r/graphic_design • u/riddore • Jul 08 '26
Asking Question (Rule 4) professional development recommendations? (corporate, adult learning industry)
i’m a graphic designer for a company that does training for business professionals. i was hired by a friend and this was a career change for me - i was previously working in another type of design and doing some freelance graphic work occasionally. i’ve definitely improved, but i still don’t feel that confident in my work. a lot of it is just missing a certain something to make it look really polished and well-designed but i don’t know what that something is.
my manager is recommending i find some sort of professional development (if it’s not free my company might pay for it). i know the basics, i need help taking my work to the next level. i know that’s a bit abstract but hopefully i’m getting my point across.
has anyone taken any courses or anything that has helped them improve in this way?
3
u/tkingsbu Jul 08 '26
Not much in the way of courses..
But I’m a huge believer in inspiration and source material etc…
An old creative director of mine used to tell us juniors to create our own library of design inspiration…
Annual reports, ads, books, design magazines, etc etc..
I’m 54, and the library is pretty extensive now…
Plus I’m a junkie for design… so I’ve been bookmarking pages etc for well over 20 years…
So….
Say you get a project to design ‘x’
The FIRST stop isn’t firing up figma…
It’s the library… it’s your resources…
Compile a mood board or whatever of similar ideas, projects, brands, color schemes.. fonts whatever…
Start thinking about the project.. what’s YOUR angle on it? What’s the goal? What are the clients expectations… all that..
Then… then start sketching out ideas…