How You Can Learn Design Without School

What's the best way to learn design if you can afford going to design school? How can I learn design quickly? Typography is the foundation of graphic design, so it's imperative that you learn how to use type.

Graphic Design Bundle: $349.00 (Normally $496, save 30%)

11:30 Design Curriculum
12:00 Art Center Curriculum
16:11 Essentials for Design Education
40:50 and 43:56 AI shortcuts and Design/ Typography Tips
46:35 Contrast by Scale
49:58 Contrast by Weight
51:30 Contrast by Style
56:02 Contrast by Scale, Weight and Style
59:05 Type pairing for logo design, kerning and tracking
1:04:35 Where to practice kerning
1:05:03 Hanging Punctuation
1:07:10 Grouping with Rules/Lines
1:09:38 Lines in Paragraphs
1:14:39 Typography No No's (Shapes inside paragraphs and Widows)
1:19:37 Typography No No's (Quotes not prime marks)
1:27:14 Making a quick arrow
1:29:40 Tricks to make your work look like Chris'
1:37:40 What grids are for

Thank you Juan Mendoza for the annotations

This includes:
- Typography 01
- Lettering 01
- Logo Design & Construction
- Hand Lettering Work Kit

Please note, the link will take you directly to checkout. Limited quantities.

More info about each product included in the bundle:

@thechrisdo
@mrbenburns

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Host– Chris Do
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[anhmai]

In 2017 I decided I want to be a designer. I self taught myself while working full time at a restaurant in Times Square. All my paychecks went to buying design books and networking with people. It was the hardest year of my life setting goal to finish my portfolio, taking several internships and searching for jobs. One year later, I recently got a job offer as a UX/UI designer in NYC and a scholarship for a grad school's design program. Your channel is one of my important sources of mentorship and helps me keep going :) Thank you for all the passion and time you put into the videos!

[blenderingD]

some of the things I learned before I dropped out of college was that I didn't want to rely on an unrealiable teacher, cz I had many crappy teachers, and I was always ahead of my class doing my own research and building my own criteria. And there's tons of free high quality content that you can learn design from, just like this awesome channel. You don't actually need to pay for education if find the way to educate yourself

[Pipiundkakiinpipikakaland]

All design school did to me was destroying my creativity and will to learn or explore. Learining by yourself is so much better.

[jonathangonza]

I rather people say investment time than homework. Sounds like work and most people don't want to do work, but they do like to invest time for personal improvement. Just a concept I learned from a mathematics teacher.

[goobyplease]

There is something intrinsic about being happy by making other people happy.

You guys never fail to deliver.

I wish you guys perpetual joie de vivre from AU. 🙏

[srinivasachakradhar]

00:08 Learn graphic design without going to design school

05:17 Being self-taught requires hard work, working your way up, finding a mentor, and making sacrifices.

16:14 Design education is difficult to find, especially high-quality classes on typography.

21:29 School assignment integrates mythology and entrepreneurship.

31:56 Splitting the channel into business and design content

36:41 The bundle will not be available on Black Friday.

46:32 Scale and weight are important for achieving contrast in typography

51:20 Contrasting scale, weight, and style in typography

1:01:16 Focus on proper letter spacing and hanging punctuation in design

1:05:51 Typography and design principles

1:15:42 Resumes are an outdated way to measure someone's worth, especially in the creative field.

1:21:04 You can use keyboard shortcuts to insert special characters on your phone.

1:31:06 Using shapes and boxes can add weight and emphasis to typography.

1:36:01 Using grids to maintain layout balance

[anya_sc]

Watching this on a late Saturday morning where I am, while waiting to start a design client meeting. Thanks again and again for these valuable videos. I am a self taught designer too with a way to go, and I've been eyeing that design bundle for a while now. Can't afford it just yet, but I'm saving up! Love you, The Futur, you're a great part of why I'm motivated more to work hard for this. 💕

[TheLawind]

An idea: What if you guys made a sequence of small videos interviewing various people in your team about which bundle/kit/product they find the most useful, which chapter/feature/knowledge bomb helped them lvl up the most and things of that nature. I think it would be a nice way of promoting your products, while your audience can relate to personal stories of your team members and perhaps better understand what value you actually offer and that even pros have a room for improvement. + We get to know yall awesome folks a little better :) Cheers.

[hurrenvisuals]

went to college for creative studies for a year and left. now a few months later i’m doing music industry graphic design with artists that are inspirations to me, anything’s possible!

[CielPhamtohivys]

School is only to get grades, I'm learning much more on youtube and online courses (and I'm sad because I spent almost 3 years of my life on a design degree)

[tibuigerard]

Hi Guys. I'm from Cameroon. I love all the good work you have been doing on this channel. i've always wanted to be a graphic designer. I've gathered some savings for your course but my money doesn't sum up to 349 so I'll just buy typography on your site. From there I'll go on to find other cheaper ones. Thanks a lot guys. I hope it's worth the money.

[_krbrs_]

Oh yes! I’m one of the selt taught, career switcher, late bloomer, c school guys you profiled and i’m buying this. Costs like a rent but i’ve been following you for months and never got disappointed

[mimib]

Chris Do, you are a monster. Whaaaat? I will learn so much from you. And you will most certainly learn in leaps and bounds. And then, being another generous soul, I will bring it on back around to you and yours. Floored right now, and I'm only half way through. Generous beyond description. Much love and many blessings to your whole crew.I n this moment I know my life just changed.

[komyn]

Some thoughts from the perspective of someone who graduated in 2015:
- $22k a semester is normal. It isn't the high end anymore. It's just the average.
- Most schools aren't teaching anything but design theory and some application. They definitely aren't teaching business basics or anything you need to actually get a job. They're training their people to be well rounded designers, which is extremely unhelpful in the industry unless you're going to be in-house.
- Few universities can actually place students in design jobs after they graduate. Only specialized design/arts schools actually pull this off on a regular basis.
- I personally learned more from these videos and a semester abroad in Singapore when it comes to design than I did in 4 years of design school.
- Learning theory is still necessary so you can actually be a GOOD designer, but schools structure things so you can't learn that until after a full year of non-essentials, further wasting your money (I'm talking language classes, liberal arts electives, etc; I'm not referring to foundation art classes since those are still needed)
- Talking to fairly recent grads and looking at the portfolios produced by graduating classes is the best way I've found to assess whether a school is worth the money. If the work is all phenomenal and the students are getting good jobs, it might be worth going to that school. Otherwise, skip it.
- If the school has a lot of specialized classes, that's a good sign. If you just see typography and graphic design with one or two other electives, that's a good indicator that you won't learn what you need.

Oh, for context, I have my own company now and I mentor other designers in my free time. I went to a "B" level school (we had a lot of high profile visiting lecturers, including Stephan Sagmeister, but significantly less portfolio development and business/workplace basics). The theory was really solid, but the classes were limited and unfocused.

I am one of the few people from my graduating class that actually ended up in design, and I'm moving away from it by choice. My classmates didn't even get a choice, they were just completely under-prepared by our university.

[fzben]

Oooh ! :D i LOVED the way chris danced at the begining ! Thank you for your valuable advices and good vibes! BRAVO to all @Thefutur team

[SketchbookStudioo]

I just love the the The Futur. I'm so glad you guys create content. I am going to support you guys.

[aladdin_knows_some]

You guys motivate me to become a better version ... BIG thank you to all of you

[johnsteed]

I got my first graphic design job in 1972 age 23, with no training just a bit of talent at drawing and a flair for art in general. I had several designs jobs after that and finally as a Studio Manager. This is long before computers and the net. I went freelance around 1982 and I am still working part time today. So yes it is highly possible to become a graphic designer without going to school, you just have to convince employers you can do the job.

[goldfusiondesigns]

There is also a third way you can keep text together. Highlight two words you want to keep together, go in to the character pallet, drop down the hidden menu and choose no break. This creates a protected space. You can also do this in Word by pressing ctrl shift space on a PC. Hope this helps someone.

[adrianrodgon]

I've just bought the graphic design bundle. Thank you!