This is the fifth part in an ongo­ing series of arti­cles that depicts my process to becom­ing a graphic designer. I will reit­er­ate that this is not a sure-​fire guide on how to become one, but merely my process which I am shar­ing to the gen­eral public.

Don’t Freak out.

Now for the sec­tion that makes or breaks a would-​be designer. Real­iz­ing that you know noth­ing about design. Every­one hits this when they start, and it’s noth­ing to be ashamed of. Have you ever shown some­one some of your work and when asked why you did what you did, you responded with some­thing like “because it looks cool”? Believe it or not, this is not a valid expla­na­tion for art­work. Well okay, some­times it is but most of the time, this is the stamp of an ama­teur, or some­one who knows how to use a program.

Let me stress now that know­ing how to use a pro­gram in no way dic­tates your under­stand­ing of design.