TikTok is one of the most popular social media sites, and it is also one of the ones that is growing the fastest. This app, which has more than a billion users every month, lets people share their thoughts through short videos. It also helps aspiring designers improve their skills and become better, more well-rounded designers. Here are ten TikTok videos (made by designers from different walks of life) that can help you improve your own design skills.
You may find yourself an aspiring designer who, for whatever reason, needs more practice in order to refine your skill. Whatever the case may be, there are some great websites and resources out there that you can take advantage of for free, which is always nice!
And if you're looking for inspiration for your next design project, a popular source is TikTok. TikTok is one of the most popular and fastest-growing social media platforms to date. With over one billion monthly users, this content-sharing app allows people to express their thoughts through short videos. It's got a bit of everything: trending memes, funny videos, and more.
The thing about TikTok is that it can be hard to find good content to actually learn from. So, to help you out, here are ten (10) TikTok videos that are useful when it comes to improving your design skills.
Portfolio Tips and Design Briefs | @life.in.design
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33Phsa/
@life.in.design talks about design briefs in this video and how they could help designers build up their portfolios. They emphasize that briefs allow you as a designer to fully understand what you're designing for and explain why having a good brief is critical to your success. More so, a design brief can be a very useful tool for designers of all skill levels to get better acquainted with their own work and learn what they are doing right and wrong.
Graphic Design: 4 Graphic Design Games to Improve Your Skills | @viviana.graphics
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33yxD3/
@viviana.graphics hit the nail on the head with their Tiktok videos, and it's clear they want to help you get better at design. In this video, they introduce you to games that can help you improve your graphic design skills, particularly in font pairing, type kerning, type manipulation, and type anatomy. The main thing to remember is that the more you practice and the more games you play, the better you'll get.
Design Inspo/Sharpening Your Design Skills | @designertom
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33Nrnm/
In this video, @designertom talks about how you can further practice other design skills by getting automated instructions from fakeclients.com. This provides designers with custom-written requests from made-up clients that challenge them to create designs for specific situations or user groups. The fake clients are often humorous and always thought-provoking, and their work forces designers to dive deep into their creative skillsets, develop their visual language, and grow as individuals.
Graphic Design: 4 Ways to Level Up Your Graphic Design Skills in 2022 | @swoopnebu
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33aFVk/
When you first started out in the design field, you were so anxious to get better at what you did. You watched all of the YouTube videos you could find, read all of the articles, and when it came to learning new skill sets, you took every opportunity you could get your hands on. In this video, @swoopnebula shares some solid advice about how to actively improve your design skills in 2022 by trying out a new medium, exploring and experimenting, and so on. This is relevant for anyone who wants to make meaningful progress on their creative journey.
Graphic Design Mistakes/Things I Would NOT Do as a Graphic Designer | Genevieve Geller
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33LGKT/
A lot of us have a fear of making mistakes, especially in the world of design. @genevievevegeller shares a list of things to avoid doing (and why) as a graphic designer, or in any type of design work for that matter.When you're a graphic designer, you deal with both the good and the bad. The good are the beautiful things that come out of creating a great design. The bad are the horrible, embarrassing things that come out of trying to fix an awful design. This is for those instances. Just because you can do something doesn't mean you should do it. Just watch and learn from their mistakes.
Design: 3 Games to Improve Your Design Skills | @productdesign
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR336sXa/
You already know that designing takes more than just skill. It takes a lot of practice. More so, every product designer, no matter how strong, has to work on their design skills all the time. That's because design is never truly mastered, and there will always be new things to learn. This is another video about games that can help you practice your design skills. However, @productdesign shares these games, which specifically help with your pen tool mastery, kerning skills, and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) mastery.
Design Tutorials: 4 Tips to Make Better Designs | @jollyhohnsonart
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33rDL5/
Tiktok has a growing community of users who are sharing their artistic skills with others. There's an entire genre of videos dedicated to teaching people how to edit posters. The above video is a great example of this type of content. @jollyhohnsonart shares four easy ways to improve your designs, particularly how you can utilize the color palette, contrast, tangents, and negative space in photos.
Typography and Type Anatomy in 60 Seconds | Flux Academy
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR339y7M/
Type is an important part of design. It helps make a design look more cohesive and gives it a professional touch. Learning typography in general is no easy feat, and it's not just about knowing which font to use for your next project; it's also about knowing how to properly choose and apply it, which is why @fluxacademy created a 60-second video that discusses type anatomy for self-taught designers who wish to develop their skills by identifying differences in typefaces.
Design Hacks and Color Hacks for Finding a Good Palette | Jordan Unhea
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33sxS4/
Designers spend a lot of time thinking about color combinations and color theory. Fortunately, there are some great resources for discovering new and interesting combinations of colors. @jordanunhea, in her video, recommends using an online palette generator while giving a tutorial on how to navigate the platform to get your ideal color palette. The tool is a great way to learn how to think through figuring out your own color combinations for your current or future design projects.
Logo Design/Good Logo Design Tips | @kenzigreendesign
https://vt.tiktok.com/ZSR33p8wH/
Have you ever wondered how a logo is made? Not the act of drawing, but the process of deciding what a logo should look like and how it should be designed. @kenzigreendesign is a web designer who posted a TikTok video on how to design a good logo. According to her, you can make a logo that will bring out your brand if you follow the rules on simplicity, scalability, and so on.
The online design community is full of wonderful advice for new designers, but the most important thing to remember is that there are no shortcuts. The best way to become an expert in anything is to practice, practice, practice.
Improving your design skills while having fun may seem like a tall order. There are tons of videos on TikTok, and chances are you'll run into a lot of content with no real educational value. But as this list shows, there are actually plenty of opportunities to learn, improve, and even change the way that you work forever.
With that said, if you're an aspiring design student and looking to start creating content for yourself, this platform can offer it all. Hopefully, this list of videos will be a good start when you decide to improve your design knowledge but don't know where to start. Be sure to look out for these in the future, and feel free to share this article with someone who may need help with their design.