11 ways to improve your graphic design skills

Graphic design is a great industry to be a part of, but it’s also an industry that is constantly changing and evolving.

This means that sometimes graphic designers can feel like they’re being left behind in the industry or that their graphic design skills are getting rusty. If you want to keep your skills fresh, here's 11 ways to stay at the top of your game.

Graphic design blogs are a great way to stay up to date on what’s going on in the design world and check in on the latest trends and projects that have the industry buzzing. And on top of this, they’re also an ideal way of topping up your skills.

Blogs like It's Nice That, The Brand Identity, Creative Boom, Bounty Hunters, Creative Lives in Progress, and (best for last!) our very own Shillington Design Blog are packed with incredible resources that allow you to learn and take on new expertise and knowledge to improve your design skills. As well as this, lots of graphic design blogs are also full of inspiration to help shape and inspire the future of your design work.

A smart way of improving your graphic design skills is to partner up with a more experienced graphic designer and ask them to mentor you as you grow. Finding a mentor is the first step—there are dedicated websites for this, but if you want to be mentored by someone specific then reach out to them directly or the studio they work in.

Mentors will be able to show you exactly how to improve your design skills. They can point you in the right direction in terms of any gaps in your knowledge and what you need to do in order to fill them. It would be like having your own personal guide through your design journey!

If you feel like your skills are a bit lacking, then it might just be a case of brushing up on your design theory knowledge. Design theory is ultimately what will make your design successful—so you’re not going to get very far without it.

Design theory includes the principles of design (alignment, repetition, contrast, hierarchy and balance), the design process, colour theory, design thinking, process and application and a whole lot more. If you’re wondering how to improve your graphic design skills, then making sure that you’ve got your design theory knowledge in check is a great way to start.

This might sound obvious. But hear us out. Improving your graphic design skills starts with knowing what’s going on in the design industry and this means being aware of other graphic designers and their work. Social media has been revolutionary in this—opening the design world up and allowing designers to share their work with ever-growing networks. Over time you might even develop a birds eye view of the industry and start picking up on trends. And these are great to have in your back pocket for interviews and networking.

If you’re looking at how to improve your design skills, then start following your favourite graphic designers on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and wherever else you can find them. There’s also some more creative-focused networks such as Behance and Dribbble that are dedicated to designers, artists and other creatives showcasing their talents.

And why not challenge yourself by following designers who's style is totally different to your own or who work in completely different industries. How can you develop your design critique skills? How might you approach a specific brief yourself?

Graphic designers are known for their love of books, so there’s absolutely no shortage of amazing graphic design books—covering everything from logos to design history to why fonts are important. What does this mean for you? Picking up some graphic design books is a great way to brush up on your design skills.

Books can teach, books can inform and books can inspire. So, whether there is a specific skill you need to practice or you need to start from the beginning, there’s a book for you. It’s worth doing a bit of research for the best title but they will definitely help to improve your design skills.

One of the most important things to know in order to be a graphic designer is the essential graphic design tools—these include the graphic design programs, Adobe Creative Cloud (InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop) and Figma, an iMac or MacBook Pro and lots of other tools that will make your job easier and your designs better.

Mastering these tools will be an important step in how to improve your design skills. No designer worth their salt isn’t able to use the design tools that make up a designer’s day-to-day so if you’re looking to upskill then make sure you know all the relevant tools inside out. And double check if there’s any you’ve missed that might help to improve your work.

We all know that practice makes perfect and in this case it really rings true. If you’re pondering how to improve your graphic design skills then get practising. Practice is important, especially if you’ve strayed from creating, as it gives you the headspace to think about how to design properly without the pressure of having to create work for a paying client.

There’s several ways to find briefs that will allow you to practise and improve your design skills. First up, you can simply write your own briefs. Not only will this allow you to work on something that you’ve always wanted to, but will also give you a great opportunity to experiment with your design work. If you want to get there faster, then there are dedicated websites, such as Briefbox, where you can find briefs to practice.

The graphic design industry is always evolving which means that new design software is always appearing and replacing older software.

If you’re trying to improve your graphic design skills, then it’s important to keep on top of the latest software and be able to use it.

Whether it’s annual updates changing certain things in the Adobe Creative Cloud or a new program that comes in and revolutionises the industry like Figma, there’s always things cropping up. Make sure you’re learning them as they will continually help you to improve your design skills and not get left behind in the industry.

Additionally, if your design work has been on the back burner for a while, learning new software is a great way to get your head back in the game. Not only will you be learning new, relevant skills but it will also help to remind you of what you already know and skills you already have.

Another brilliant way of improving your design skills is to refine your signature style and find your own design speciality. A signature style will not only allow you to think about what you know and what you need to know to be able to achieve it, but also a chance to practise and fine-tune the skills you already have.

Specialising in an area of design, whether this is digital design, typography or any other speciality that takes your fancy, will give you the opportunity to improve your graphic design skills. This especially rings true if there is an area that you really want to work in. You’ll definitely need to brush up on your skills in that area. Specialising will also lead to you learning new skills that will help make you a better, more well rounded designer.

The industry is constantly moving. Why not add another string to your bow? Maybe you've always wanted to try 3D design, maybe you want to brush up on your print design, or perhaps its motion. Whatever it is, adding new skills to your arsenal helps you grow as a well-rounded designer and shows that you don't sit still. Who knows, maybe a new job will even come from it?

Our final way to improve your design skills may also be one of the most fun: collaboration. Collaborating with other designers will allow you to learn from each other and discover new skills and expertise that you may not already have. You could collaborate with a fellow designer on a creative side project that neither of you have tackled before, allowing you both to learn new skills.

Working with another designer will help to improve your graphic design skills as it opens you up to a different person’s way of doing things and creating. It will not only allow you to learn new processes, but your collaborator might also teach you new design techniques that you weren’t previously aware of. Learning through working together is an enriching and enlightening way of improving your design skills.