Analysis of the profession: what an interior designer should know and be able to do. Self-paced web design training without leaving home How to become a professional designer

Each of us can show our own internal designer in arranging your own home and create a room that would be in maximum harmony with our inner world and aesthetic preferences. But if you feel like you'd like to create an oasis in other people's homes, why not consider becoming an interior designer? Today we will tell you what is needed for this.

Before plunging into studying the requirements for this type of specialist, it is worth thinking about what could be attractive about this profession? Like all others, you can find both pros and cons. If we talk about the advantages of such work, we cannot fail to note:

  • the opportunity to unleash your creative potential;
  • high level of income;
  • the ability to widely apply existing skills;
  • relatively free work schedule;
  • demand for services subject to their quality;
  • the opportunity to gradually fill out your portfolio and improve your reputation;
  • prestige of the profession;
  • no connection to age.

But along with the advantages there are always some disadvantages of the work, namely:

  • the opportunity to grow only professionally, lack of career advancement;
  • mandatory internship or internship;
  • the need to find reliable partners who produce furniture, interior elements, provide repair services, etc.;
  • lack of regular orders;
  • the need to put customers' wishes first;
  • indispensability of the specialist who took specific project– he must lead it smoothly from beginning to end;
  • any mistake or unsatisfactory result can ruin the entire reputation, especially at the beginning of a career;
  • the need to master specialized computer programs.

Many may think that it is simply impossible to become a designer without knowing how to draw. But this is not so - practitioners assure that a modern professional does not need to have such a seemingly essential skill. Taking into account technological progress and the transfer of the main body of work to the plane computer technology, you can learn to draw as you go, if the desire or need arises.

Interior designer: how to become one and what are the requirements for these specialists?

Where to start? It is best to start at art school, creating your portfolio and gradually expanding it with new works. Next, you should decide on a university with the appropriate specialty and pass the relevant subjects well. Considering that there are a great many such institutions, it is worth carefully studying the conditions for studying in each of them. The big advantage of this type of education is that gifted applicants can enroll in a university completely free of charge. But you need to take into account that, unlike specialized courses, at the university you will have to study not only specialized subjects (ergonomics, colors, materials, etc.), but also those that direct relation have nothing to do with design. Studying at a university usually takes from 4 to 6 years, and it is believed that this gives much more possibilities rather than spending 1-2 years on courses.

In addition to studying at a higher educational institution, it would also be good to attend special courses for designers to master their future craft as deeply as possible. At the same time, you can limit yourself to only them if you do not have the desire to study for a long time and gain a lot of additional knowledge in addition to the specialized ones. But you should understand that you can often find theoretical teachers in such courses, which may not be suitable for those who pay hundreds of thousands of rubles to gain as many practical skills as possible.

How to become an interior designer yourself, and is it possible? It cannot be said that education in this area is a must have. Of course, having a unique talent that is recognized by many people, you can skip this stage in your life and do what you love without a diploma. But here it is very important to take into account the need for constant development and improvement in order to be able to stay afloat in the face of serious competition.

The basics that every interior designer should definitely know are:


Having studied the theoretical part and learned to work with the necessary computer programs, you can move on to practice. And in general, according to experts, the more practice a designer has, the better professional he becomes. Moreover, what matters is not what thoughts and ideas the specialist harbors in his head, but what comes out in the end.

An alternative option on how to become an interior designer

In addition to studying at a university and taking courses, you can take another path, becoming an apprentice to a practicing designer. This good way gain concentrated knowledge from an existing designer and bypass everything that is very indirectly related to the design business. But it is worth understanding that this is more difficult option, where you need to immediately delve into the essence of the work and not allow yourself to relax. In addition, finding a specialist who can afford to train a beginner and devote time to him will not be so easy.

As a result, we can say that you can become a designer not only after long 5-6 years of study at the university. Now you can become a design specialist without educational base, if your supervisor and mentor is a successful working specialist. In this profession, theory is not as important as practical skills, and the ability to show the desired results is more important than designing a beautiful picture in your head. If the topic of design evokes pleasant emotions, keen interest and a lot of ideas in you, but you have not yet realized yourself in this field, evaluate your strengths and resources, and then feel free to follow your calling!

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To become fashion designer You don't need any special education or qualifications, but it's still not easy to succeed in this field. You must have good drawing, sewing and designing skills, as well as a good fashion sense and be very resilient. In this article you will find some tips for beginning designers.

Steps

Honing your skills

    Develop your skills. A successful fashion designer has a wide range of skills, including drawing, the ability to combine colors and textures, the ability to think three-dimensionally, and technical skills in cutting and sewing all types of fabric. .

    • If you do not yet possess these skills sufficiently, sign up for courses or study yourself. As a fashion designer, you must be able to create something special from complex fabric in any situation. You must use it confidently sewing machines, including industrial types, and also good at hand sewing.
    • Learn to make patterns and sketches. Throughout your career, you will need the ability to create your own style and recreate it according to your desires. Some people find this skill difficult.
    • Understand how fabric moves, drapes, breathes, deforms during wear, etc. Your in-depth knowledge of fabric is simply necessary to create a decent outfit. You should also understand the types of material.
    • Gather information about existing designers, not just who they are, but their background, their signature style. This knowledge will help you create yourself as a designer, because... you can borrow some of their ideas.
    • Learn to create a theme and clothing line. Explore current trends through the media, while shopping or attending fashion shows.
  1. Start developing skills from a young age. Be prepared to dedicate a lot of time to honing your skills. Always learn. It would be a good idea to get a diploma and degree in fashion design or take specialized courses. You'll learn a lot, make useful contacts, and have the opportunity to demonstrate your skills to a small audience (be prepared for criticism!). So you can:

Choosing a direction

    Ask customers what they want. Be realistic: if you live in a hot country, you'll have a hard time selling winter jackets. Look around. What do people need? What do they want? For example, if you are planning to develop an entire collection, there should be more “tops” (tops, blouses, shirts, jumpers) than “bottoms”, since there are more of these things in the average person’s wardrobe than skirts and trousers. Tops and shirts - great way diversify your wardrobe, while simple, perfectly fitting trousers can be combined with any of them. Keep it simple and realistic. Quirky sketches are good on paper, but cute camisoles and jeans will sell better than evening dresses.

    You may think that mass market items aren't as glamorous as luxury clothes for the rich or evening wear, but they will help you pay the bills. If you want to create models that will be produced in hundreds of copies, you need to accept right decisions from the very beginning. This will help develop your design skills as you will need to understand perfectly what the design should look like. appearance and cut. Poor models won't sell and your boss will lose a ton of money.

    Get inspired by your competitors' work. Look and note what fabrics they use, what size zippers they sew in, what properties of fabrics matter (density, comfort, breathability, ease of care), what colors are popular in your country. Starting by studying competitors does not mean copying; it means to observe. After analyzing all the best, you will understand what makes a thing attractive (and subsequently loved). These are usually best-selling products. Your customers - store buyers or ordinary people - want to buy clothes that suit them. Extravagant items are worn only a few times a year. They are beautiful, but they won't let you earn a living.

    Select a few key details. What are your strengths? Perhaps you have a talent for making accessories or are a genius at sewing yoga pants. Combine your passion with your skills. However, do not forget about market requirements. The fashion business is both the ability to convince the market that it wants your design and the ability to notice what is in demand in the market.

Willingness to enter the fashion industry

Way to success

    Learn how to do business in the fashion industry. Not only does being a fashion designer require talent and creativity, but you also need knowledge of business and marketing basics to succeed. Stay up to date with all the events happening in the fashion industry by regularly reading specialized magazines. For example, Women's Wear Daily or Daily News Record.

  1. Look for a job as a fashion designer. There are several ways to find work in the fashion industry as a designer, depending on your area of ​​interest. Your flexibility and versatility can play into your hands, you will get good experience, and in the future you will do what you like. Or you will need to be very persistent when sending your resume to different organizations. Where you can look for work:

    • Modern fashion houses and design workshops - look for internships, low-paid positions, assistant work, etc.
    • Work for film studios, theaters, costume shops, etc.
    • Online advertisements
    • Word of Mouth – Leverage your college connections. have connections great importance in the world of fashion.
  2. If you are starting your own business, you will need the ability to work with finances. You may be exceptionally talented, but to run your own brand you need entrepreneurial spirit. It is your responsibility to make sense of the bills, figures and invoices piling up on your desk. Of course, you can hire an accountant, but you still have to figure it out yourself. If you are absolutely incompetent and do not like to deal with accounts, it is better to look for a job in one of the fashion houses instead of running your own business.

    • Decide whether you will be a sole proprietorship, a partnership, a corporation, or something else. There are advantages and disadvantages to everything, which you should discuss with your financial analyst before the application procedure.
  3. The fashion industry is very competitive and you can only succeed in this industry if you dedicate yourself completely to it. You must also be able to deal with and accept criticism, being able to identify constructive comments and jealous jabs. But in any case, the main thing is to believe in yourself.
  4. If you decide to design for the runway, you will be entering the toughest circle of the fashion industry. You'll have to deal with extremely skinny models during fittings, deal with the snarkiness of other designers and the fashion industry elite, and do everything in a timely manner.
  5. The work of a designer requires a lot of physical endurance. You will have to work long hours to meet the deadline.

Let's talk about how to become a clothing designer, where to start. The profession of a designer has always been considered fashionable, and its relevance has not been lost at the present time. Specialized educational institutions that train fashion designers have real “live queues” of applicants. Not everyone understands how difficult and thorny the path from an ordinary school student to a famous fashion designer is. Let's talk about how to become a clothing designer. Some have been trying to master a profession since school, while others only develop a career at an advanced age.

Specifics of the profession

First you need to understand the content of the profession, only then can you get an idea of ​​what it takes to become a fashion designer. What do such specialists do?

Don't know how to become a famous fashion designer, but really want to? A professional clothing designer creates and presents his sketches to the fashion world. He must take into account the latest trends in the fashion world, otherwise his products will not arouse interest and will not become in demand.

  • creates clothing designs;
  • draws up technical specifications for the design of clothing items;
  • uses information technology in design;
  • organizes the full-fledged work of performers;
  • exercises control over the production of clothing;
  • prepares applications for samples for certification;
  • develops patterns

What a future designer should know

If you don’t know how to become a designer from scratch, then first get acquainted with theoretical issues related to the worlds of fashion and design.

  1. Study the history of costumes.
  2. Learn to distinguish the main fashion trends.
  3. Learn the basics of clothing design and styling.

The future couturier must understand all issues related to technical equipment, methods of sewing fashionable clothes.

Where can a fashion designer work?

Schoolchildren thinking about how to become a famous designer often do not think about where a representative of this specialty can work. In addition to fashion houses, a certified designer can find a job in a light industry enterprise, in an atelier (elephant), or in a textile and haberdashery (clothing) production. In addition, when thinking about how to become a designer, where to start, we note that you can always take individual orders, developing real fashion masterpieces at home. In many large cities of our country there are experimental workshops in which professional clothing designers are in demand.

Fashion designer: area of ​​interest

The domestic labor market is represented by both designers and fashion designers. Are you wondering how to become a fashion designer, where to start? Please note that professions complement each other. If you are sure that you know how to become a designer, where to start, you can try your hand as a fashion designer. The main directions of its activities:

  1. Technologist. Professional responsibilities include choosing a sewing method, creating simple clothing options, searching effective options seam processing.
  2. Constructor. This direction involves the development of high-quality clothing drawings, fitting products to individual characteristics customer figures.
  3. Artist. It is he who draws the finishing option, creates sketches, and the entire design of the future fashion accessory.

So what do you need to do to become a fashion designer? It is advisable to master several different skills at once, that is, to become a universal fashion designer.

What a true designer should be able to do

Representatives of this profession can be considered real “fashion geniuses”. It is they who must come up with the entire concept of new collections, develop individual sketches, offer new designs and original technologies. In addition, the designer himself thinks through key points scenario of the future fashion show, takes part in advertising.

Advantages and disadvantages of the design direction

Before you think about what you need to do to become a fashion designer, weigh all the advantages and disadvantages of this profession.

Among the advantages, if all circumstances are successful, we can mention global popularity and fame. A good designer has high fees, can develop his creative potential, and develop useful connections. Representatives of this profession are in demand in the modern labor market and will not be left without their favorite job.

There are also some disadvantages that are also important to mention. The work involves hard physical work, you often have to work in emergency mode. There are certain limits specified by the customer, beyond which you cannot go. There is serious competition in the market, it is difficult to achieve success and popularity on your own. Beginning designers have to spend time and effort searching for potential customers. There is no guarantee that the profession will immediately generate a stable and high income.

In order to take part in a fashion show, you need to prepare 50-60 full-fledged ensembles, this requires a lot of time and effort. A professional spends 4-5 months to create one suit, so only professionals and true fans of their craft “survive” in the fashion world.

We become designers without experience or education

In reality, when thinking about how to become a designer, where to start, realize that with simple enthusiasm, without any skills, experience, or connections, you will not be able to make your dream come true. Where to take the training? So, are you looking for the answer to the question of how to become a fashion designer? In this case, take a look at design schools, fashion institutes, and art schools. Among the most popular educational institutions in the fashion world, we highlight the following: MSUDT, MSTU. A.N. Kosygina, National Commercial Institute of Fashion, Institute of Costume Design (St. Petersburg), Ivanovo Textile Academy, Moscow Industrial College.

For those who are seriously thinking about how to become a fashion designer at home, distance learning is offered at the British higher school design, college of fashion and design.

What is important to remember to realize your dreams

First, it is important to decide on your preferences. If you don’t know how to become a fashion designer, but you really want it, then look for your strengths. For example, you like a business suit, study all the nuances of its creation to gain theoretical skills. Without them, you won’t be able to come up with a new business image or surprise modern fashionistas with your designs.

Are you thinking about becoming a children's clothing designer? First of all, it is important to study all the features of child physiology. Clothes for children should not only be beautiful, but also comfortable for young fashionistas and fashionistas, any professional knows this.

Are you thinking about creating a collection of comfortable clothes for yoga? Get to know your clients, find out their preferences.

Are you thinking about how to become a fashion designer yourself without wasting time on training sessions? Subscribe to several popular fashion magazines, study biographies of world fashion designers, and carefully follow all fashion trends. It is important to develop your artistic taste, find a sense of proportion, and feel inner harmony.

If you decide to develop your technical skills, form three-dimensional thinking, or want to learn how to combine different colors and textures, and you’re thinking about how to become a fashionable clothing designer, you can sign up for design courses.

In addition to courses, try to put the acquired knowledge into practice. For example, having looked into the nearest fashion boutique, analyze its assortment, select an ensemble of clothes for different cases. By ready-made options try to create your own ensembles in which you include your ideas and “zest”. A true design professional must be fluent in any sewing machine, hand sewing, and embroidery.

The most difficult thing is creating high-quality patterns and sketches. Try to devote as much free time as possible to developing this skill, otherwise you will not be able to make a full-fledged pattern. Don’t forget that the materials market is constantly being modernized, and new fabrics with certain characteristics are appearing.

Looking for our own style

By collecting a variety of information about popular designers, borrow from them the most interesting ideas and suggestions. Follow everyone fashion trends, consult with experienced mentors who have practical experience"survival" in the fashion world. Try to find your own style by which clients will recognize you. It is individuality that is primarily valued in the world of fashion and beauty.

Creating a portfolio

Take care of developing your own complete portfolio. These days, this detail is a vital necessity. Without demonstrating your achievements, it is difficult to prove to a potential employer that you are a true professional in your field. In addition to a paper portfolio with certificates and diplomas, it is advisable to acquire photographs from fashion shows with your participation. You can supplement your portfolio with video reports, clippings from newspapers and magazines. Professional designers have their own logos to help clients recognize their work. You, too, can think about developing such an “insignia” for your collections, and to protect it from attacks by competitors, carry out its official registration with Rospatent.

Learn to do business

You need to learn how to make money, create not only beautiful, but also popular things. You need to study the basics of modern marketing and look for opportunities to sell your models. For example, you can organize exhibitions ready-made models in cinemas, shops, exhibitions. Don’t stop there; you’ll have to start as an apprentice to gain professional skills. Designer who wears clothes self-made, inspires customer confidence.

Conclusion

If you don't know how to become a fashion designer, but really want it, you will succeed. Believe in yourself, in your strengths, try to be in nature as much as possible to get new ideas for creativity. The main criterion that opens the path to success for a future designer is his personal talent, sense of style and taste. Such abilities do not arise spontaneously; they appear already in early childhood. In many cases, before graduating from school, a young man understands that his destiny is to create unique clothing collections.

If you are good at drawing, have beautiful handwriting, are proficient in graphic design, and love photomontage, then this direction as design is suitable for you. Don't forget that in addition to the creative component, fashion design also requires technical skills. To create full-fledged patterns for future products, you need to be able to create impeccable drawings.

The creator of dresses and suits must “throw” his ideas onto paper in a matter of minutes, getting beautiful sketches. Designer is a profession that requires a certain perseverance. Sometimes from the moment the idea itself appears until it is received finished product 5-6 months pass. You need to be prepared not only for high fees and victories in competitions, but also for defeats and disappointments. Not all invented projects have a happy future, because the path to real success is thorny and long. Have you made a choice in favor of becoming a designer? In this case, decide on your specialty: fashion designer-designer or fashion designer-cutter. Specialization "designer" will require creative ideas, and for the “cutter” it is first of all important to have a good technical base. Higher educational institutions offer comprehensive training, graduating from their walls real universal specialists. In addition to such prerequisites as talent and diligence, punctuality and tolerance are important. Answering the question about how to become a clothing designer from scratch, let us remind you that it is important to be a good psychologist and help your clients find their own style.

Consider this an introductory course in interior decorating. We may not all have the vision required to create exquisite design down to the smallest detail, but we can decorate our own interiors in a way that looks professional.

Consider this an introductory course in interior decorating. We may not all have the vision required to create exquisite design down to the smallest detail, but we can decorate our own interiors in a way that looks professional. To some extent, the design can be presented in the form of a formula that includes certain steps - a kind of foundation building, brick by brick, to create individual style registration

On the other hand, there is the art of decoration, a style that obeys neither rules nor formulas. You may not have this sense of style, but you can learn to develop it.

How? There are basic principles that allow you to create a seamless and harmonious design interior of the room. By following these 10 steps, you can start creating a cozy and functional living space that will create a homely atmosphere within just four walls.

1. Functional layout

Interior design should start with functional layout rooms. To get started, we advise you to search the Internet for free resources and programs that offer to create the layout and design of a room. Such programs will allow you to define conditions such as the size of the room and the size of furniture pieces, and then try out different layouts to see which one works best for you.

We often find out about planning mistakes too late, so why not create a virtual room plan first and avoid having to move furniture from place to place, making mistakes over and over again while trying to create a suitable layout?

The functionality of a living space greatly depends on individual style. If your home nest seems empty to you, you will probably want to purchase expensive furniture or decorative elements, but large families will prefer an open plan, not limited by a large number of design details. Take into account your personal needs and then try to choose a good program that will help you create the perfect interior plan for you.

2. Don’t be afraid to spend money on good upholstered furniture

Many designers will tell you that if you want to invest in one piece of furniture, let it be a sofa. Choosing the right one upholstered furniture for a room can be very difficult. What color furniture should I choose? With what upholstery? What size? How much should you spend on your purchase? What is it like – a good, high-quality sofa?

Visiting numerous furniture shows and showrooms can help you find a style that suits your tastes and needs. However, before you go shopping, take measurements! It would be terrible to fall in love with a piece of furniture and then find out that it is too big for your room.

We recommend limiting your choice to a few options and then selecting the one that has best quality. Buying furniture High Quality, you can be sure that it will serve you for many years, if not a lifetime, so choose the best you can afford. Oh, yes: choose an upholstery that you won’t get tired of soon... who wants to spend the rest of their life looking at a sofa with a flower or a color that has long gone out of fashion?

3. Decorative objects

It seems that using things in the interior that have no special purpose is a rather pointless idea. Why buy something that you can't even put to good use? The answer is simple: because such items indicate style, and therefore complement the interior design.

Now you may not have the talent to create aesthetically pleasing decor right away, but with the help of trial and error, you can choose required quantity decorative objects that will harmoniously fit into your interior. Many interior design professionals will tell you that if you really like something and you buy it, you will definitely find a place for it where it will look best. However, while this statement is quite true for those who understand design, it may not be suitable for insecure beginners.

If you're at a loss, we recommend looking through magazines and visiting furniture stores to see what you like. Pay attention to how decorative elements are arranged in furniture showrooms. Notice that many items are organized into decorative groups rather than simply placed individually in different corners of the room. First of all, buy only what you really like, what the best way matches your personality.

4. Add some greenery

Plants are often thought of in last resort. This big mistake, When we're talking about about design. You may think that the interior design of your room is impeccable, but pay attention to whether you were able to use plants and objects of natural origin in it.

It's amazing how much the atmosphere and comfort of the interior changes when you place a small palm tree planted in a pot. At the same time, your room will seem fresher and your decorating style much more cohesive.

That's the thing about classics: they never go out of style. Why spend a fortune on a sofa with straight, angular lines if its style will be outdated in five years? Fashion trends You can bring it into the interior with the help of smaller and less expensive parts, but let the main pieces of furniture remain simple, elegant, and classic.

Take a look at the living room in the photo below. Black chairs behind dining table aged in classic style and will be appropriate in any interior. The animal print upholstery allows them to keep up with current fashion trends and is easy to change, while the shape of the chair will never go out of style - meaning it's a great long-lasting buy.

10. Take a photo and correct it

This is perhaps one of the most important steps. After all, a picture can tell a thousand words. By taking a photo of a room, you can look at it from a different angle. In a sense, photography will allow you to look at your own interior for the first time - through the eyes of a guest.

All of a sudden you may find that a picture on the wall is hanging too high, or that there is too much in your room. small parts cluttering up the space, or what you have chosen sofa cushions Doesn't fit with the overall style at all.

It's best to take a few photos from different points and under different angles. This way you can see what needs fixing and what just doesn’t fit in your chosen interior style.

Can you consider this article an introductory course on interior decorating? Of course, it does not reveal all the secrets of design (only a specialist designer can do this), but it will definitely guide you along the right path to creating stylish design home interiors that are both functional and attractive. To create a home that speaks about who you are.

Absolutely anyone can use these tips: create correct layout, buy a beautiful sofa, create decorative groups of objects or layers, add live greenery or a little black, stick to classic lines, correct design errors with the help of photographs and - most importantly - make the interior truly individual.

What little tricks do you use to create a stylish home interior?

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There is no need to pay for expensive graphic design courses or spend precious years studying educational institutions. Fortunately, thanks to the Internet, we have the opportunity to save our time and money and learn everything on our own, all we need is desire.

In this article we have collected for you useful tips and resources to help you advance in the art of graphic design. Many of the materials mentioned below are in English, but we do not see any problem in this, because the real reason for concern is the lack of knowledge of English in the modern world.

1. Take your time

You shouldn’t make the most common mistake of all novice specialists – rushing. You will have to spend time learning Photoshop and Illustrator thoroughly, learning drawing techniques, and learning the basics in general.

First, learn to draw if you don't already have this skill.

1. To do this, it is absolutely not necessary to sit in the same classroom with the same beginners and try to draw another cube or vase. Actually, you don't need to be a super artist. It is enough to know the basics of drawing and be able to make a sketch.
2. The well-known and incredible useful book“You Can Draw In 30 Days.” Just practice it for at least thirty minutes a day for a month, and you will be able to master more than mediocre drawing skills.

Learn the basics of graphic design

2. The book “Picture This”, based on the fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood, will help you cope with this; it teaches the basics of both graphic design and drawing.
3. Study fonts, colors. If you have the opportunity and desire to take courses, good, otherwise, you have the whole Internet at your fingertips, which is teeming with free lessons and video materials on the topic.
4. Practice these lessons daily, they will help you in your learning.

Also you should know at least the basics of UX

Without knowledge of UX, you cannot be a full-fledged graphic designer, because your product should first of all be user-friendly. To do this, you should read at least these two books:

1. “Design of common things”
2. “Don’t make me think.”

You must be able to write

1. A good designer must excel at communication and think through every moment in his design, including text. Write so that your text is not dry and unattractive. Here again you will need knowledge of user experience.
2. It’s worth reading the book “Made To Stick”, it will help you learn how to write catchy texts.
3. Also bookmark the Voice and Tone website. There are a lot of examples of excellent texts here, you will need them for further work.

2. Learn Photoshop and Illustrator thoroughly

Now that the theory and basics have already been studied, it’s time to start practicing. It's worth starting with Illustrator and then moving on to Photoshop.

Illustrator is used in creating icons and there are a lot of tutorials and books with which you can learn how to work in this program, and here are a couple for you:

1. “Adobe Illustrator Classroom in a Book” is a very boring but useful book. And if you can master at least half of this textbook, then you will be able to navigate the program quite confidently.
2. On this channel you can find four fairly detailed video tutorials, which can easily replace the above-mentioned boring book.
3. “Vector Basic Training” – a book with which you will learn how to create images using curves. By the way, in addition to the book, the link also provides videos and exercises.

Photoshop is considered more complex than Illustrator, but the Internet is full of tutorials on this program:

1. Tuts+ - here you will find a lot of lessons (and on Illustrator, too, by the way) that will help you learn the tools and gain drawing skills.
2. This channel contains enough a large number of Photoshop lessons, and they will definitely come in handy.
3. Photoshop Tutorials is a fairly useful resource, which, in addition to lessons, also contains various plugins, brushes, gradients and much more.
4. Study these materials for at least an hour a day, and you will quickly achieve enough high level knowledge of Photoshop.
3. Decide on your specialty

Like any field of activity, graphic design is divided into several narrow specialties: mobile applications, logos, web design. Decide what you like best and focus all your energy on studying the desired specialization.

Logo Design:

1. “Logo and Corporate Identity” - in this book you will read about how to make a truly cool and beautiful logo.
2. Logo Design Love – a site from the author of the above-mentioned book. Also dedicated to logos, so it's worth hanging out on. Here are some inspiring examples and interesting information about creating a logo.
3. If you don’t want to stop only at creating a logo, then the book “Designing Brand Identity” will help you learn how to build the entire brand structure completely - from the website to personal business cards.

Design mobile applications:

1. Here you will find an amazing tutorial on how to create a mobile app interface. With its help, you can at least superficially understand what you have to deal with.
2. “Tapworthy” is an excellent and small book from Josh Clark, in which he talks about how to create an attractive and, most importantly, user-friendly application.
3. Go through the applications on your smartphone and try to understand which ones are well made, which ones are not very well done, and which ones are generally very bad. And pay attention to the little things that, in your opinion, were not thought through to the end, come up with a way to correct existing errors.

Web design:

1. Here again, the above-mentioned book “Don’t Make Me Think” will come in handy; be sure to read it, especially since we have found a Russian translation for you.
2. On this resource you will find 20 free books on web design, and we advise you to read at least a couple of them.
3. As with mobile app design, collect sites you like and see what they do and how they do it. Write down the main advantages of these sites and try to live up to your ideals in your future work.
Those wishing to become a graphic designer often wonder if they need to know HTML and CSS. Let's just say that knowing the basics of development will in no way hinder you and even give you an advantage. But everything, of course, depends on specific work or project.

Even if you are not planning to become a web developer, the basics of HTML and CSS are worth knowing, especially since there are a huge number of free lessons that you can find in our articles:

1. Useful resources for programmers
2. 9 most useful sites for learning programming

And also on these resources:

1. One of the best free Tuts+
2. And one of the best paid, but inexpensive ($25/month) is Treehouse. It is suitable for beginners who are looking for clear and simple explanations.

4. Take care of your portfolio

Today, a diploma does not matter at all, but a portfolio means a lot. Nor do you have to necessarily work on actual projects to have your own work. Just do something of your own, for example, sketch the interfaces of applications, websites, draw logos for those local companies that either don’t have them, or the logo that they have is no good. By the way, in the latter case, sometimes it’s worth contacting that same company with your work, and it’s quite possible that they will buy your logo from you, even for little money.

Also do all sorts of cool things on the 99 designs website, and do the exercises from the book “Creative Workshop”. The main thing is to resist your desire to cram all your work into your portfolio, choose only the best. Let your portfolio be small, but worthwhile. And don’t be afraid to “steal” work, borrow ideas, because you are a beginner and you need to learn from something. Of course, we are not talking about you passing off other people's work as your own. Just take ideas and change them.

5. Get a job

Here everyone already has their own path - either go to work in an office, or be a freelancer. Let's say right away that starting with office work is much easier, since, most likely, you will not be the only specialist on the staff and they will be able to take you under their wing to complete your training. But getting into the office is more difficult than finding a freelance project; here your ability to understand and complete the task will matter.

We talked above about knowledge of the basics of development, and here they will be useful to you more than ever, because in the IT field, graphic designers are in great demand and have the highest earnings.

How to find a job? Create your website with your portfolio as the focal point. Sign up for LinkedIn and try to connect with the company you want to join or the people who work there. Try to make connections, because they are the key to good place work.

The main thing is not to stop studying if you have already got a job. Improve your knowledge and skills all the time, and before you know it, you will become a real pro.