When we’re children we are all very creative and nobody can predict what we’ll do next. As you get a little older it can sometimes slip away from you. We were always drawing pictures and playing fantasy games, but we lose all sight of our creativity when we choose our career path. The lucky ones get to work in the creative industry, whereas the rest of us are stuck in a job we think is OK but it slowly eats away at us.
Graphic design is the perfect thing to learn if you want to rediscover what it was like to be creative. It’s the perfect thing to learn because it’s very easy to start your own little business on the side. In a few years from now you could build up the skills to start again with a new career, so don’t go thinking it’s too late. First you will obviously need to purchase the tools of the trade, so that’s what we’re going to be looking at today.
MacBook Air
If you’re looking for a main computer to use you won’t go wrong with a MacBook Air. Apple have a habit of being the greatest graphic design machines in the world. If you’ve always been a Windows person then don’t worry because you can still run that too on a MacBook, not that you’ll even want to again once you get used to the Apple operating system. They are also one of the most stylish machines around and any graphic designer needs a computer as beautiful as the work they create.
An external hard drive
When you’re working with some of the software you will find that some of it is quite large. This will eventually eat up all of the room on your hard drive. If you have an external one it will give you enough space to save anything. You will also be able to protect your important files a lot more, because if something happened to your hard drive and you lost all your work it would be devastating. Always have it in two places. Luckily they’re not too expensive and you can pick a large one up for little cost.
Adobe software
If you want to learn graphic design then nothing comes close to Adobe software which is the best in the world for everything. It does add up to quite a bit once you have everything you need, so maybe you can start with one program like Photoshop and build up your collection the longer you use it. There is free software you can download to play about with, but if you’re serious about learning properly you might as well start with the best.
An iPad
When you’re sitting away from the laptop at night you might still like to play about with a few things. That’s why the iPad comes in so handy, plus you’re lucky that you can find some amazing graphic design apps in the store. Once you start looking through you’ll be blown away by everything that’s available. The iPad is so advanced you can quite easily create works of art on it. The best part is the ability to throw it in your bag and take it anywhere with you.
Pantone color guides
Becoming a master with color is one of the most important things a graphic designer will need to learn. If you don’t get the color right it could spoil your whole design. Over time you will obviously get better, but you should still use Pantone color guides because they are one of the best ways to ensure you always make the right choice. Once you get used to them they are very easy to use.
About the Author: Todd Jones is a graphic designer by profession. He has listed some online sites on his blog from where you can purchase custom mat boards.
