Starting your career as a graphic designer?
Congratulations!
Hey, have you completed the toolkit that you’ll be needing down this alley? Umm…I’m referring to the graphic design tools that you’ll be using every day, every hour, in fact every minute during the design product.
As a beginner graphic designer, you’d need to have the right tool just like Harry had his wand right before leaving for Hogwarts!
No idea where to start or what to include in your graphic design gadget list?
Read on and discover what to have in your designer tools!
You’d be running editing software like Photoshop, Procreate, and Illustrator that consume much of processing speed. So, your regular PC won’t work if you’re going to do the designing work and you shall be looking for a strong desktop computer. Ideally, you should have an iMac but if you don’t want to spend a huge amount on your PC, you may opt for an affordable option like HP AIO 24 Series.
Next, you need to have a monitor that offers you a perfect aspect ratio and doesn’t disappoint you with its pixel quality. Because pixels are the base element of your whole graphics design work so be sure to pick a monitor that offers you best picture quality. If you’re just beginning your creative journey, consider LG 34WK650 to add in your graphic design tools.
Once you’ve decided what PC and monitor would be in your designer tools, its time to get access for the most used editing programs. Since your graphics design work would involve a number of creative tasks, you must at least have access to the Adobe Suite that offers a versatile range of editing software.
Or else, you can look for free alternatives like Affinity Designer or GIMP that offer editing features close to Illustrator.
External hard drive would be a useful addition to your designer tools that enables you to store more data. Yes, your PC would have an unlimited space but having the external hard drive makes it easy to transfer data with your clients or into another PC or laptop.
Since you’re going to start your creative journey as a graphic designer, you’ll encounter printing related matters often. So, be sure to include an ideal printer (in terms of designing) into your graphic design gadgets. You can consider different options based on your budget and printing quality.
In the list of the must have graphic design tools, the smartphone also holds a special place!
Why?
Because most of your work would be seen on a mobile screen by the end consumer so it is important that you know there’s no cropping or another creative mistake in mobile view.
Ideally, it is an unsaid rule that iPhone is the- best option for any graphics designer but you may also opt for Samsung Galaxy S21 if you’re not a big fan of Apple.
During your creative journey as a graphic designer, you’d want to use a unique angle in your creative work and you may not find it on royalty-free graphics sources. So, you must own a DSLR (of entry level, though) to shoot the right shots and use them in your creative work. So, consider buying a Canon or Nikon DSLR to complete your graphics design gadgets.
In order to complete your graphic design tools, you must have an ergonomic chair, too!
It’s because you’ll be mostly working for 8 to 10 hours straight without leaving your desk. So, having an ergonomic chair would be a relief to your back and neck that mostly becomes an easy prey of work fatigue and muscle strains.
Comment below and share your graphic design tools that you think every designer must have.
Waqas D. is the co-founder of the branding and website agency, FullStop™. He supercharge brands by crafting memorable logos, brand identities and engaging websites Besides thousands of startups and medium size businesses, FullStop clients have included Microsoft & Lorel. View our portfolio or get in touch.
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