all of which are industry-standard tools. These courses will provide students with hands-on training in the advanced techniques to manipulate and edit photos, build vector graphic illustrations, or construct layout designs. Each of these courses will guide students through practical exercises replicating the kinds of projects built by professional Graphic Designers. Each of these courses will teach an individual tool, but because they are all part of the Adobe Creative Cloud, learning one tool will ease future training and greatly expand how creatives can use multiple programs simultaneously.

Students looking to build a career in graphic design may wish to consider Noble’s Graphic Design Certificate program. This accelerated training program will teach students all three major 2D graphic design tools. Students will learn Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign work separately, then they will learn how these programs complement one another, introducing students to new and expansive ways to build graphic designs. Since this is a career-focused bootcamp, students will receive one-on-one career mentorship. The final portion of the course is dedicated to helping students build a practical portfolio of sample design that they can take onto the job market. For students looking to turn a passion for graphic design into a career, Noble’s certificate programs are an ideal place to receive the necessary skills training.