The design industry is evolving as new technologies emerge. Over the decades, it has gone from pencil drawings to complex software and artificial intelligence support. All these changes require new knowledge from specialists in mobile development agency.
The requirements for the profession change every year. Below, we’ll take a look at the top 8 skills a designer should have.
Typography
Fonts and work with them are literally in every project. In 2020, more and more wild typography appears: geometric shapes, flowers, patterns. And designers need to stay alert.
This may not seem essential to you, since you studied typography when you studied design. But it’s important to remember that design has almost completely moved from print to digital. Basically, this is a new area that needs to be re-examined. Explore new technologies like responsive fonts and many modern tools.
Image editing
Yes, you understood us correctly. Instagram is still the new Facebook, and most projects use photos rather than graphics. Therefore, the ability to work with images is an extremely important skill for designers.
The best image editing tools are Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom. An important thing to remember for a designer is that it will be more useful to learn a little bit of everything without going deep into one specific section. Your tasks may vary, but the designer is unlikely to require complex processing.
Don’t waste too much time on video courses and books. In this case, practice will get you up to speed much faster than anything else.
Photography
Regardless of experience, it is sometimes difficult for a designer to find a photo that reflects his idea. The fact is that only you can see the picture in your head. Therefore, you can either find something similar in the works of others, or try to explain your idea and hope for the right solution. Oh yes, you don’t always have a personal photographer at hand!
Therefore, a designer with basic photography skills will save a decent amount – and also get exactly the picture you want. In addition, even basic knowledge will make it easier to communicate and work with photographers in a team, if you have one.
Print design
It may seem that this point contradicts the previous ones. But the reality is, most new designers have no idea how the print design industry works. Why is it important with mobile ux patterns?
Well, the digital world has not taken over us entirely – and is unlikely to take over. We interact with real products every day. This means that the packaging and marketing materials were designed by designers. The circle is complete. So the print industry is still there – which means you need to understand how things work.
UX and coding
Web design technologies are becoming more complex and functional, which means that design as a whole also needs to catch up. Websites are no longer just flat, lifeless pages. These are whole projects that you need to understand.
If you are a designer who knows how to program and design a user interface, then your attractiveness in the eyes of the employer will grow. As with Photoshop, you don’t need to learn all the intricacies of coding. But understanding how it works goes a long way in the marketplace.
Cinema 4D and animation
Even in the most minimalist projects, you need to add something – it is better if you can do it yourself, without the involvement of third-party resources. And the ability to create complex visuals diversifies the work on the web and branding.
In this regard, knowledge of Cinema 4D will simplify your life. Firstly, the interface of the program is simpler than that of analogs. Secondly, she can not only create and edit three-dimensional objects and effects but also render using the Gouraud method and animate.
Branding
Despite the fact that this term has been in use for a long time, many designers (and clients) do not fully understand the whole meaning of branding. And even more often they confuse it with the creation of a logo and identity. But branding includes not only visual differences, but also an analysis of the market situation and audience, a well-thought-out advertising campaign, and much more.
Of course, most often this is not a task for one designer, but for a large team. But for successful work, it is imperative that everyone on the team understands the basic principles.
Career
Have you ever wondered why your co-worker with the same skill set gets more? Well, it’s time to think about it. In work, not only skill is important, but also the ability to communicate with clients, negotiate and defend your point of view – and the price, of course.
Without the ability to sell oneself, no genius can survive.
