What exactly is graphic design? Wikipedia defines it as “the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information. Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Like other forms of design, graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.” That’s an official definition and a pretty broad if you ask me.

If someone tells you they do graphic design work or they are a “graphic designer” can you pin down exactly what it is they do? I thought I was breaking down what design meant by specifically reserving on article for “graphic design” but even that can be broken down into areas of advertising, web work, photo editing, journalism, sign makers and professional typographers.

Why would someone tell you they are a “graphic designer” when they are so many specific jobs and services out there? I can tell you from experience one big reason. The personal computer and the variety of software (especially from companies like Adobe) which allows and makes it easy create various types of products in the graphic design field. I personally use and am very experienced with the Adobe Suite of products, specifically Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, Acrobat and Flash. I do my designing on a Mac but Adobe also sells the same suite for Windows based computers. I love how easy it is to work on a variety of graphic design projects but I admit I do have my favorites. I love using Photoshop to restore old photos and optimize new ones. I also love being about to take a hand drawn sketch and using a program like Illustrator to convert those ideas to clean files that can be used in professional documents and presentations.

I tried to use my graphic design skills to create the header graphic of this web site to not only “brand” our company but also to represent what our particular niches are; logo design, photography, print media (notice the little business card) and the header file itself uses design considerations optimized for the web.

What do you think of when you hear the term, “graphic design” or someone says they are a graphic designer?

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 2nd, 2008 at 6:00 am and is filed under Innovation, Photography, branding, graphic design, web design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.