The best Skillshare classes to grow your design portfolio!
When I decided to make the big leap of faith from a full time 9-5pm Marketing Specialist life, to full time self-employed freelance Graphic Designer -- it was definitely a huge adjustment!
I knew graphic design was the right career path for me, but having been out of college for 2 years where I studied Digital Marketing and Visual Communication Design -- it felt very overwhelming to just jump right back into it all and start using the creative side of my brain again. I searched all over the internet trying to find design prompts to spark some inspiration in me, and also build some work for my then old design portfolio. That is when I finally tried out Skillshare, that website that almost every influencer has promoted at some point it seems. Turns out, that was the best thing for me to do!
Here are my top 3 favorite Skillshare classes that helped me find my creativity again and also resulted in some pretty cool designs to showcase to future clients.
1. Logo Design: Hometown Challenge! (The Circle Shape) by Melanie Greenwood. I LOVED this class, Melanie challenges you to create a logo that represents your hometown (or anywhere you would like) and walks you through some important basics about logo design that is a nice refresher.
This is also a great way to share and connect with local people in your area who may need some design services and have come across your cool logo inspired by your hometown.
2. Great Graphic Design: Create Emotional, Gripping Typographic Art by Sophia Yeshi
Sophia Yeshi works with bold colors and words that teaches the basics of typography and how to make your words pop! I really enjoyed this class because there are so many different ways to make typefaces stand out and show a deeper emotional meaning that sometimes we forget about.
This class is also a great way to get inspired to create your own emotionally gripping typographic art to share around social media or upload to a print on demand site!
3. Beyond the Logo: Crafting a Brand Identity by Courtney Eliseo Beyond the Logo is quite an important part of logo design. Yes, you can create something beautiful -- but how does it circle back to the brands identity? Courtney walks you through creating a mood board, color palette, typography & font options, and the basics of brand identity in this class.
I used this class to create an "ideal" client of mine, think about the kind of industry you'd like to design for -- and then create an entire brand around it. Having that in your portfolio is an awesome way to show off your design style, aesthetic, and your ability to create a cohesive brand identity.
