How I’d start design from scratch: Graphic Design for Noobs

Designing is an integral part of our lives. Be it the spaces we live in, the clothes we wear, or the products we use.

The design provides your desired aesthetics on your personal websites and social media handles. It helps you set up your local biz for success or make a poster for New Year’s. However, once someone starts designing without prior knowledge—it looks messy, something feels off, and the colors don’t match.

In this article, I’ll walk you through how to approach graphic design from the ground up along with resources to what I found super useful as a beginner in the design world. Whether you’re a complete beginner or just looking to brush up on your basics, these are the essential steps I’d follow if I had to start over.

Picking-up Industry Tools

The first step to learning design is mastering the tools. Among beginners, Canva is very popular: It has a wide range of templates, catchy fonts to use, and presets wherein you can select color palettes without going wrong.

However, the downside is: since it's popular, almost everyone uses Canva. You can practically see your template designs elsewhere. Adobe Express is also rising for the template design trends, but Adobe being Adobe—locks key features behind a paywall.

So it's best to learn graphic design tools, primarily including the Adobe Suite and Figma. Although both are paid, if you are really on a tight budget, you can find other means to (*ahem*) “acquire” them.

If you are a student at your university or college, you can easily apply for Figma Pro for Students which is free of cost.

It's also considered good practice to write down your learnings or make a record of your process behind designs, and I would recommend Notion to be the perfect tool for it. Obsidian is also free, but I prefer that for writing blogs instead of designing stuff.

Mastering Color Theory

Color is one of the first things people notice in a design, so understanding color theory is key. It’s more than just picking your favorite shade; it’s about knowing how colors interact and affect emotions.

• Start with the basics: Learn the primary colors (red, blue, and yellow) and how they combine to create secondary and tertiary colors.
• Explore complementary colors: These are colors opposite each other on the color wheel, like blue and orange. They create vibrant contrasts that can make a design pop.
• Understand color moods: Colors evoke emotions—red signifies urgency or passion, while blue conveys calmness and stability. Knowing how to use colors purposefully is a skill that will elevate your designs.

If I could start over, I’d spend more time experimenting with colors early on. One tool I’d recommend is Adobe Color or Colors, where you can play around with color schemes and learn what works together.

Learning Typography

When I first began, I underestimated how powerful typography can be in design. Fonts are not just about making text readable; they communicate a personality.

• Know your font categories: There are two basic types of fonts—serif and sans-serif. Serif fonts have little “feet” at the ends of the letters (think EB Garamond), and they give off a more traditional vibe. Sans-serif fonts (like Roboto) are clean and modern.

• Establish hierarchy: Hierarchy is about guiding the viewer’s eye through the text. The title should be bold and large, the subtitle slightly smaller, and the body text should be the smallest. These size differences make your design easier to read and more structured.
• Keep it consistent: Pick two or three fonts for your design and stick with them. Avoid using too many fonts, which can make the design look chaotic.

One mistake I’d avoid this time around is overusing decorative fonts. They’re fun, but they should be used sparingly: mostly in headings or logos, rather than body text.?

Your go-to platform for typography should be Google Fonts. It is free to download and most of the fonts are commercially free. That means no copyrights on your designs.

Understanding Layout and Composition

Composition is the foundation of any good design. You can have great colors and fonts, but if your layout is off, the design won’t work.

• Use a grid system: Grids are the secret weapon of professional designers. They help maintain alignment and give structure to your design. I’d suggest using grids right from the start to avoid random placement of elements.
• White space is your friend: This was a hard lesson for me. When you’re new, it’s tempting to fill every inch of the canvas. However, giving elements space to breathe (also called white space) is critical. It helps focus attention on key parts of the design.
• Practice the rule of thirds: Divide your design into a 3x3 grid and place important elements along the lines or intersections. It’s a simple way to create balanced compositions.

A good rule of thumb is always spending time sketching out your designs on paper. One of my favorite tools to sketch out pieces on a device is Excalidraw. It is better to spend time thinking about where to place things and then translating your well-thought-out ideas onto digital medium.

Making Mockups

Mockups is replicating your designs onto products to test what it looks like. Mockups can make-or-break your mood on designs, and can help you gauge what the finished product looks like.

Learning how to make mockups is very tough for beginners: so here are some free resources which are readily available to edit and showcase your wonderful designs.

• Gumroad: Not only for mockups, Gumroad provides free and light payments to tons of design stuff, including mockups, typography, textures, and cool elements as per your requirements or taste.
• Shots.so: Hands down the best mockup tool I’ve come across that's free and easy to use. Just drop your designs and it can auto adjust your mockup. Or if you feel like tweaking it, Shots.so provides you with various frames which you can choose to your liking.
• Free mockup libraries: You can browse Reddit or Google for free libraries, here are two of which I used for my designs. Mockup Designs and Freepik.

Concluding Things

You now have everything you need to start designing. Practice is key. If you like designing, go all-in with the above resources and explore more.

Remember to take inspiration from popular sites like Dribbble, Behance, Awwwards, and Pinterest. Good design is inspired from the greats.

Keep designing and you will get there eventually.

Written by Biswajit Roy