Hi there! Looking for advice on getting back into graphic design, illustration, prints etc...

[JLO]

Hi everyone!
I’ve just joined this forum after a long time contemplating about getting back into graphic design. It was one of my favourite subjects at school and although I chose a career in Engineering, I have always still wanted to be creative in my spare time. I would love to be able to go to my computer and start designing a logo or design or even an illustration that I could print and frame. Although I can do this by hand I would like some advise from other graphic designers as to where I can start doing this on a computer. Should I buy an iMac? Do I need to buy specialised software and if so what would you recommend? Also, how can I get my work printed...would I need to find a specialised company to print my work on quality prints?
Any advice truly appreciated to help me get back into something I am passionate about
Many thanks!
JLO

 

[scotty]

Hey JLO. Welcome to GDF.

It's great that you're wanting to get back into Design.

There's the whole PC v Mac thing but it's hardly worth getting in to as there's no issue with either so I'd just use what you have.

The industry standard design software is Adobe Illustrator (vectors) and Photoshop (rasters/pixels) but it can be quite expensive at around £50 GBP per month for the subscription to Adobe CC and the learning curve can be a little steep.
There are alternatives out there that are giving Adobe a run for their money such as Affinity Designer and Photo which are very good and only about £50 each to buy right out.

Then there are some free options like Inkscape but I've never used any of them.

There are LOADS of tutorial sites out there to learn how to use them but I'd suggest a month or so subscription to a site like lynda.com which will speed things up and you can get the first 30 days for free and then something like £25 per month after that.

Regarding printing. You could always just buy a decent printer but if you're wanting something better and bigger then you could just search on-line for a local art printer that will output your designs or illustration onto high quality art paper and the quality is great.
They tend to use archive quality paper which are guaranteed not to fade or anything for something like 100 years (if you live that long)