Computer Graphics Design and The Workplace Part 2: Getting Started

by Yuan-Wei Tan
 
With a vast amount of online-resources and the multiple varieties of software, picking up some basic computer-graphics design is something that can be done without much difficulty. In today's blog-post, I will talk about free online-resources to learn some computer-graphics design and also introduce some of the software we use here at the LACD office for our designs.

Resources:

1). YouTube videos - There are various how-to videos on YouTube teaching everything from Photoshop Illustrator to 3D-printing techniques. There were various instances when LACD interns without any prior graphics-design knowledge managed to create attractive flyers or designs relying solely on what they learned from YouTube.

Recommended:

How To Get Started with Adobe Illustrator CS6 - 10 Things Beginners Want To Know How To Do.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kgmu8RwLi28

2). Lynda.com - Described as a "library of video tutorials taught by experts," this site provides instructional-videos done in the format of lectures. The site's experts teach visitors a variety of graphic-design skills such as image cropping, type design and layout tips.

Recommended:
How to design a logo fast.
http://www.lynda.com/Design-Color-tutorials/How-design-logo-fast/110141/136351-4.html

3). The Knight Digital Media Center at The University of California,Berkeley (kdmcBerkeley) - Housed at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, kdmcBerkeley offers "multimedia workshops to career journalists, communication professionals and higher education". While some of the content is catered for higher-level graphics-design, there are also various video tutorials that teach the basic principles of graphic-design such as visualization, programming and coding.

Recommended:
Data Visualization basics
http://multimedia.journalism.berkeley.edu/tutorials/data-visualization-basics/

Now that you have some sources to begin learning, lets take a look at the design software we use at LACD.

1). Adobe Photoshop Illustrator - A design tool that we use primarily for designing flyers, brochures and booklets. Illustrator is available for download at a special teacher/student price of $19.95 a month. This is a basic software that contains apps for sketching and drawing, color design, font creation and a CSS and SVG suite for exporting designs to websites. I recommend this software for most beginners as it is simple to use yet applicable to the kind of demands typical of a corporate-office (bar/pie charts, graphs etc.)

Example of a booklet designed using Illustrator.

2). Microsoft Publisher - This software is included in computers running Windows 8 and above that have installed Microsoft Office. Similar to the ubiquitous Microsoft Word, Publisher features more graphic-design options and can be used to aesthetically improve standard Word documents. Like Illustrator, Publisher can be used to create flyers, brochures and booklets as well as charts for presentations.

Example of a flyer designed using Publisher:



So now that you have the means to learn some basic computer graphic-design, start practicing by designing simple graphics. It will only be a matter of time until you acquire enough skill to tackle small design tasks and impress your bosses.