Given the scale and breadth of online activity, digital media can be used to reach a much wider audience, elevating brands on an international level. A staggering 4.70 billion people around the world now use social media, which equates to more than half the global population. 

Want to do both print and digital...... there are some awesome examples of campaigns that implement tactics from both the print and digital areas and these delivers some outstanding results in the process. 

Creating your own graphics rather than relying solely on pre-existing or AI-generated content is like adding your personal touch to the digital canvas. Here's why it's so important:

1. Uniqueness and Originality: Designing your own graphics allows you to stand out from the crowd. It's a chance to infuse your personality, style, and brand into every design. Your creations become a unique representation of you or your message, setting you apart from the sea of generic visuals.

2. Tailored Communication: Custom graphics enable you to communicate your ideas in a way that's specific to your audience or purpose. You can choose colors, fonts, and imagery that resonate with your message, ensuring a more targeted and effective communication.

3. Branding and Identity: For businesses, individuals, or even social media influencers, consistent and recognizable branding is crucial. Designing your own graphics allows you to build a cohesive visual identity, reinforcing your brand and making it memorable to your audience.

4. Creative Expression: Design is a form of self-expression. Whether you're creating graphics for a school project, your social media feed, or a personal blog, it's an opportunity to express your ideas, emotions, and creativity. You're not limited by pre-existing templates or algorithms; instead, you have the freedom to bring your imagination to life.

5. Problem Solving and Critical Thinking: Designing your graphics hones your problem-solving skills. You'll face decisions about layout, color schemes, and visual hierarchy. Figuring out what works best for your purpose encourages critical thinking and a deeper understanding of the impact of design choices.

6. Adaptability and Innovation: Designing your own graphics requires learning and adapting to new tools and techniques. It fosters an innovative mindset, pushing you to explore and experiment with different design elements. This adaptability is a valuable skill in a world where visual trends are constantly evolving.

7. Personal Growth and Confidence: Successfully creating your graphics is an accomplishment that boosts confidence and encourages personal growth. It's a skill that, once developed, can be applied in various aspects of your life, whether it's for personal projects, academic endeavors, or professional pursuits.

“Being a student is easy. Learning requires actual work.”

—William Crawford

We have heaps of time to learn skills and to be fair, if you want to make things easier later on you need to put the time in to learn the software inside and out. Even if you have used the software before there is always more you can learn. 

Below are a range of tasks and they each build on each other. The tutorials found here are easy to access but if you need more their are lots more free options a a couple include; LinkedIn Learning (formly Lynda.com) can be accessed via most City Council Libraries (you need to have a library card) and if you have access to the Adobe Suite then Adobe Education Exchange has lots of resourses available.

It takes 30+ hours to get comfortable in any software so keep challenging yourself to make more graphics and try new tools and techniques. 

It is super important you take the time to actually learn the ins and outs of the software. Whilst the tutorials below are long they are well worth working through so you know how to use the software before we get into creating cool graphics.

The earlier video about vector and raster should have help explain the difference and help you understand which software you should use and when, but if you still what more specific explanation then check out one of the below videos based on the software suite you will be using.

~ Vector Graphics Editor ~

~ Raster Graphics Editor ~

The Pen / Bezier tool tool is a powerful tool. It is a path creator allowing you to create smooth paths that you can stroke with a brush or turn to a selection. This tool is effective for designing, selecting smooth surfaces, or layout. It allows for greater precision and control as we can manually set anchor points and curves. The Pen tool is also excellent for creating vector paths, which can be scaled without losing quality.

Playing the Bezier Game is a fun way to learn how the tool works and to challenge yourself to create precise shapes where you progress through levels, testing your skills and accuracy (note that the shortcuts are based on the Adobe Illustrator shortcuts so if you are using Inkscape you will need to use different shortcuts. 

To help you learn the pen/bezier tool in depth with further help work through the relevant tutorial. 

Choose ONE of the following tutorials. Make sure you save it and when finished you export it in a suitable format i.e. .png or .jpg

Choose ONE of the following tutorials and make it your own. So follow the tutorial BUT use your own images, colours, quotes, words etc

If you are smashing through the tutorials and have still got time before you need to put together your showcase then either try another tutorial on this page or go and find another on Youtube. Good channels to check out are Logos By Nick, Davies Media Design for Inskscape / Gimp and  Spoon Graphics for AI & PS, Envato Tuts+ for lots on the Adobe Suite

Here our some of last years to inspire you.....