Learn Graphic Design

More than ever, design is an essential component of good business strategy. As companies around the globe fight to cut through the noise of digital channels, businesses of all kinds need to trust their graphic design teams to deliver value by elevating and clearly communicating their brands and the values they stand for.

While graphic design isn’t new, it’s clear that the demand for effective design in the business world is ramping up significantly. Companies are already creating twice as many designed assets than the days before digital and social media, and this will likely increase as new platforms emerge.

For most businesses, finding enough graphic designers with the specific skills they require is a  difficult task. This is where learning and development leaders can step in and play an essential role by developing a skilled design team from within.

Why is this important? If your workforce has a clear path to learn graphic design, this can have a significant impact on your bottom line. Studies show that design-driven companies outperform the S&P 500 by 219% and, by fostering creativity, gain 1.5x greater market share than competitors.

With the right approach to graphic design training, you can help your organization become a design-driven brand!

What Does It Take to Learn Graphic Design?

Types of Graphic Design Software

The Core Skills for All Graphic Design Career Paths

Learning Paths for Graphic Design Training

Completing a degree in graphic design doesn’t lead to just one career path. From Creative Director to Product Designer, Multimedia Designer, Web Designer, Animator, Video/Film Editor, Brand Identity Designer, and beyond, there are many exciting possibilities!

This complexity can create challenges for talent development leaders. How do you develop a training program that properly supports so many different paths and roles? The short answer is to have a deep library of online design courses at the ready.

But beyond having all the right courses available to the workforce, talent development leaders must also help guide their employees by focusing on the core skills shared across these career paths. Regardless of the particular position or path, designers of all experience levels can benefit from learning the following:

• Design Thinking: Being customer-centric is essential in all aspects of business and graphic design is no different. Design thinking is a user-centered way of solving problems with research, customer journey maps, prototypes, and more.
• Developing Visual Campaigns: Visual content is attention-grabbing and gives you a chance to engage an audience. But one video or infographic isn’t enough—graphic designers must be prepared to plan strategic campaigns. Being able to take on the role of art director and graphic designer will give your team a competitive edge.
• Branding: No matter the career path, branding plays an essential role. It’s not just logos and web designs. It’s a complete system for communicating a company’s message. Graphic designers that can master branding will be able to deliver exceptional value for a business by elevating and clearly communicating the company’s brand values.
• Color Fundamentals: Everyone in a visually creative field needs to have a solid understanding of color and how to use it strategically. This is especially true for graphic designers.
• Universal Principles: There are numerous unspoken/unwritten rules in the design world. Rather than letting graphic designers stumble upon them, L&D leaders can provide access to online courses that highlight the universal principles that have made some of the greatest designs of our time.
• Data Intelligence: The science of graphic design isn’t just about creativity and software. It’s also about deriving valuable insights from data that will result in more effective designs. All graphic designers should have a basic understanding of how to use and visualize data when solving creative problems.

These skills and connected lessons are important for all graphic design career paths. However, they only scratch the surface of the deep library of online graphic design courses.

Talent development leaders who want to successfully help the workforce learn graphic design need to do more than just provide access to courses, they must also provide a focused and guided program so their teams will get the most out of their on-demand learning.