Essential Graphic Design Tools for Beginners: Insights from a New Designer

 This is a compilation of what Aishwarya shared in an interview I conducted with her.

I've known Aishwarya for over 16 years. From a young age, she was interested in editing software, starting at just 10 years old. When I asked her what sparked her interest in graphic design, she explained that her innate creativity found an outlet in graphic design, allowing her to create amazing designs.

Recently, I enjoyed exploring Aishwarya's Instagram, and I was truly impressed by her unique style and creativity. Her designs are a wonderful blend of simplicity and innovation, each piece reflecting her keen eye for detail and artistic flair.

Aishwarya's journey into graphic design truly began during the lockdown. She started by making birthday videos for friends, some of the best I've seen. She mostly used her mobile phone and Filmora for her edits, gradually exploring more tools and delving into video editing.

Regarding the software she uses, Aishwarya began with beginner-friendly options like Openshot and Filmora. As she advanced, she started using Davinci Resolve and Adobe Premiere Pro. Her learning primarily came from YouTube courses, following channels like 

Gfx Mentor, Flux Academy, Satori Graphics

When discussing her design process, Aishwarya detailed her approach: She starts by taking inspiration from her daily life, then selects a theme, gathers the necessary information and resources, creates an outline, and finally adds effects and audio. She has even completed a freelance project—a wedding animation. For this project, she chose colours and text effects based on the theme, provided an outline video to her clients, and made multiple revisions to meet their expectations.

For her general social media designs, Aishu draws inspiration from advertisements, movies, and anything else that catches her eye. She prefers to keep her designs sweet and simple.

Aishwarya advises beginners to create posters and templates, just as she did. She fondly recalls projects from her school days, like those for her seniors' farewell and the School Annual Day, as close to her heart.

In 11th grade, Aishwarya was part of the school editing team, an experience that significantly shaped her skills. Despite struggling initially because the rest of the team was more advanced, she learned a lot about creativity and meeting deadlines.

Currently, Aishwarya is focusing on honing her skills rather than taking on freelance projects. During her learning phase, she would download YouTube videos and edit them, using the original edits as benchmarks to improve her skills.

For novice graphic designers, Aishu suggests understanding your unique style instead of copying templates. Spend a lot of time with the software to become comfortable and confident, draw inspiration from real-life designs, and always look at things from a design perspective. She also recommends the book "Steal Like an Artist" for insights into an artist's perspective.

Overall, interviewing Aishu was an amazing experience. Check out her designs on Instagram and view her portfolio!

Instagram 

Her Designs