What is Graphic Designing?
Graphic design is a craft where professionals create visual content to communicate messages. By applying visual hierarchy and page layout techniques, designers use typography and pictures to meet users’ specific needs and focus on the logic of displaying elements in interactive designs, to optimize the user experience. Graphic design is the profession and academic discipline whose activity consists in projecting visual communication intended to transmit specific messages to social groups with specific objectives.
“Graphic design takes graphical and textual elements and implements them into multiple types of media.”
Graphic design is also known as communication design, and Graphic Designers are essentially visual communicators. They bring visual concepts to life, most commonly through graphic design software, and inform or engage consumers through text, graphics and images. Graphic design is one way that companies connect with consumers. Design can be used to promote and sell products, to convey a message, or to develop a brand identity. Though some graphic design has a commercial purpose, graphic design can also be a form of art and expression.
Where Graphic Design is used?
Graphic designing can be used by companies to promote and sell products through advertising, by website to convey complicated information in a digestible way through infographics , or by businesses to develop an identity through branding, among other things. They bring visual concepts to life, most commonly through graphic design software, and inform or engage consumers through text, graphics and images. Graphic design is one way that companies connect with consumers.
Look around you. Graphic design is everywhere, from the wrappers on candy bars to the logo on your favorite coffee mug. In fact, you see hundreds of examples of graphic design every single day, and most of the time, you don’t realize it.
Graphic design can serve many functions. Just a few of the uses of graphic design include :
1. Corporate identity/branding
2. Packaging (from water bottles to appliances)
3. Printed materials (books, flyers, magazines, newspapers)
4. Online art (banners, blogs, websites)
5. Album covers
From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information – known as information design.
Skills Graphic Designer needs
Successful graphic designer needs to know more than which fonts work well together and how to use the latest design software. Here are some skills that a successful graphic designer needs to have:-
- Excellent IT skills, especially with design and photo-editing software
- Exceptional creativity and innovation
- Excellent time management and organisational skills
- Accuracy and attention to detail
- An understanding of the latest trends and their role within a commercial environment
- Professional approach to time, costs and deadlines
What does Graphic Designer do?
Graphic designers are the thinkers and storytellers behind visual and use a well developed set of skills to create a stunning end result. Let’s take a deeper dive into what graphic designers do:-
- liaising with clients to determine their requirements and budget
- managing client proposals from typesetting through to design, print and production
- working with clients, briefing and advising them with regard to design style, format, print production and timescales
- developing concepts, graphics and layouts for product illustrations, company logos and websites
- determining size and arrangement of copy and illustrative material, as well as font style and size
- preparing rough drafts of material based on an agreed brief
- reviewing final layouts and suggesting improvements if required
- liaising with external printers on a regular basis to ensure deadlines are met and material is printed to the highest quality.
Job Opportunities
Jobs directly related to your degree include:
1. Advertising art director:– In advertising, an art director makes sure the client’s message is conveyed to their desired audience.
2. Animator:- They are responsible for creating animation that can be used in movies, video games and other media based on client’s vision.
3. Artworker:- Artworker ensures that the design maintain its integrity and reaches its full potential by correcting colors, placement, fonts, and inconsistencies.
4. Concept artist:- A concept artist is a type of designer who creates various forms of media such as vehicles, character and environment.
5. Creative director:- They are known to guide a team of employees with skills and experience related to graphic design, fine arts, and other creative industry field.
6. Graphic designer:- They develop the overall layout and production design for application such as advertisement, brochures, magazines and reports.
7. Illustrator:- An illustrator is a visual artist who uses various media to represent or explain text and ideas.
Jobs where your degree would be useful include:
1. Exhibition designer:- An exhibition designer is a professional who creates fixtures and display stands for events such as large public exhibition, conferences, trade show etc.
2. Fine artist:-Creates original artistic work in a variety of mediums, such as painting, drawing, sculpture, video, film or performance.
3. Game artist:- A Game Artist is often a generalist animator and/or 3D modeler who creates both 2D and 3D art for video games
4. Interior and spatial designer:- Interior and spatial designers are involved in the design or renovation of internal spaces, including structural alterations, furnishings, fixtures and fittings, lighting and color schemes.
5. Medical illustrator:- A medical illustrator / animator is a professional artist with extensive training in medicine, science, communication and media technology.
6. Urban designer:-Working as an urban designer involves creating, adapting or reviewing plans for urban spaces. You may be responsible for the development, revitalization or rebuilding of an area.
7. UX designer:-UX designers focus on the entire interaction between a user and a product, including how that experience made them feel. This type of design goes beyond the visual to include information architecture and product prototyping.
Importance of internship in Graphic Design
Participating in internship can be a great way to get a taste of the actual professional experience in a particular field before you commit yourself truly to it. Internship can provide better understanding towards your work. You’ll be more likely to be challenging and that will push your boundaries of your comfort zone.
1. For better understanding:
Internships can provide cross-department work experience that even fully-fledged designers might not have. This exposure to various facets of a company will help you have a more holistic understanding of how your work contributes to the overall goals of the organization.
2. Confidence working in professional environment:
You’ll be more likely to be challenging, but manageable projects. This will push the boundaries of your comfort zone, which will encourage you to aim for, and achieve new goals. These are both valued of characteristics of successful workers.
3. Network industry contact:
One of the hardest things about starting a new career is finding an “in” somewhere. Internship experience helps you break through this barrier by giving you the chance to make a positive impression on your coworkers. This can be immensely helpful later on. Even if the place for which you interned isn’t hiring, someone you worked alongside might have connections to other potential employers.
4. Increased employability:
It’s not just an advantage for finding a job, either. More experience can translate into higher earning potential. Jones, who completed multiple internships, says having a full year of experience plus a professionally-vetted portfolio of published work at graduation gave him an upper hand when negotiating compensation for his first professional design position
Types of Graphic Design jobs
Graphic design is a creative field with immense career opportunities. You can combine your designing and artistic skills with imagination and technology to produce beautiful, feasible design loved by both consumer and clients. So if you seek a career in this field, here are multiple graphic design jobs that you can explore and choose the one that fits you the most based on your interest and skills.
- 1. Photo Editing:-
Careers focusing on editing photography have less of an emphasis on graphic design, but they require a complete knowledge of Photoshop, which is typically covered in a graphic design program.
An in-depth knowledge of Photoshop and other photo-editing software is required. Many companies may prefer an associate or bachelor’s degree in photography, graphic design or product design.
2. Web Designer:-
Web designers assist in developing websites by creating individual web pages, designing page layouts and developing graphics for the website. They may have coding and programming skills, which would allow them to completely develop the website on their own.
As online sales and advertising continue to grow, employers are seeking web designers with a strong knowledge of technology, website layout design, programming and graphic design.
3. Advertising Designer:-
Advertising designers use graphic design, sketching and photography to create visually compelling marketing materials for a brand or company. They create billboards, magazine advertisements, website advertisements and any other requested promotional materials.
A career in advertising design requires a strong knowledge of design and marketing techniques.
4. User Interface designer:-
The user interface designer is responsible for ensuring every webpage or operational step of the final product follows the user experience (UX) designer’s intent.
A minimum of a two-year degree in UI design, graphic design or computer programming is commonly required for UI designers.
5. User experience designer:-
UX designers make products, services and websites enjoyable and accessible for users. UX designers most commonly work in web design to make websites visually pleasing and easy for customers to navigate.
UX design roles typically require a two-year degree in UX design, graphic design or computer programming.
Career growth of a Graphic Designer
In today’s day and age when everything is so fast and the attention span of people is shorter than that of a goldfish, companies and brands heavily rely on eye-catching graphics to make a lasting impression, this is where graphic designers come in.
Combining art and technology to articulate ideas and communicate them visually, graphic and visual communication design is everywhere. From websites, signages, illustrated books, brandings to packaging, every aspect of one’s life is someway or the other influenced by graphics. Graphic designers are required in so many industries like Advertisement industry, Print Industry, Web designing industry etc. New designers must be aware of tools such as Photoshop, Gimp, Flash, Dreamweaver, Fireworks, Blend or more.
While overall occupation in this year is accepted to go down, specific projection vary by industries. For example employment of graphic designers in newspapers, periodical book, and directory publisher is projected to decline significantly, In contrast employment in graphic designers in computer system design and related service is projected to grow.
Graphic Designing has a scope. It is a creative field and if you are passionate about art and design then this can be very good career option for you. A good graphic designer need interpersonal and marketing skills, in addition to an eye for details and strong knowledge of electronic media package
Conclusion
A graphic designer is a professionals within the graphic design and graphic art industry who assembles together images, typography, layouts to create a designs. Pursuing a career in graphic designs gives you the tools to change hearts and minds. Graphic design is a field in which a new style and effects are continually released by creative designers.
You really can love your job. Graphic designers get to explore visual, digital and virtual worlds, interacting with their audience on a fundamental level to communicate important messages. As the world becomes increasingly virtual, graphic designers are perfectly situated to leverage this shift and can work from anywhere in the world. Freelance designers are empowered to take control of their own clients and work pattern and can work in almost any industry around the world.
Graphic design is a career path that’s sparkling with opportunities. Design a life that works for you.
