I often get asked by people how they can learn graphic design if they don’t have expensive computer programs like Photoshop. And while knowing the Adobe suite is definitely needed if you want to go into graphic design professionally, it’s not necessary to start practicing the basics. In my new video Graphic Design Without a Computer, I went over drawing found typography using tracing paper and magazines. This is a great way to get really familiar with all of the letterforms in various typefaces and styles, and it’s fun to make new compositions using only found type from magazines or newspapers or other sources. I definitely had a lot of fun getting off the computer and drawing typography by hand again – it’s been way too long since I’ve drawn with charcoal or tried to be really precise with graphite, and so it was great to get back into it.
I also began to cover page layouts and their hierarchy in the video, which I’ll be delving more into in the next episode. For now though, just tracing the layouts and separating the content from the design is a great way to get back to basics and start understanding the way the eye moves around a page and how all the different elements fit together.
I hope you guys like these drawings I did for the video, and feel free to send me your own on Twitter or Tumblr!
The exercise I did sophomore year of RISD, which inspired this video.
More layouts coming soon…