Ep 273| five easy Steps/Hacks to start your visual design journey in Design

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Welcome to Design for Change. Thank you for staying tuning here. In this podcast today we are going to learn what is the importance of visual design and how as a designer you can able to improve that skill in a step by step manner. Lot of people think UI is actually called visual design. It's a very big confusion what these people have. In fact, they are also super confused between what is graphic design, what is visual design, what is UI design as well as what is AI aesthetic. Okay. In fact in this podcast I'm going to break down that clarity and also give you in very easier manner what is mean by visual design and how we can able to improve it in a step by step manner. Okay, so take a lot of notes. Let's jump in. Welcome guys. Welcome to this Design for Change podcast. Thank you for staying tuning here. In fact, we have reached lot more subscribers in the recent days. Thousands and thousands of downloads are happening across the globe and close to 40 country people are listening to our podcast. And make sure you subscribe and get notified for our further episodes. And also I would like to invite you to my upcoming 11 o' clock webinar as a free gift, free of cost. You can come and join and take part. Guys, it's a three hours masterclass where we also teach you the secrets of how you can get your dream job using the power of generative AI in a more simplified way. Okay. And also if you are someone who is fresher, I would recommend you to go and subscribe my YouTube channel, podcast and blog so that you can start learning some materials out there. And if you wanted to take my support to learn and grow, you can always claim that free gift and come inside my program. You can get it. Okay, with this context we will start today's topic because very important topic. What we have today is actually visual design. See, the importance of visual design is very, very important. First of all, first impression matters a lot. It is a very, very first thing, right? So people create a very first impression in a. In a. More what you call. They take a lot of time to create that impression because later you cannot change it, right? The same goes for your visuals. You need to create a very first impression which is most attractive and most impactful. If it is not done, what happens is sometimes you will miss that in the later. You cannot go and get it back later, right? So second is your communication design ability gets improved when you show designs in a more composed way, more aesthetic way more neat and aligned way. See the meaning why I say neatly aligned, neatly composed and everything you can also go to my YouTube channel to watch a live demo which I created today for one hour class in YouTube where you can find out what is mean by hierarchy. How to create a flow for the user, how to create a design element, how to choose colors, how to even pick typefaces and how to create a contrast and everything. Because in podcast they can able to give you nutshells.

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Yes. Also the visual design importance is help you stand up, stand out in your job market. Fourth is it creates a unique brand identity. This is most important of all. Lot of people do visual design just like that, randomly, here and there. But to be very precisely correct, you need to create a visual identity. Ultimately, if you are not doing that, there is no point doing visual design at all. Okay, this is the importance of visual design. Guys, the misconceptions. See a lot of people confused between. UI is actually called visual design. See guys, UI is actually called user interface. That means the user is interacting with an element that is not called visual design. Visual design is something very different. You have composition, you have aesthetics, you have harmony, you have rhythm, you have neatly aligned patterns, repeating elements, flow, hierarchy, balance, symmetry, asymmetry. These are all called composition, aesthetics, interaction. Design is something which people interact. See, I'm interacting with you through voice, right? In this podcast, I'm interacting with you through a mouse or maybe I'm interacting with you through your headphones. So interaction and how you interface with the product is very different from a visual design. You need to get this clarity. Okay? A lot of people think it's just aesthetic, it solves some problem, not just looks and feel. No, guys, it is, it is very important. Aesthetic functionality goes both hand in hand.

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A lot of people think what you call this is only for content. Presentation. No, presentation is equally important to how you design. It's very important. If you imagine if you purchase a iPad, iPhone, and then you are having this application and app store what you call built into it. And then if you find all the apps or something totally in different alignment, do you think you will like that product? Do you think you will, you will, you will what you call enjoy using that product or something. So that is actually very important. Right? So presentation matters a lot. Okay, Jagdish, what are all the five key elements which I can able to improve? See, I'm going to break it into very simple language, guys. First, master your fundamentals. Second, create a very consistency in all of your designs and layout. Third, magic of using the white space. Fourth, choosing right typefaces. Fifth, creating a visual flow and hierarchy. Okay, let me repeat it. Guys, master your fundamentals. Creating a consistency using the magical white space, using the right typeface and using the visual flow and hierarchy. Let me go into it very detailed. Okay, first of all, mastering the fundamentals. Fundamentals you need to master typeface. What is mean by serif based? What is mean by sans serif? How to use decorative typeface, how to use classical typeface, how to use a very mid age typeface. In order to use a very futuristic typeface in your projects, you should have that awareness and consciousness. Second, talk about colors. What is primary secondary colors? See these are all very deep subject, guys. But here I'm just giving you a broader idea of what is visual design. But you can go very detailed, okay? Second is colors.

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So you can choose accent colors, primary colors, secondary colors. You can understand the color wheel better. Guys, just if you Google, just if you start learning basics of colors, it's very simple. Anybody can teach you the same thing only. Okay, but how you are going to apply that matters a lot. Then you can think about grid. Grid is very important element when you're having a screen, when you're having a UI application or when you're having a even a physical product. Also grid is very important. When you place the elements in a hierarchical way, your visual design will look much more composed and neat. Actually these are all very important things. Typeface, color, grid. Because when you misorder this, when you misalign all those things, your mind will tell. Something is misaligned. So have you ever wondered in your portfolio something is misaligned, something is like very off. Even you keep on doing your visual design again and again and again, you still feel that dissatisfaction, right? You feel, you still feel that inconsistency, right? That is only because of this not having the basics clear. Your grid system is not correct. Your layouting is not correct, your usage of space is not correct. That is the thing. Okay? Yes. Now let's go for the second one which is called consistency. See, no matter what color you use, no matter what font you use, if you use it consistently, that creates a pattern, that creates a rhythmic flow. Right? See this is very simple guys. A lot of people don't understand this, but this is the most, most interesting thing. If you understand this one properly, I don't think you will have, you will have no problem in using visual design in your entire career. Guys, consistency is actually the key here. Consistency. If you keep anything repeatedly like that, even if that's an ugly visual or anything, no problem if you keep it In a consistent way, it will look somewhat rhythmic, it will look somewhat beautiful. So think about this. Consistency is the second important element. Third, using magical white space. Have you seen Apple website? Have you seen Tesla's website? Have you seen any other very well composed website? The magic is they use lot of white space. White in the sense not only white, guys, empty space. Apart from text and visuals, how much empty space and void you're creating. Even when you go to my YouTube channel and watch this live stream, I would have explained you with live case studies also how certain visual looks really good, okay? Because when you use so much of cluttering elements, people get confusion, people lose the track. What are you trying to say? When you keep a lot of white space and clearly perceive, this is the exact call to action. This is the exact element. This is the exact picture I want to communicate. This is the exact text I wanted to communicate. People see it in a clutter free manner, okay? It creates a huge focus and it adds a lot of visual elements and aesthetics. Next, fourth important thing is choosing the right tools. See guys, you need to choose the right tools. Whether it's a Figma or it's a sketch or it's a Canva, you can use right tools. See, a lot of people use only Figma a lot of times. Don't use it like a rough note. Figma is for creating interactive prototypes. Canva is to create posters, PPT is to create presentations and Miro is to create mind maps, okay? And Google Document is to create documents and Excel Sheet is to create tables and columns and data and everything. So use the tools appropriately. Again, don't go very much deep into what tool to use and sit there for hours. Just start with something, do it. I would highly recommend Canva as a starting tool because you can use presentation, you can use video editing, you can use poster creation, thumbnail creation, you can literally do document creation, anything using Canva. Guys, Canva is a free tool. Please try to use it, okay? Fifth important element is create visual hierarchy. In fact, this is the most, most interesting thing. See, when you don't tell the hierarchy, this is what first the user will be able to see in your app. This is the second, what user will be able to see in your app. This is the third, this is the fourth. You will not be able to guide your user in a proper manner if your visual hierarchy is confusing. If you're putting lot of buttons, lot of creative elements, a lot of text and lot of images and graphics and icons and call to action. What do you expect from Your user to go and click first. Definitely his decision making time will go high. If the decision making time is getting high, people will lose interest in your application and they'll install their competitor app. 60 to 70% of the people abandon their shopping cart without making the purchase is because of this bad visual design. It's because of only this bad visual design. The moment when you take care of this hierarchy and create a visually engaging colors, size, spacing grid element, people will be able to engage in your content and take action and move forward. Very simple. Lot of business is losing out in the UI UX market is because of this reason. So think about it very carefully guys. That is the reason I'm detailing recording this podcast. Okay, so now I would like you to come to my YouTube channel to see the live demo. Because here I can do because I've did it over their life.

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And also I'll tell you the visual science behind it, what people really perceive it. See neurologically neuroscience ways how design really impacts your brain function. First, let me tell you visual cortex activation, guys. See this engages your brain with a huge color and layout your visual cortex. When it gets activated, you try to remember and engage in that content for a very very longer time. Because more than text and visuals, people love more than text and boring information, people love visuals and illustration.

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Second, the first impression. 50 milliseconds it it takes to create the first impression. See, your brain is very fast, guys. Your subconscious mind and your brain is super fast so that it creates a pattern in just 50 milliseconds. So that is why the first impression, what you're creating in visual is so, so, so important. Third, it feeds your brain through a consistent pattern because consistency feeds your brain. When you create a positive emotions. When you create a patterns that creates a positive emotions, people, don't forget your visual design forever. This is the most, most important information is. Okay, let me give you some alarming statistics. Every recruiter takes six seconds to make a decision whether your resume or portfolio gets hired or not. So now think about it how important visual design is. 65% of the visuals create more memorable information than the text. So it creates a higher retention for your user. 83% of the value presentation in your portfolio is what is the major hiring preference for the recruiters. So imagine this statistic is very important, guys. If you are not understanding the statistics, you will be randomly drifting here and there and you will not get into a proper visual design view.

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So take care of your visual design skills. That's the major important thing you can use Canva Pro, you can use Visme. Visma is an interactive visual tool. You can also use Gamma AI for presentations. You can use Miro also. You can use PPT also. It doesn't matter tool guys start with something. You can use smart templates in Canva Pro using the AI tools because thousands and lakhs and lakhs of template is available in Canva Pro. You can directly drag and drop and use it first to get started. Don't think too much. Just get started with something. Okay? Don't just sit on what tool to use, how I'll get better at it. Just start with something and over the time you become perfect. Okay? When I started this podcast first exactly this day last Gandhi Jayanti, I don't know how to even record the audio, I don't know how to even speak confidently in the podcast. I don't even know how to create background music. I don't even know how sound get observed and how clarity voice is coming to the user. I don't know anything but I just started. If you go and listen to my first podcast what is design? You will know how mumbling, fumbling and how nervous and how the sound quality is bad and no background noise. Nothing is there. Guys, even if I put background voice it will be very very poor. But today I'm in the 273rd episode. Look at the clarity. We have reached 4.9 rating in Apple and 4.8 in Spotify. So beauty and clarity and perfection will only come when you start with something. But when you think I will become perfect and then I'll start doing visual design, nothing of that sort will ever happen in your life and you'll be wasting a lot of your time. Okay, if you don't want to waste your time and then if you start if you wanted to start taking action and if you wanted to go forward in your life to take at least 3x more salary than the compared to the current salary, what you have or if you're someone who is ground zero, you wanted to take your game to at least 6 to 8 lpi in next three months. I would highly recommend to come and click the claim gift option. There is a free webinar gift available for you below. You can come and join there and attend my three hours masterclass to know what is this? If you are really interested you can also come into my paid membership program where I also intensively teach how you can create portfolio, how you can create yourself introduction, how you can create your resume, how we can create your first project and launch it in Wix website and how we can start pitching to recruiters to start getting hired and 3 of your paycheck in just 90 days. If you're interested you can come and take the gift. Okay, but if you want more information like this, please subscribe to my podcast channel and get notified for the further episodes. If you find this information valuable, give me a Best star rating in Apple and Spotify and also subscribe to my substack YouTube channel and other materials as well, which is given in the link description below. Okay, so thank you so much guys. Take care. All the best. See you in another episode. And by the way, Happy Gandhi Jayanti for you. Whoever is staying in India today is a Gandhi Jayanti guys. Okay? And it's also a one year anniversary per our podcast. Thank you so much guys. Take care. All the best. Sam.