What is Graphic Design?

After all, what represents graphic design? Does it mean knowing how to work with applications? Do designers need to draw? Is it art?

Let’s try to respond to those questions.

“The graphic designer’s function is to give a meaning for something using its appearance.”

The professional induces the user to use a product in a specific way, offering to it some abstract concepts implementing a style, status and identity.

The graphic designer is by convenience a person who knows how to work with different techniques and how to use design tools, even so, it is not only the ability to develop a nice layout, it is the knowledge to ally a visual repertoire with professional skill, being an intellectual provider based on visual, social and psychological culture.

Drum by David Carson

“The designer is not someone who will execute a task, but a creative specialist that is able to communicate by applying a visible method.”

Graphic design studies have always been connected with other fields like psychology, art, communication, cognition among many others.

However, graphic design possesses a unique knowledge that was developed through its history, furthermore, it is becoming more evident nowadays, it is something very easy to be noticed by the creation of new courses, masters and doctorships worldwide.”

That is Wikipedia’s definition, so let’s try to comprehend it better.

Guts by Stefan Sagmeister

The designer has a problem to solve. This person should apply creativity to sort it, creating a graphic solution.

For example, a hundred years old company wants to change the visual communication, because, they are trying to reach out to young customers, however, they don’t want to take the risk of losing the people who already buy their products, so the professional must have to achieve a creative solution for that.

The design doesn’t have right or wrong, ugly or pretty, it represents the profound wisdom to know how to communicate with the target public at the right time using colours, images, fonts, will have the power to connect individuals, it could be a package, a business card, a website, each project has the right function and the correct moment, in other words, it needs to be functional.

The graphic designer must need to be a multi-task professional.

If you are designing a logo for a hospital, you don’t need to be a doctor, furthermore, you will call for a deep study of what the health market is doing, so we are under the obligation to understand a little bit about our client’s field.

Applications are not everything.

It is crucial to have good knowledge of the applications, even so, it is not everything it doesn’t matter if you know all the virtual resources without any concept, it is good to remember that graphic applications are thirty years old technology and design, in general, is much older than it.

Nowadays a designer needs to be able to handle modern tools, however, a competent professional should create a brilliant job by using a pencil and a piece of paper.

Do graphic designers need to be good illustrators?

If you are good at drawing, it will be useful. But you don’t need to be a fantastic illustrator, because they are similar fields, but different.

Are design and art the same thing?

In my humble opinion, I don’t consider graphic design is not art.

Designers should create a solution avoiding ambiguity, design is straightforward, art is to spark a discussion.

We have talked about it already.

Graphic design is an amazing and satisfactory career, with many unique challenges, but the pleasantest part is we don’t have a routine, in reason of, every day we will have a new project, a brand-new client or an up to the minute application to study, a bunch of newest ideas and concepts to learn more day-to-day.

Do you agree with it?

Tell us in the comments.