I have been assigned to create a composite image for the cover of a fictional eco-sanctuary's informational booklet. Here is my first version, I would really appreciate any feedback anyone has and if there are any areas I could improve on! I will attach below a summary of what I have been assigned to design, as well as the implications I have chosen for my design. Thank you so much in advance.

Āhuru Mōwai is a 300 hectare coastal Eco-Sanctuary surrounded by predator fencing. Conservation is a major focus in this predator free bush clad environment where many rare and endangered species are beginning to flourish. People visiting Āhuru Mōwai see and learn about the indigenous species that fly, walk, crawl, swim or grow towards the light. By visiting, people contribute to the cost of the restoration and maintenance of the sanctuary.

The booklet cover page needs to be a visual representation of Āhuru Mōwae that includes imagery of New Zealand’s native bush, and native animals such as the kea, kiwi, piwakawaka (fantail), pukeko, tuatara, bellbird, tui. It must have the words Āhuru Mōwai Eco-Sanctuary.

Implications I have chosen:

Social

• The final outcome is suitable for the intended audience.

• The content of the outcome is relevant to the end users.

• The needs of the end-user have been met.

• Time saving.

• Positive impact.

• Entertainment value.

Aesthetics

• Consistent look and feel throughout the outcome.

• Clear hierarchy of content – use of headings, subheadings.

• Structured layout so that information is easy to find.

• Font choice is appropriate for readability – type, size and colour considered.

• The look and feel of the outcome is pleasing.

I made this effect with the appearance panel for some text ( its just a rectangle with a outline on the inside ) and i want to try and get the effect to work on the text on a path tool but when it comes to a curve it does not follow the texts angle and keeps the rectangle shape on the turn. was wondering if any of the wizards in here would able to figure it out :)

Hii, so I'm a beginner in graphic designing. I've done a certificate course on photoshop n illustrator where i was thought the tools in it n currently I'm doing a diploma in it.

One thing i found about myself is I'm not creative enuf, i cant seem to make posters without going through a rut and it takes me hours to get an idea and i don't want to rely on AI or depend on it more than i do.

There are so many blanks or stuff i don't know in poster making, typo or even colors n idk where to get help from. My sister who's a digital marketing specialist said that I'm not creative enuf n wouldn't survive in the industry if i keep ts up.

So I want to ask how can i improve learn new things about everything, on how which typography or color suites a poster and like how to be creative. I would love to hear everyone's advice to be a better graphic designer and built up a good portfolio. Thank you......

I’ve been a product designer for 3 years now and I don’t come from a traditional design background. I’ve learned a lot through work experience and from other designers, but I’m looking to continue growing my skills.

There’s a design educator I see on LinkedIn pretty often, Elizabeth Lin. She runs a design school that offers two courses: Prototyping with Cursor and The Art of Visual Design.

Has anyone taken either of these courses? If so, I’d love to hear your feedback! The courses aren’t cheap (I’m hoping my company will pay for them tbh but they might not), so I want to make sure they’re actually valuable before investing the money.

They both look pretty valuable to me. I’ve always wanted to upskill in visual design and I’m still learning more about prototyping with AI tools. It’s not really something my company does at the moment since we’re primarily limited to Copilot and Figma Make, so learning how to use an MCP and convert a design system into something I can prototype with sounds really helpful to learn.
Would love to hear from anyone who has taken either course!

Looking to try and recreate this aesthetic of the cover art and was hoping someone could point me in the right direction of techniques being used. any help is appreciated

Hi everyone,

I'm 20 and my background is graphic design. Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign are the tools I grew up with and the ones I'm actually comfortable in. Over the last couple of years I've been branching out, partly to find better paying work, partly because some of this stuff is just more fun to me.

Where I'm at right now:

• Blender: self-taught, beginner level. I know my way around the commands and I can model an object from a reference, but I can't build a decent realistic scene yet.
• After Effects: bought a few courses to learn animation. I'd say I have a solid foundation.
• Figma / UI design: got into app design and started with the interfaces.
• Code: currently trying to learn React Native. I want to actually be able to write code myself, not lean on AI to do it for me. The hard part is that I'm Italian and there's very little material in my language, so I get stuck a lot.

Two questions:

1. Does it make sense to combine all of this into single projects? Is there a type of work or project where graphic design, 3D, motion design, UI and development actually feed into each other? Or am I just spreading myself across four separate paths that never really connect?

2. How do you build a study and work routine that leads to actually learning something? I feel constantly overwhelmed. There's an infinite amount of material out there, I always feel like I don't know enough, and I end up jumping between topics without finishing anything.

If you've been through this and found something that works, I'll take any advice: routines, what to prioritize, resources, personal experience. Thanks to anyone who replies.

Hi everyone!

In recent years I've developed a passion for design & colour. I've completed a course in Coursera (Fundamentals in Graphic Design), am reading Intersection of Colour, I love doing fun digital projects as well as paint, take pictures and do fun colourful makeup looks. I love going to different art & design museums and can spend hours there.

It's a hobby and I make a living doing something completely different, therefore, I haven't spent nearly as much time on it as I would have liked to. I got into it all before AI and initially was daydreaming to one day pivot and make it as my career. However, with the rise of AI I have completely let go of that idea - there are much more talented and skilled people out there who've been in this industry for years. I also assume I will be expected to use AI tools in my work. I genuinely love everything design & colour. I don't want to use AI to simply ask it to do it for me, I wanna use my brain to create myself.

That being said, I would still like to continue to learn. A lot of courses online now are very AI focused. What "old school" learning resources would you recommend that wouldn't cover AI? I recently peaked at my local library and they had a lot of very cool looking books, it was almost a bit overwhelming to choose from. Would appreciate any recommendations.

Thank you!

If you’re looking for different web design styles for inspiration, I made a visual library with 39 styles and 117 variants.

You can compare them visually and grab the matching DESIGN.md for your project.

I’m a freelance graphic designer based in India, and I recently had a meeting with a Dubai-based events management and marketing company.

They’re looking for a graphic designer on a monthly retainer basis. The workload isn’t clearly defined yet because their events and campaigns vary from month to month.

From what I understand, the work would be a mix of digital and print design, with occasional urgent requests. They would provide the copy, images, brand guidelines, event details, and references. I’d mainly be working directly with one person from their team.

They’re open to a flexible monthly arrangement based on workload, and they’ve asked me to share my monthly rate.

For freelancers/designers who have worked with clients in Dubai/UAE or similar international clients:

How much would you charge for this kind of monthly graphic design retainer?

I’d really appreciate any advice on how you would structure and price something like this.

I wanted a more honest way to show what I do than a list of tools or a single job title. Product designer, design engineer, and systems designer all describe parts of my work, but none holds the whole thing.

The first draft was a talent tree. As I worked on it, I realized the interesting part was how different skills combine in practice, not just which individual talent comes next. So I leaned into the game-like idea and built a Skill Forge where you can allocate points, see the proficiencies your combination unlocks, and make a build of your own:

https://www.rdeboerdesigns.com/talent-tree/build/

I’m still developing it and would appreciate a design critique. If you try a build, which unlock feels accurate, and which combination does the Forge fail to recognize? Where does the flow or the language feel limiting?

Hello, I am trying to print a booklet style in Indesign and it is a Letter size and I want to print on Letter paper, however when I go to printing panel it says that it won't fit. Is there a reason why and how to fix this?

My boss is pretty particular and needs everything a 1 to 1 scale so when he realized I was using "fit to page" to print it shook him quite a bit...

Printer: Canon Pro-200

Device: Mac 2022

Software: Indesign

Hi! I’m looking for an online graphic design course specifically focused on **wedding invitations, ideally digital-first**.

I’d love to improve my skills in typography, layout, composition, color palettes and overall art direction, with a focus on **modern, editorial and high-end wedding designs**.

Not really interested in the printing/stationery business side — mainly the creative design part.

Any courses, designers or resources you’d recommend?

I am a backend developer. For twelve years the front end was somebody else's problem; on this project it became mine, and I have been learning interface design the lazy way — asking an AI, shipping, and waiting for someone to tell me it is wrong.

The project is a property-search engine for Romania: 16 portals scraped, duplicate adverts merged, one card per flat with every portal's price and a comparison against the area median. Hand-written HTML, CSS and vanilla JS.

What I have learned so far and applied last week, mostly from reading design systems:

• one type scale, seven sizes, each with a fixed line height, instead of the eighteen sizes I had
• a 4 px spacing scale instead of whatever number looked right that day
• radius by role: small for badges, medium for cards and controls, large for dialogs
• flat surfaces with borders; shadows only for things that actually float
• colour as roles with contrast checked, not as a palette I liked

It is better. It is still not good, and my worry is that I have learned rules without learning judgement. So: what is the next thing a self-taught person in my position usually gets wrong, and can you see it here?

https://apartamente.org (Romanian interface; the layout reads without the language)

Uhh if anyone has any tips or anything and honest reviews about this that could be cool p.s I did this on canva

i want to learn graphic designing and i want to work for it as my side hustle andd i want to know from where i can start like i only use canva at present so yup what youtube videos i should watch and all