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I love the internet. It's great. It made so many wonderful things possible (though, arguably, some bad ones, too) and allowed for knowledge to freely flow from the Arctic to the Antarctic. However... Now that there's so much content, the biggest issue is sorting out the useful from the not-so-useful info. That's why learning where to start learning is important. That's what we'll do in this one.
There are great experts out there who were once in your shoes. They can tell you not only how and what to learn, but also what things to avoid.
This can dramatically save your time and even give you an advantage.
Nothing embodies the Internet as well as Reddit does. There is a very high chance that whatever question you have, someone answered it on Reddit. You'll also find answers to things you didn't even know you were looking for!
I searched Reddit for best resources and advices when someone wants to start learning how to design for free (or cheap). The good folks on it have given links to books that were useful, YouTube channels with free tutorials, and some courses for those who can pay for them.
Oh, Google! You used to be the end-all-be-all of every question a person might have. Now, your search results are full of sponsored posts and blogs who ranked the best for a certain KW, from a business trying to sell you something.
Don't get me wrong, these blogs might be very useful, but the question is– how can you know? Most of them are copies of copies of copies of blogs that performed well on Google, with superficial information that might be useful to a complete beginner, but mean nothing to someone with a specific question.
I tried my luck on Google. Landed on another Reddit thread instead.
I am so lucky to be surrounded by some wonderful people who are designers. They are some of my closes friends and are very good at what they do. Some of them provided me with valuable documents to read, while others offered to help me master the tools.
Love you, peeps <3
Ok. So my findings led me to this conclusion: most people divided design into two things - Tools, and History.
Adobe: the behemoth of design software. Depending on the type of designer I want to be, there are InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, etc. There's also Figma.
The best advice for learning these tools is watching YouTube tutorials, or taking courses.
Here are some people I was recommended:
The Futur
The Flux Academy
Bring Your Own Laptop
and a lot of other people who have recorded how-tos for different parts of each tool.
This one made me really happy! I love history, and I must admit that I have forgotten a lot of it since my high school days. History, and with that, the history of design, is what fuels the creativity and explains the Whys of how things are.
The amount of books I saw recommended was huge, but here are some:
Graphic Design: The New Basics
100 Things Every Designer Needs To Know About People
Meggs' History of Graphic Design
and this very useful notion document that gives some ideas on how and what to do if you're a beginner.
I've decided to start out with some history of design.
I got my hands on Meggs' History of Graphic Design (edition 6) and started reading it.
There are also some YouTube videos that cover this topic of history and design, so I will probably watch those as well. Once I get an idea of design through history, my idea is to start learning the tools, while reading some of those other books that were recommended.
We'll see.
I'm hopeful. And excited.
Keep you posted!
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