What Photoshop Tutorials Could Not Teach You

Even the best  Photoshop  tutorials on the web cannot teach you everything. It is important that you are armed with the right knowledge and attitude towards learning. You have to determine your purpose to better anticipate the results.

Most untrained  Photoshop  users forget the importance of theories behind the tools and functions found in the interface. Theory alone can’t stand but skill alone neither prevails. You have to know the logic behind the techniques in order to take advantage of them. Asking why is as important as asking how.

Successful designers often have a background in fine arts. Learning the fundamentals in drawing and illustration makes you more adept with the theory behind the elements of graphics and images. It helps you create original and evocative designs because you, more than anyone else, know how to achieve such effects.  Photoshop  tutorials don’t always tell you why a certain step should be performed. But with the right theory, it is easier to understand why you have to go through such lengths to achieve a certain design.

Here are some essentials you won’t learn from  Photoshop  tutorials.

Design Theory. It may sound banal to some but there are self-professed graphic designers who don’t even know how to properly juxtapose text to graphics and arrange all elements of design in an aesthetically pleasing and functional manner. It pains to know that some clients let these mistakes pass with a shrug but behind the eyes of fellow graphic designers who know better, erring on the fundamentals is just unacceptable.

Great  Photoshop  tutorials are all about manipulating elements such as color, line, shape, scale, space, texture and how they complement in order to achieve a certain visual effect. It is important to know design theory because you can’t just follow tutorials blindly. The techniques used by a tutorial writer on his/her design might have worked for the image he/she used but not necessarily for your own. Knowing design concepts eliminate these blunders.

Color Theory. Color experimentation makes or breaks a design. Colors evoke emotions, set moods, attract attention, and make a statement. It creates a visual ambiance. It conveys imagery beyond what you can illustrate.

Harmonious color combination is important to avoid straining the eyes of your spectator. Instead, it encourages your audience to try and find meaning on the design even if you did not deliberately inject meaning into it. The important thing is that color moves your audience because he/she perceives a message out of it.

Psychologists found out that exposing oneself to a certain color has an effect on the person’s behavior. Although these effects are somewhat subjective, there are colors that possess universal meanings. Authors of  Photoshop  tutorials take advantage of color theory in their works. To understand them better, you have to know color theory yourself.

Typography. Never say that graphic design is all about, well, graphics. There are times when you just can’t help but use text in your design especially for advertising purposes. This is why another essential knowledge you should have before navigating around  Photoshop  is typography. Designers tend to forget that texts are also visual elements. To be more specific, they can easily become graphic elements as well.

Typography involves the ability to juxtapose one font to another to achieve a certain contrast and to control the visual effects created by text blocks and empty spaces.

How some  Photoshop  tutorials explain text is somewhat arbitrary. The usual mistake of novice designers is that they tend to clutter the design with pompous fonts that evoke certain ambiance but are not readable. Typography is the art of balancing artistry and function when it comes to texts.

Basic knowledge about each of these theories can already do wonders to your work. The quickest route to  Photoshop  prowess is never the shortest. It’s always the safest. Understand the elements of design lead to original and thought-provoking work.