Do you want to turn your creative passion into a career? Do you strive to get paid for being creative? Do you want to do this by yourself?

In this post I’ll break down what steps you can take to become a self-taught designer. It will require hard work but don’t let that stop you.

Follow this guide and you’ll learn about the obstacles you’ll face and how to overcome them.

Becoming a self-taught designer allows you to develop your design skills at your own pace and around your current job. There are many obstacles, but I’ll show you how you can address them and build the creative career you’ve always wanted.

The perks of designing

The design industry is amazing. It’s filled with energetic, creative free-thinkers. It drives innovation. It allows you to work creatively and fulfill your passions. You get to work on something different every day. It provides the opportunity for travel, networking, and the possibility of a thriving career.

Being a self-taught designer means you’ll pick up many tips and tricks on your own, which can be refreshing to agencies, clients, and your network. It also shows your determination to make it in this industry, which in itself comes with a level of respect.

I love being a Designer, so much so that I want to help others become one. I’ve had a hell of a ride. I started my career as a Graphic Designer and moved into Industrial Design, thanks to the Makerspace scene. My creative skills transfer into so many aspects of my life.

I know what looks good and how to communicate myself visually, I can build things that I never thought I could before and I even help restore a flat using some of the skills I learned through Industrial Design.

If this is something that you want in your life then follow on to learn how you can begin your journey to becoming a designer who took the path less trodden.

What will success look like?

To be a professional in any service, you are getting paid for the work you do. That’s it. That’s what it takes to be successful as a self-taught designer. If you can get yourself to a place where you are being paid to come up with creative ideas, you are a designer. It just means you had an unconventional way of getting there.

The issues facing new designers

You’ll face a lot of issues becoming a freelance designer, and we’ll cover what those barriers are and how you can tackle them. Being a self-taught designer it isn’t impossible. A lot of famous designers were self-taught.

There’s a lot for you to learn but the important thing is you are here. You’ve already taken a step towards becoming a Designer.

Cost of Education

There are many reasons why people decide to do this on their own. The cost of formal education in some countries (Looking at you, U.S.A.) means that the chance to develop those skills in an educational setting is just unfeasible for a lot of people.

 I’m from Scotland, and we have free higher education which is amazing, and I don’t take that for granted. I know this isn’t the case for a lot of people.

The training you receive in a formal education setting will offer you training in software, a network of peers that you can bounce ideas off of, and resources you can follow to help you set up a career.

You won’t have any of that, so it’s up to you to find it for yourself. As much as we can provide you with an outline of how to get yourself set up, only you can do the work.

If you are looking at formal education we have a post to help you decide which course is right for you.

How to give yourself an education

Education is where you’ll need to put most of your energy into when starting. Without any formal training, you need to look at other resources you can use to develop your skills.

There are plenty of resources online that you can use to build up your skillset. You can watch online tutorials, videos, and blogs (like this one!). You can go and meet people and get advice and techniques from them. You could attend a class. Never underestimate how much information you can find at your local library. 

I’ll provide some resources you can use later in this article.

Competition

The first thing you need to know is that Design is fiercely competitive. It takes a lot of work just to be average. You’ll be competing for work against other designers and you need to work to be as good as theirs, if not better.

One way you can see the level of quality against your competition is to see the kind of work that they produce. Looking at online portfolios of agencies, other freelancers, and collectives can give you a sense of what you need to accomplish, however, it may lead to you feeling like an imposter, especially when starting out.

Solving Imposter Syndrome.

Imposter Syndrome is pretty common for new designers, especially if you are building these skills yourself. When you look at people’s work you might come away thinking “Why doesn’t mine look as good?” that’s allowed. It happens to all of us, especially when we are starting to develop our skills.

Let it drive you. If you think your work isn’t at the same standard as the designers you follow on social media, look at what they have that you don’t. It isn’t talent, it’s skill and those are two very different things. Skills are techniques you can learn. Develop and push to the limit. Talent is only how naturally you can pick up those skills. Drive for learning skills.

You don’t know how to break into the industry

One thing that a formal design education will provide is an understanding of how to start within the industry. If you are self-taught you might not be aware of how the hiring process works or if you are at the level that would get you hired.

Most courses will give you a fake client project where you can experience what it’s like to set up a commercial project. You can get a chance to understand how these projects work, and the workflow, it might give you some issues so you know how to work with difficult clients. It provides the opportunity to make mistakes. 

Build your portfolio

There are multiple ways to get a job. But the most important thing you need to know is that you will be judged on your portfolio.

A portfolio is a collection of previous projects that shows you know how to do the work. When dealing with new clients or applying for a job, it will be your portfolio that will be the deciding factor in getting new work.

You don’t have a portfolio

A portfolio is your greatest asset as a designer. It documents your experience and highlights your creative talent. The best portfolio has around 10 projects that show what you can do. As you go through your career, you update it with new projects.

The more projects you do, the more work you have to put in your portfolio. Having a large number of projects under your belt allows you to tailor your portfolio. You can adjust it to suit the employer or the client. 

Most employers will spend 30 seconds skimming through your portfolio. As I mentioned, competition is pretty fierce so they’ll have to go through many applicants. You need to create a portfolio that pops from the first page.

How to start your portfolio

The best way to start your portfolio is to start designing. Come up or find some projects that would suit you. For starters, if you are going to be a designer, you’ll need a logo. There’s your first project.

The more projects you can add to your portfolio the better.

We have a full post on designing your portfolio.

What is design at its core?

A lot of people who get into Design think it’s about getting to express yourself freely. That’s not true. If that’s what you want in life, go be an artist. 

A designer provides a service to businesses and clients who require solutions. The client is where you are getting your money from, and you need to make sure that they get what they asked for to get paid. Clients are approaching you as they don’t have the expertise to do it themselves. 

Every client will have a different set of problems that they face. Perhaps they need a logo, maybe they need an app, or maybe they need their uniforms designed. It could be anything. It is up to you to know whether you can solve these problems and how effectively you can complete them.

The client will give you a list of their problems and ways they want you to solve them. Known as a brief. This is your North Star for any design project. The brief is what you’ve been hired to complete and you need to make sure the result fits with the initial intention. This is called “sticking to the brief”.

If a client asks you to help them come up with a promotional advertising campaign and you provide them with uniform ideas. You haven’t stuck to the brief. The more values that are listed in the brief the more you’ll need to work with. When all of the points in the brief converge into your idea then that’s when you have a viable solution.

Design is a Process

One of the biggest secrets that is kept from self-taught designers is knowing “The Process.” Ask any designer at the top of their field, and they will want to tell you more about their process than the work they’ve completed. 

What is the Process

Every design discipline claims to have its own way of doing things. That’s true for the skills involved and the rules of thumb. But speaking as a cross-disciplined designer I can assure you that there is a pattern that runs through every discipline. 

You have to trust the process.

Planning Stage. 

Fail to Plan, Plan to fail. Once you receive a brief, you can carry out a brief interpretation. What do you think the brief means and what do you think is expected? I like to send my brief interpretation back to the client as soon as possible to make sure we’re both on the same page from the very beginning. This helps set the plan in motion.

The planning stage is a chance for you to figure out your time before the project is due to be completed. This is called a deadline. Most projects will come with an expected deadline, and it’s up to you to figure out how to create your ideas in that time.

The Research Stage.

This could also be called the Inspiration Stage. Spend some time researching your client and learn as much as you can about their culture. It will make it easier to design something that fits their corporate style. Spend time looking at their competition and similar solutions.

The Concept Stage

Your first idea is never your best idea. The Concept Stage is a chance for you to put pen to paper and come up with as many ideas as you can. This is called Ideation. 

The trick here is to think “quantity over quality” These are only ideas, and ideas are a dime a dozen. They don’t need to be perfectly drawn or even that large. Think of it like a freestyle. Put on some good tunes, relax, and put pen to paper. 

It’s easy to overthink this stage but it is only to get initial ideas. Sometimes I put in deliberately stupid ideas just to get the creative juices flowing.

When you have a collection of ideas, you can take a handful of your best ones and work from there.

The Development Stage

Now you have a handful of ideas that work for your client, it’s time to refine them into a final idea. This is the Development stage and is often the most hands-on part of a project. You are creating a prototype for your idea.

By the end of the development stage, you should almost have your final idea. If you can’t decide which idea to take forward, you can ask your client. 

The final idea needs to be an almost complete version of your work. By the end of the Development stage, your prototype should be almost indistinguishable from the final product. It should be ready for the next stage of your project.

The Final Pitch

This is the stage where you present your final idea to the client. Depending on your client this could be just sending over the work you’ve done or it might require a formal pitch. If you do have to do a pitch, you’ll need time to set up your presentation.

Once your final idea has been approved by the client you can now start putting this into place. 

If you doing a graphic project, this would mean sending it off to get professionally printed, or sending over the final versions of a logo. If you are an Industrial Designer, this would mean that you can give them the files to send to a manufacturer. 

If you want to learn more about the design process, read our guide.

Tools you’ll need

There are plenty of tools you’ll need to get yourself set up.

A Notebook

One of my best pieces of advice for young designers is to get a notebook. This goes double for self-taught designers. I have a full blog on how useful they are.

In a formal design education, you are quickly introduced to Personal Project Journals. As you go through your project you should have a written account of the process. It means that you have a document that shows your work. 

You should use it to keep track of your progress, write down any advice, and plan your next venture. I’ve been using a notebook to keep track of my design work and I honestly believe that it has gotten me where I need to be. 

I use mine almost daily and will normally start with a to-do list and a couple of thoughts about how the project is progressing. I write down any advice and where I need to be if I’ve got a meeting. Sometimes it includes my favorite swear words.

I owe my notebook for getting me into the design industry in the first place. As a young and inexperienced designer, I got my first job designing eLearning software that required Animation sequences. They told me after my interview, that one of the deciding factors in getting the job was that I kept a notebook.

When dealing with large complex projects, I also find it helps to start a new smaller notebook.

A Sketchbook

You’ll need a large sketchbook to put your concepts into. The larger the sketchbook, the more space you have to explore your ideas.

In formal design education, you have to sketch on A3 size paper. I never really understood why. But if you want to do things by the (sketch)book, you have an idea of what size to buy.

Get software

The next thing you’ll need is the design software. The industry standard is Adobe Creative Cloud, which gives access to Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. The Holy Trinity of graphic design software. 

If you want to be taken seriously as a Designer, you will need to learn this software. This is the software that almost every creative agency uses, so if you want to work there you should put the time in early.

You can check out our list of the best software for designers.

Photoshop is an image manipulation software that can be used for print, web, and mobile apps.

Illustrator is a software that allows you to create graphics using vectors. Vector graphics allow your image to be scaled up or down without any loss of quality. The image will look the same on a business card or a billboard. 

InDesign is used for producing documents like magazines, ebooks, flyers, and resumes. 

Unfortunately, Adobe can be quite expensive to some. But if you want to be taken seriously as a designer you will need to learn how to use them.

Alternatives

If you don’t have the money to fund an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription, then there are alternatives but these are designed for hobbyists.

Affinity is a great alternative to Adobe Creative Cloud. It has an alternative for each of the three software produced by Adobe. It’s cheaper to buy and when compared to Adobe it manages to hold its own. I’ve used Affinity for several personal projects, and I would say without question that if you can’t afford Adobe this is your next best option.

The issue with Affinity is that it struggles with Adobe formats. If you are working with someone who requires Photoshop files, you won’t be able to export them from Affinity

If you can’t afford either of these I would recommend looking into open-source software like Gimp to replace Photoshop, Inkscape for Illustrator, and Scribus for InDesign. These are all free to install but don’t provide anywhere near the same amount of power that Adobe software has. They can be quite tricky to learn too.

Canva is useful to people starting out, but it is designed for hobbyists and I wouldn’t recommend using it in a commercial setting.

Learn the software

Next, you’ll need to learn the software to be able to produce the ideas in your head. The possibility with this software is endless, there is too much to cover in this little article. There are multiple sources online that provide amazing tutorials. 

YouTube has an endless amount of tutorials and you can tailor your learning based on your interests and what kind of designer you want to become.

There are countless blogs where you can pick up tutorials. Many designers are providing short tutorials on TikTok and Instagram. I would also recommend Skillshare, where you can find curated courses to help you improve your design skills. 

More Resources

There is more to learn than just the skills to use design software. You’ll need to learn the theory behind what makes good design. You need to find your passion for learning. 

There are two approaches to this and I would encourage you to explore both. The first is to go to your local library and get as many books as you can. There are great books out there that can influence your approach to design. You can find a list of recommended books in this comprehensive list.

Another way you can learn is from others. You can find communities of Designers online and in person through networking events and Meetups. By going out and meeting other designers, you’ll be able to talk shop. You can find out what kind of opportunities are available to you and learn from other

Output

To build experience you need to start designing. If you want to build experience you need to start doing the work.

Earlier in this article I mentioned starting with a logo and branding project. This doesn’t have to be your logo forever. As your skills progress, you’ll eventually want to update it. 

Another reason why I would consider this early on is that as a self-taught designer, you won’t have the ability to use any formal education to prove your credentials. You’ll need to prove it on social media, and through your portfolio. 

The more projects you do for yourself, the more you’ll be able to put in your portfolio. 

Share your work

Building a name for yourself is hard as a designer. You should always post your workout to an audience. How can people know you’re good at what you do if nobody can see it?

Even if you aren’t happy with the quality of your work in the beginning, getting into the habit of sharing your work will be highly beneficial. Share your work on social media, Behance, your portfolio website, and anywhere else you can think of. 

You will need to share your work as much as possible to get noticed by clients. The more eyes you have on your work, the more opportunities that will come your way. When you’re first starting, you can leverage your audience to find clients in your local area and grow from there.

Get Experience

The more commercial projects you have in your portfolio the more likely you are to be taken seriously. But how do you get that kind of experience?

My biggest piece of advice for any designer looking to grow their portfolio is to reach out to local charities. Many of these charities are stretched for resources and often their design can be an afterthought behind the important work that they do.

These organizations are desperate for any sort of help and if you can provide them with design work for free they will jump at the chance.

These organizations will work with other local agencies and you can begin to build a network this way. Most companies do some sort of outreach, so if you have a local agency in mind that you want to work for, you can find out what kind of outreach they do and target the charities that have a connection. 

Also, by doing some charity work, you can feel a bit better about yourself. You’ve used your design skills for good and isn’t that what you want out of your design career? I know I do.

Build Your Portfolio

With some charity work under your belt, and some personal projects you need to build your portfolio.

You should have your portfolio saved in a PDF format that you can send over email to potential clients and agencies. PDF is the standard for digital documents and allows you to have strong visuals without any loss of quality.

You can create a digital portfolio using your social media. Instagram and Pinterest are great visual platforms that you can use to promote your work.

You should create a website that allows you to showcase your designs. I would recommend using Squarespace. It is very easy to use compared to other web design tools and can give you a very professional-looking website.

Finally, you should have a printed version. This type of portfolio was very common before the internet. While it’s not as common anymore, it does have its uses. People have an instinctive desire to touch and hold things. If you bring a printed version of your portfolio to an interview, you’re bringing something that they can interact with.

Go Freelance

By going the self-taught route to becoming a designer you want to get to professional projects as quickly as possible. As you begin, you should consider what your brand is and what services you want to provide.

Set yourself up on Freelancing sites and offer your services early on. This will allow you to add projects into your portfolio as you get work, and start making money from your design work.

We have an in-depth article on how to get yourself set up as a freelancer, you can find it here.

Conclusion

Becoming a self-taught designer will require a lot of work, but it will allow you to turn your creative passion into a career. If you feel like this is what you want to do in life, don’t let anyone stop you. By being self-taught you’ll face many obstacles, some of them will be people saying you can’t do it. It might even be yourself saying this.

I’m here to tell you it is possible. There are a multitude of factors that prevent people from learning with a formal education. You just need to develop your skills in a separate environment and at your own pace.

Go and develop your skills, build your portfolio, and get a place within the design industry. I wish you the best of luck.