Last updated on January 25th, 2023
Graphic designing is a time-consuming work that involves a lot of skills. A graphic designer must be equipped with all the hardware and software required to do the job satisfactorily. Graphic design workstation enables the designer to do the work effortlessly.
Here Is How One Should Equip Their Graphic Design Workstation For The Perfect Ambience
01. What Is Design Workstation?
Typically, a workstation is a computer that is designed to help accomplish technical applications. Such workstation is connected to a local area network. The computer can perform as a multi-operating system.
A graphic design workstation is created especially for graphic works. The computer for this purpose is specially configured for a variety of works including image manipulation, vector graphics, bitmap graphics and other such types of applications. Clearly, instead of an ordinary computer, you need a powerful CPU as well as a high-resolution display.
Considering the importance of the workstation, graphic designers choose their laptop workstation carefully. Such a mobile workstation comprises of very high quality of computing features that you do not find in a common notebook.
A laptop based workstation has a very high capacity of faster graphic processors. Such a workstation has more powerful CUPs. The memory power is very high. The weight of mobile workstations, therefore, is higher than that of standard laptops.
02. CAD System
Depending on the graphic design work, a graphic designer may also require Computer-Aided Design system. This system involves hardware and software that help the designers and engineers to create designs of products.
A graphic designer can create 2D and 3D graphic representations of products. So, such graphic design workstation is useful in creating merchandise design. The designer can create 2D vector-based drawings.
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03. Ideal Workstation
So, which workstation is ideal for you as a graphic designer? First, know what exactly is your requirement as a designer. There are a variety of workstations available to meet different requirements of the designers.
Modern workstations are light machines as the desktops. These are trendy devices that are equipped with the latest technologies for graphic designers. But there is no compromise on features related to the performance and pure power.
One of the reasons for installing the workstations is that most of them can handle heavy applications. They all have most of the tools that graphic designers require to create and analyze demanding applications and complex graphics.
Mostly, graphic designers do not need workstations that have a spectacular video card. If some 2D work is to be done, workstations such as Intel’s integrated HD graphics is sufficient. You can even run Photoshop with it.
But when making a graphic design workstation, you should try to make it ultimate and well-endowed machine, which has a nice video card. You can have multiple monitors that really make the difference when doing multiple works easily. Such a workstation should be able to run dozens of apps at any given time.
The workstation of a graphic designer should be able to create a desirable ambiance so that the designer can enhance the capacity to work. the workplace must be equipped with all the tools essential to creating graphic designs such as logo design. The workstation should be good enough to handle applications such as Photoshop and Aperture.
So, choose a software that helps in doing your core job efficiently. For instance, if you want to do photographic manipulation, Aperture can help. But if you are a digital designer, you may need Photoshop to do the job.
04. Which Computer Is Best For Graphic Designers?
That question must have crossed your mind. But the fact is that any powerful computer that is above ordinary personal computers and notebooks will meet your requirements for graphic design. But since you want to make graphic designing your career, you need to upgrade your computer as per your specific requirements.
A graphic designer’s computer must certainly be upgraded for processor speed, screen resolution, memory, and hard disk speed. The software for graphic design depends on a lot on the processor of the computer.
The processor or CPU must have the capacity of at least 1 Ghz, which means one billion calculations per second for graphics designing works. But that is the minimum requirement. You should be looking for a faster processor.
The Random Access Memory, or ‘’RAM’’, called simply as ‘memory’, is another key thing to consider. Your computer for graphic designing must as much RAM as you can for faster processing. So, ensure that your computer has a minimum 8Gb of RAM, and have more of it if you can afford. Note that once you have a faster CPU with the gigahertz range, you will be than spending on RAM only to enhance it for easier performance.
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05. Peripherals
Some peripherals also are equally important to set up your workstation. You should be particularly selecting your Hard Disk Drives [HDD] and Solid State Drives [SSD]. Both these devices of advantages and disadvantages.
So, you should buy them depending on your requirements. SSDs are durable as they do not have moving parts and it is mostly damage-free. So, if you move around more, than prefer SSD over HDD. One of the advantages of SSDs is that these devices are good in speed that makes computer programs much faster.
When choosing an HDD, pick the one that spins at 7200rpm if you want to run software on the external drive. A 1 TB hard drive is good when it comes to storage space to start with.
For your monitor, make sure that its resolution is no less than 1280 x 800. Any resolution less than this is not considered appropriate to run the graphic design programs. Prefer having Vertical Alignment panels, which are expensive but surely worth it.
How To Create The Ambience
06. Right Furniture
Make sure that the room where you sit in front of the computer gives you utmost comfort. Since you will be sitting on the chair for hours, pick the right furniture. Get a chair that rests your back comfortably but one that does not make you lazy. It should be able to support your back to keep a straight posture when you sit.
07. Proper Light
Your workstation should have the proper light so that there is no strain on your eyes. You will be working harder to accomplish a job, which means that your eyes will be under stress all the time. So, equip your workstation with new technologies of lighting a room. It would be good to buy yourself a decent desk lamp. Sunlight is a nice option to room light for some designer but make your choice carefully.
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08. Inspiration
Creativity is all about getting some inspirational thoughts and then turning it into reality. Since you are a graphic designer, have some inspirational graphic designs from the masters hang on the wall. Have an album of great works of graphic designers ready around your desk. Spend some time with these great inspirational works of the masters to charge up your creative batteries.
So, these are the key things you should consider when you equip your workstation to do a graphic design works. Make sure that no one disturbs you when you are working. So, choose a place that is away from all disturbances. The main purpose of the workstation is that it helps you in doing your design work with ease and excellence.
After you have installed an excellent workstation, you should be looking for new graphic design opportunities. You should get work from potential clients regularly. Designhill is one such leading crowdsourcing platform that has plenty of work opportunities for graphic designers.
Business owners come to this platform to get their design works such as logo design, brochure design, etc. You can win many graphic design contests on this site or you can simply build an impressive design portfolio of your own by working for many clients regularly on the site.
Conclusion
Graphic designers should set up workstation carefully as their requirements are special. They need to have computers that are designed and created to support heavy graphic works. So, right from hardware like computer, monitors and hard drives to software selection, you should have the workstation that meets your work requirements.