However, from the perspective of finding a job in a large design company, those companies may have some requirements for their employees. Here is an article from "UI China" entitled "How to Become a Designer without Reading Design School".
The website UI China is highly recommended. If you want to teach yourself UI design, you should often visit some websites that can provide the latest information and resources. If you follow the study and stick to it, you will certainly gain something, regardless of your education. In fact, for the word education, I think it only means "learning experience and process" and should not be linked to certificates. Knowledge will not treat people ill, come on!
I didn't go to design school, but I became a designer. I wanted to change my career as a designer, but I didn't have four years and 10W to go back to school. So I decided to teach myself. First of all, I doubt whether a person can reach a level of ability through self-study.
If you have the same doubts, the answer is yes.
I finished my design research in six months, and at the same time, I am doing a full-time job. At that time, I didn't think I was ready, but I started to apply-and got a job at a great startup, Exec.
I admit, I am far less than many design wizards who have studied in elite colleges for four years. But it must be enough for me to do my job well. I design a wide range-websites, iPhone applications, email, social media and print.
Maybe you want to change your life and become a full-time designer. Or you just want to learn some basic knowledge to support your business or sideline.
Then this is a design self-study guide.
Step 1: Learn to observe.
The biggest mistake is to fall into Photoshop too early. Learning Photoshop will not make you a designer any more than buying a brush will make you an artist. Start with the basics.
First, learn to draw.
You don't have to sit in the room with a group of artists and try to draw a naked woman.
You don't even have to draw so well. Learn some basics and draw comfortably with a pen.
● There is only one thing to learn to draw: buy a book "You can draw in 30 days" and practice for half an hour every day for a month. I have read many painting books, and this one is one of the best.
Learning graphic design theory
● Start with the book "This Picture". This is a story book about Little Red Riding Hood, but it will also teach you the basic knowledge of graphic design.
● Learn colors and fonts, and use grid design. If there is a basic course of graphic design in the local area, attend it.
● Attend these courses every day.
Understand the basic user experience
There are many books about user experience. Starting with these two crash books, they will help you establish a correct concept:
● Design of daily necessities
Don't make me think!
Learn to write.
● Don't fill your design with placeholders like Loremisum. As a designer, your job is not just to make beautiful pictures-you must also be an excellent communicator. Think about the whole experience and consider every word carefully. Things are written for people to see. Don't use those academic accents in the school magazine that make you look smart.
Read Stick it Out, which is one of my favorite books all the time. It will teach you how to catch your readers.
● Voice and Tone is a very good website, which is full of cases of how to communicate with users.
Learn to deny your own work.
This is the most difficult step in the whole guide.
● Be prepared to deny every piece of your work. Get ready to shoot your previous baby design rudely. The sooner you accept this, the better your job will be. When you realize that your work is not good enough, destroy it. Do it again.
● One more pair of eyes. Bring your work to those who care about design and get feedback. Don't know anyone? Make some friends with designers-attend designer parties and activities.
And those who don't care about design. Show your work to some potential users and let them try your website or application. Don't be afraid to find strangers-I used to take advantage of the plane delay to let everyone in the terminal try the app I was designing. Many of them were bored and willing to help, and then I got some great usability feedback.
● Listen. Really listen. Don't argue If you want to get feedback from someone, they have invested their time and attention to help you. Don't argue in return for their help. Thank them and ask questions instead of arguing with them. We will decide whether to adopt their feedback later.
Step 2: Learn to use Photoshop and Illustrator.
Hooray! Now you have a fairly solid foundation-vision and user experience. You can start learning Photoshop. Actually, I suggest starting with Illustrator and then moving to Photoshop. Illustrator is a tool used by designers to make LOGO and icons. InDesign is good at making printed designs, such as leaflets and business cards.
Learn illustration.
● You can learn Illustrator through a large number of books, online tutorials and face-to-face courses. Choose the way that suits you best. The following books are particularly helpful for learning the basic knowledge of Illustrator:
● Adobe Illustrator class in a book-very boring, but if you learn at least half, your illustrator will master it well.
● Vector Basic Training-This book teaches you how to draw beautiful things in Illustrator.
● Next is the interesting part! Pay attention to online tutorials, and you will be impressed by what you can do. I like these two best-a logo and a landscape painting.
Learn Photoshop
There are thousands of tutorials. Most of them are worthless. Fortunately, there are some really high-quality tutorial websites. PSDTuts of TutsPlus is one of them.
● This is a great photoshop tutorial for making iPhone applications.
This is a great photoshop tutorial for making website renderings.
● Squeeze out an hour or two every day to study these tutorials, and your progress is absolutely unforgettable.
Step 3: learn something special.
Do you want to design a mobile app? Website? Or an infographic? Explore more, and then choose what interests you most to make yourself more skilled.
Learning logo design
● Learn to be a decent logo:Logo design love.
● But you will also want to go further on the logo. Learn to create a unified brand image-from websites to business cards. Read this book and design brand identity.
Learning mobile application design
● Starting from this tutorial, start the visual design process of your mobile app.
● Read this comprehensive and thoughtful iPhone design book: Tapworthy. It will teach you how to design an application that is not only beautiful but also easy to use.
● Seriously study the app on the mobile phone. Evaluate them. What works and what doesn't?
Learning web design
Read Don't Make Me Think to learn how to make a website that is easy to use and browse.
If you want to make the website look better, read The Principles of Beautiful Web Design.
List the web design that you think is beautiful. Pay attention to what they have in common. There are some classic cases on SiteInspire.
Next, you have to face a tangled problem. As a designer, do you need to master HTML/CSS? It depends on your job. Mastering it will definitely give you an advantage in the workplace. Even if you don't want to be a web developer, it can help you understand some basic knowledge. You can know what is achievable and what is not.
Here are some good learning resources for HTML and CSS.
● Web design Tuts is my favorite among free tutorials.
● My favorite paid tutorial is Treehouse (it's really affordable, $25 per month). If you start from scratch, you need someone to give you a clear and comprehensive explanation. Pay a lot for the tutorial of the tree house.
Step 4: Create a portfolio
You don't have to go to an elite design school to become a designer. But you need a reliable portfolio.
How to build a portfolio at the beginning? Fortunately, you don't necessarily need to participate in real projects and contact real customers to build a portfolio. Make up your own sideline. Here are some ideas:
● Design some simple ideas on T-shirts.
Find some poorly designed websites and redesign them.
● Think of an iPhone application idea? Make its renderings.
● Join a team of Startup Weekend as a designer in the weekend project.
● Participate in the 99 Design Competition and practice design in the form of resume.
Do graphic design exercises through the book Creative Workshop.
● Find local non-profit organizations and provide design services for free.
Resist the temptation and put every work into the portfolio. This is a place where only your best works are displayed.
From the beginning, it is to learn, learn and learn again. Don't worry about originality-it will come later when you are more satisfied with your craft. When learning a musical instrument, you always learn to play other people's songs first, and then create your own songs. The same is true in design. Copy like an artist.
Go to Dribbble for some inspiration from top designers. Get inspiration for iOS design from pttrns and find web pages from siteinspire.
Step 5: Find a design job.
When I first started studying design, I went to a job fair for designers. I walked into a room full of designers with more experience than me-5 years, 10 years, 15 years working experience. Everyone is looking for a job. The situation is very scary. I was there when I started my own business, and I knew I had to compete with these experienced designers.
Only one year later, I got a job as a designer. Compared with many other designers, my key advantage is that I know how to cooperate with developers.
The most important factor to improve your employability is being able to work with developers. Learn some interaction design. Learn some basic HTML and CSS. Designers in the technology industry (interaction designers, web designers, app designers) are all scarce talents, and their salaries are considerable. This is what I am doing now.
If you don't have experience working with developers, experience it. Go to a startup weekend, take part in a hackathon, or find a developer on the website of a cooperative project.
Make a personal website and show the portfolio as the core content.
Go out and create some adventures-tell everyone that you are looking for a design job. You never know who will know who can help.
Study the companies and institutions you are interested in. Search for people from those companies on LinkedIn, establish in-depth contact with them and ask for information. The best way to find a job is to make connections. If you don't have any interpersonal relationships, there are many other ways to build an advantage for yourself.
After finding a job, continue to study.
I spent a year in Exec, and now I have learned a lot at work. I look for designers who are more talented than me and learn from them. Look for design courses (good online courses include Skillshare, General Assembly, Treehouse and TutsPlus). Do some sideline work. Study hard in the design area of the bookstore. There is still so much room for learning and progress.
Always polish your skills and learn endlessly.
Is there a problem? Say hello to @karenxcheng. If you want to study design seriously and practice it every day, you may be interested in an incentive experiment I run: 100.
"No one told the novice these things, I hope someone can tell me at that time. All of us who are engaged in creative work choose it because we have good taste. But there are also gaps. What you made two years ago may not be so good. You thought it would be better and have potential, but it didn't turn out as you hoped. But your taste and your achievements in the field of design may still be the culprit. Your taste causes your work to disappoint you. Many people give up after this stage. Most people I know who are engaged in interesting creative work have spent many years to get through this stage. We know that in our own works, we don't have the qualities we want to give. We've all been through this. And if you are just getting started or still at this stage, you should know that this is normal, and the most important thing you can do is to create a lot of works. It takes time. It's normal to take time. You have to fight in your own way. " -ira glass
Author's Note: This article was originally published on Karen's blog. After revision and correction, it was published in the media.