What
is graphic design….?
Graphic design, also known as communication
design, is the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and
experiences with visual and textual content. The form of the communication can
be physical or virtual, and may include images, words, or graphics forms. The
experiences can take place in an instant or over a long period of time. The
work can happen at any scale, from the designs of a single postage stamp to a
national postal signage system, or from a company’s digital avatar to the
sprawling and interlinked digital and physical content of an international newspapers.
It can also be for any purpose, whether commercials, educationals, culturals,
or politicals.
Design that’s meant to
be experienced in an instant is the easiest to recognize and has been around
the longest. For over a hundred years, designers have arranged type, form, and
image on posters,advertisements, packages, and other printed matter, as well as information visualizations andgraphics for newspapers and magazines. Motion graphics are equally predetermined and crafted,
but are meant to be experienced over a fixed time span, such as for the opening
credits of a movie or an online video meant to accompany a newspaper article.
The design of books and magazines also has a long history. Whether
physical or digital, these are objects that are meant to be a chill over time,
during which the reader has control over the pace and sequence of the
experiences. In books, the content usually comes before the design, while in
magazines, the design is a structure that anticipates written and visual
content that hasn’t yet been created. Somecommercial websites or exhibition catalogues also fit in this category, as do digital
or physicalmuseum displays that show information that doesn’t change. All have fixed
content, but the user or reader determines their own path through the material.
Many designers also
produce systems that are meant to be experienced over time, but aren’t confined
to the making of objects. Wayfinding, which is a form of environmental graphics, refers to the brandingand signage applied throughout and on buildings.
While each sign or symbol in a public or private building is a work of design,
they’re all part of a larger system within the building. The design of the
system—the relationships between all of those parts—is where the designer
brings value. Similarly, while all of the artifacts of a commercial or
institutional brand, such as a business card, sign, logo, or anadvertisement are individual expressions of design,
how those are experienced together and over time is the design work. No part of
it has been created without considering the others, or without thinking through
how a target customer will encounter and then develop a relationship with that
brand.
Designers are also
responsible for interactive designs where the content is fluid, sometimes
changing minute to minute, as well as interfaces that help users navigate
through complex digital experiences. This work differentiates itself by adding
another element: responding to the actions of the viewer. Editorial design for web and
mobile is the most
tangible example of content-driven work in this area, includingpublication websites, mobile apps, and blogs. Some design involves the presentation of
streaming information, also known as data visualization. Other designers work on digital products, which are digital services or platforms that
can be brought to market. Product design for web and
mobile is related tosoftware design. Sometimes different designers work on the user interface design (UI), which mostly refers to the individual
layouts of pages, and the user experience design (UX), or the total experience of the user as they
move through a website or app.
Type design carries
aspects of almost all of these things. While the form of a single letter has
meaning, a typeface, like a brand, is also composed of the relationships
between characters that work together to create meaning. And like software,
typefaces are licensed and can be installed on individual computers.
Depending on the scale of the context in which
a designer works, the work may include one, some, or all of these things in the
course of a year. Larger companies, agencies, teams, or studios may lean
towards specialization, while smaller studios and groups may need to have each
individual capable, if not an expert, in multiple areas.
