I've been a designer for 7 years now, and one of the things I did when I was first starting out was find examples of designs I liked and attempt to copy them ve

I've been a designer for 7 years now, and one of the things I did when I was first starting out was find examples of designs I liked and attempt to copy them very precisely. (Should go without saying that this is a practice exercise, not suggesting to rip off others work). The exercise did a few things for me: - helped me learn new software (learned bezier curves by copying the starbucks logo) - forced me to be really attentive to the details of design - got me in the physical habit of making good looking things - let me focus first on the mechanics before implementing my own ideas - forced me to find examples of design to look at I think this is akin to reading someone elses code when learning a new programming language. It is also a great way to study art, drawing by hand others great works. In graphic design, I would focus more on understanding typography and composition (what things are emphasized and how, I.e. scale, color, space) than on learning to draw. You can be a great designer with rudimentary drawing skills.