Designing projects for yourself is a great and playful way to get new skills or test your abilities. Challenges or case studies are a great place to start, these projects may be real or imagined, but you will end up designing something you are probably not quite sure how to do, this will force you to learn new skills.
Use Figma to realize your projects fast and effortlessly.
Figma is a versatile collaborative design tool that allows you to design almost anything. Figma is great for graphic design projects, wireframing websites, designing mobile app interfaces, prototyping, social media and everything in between. Check out Figma’s community page to browse and duplicate projects.
Learn the principles of design by taking this online course
This course: Intro into Design of Everyday Things from Udacity taught by industry experts is based on key concepts from the first two chapters of The Design of Everyday Things by Don Norman. It’s intended to be enjoyable and informative for anyone curious about design: everyday people, technical people, designers, and non-designers alike.
Practice with Sharpen Design to get project prompts.
Practice all kinds of design projects with Sharpen Design, to get open ended project prompts, case studies and challenges. Sharpen design is the world’s largest design prompter. They offer 21 different categories and have 2 generators. Sharpen design is so useful companies are using it test designers capabilities during the hiring process. It can be used for filling your portfolio with projects that will get you hired or simply to challenge yourself and sharpen your design skills.