Your ability for excellent design is obvious. You have an eye for details that come together to make a statement in everything you do, from the clothes you wear to the way your house is arranged. Right now, you’re focusing your artistic eye on a potential job as a graphic designer. You are aware that graphic designers employ technology to produce their pieces, but that is all you are aware of. What are the characteristics of the graphic design industry and what kinds of graphic design are available? We’re here to broaden your perspective on what it means to be an expert in graphic design. Join us as we examine the purpose of graphic design, new developments in this dynamic field, and the various sorts of graphic design you might choose to pursue as a creative profession.
Graphic Design
There is much more to graphic design than just producing beautiful visuals. It is a sort of visual communication that informs, conveys ideas, and persuades the audience to take into account alternative viewpoints. According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts, “design mediators between individuals and decisions; whether subtle or overt, the design supports a point of view” (AIGA). The skill of communicating with others and delivering a message is what makes graphic design such an important profession. Designers can utilize their talents to advance a useful product that addresses a problem, make a cute cartoon character, or increase sales in a marketing campaign. Through their visual work, these creative people interact with others by utilizing their design abilities.
The Evolution Of Graphic Design
The Interaction Design Foundation attributes the field’s origins to cave drawings that precede Egyptian hieroglyphs, therefore graphic design has been around for thousands of years. More recently, the print industry created the word “graphic design” in the 1920s to express fundamental design components including typography, logo design, and colour theory. Although these fundamental components of design have generally not altered over the past century, the industry has seen many additional changes, most notably with the introduction of the digital age and new design software.
Since the 1987 release of well-known design tools like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, graphic designers have combined their artistic talents with technology.
Today’s graphic designers have access to more tools than ever because of the growth of new technology. No matter what branch of graphic design they choose, designers who keep up with developments in design tools might find themselves in an excellent position to continue growing their careers.
Types Of Graphic Designs
You’ll probably learn about some of these types of graphic design when you research this field. However, you’ll also see that some of these job descriptions are similar. Graphic designers, like many other professions, can put their talents to use in several jobs, depending on the business or sector they work in. Your graphic design knowledge may be used in several situations.
Look through the selection to find which kind of graphic design you like:
1. Product Design
To investigate, create, and develop new goods, product designers employ their creative talents. Depending on the business they work in, the things they produce might range from toys to tools to technology. To ensure that their product will appeal to the target market and won’t infringe on rivals’ copyrights, these designers perform market research. Before putting their concepts into production, they’ll first produce early sketches and prototypes.
Scope of work: Products of all kinds, product packaging, marketing designs, product graphics, and prototypes are made.
Skills: Market research, prototype development, 3D modelling, and Adobe Creative Suite are required skills.
2. Branding Design
Branding is the term for a corporate design that emphasizes a company’s or product’s visual identity. These designers need to be aware of both the target demographic and the marketing message that a business wishes to convey. Every element of branding design must support these objectives and blend in with the organization’s overarching style. Graphic designers that specialize in this field use all of their abilities to create a visual brand that will resonate with the target audience and convey the proper message about the firm. Branding frequently influences how consumers perceive a company.
Scope of work: The work provided includes logos, website branding, business cards, letterhead, signage, and brochures for the company.
Skills: Adobe Creative Suite, market research, communication abilities, and cooperation are required.
3. Website Design
Any website you visit and app you download has a graphic designer behind its creation. To ensure that the websites they develop are as user-friendly as possible on desktops and mobile devices, these design professionals require a thorough understanding of user experience (UX) design. They employ all of their talents to create online spaces that are aesthetically pleasing, simple to use, in line with SEO best practices, and consistent with the branding of their clients.
Scope of work: Websites and applications are the two main types of output.
Skills: Branding, UX design, wireframing, SEO, elementary coding, and problem-solving skills are required.
4. Print Design
Although the world of graphic design has altered as a result of the digital era, the print business is still very much alive and well. These graphic artists specialize in producing work that is intended to be physically examined. These designers can produce digital designs that extend beyond the computer and work effectively in the actual world, be it for billboards or business cards.
Scope of work: Brochures, flyers, billboards, stickers, stationery sets, T-shirts, mugs, and other goods are among the several kinds of work created.
Skills: Layout design, print design, colour theory, and Adobe Creative Suite skills are required.
5. Publishing Design
In the publishing sector, graphic designers frequently work on books or periodicals. They are in charge of developing page layouts that show content in an appealing and easy-to-read manner as well as appealing covers that will appeal to the market target. To get the perfect style for a project, they collaborate closely with authors and editors, whether it’s creating an eye-catching, edgy picture spread for a magazine or choosing the ideal typeface for the next best-seller.
Scope of work: Book and magazine covers, ebook layout and design, magazine spreads, graphs or other pictures in nonfiction books are examples of the types of work created.
Skills: Adobe Photoshop, Adobe InDesign, market research, and meticulousness are required.
6. Environmental Design
Environmental graphic design creates signs, maps, and other visual components that people use to navigate their environment by fusing fundamental design concepts with elements of architecture and landscape design. “It incorporates the larger idea of all communication in the physical environment,” according to the Society for Experiential Graphic Design (SEGD), and includes images like digital text that appears on the outside of buildings, museum exhibit designs, and the impending creation of “smart cities.”
Scope of work: Work categories include signage, navigation systems, external building displays, retail store designs, museum exhibitions, and exterior design components like fountains and sculptures.
Skills: Creativity, communication, urban design, and Adobe Creative Suite abilities are required.
7. Animation Design
To make everything from animated social media images to cartoons, animation and motion designers require specialized tools. The visuals that these designers produce can entertain viewers through TV shows or video games, promote a business’s social media presence, or instruct viewers through animated educational films. To transform their first designs into fully animated works, animation designers collaborate to develop their creative concepts.
Scope of work: Video games, cartoons and animations for television or movies, brand animation for social media channels, and motion graphics for internet videos are the different kinds of work that have been generated.
Skills: CAD software, video editing software, cooperation, and storyboarding.
These several graphic design styles demonstrate the wide range of alternatives available to prospective designers. Whichever part of this creative endeavour gets your attention, you’re undoubtedly wondering what to do next. So, should you go to school for graphic design? To get your query answered, click here.
