Why Learn Illustrator

Adobe Illustrator is the world's most popular vector graphics design program. This program allows you to create resizable vector graphics illustrations ideal for promotional materials and advertising.

Creatives can use Illustrator to design recognizable logos and iconography for clients to define their brand identity. Graphic design and advertising use Illustrator primarily, but other industries, like fashion, also use it. These professional settings allow users to create illustrations that help consumers recognize the products they are selling by conveying meaning quickly and effectively. Almost every company that sells products to consumers uses Illustrator to design product packaging.

For non-professionals or aspiring entrepreneurs, learning Illustrator can help them build their online identities. Quick, efficient graphic communication is vital across many fields, and Illustrator can make the process more efficient. Learning Illustrator can help small business owners, craftsmen looking to break into Etsy, local musicians selling decals, or activists build memorable logos and signage for their organizations.

Expand Career Opportunities or Upskill

You may wonder what the point is when you decide to learn Adobe Illustrator. As a creative professional, you already have various creative careers ahead of you. Learning Illustrator can open even more positions for different companies.

Chances are, as a creative professional, you already use one Adobe program, Photoshop and Design or After Effects. You may even be using multiple programs. Luckily Adobe has allowed for easy interchangeability with their programs. Once you learn one, the rest become easier to learn. Adding this program to your resume can open the door to various career paths you may have yet to consider.

• Graphic Designer: The purpose of graphic designers is to create graphics, logos, and other media assets that contractors may use for branding, advertising, or messaging purposes. To effectively communicate information, graphic designers must create recognizable, evocative imagery. In this capacity, graphic designers are responsible for various projects such as traditional advertising such as billboards, logos, packaging, infographics, and branded merchandise.
• Digital Designers: As part of a team, digital designers create graphics, animations, and other visual assets for websites, mobile apps, and online advertisements. Most digital designers use Adobe After Effects to create more complex assets that are intended to be animated or dynamic.
• Fashion Designers: Illustrator is often used in the fashion design industry to design mock-ups and prototypes of clothing to streamline workflow. This replaces the practice of hand-drawing complicated garment features like patterns and gradients. 
• UI/UX Designers: Users Interface (UI) and User Experience (UX) Web Designers often use Illustrator to build and optimize the appearance and functionality of digital and web applications. They often use Illustrator to navigate the web and digital applications to create assets tied to various icons, patterns, and buttons.

You can even take your creative work freelance, as many other Industries and professions can benefit from Adobe skills and not have a full position available because the services aren't needed all the time.

Learning Illustrator can greatly improve your work if you are already in one of the mentioned careers or have a great creative position. You will see an improvement in the work you create. As a vector image program, all your images will be of higher quality, making them more desirable. As a creative professional, you must be proficient in several programs simultaneously. If you started by learning other programs, it might be time to consider learning Illustrator to improve your artwork.

Develop a Brand

Illustrator is primarily used to develop brands. Small businesses and start-ups lack the luxury of hiring firms or contractors to create their essential advertising assets. Learning Illustrator can be an invaluable way to ensure that your merchandise and material match your vision if you are starting a business or product or want to improve the brand identity of a project or organization you are a part of.

Illustrator creates Vector images that save each shape or line as part of a sequence allowing for scalability without sacrificing detail. You could use another program like Photoshop to create these images. However, Photoshop lacks one of the main features of Illustrator. If you are creating graphics like logos, the images must be scalable. You want the image to be recognizable from miles away.

 Illustrator can help take a small business or start-up to the next level. Not only can Illustrator be used to create a unique logo that customers will recognize, but it can also be used to create memorable packaging. Packaging can make or break any small business. Starting on Etsy can make it easy to reach a client base; however, you will need items that will make you start from the crowd. One quick way to do that is by creating a unique design with Illustrator. Customers will quickly come to recognize your shop just by seeing the packaging. 

Another way to use Illustrator to develop a brand is through social media posts. While most people do not think of using Illustrator to create social media posts, adding typography and different graphics becomes easy with Illustrator. When switching between mobile and desktop devices, your client base can also view your posts easily.

Creative Gateway to Web Design

When learning any creative program, you probably have a career in mind that you want to pursue. However, there may be options that you haven't considered. One of these options is web design. But what is web design? 

In web design, a wide range of creative skills are combined with technical skills to develop web pages—including designing assets and layouts and programming skills needed to launch and maintain them. 

So how is Illustrator used in web design? Illustrator is used to create the visual framework of a website that can be applied through coding. Using Illustrator is important as the images on the website won't distort or change when switching from mobile to desktop app.

Web design can be important to those starting up their brand, as using sites to host your website can become expensive. Taking the time to learn Illustrator and how to do basic programming can help save a lot of money when first starting a brand or company. 

However, you may have an interest in the tech industry, but as a creative professional, you may not know how to break into the industry. Web design takes your creative skills and pushes them one step further. You can create unique and beautiful website designs and layouts while learning the fundamentals of coding. 

Expand the Creative Tool Belt

If you are considering learning Illustrator, chances are you are creative. Adobe is the go-to company for creative individuals. Whether you are interested in drawing, photography, or graphic design, there are ways you can utilize Illustrator in your daily life. No matter what you want to create, Adobe offers a program that will allow you to create it. 

Whether you want to learn Illustrator for professional or personal goals, you can create beautiful art pieces with the program. Since Illustrator is a part of Adobe Creative Cloud, it is closely linked to several other creative design tools that aspiring artists and illustrators can use to enhance their work. Learning Illustrator will make learning other programs easier, as students will understand the basic functionalities of the platform. All Adobe programs share a similar interface. Illustrator is also one of the easier programs to learn next to Photoshop. Learning either of these programs first will pave the way for any other program you want to add to your creative tool belt. 

Creative Cloud also allows you to easily share your projects between programs. So as you continue to learn and grow comfortable with each program, you can continue to enhance your artwork through the various programs and include them in different projects. 

Develop an Impressive Creative Resume and Portfolio

One can go in many directions once they have Illustrator on their tool belt. You open yourself to more creative professions. You become more desirable with more creative programs on your belt. However, there is even another way to make your resume and portfolio stand out against the crowd. Certification.

You will find certificate courses and certification exams when you look through courses. Several long-form courses will offer students a certificate of completion. Receiving a certificate can still help any creative professional stand out against their competition.

When you have mastered Illustrator, you can take the Adobe Certified Professional exam for Illustrator to show any potential employer that you are a master of the program. It will test you on various tasks and knowledge of the program. You will need to sit for a certification exam to receive this title. 

Even if you don't have certification in Illustrator, you can still develop an impressive portfolio to send to employers. Learning and becoming comfortable with the program will make creating unique designs easier. 

Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign

Many creative professionals most commonly use Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. With so many programs within Adobe Creative Cloud, you may wonder what the difference between some of them is. Each program is different and performs different tasks while performing other similar tasks. While learning each program is important for a creative career, starting with Illustrator can start your career in a better position. 

So what are the differences between these programs?

Photoshop is the most common photo editing software on the market. Creative professionals typically use the program for photo retouching and drawing unique designs. With Photoshop, one can create graphics with easy-to-use artist tools. 

InDesign is typically the last stage of any creative process, as it is commonly used to create pages. InDesign makes projects like books, magazines, brochures and business cards easy to format for print or web publication. Creative professionals use InDesign as a one-stop shop for all layouts and page designs. 

Illustrator is a vector graphics program. Creative professionals use this vector graphics program to create logos, Packaging designs, and web graphics. While you can draw unique designs, the vector graphics program will save each line created as part of a sequence. This process allows for scalability without pixelation. 

Together creative professionals can take any project from ideation to finished project. Each program is important on a creative professional's tool belt; however, they are not all the same. Photoshop and Illustrator may seem similar, allowing users to draw unique images and create designs. However, the difference lies in the saving power. Saving images as vector graphics allows users to resize the image without distortion. Learning Illustrator first can give you the foundational knowledge needed for any other Adobe program, allowing you to start with high-quality images. 

If you want to enter a career like Graphic Design, it will be important to learn all of these programs; however, Illustrator will be where most of the work is completed. You can also start with a portfolio filled with high-quality images that vary in size. Of course, Creative Cloud allows for easy transfer between programs for projects, so learning the three programs simultaneously is possible and potentially worthwhile if heading into a creative profession like graphic design. 

Ways to Learn Illustrator

After deciding to learn Illustrator, you may wonder how exactly you can learn the program. Luckily, Illustrator has vast amounts of resources available at your disposal. 

If you want to learn Illustrator on your own to ensure it is the right program, you can start by looking at the wide range of free resources available at your fingertips. YouTube can be an important resource when learning any new skill on your own. You can find thousands of free tutorials that cover various topics within the program. You will become more comfortable with the program after watching these videos. Another great free resource is free seminars. Several schools offer free seminars that are a few hours of pre-recorded material. These seminars are the first step toward a class-like atmosphere. You can watch the seminars on your time and rewatch them as needed. 

On-demand classes are the next step up. On-demand courses consist of pre-recorded material that covers a complete course's worth of information. You can find courses that cover beginner to advanced topics to fit your skill level. You can complete the work on your time, and you are still learning from an instructor. These classes tend to go more in-depth than a YouTube tutorial or a seminar, as they have the time to do so. One major downside to these classes is that if you have a question, you are stuck finding the answer on your own. 

If these options are not a good fit, you can always opt for a live-taught class. Live classes are available in-person or online. These types of classes will provide you with the most interactivity and in-depth training. You are in the same classroom or virtual classroom as your peers and instructor. You can ask questions as they arise and receive instant feedback. Live classes can last from a few hours to several months, depending on the training you want to receive. If you want to learn the program's basics to ensure it is the right one for you, shorter classes are available. Longer courses like bootcamp or certificate programs are available to those looking to upskill in their current position or make a complete career change. Of course, there are still drawbacks to these types of classes. You need to ensure you have the time set aside to attend the classes. In-person classes can include a lengthy commute. Online classes may seem less personable. However, despite the drawbacks of these courses, they will provide you with the most training for your money's worth. You can be up and running with a new skill or career in no time with these courses. You can easily master Illustrator within a few months than the years it would take you to learn independently. 

You may also consider earning a creative degree. This will be the most expensive and time-consuming option. You will also learn other skills that may not pertain to your career goals. Choosing this option can be beneficial if you want to pursue a position that requires a degree or if you want a broader range of education. The downside of this option is that you may be unable to make the career change as quickly as you would like. 

Choosing which learning method is right for you can seem intimidating when you look at all the options you have before you. However, it can become simpler if you consider why you want to learn the program. If you want to learn the program for personal reasons, like creative artwork for personal pleasure, you may opt for free learning methods or cheaper methods like on-demand courses. You can learn the program independently without sacrificing any time at work. However, if you want to switch careers or grow within your current career, you may want to consider live-taught classes. They will give you the training you need to make the jump promptly. No matter your goals for learning Illustrator, the perfect method is available for you.