What is graphic design?

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You've heard it a lot, but have you ever wondered what is graphic design? Is it the artistic advertisement? Website graphics? Well, technically yes and no.

The list of what graphic design is goes on and on, starting from:

  • Advertisement
  • Posters
  • Book covers
  • Logos
  • Signs
  • Branding

So what is really graphic design? Just by using examples, you can't really get a straight answer. They paint a picture, but you don't quite get what graphic design is.

 Graphic design summary

According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts, graphic design means the art and practice of planning ideas in a textual context. In other words, it means communicating or sending ideas via visuals. These visuals can be interpreted as logos, posters or as web design.

“Graphic design takes the graphic and the other elements and fuses them into multiple types of media” – Alexandros Clufetos.

Mainly, the graphic design is used to promote and sell products by making them more appealing to the customers. Through branding, you can place your company into the map of the market. Through website, you can promote and show your product more easily than any other platform. So, practically graphic design helps you a lot in the field of selling your product.

Even though the majority graphic designers work by having commercial purposes, like selling or promoting a product, there is the minority that is a little bit different. These other graphic designers use graphic design purely for expressing themselves, what they feel. It's entirely for artistic purpose!

graphic design summary

Graphic design elements

In order to know what is graphic design, one must know what elements one has to deal with.

The graphic design elements include:

  • Color
  • Line
  • Space
  • Form
  • Shape
  • Size
  • Texture

These are the base elements of graphic design. Using these elements in conjunction or opposition with each other, the designs are created strongly and beautifully.

Besides these, graphic designers have to use other elements such as balance, pattern, repetition, emphasis in order to make great designs.

The art of understanding how and when to use these elements is the key to success in the graphic design world.

graphic design ideaCategories of graphic design

As mentioned above, the term “graphic design” isn't one that can be described in one sentence. The graphic design has a lot of fields of specialization, starting from:

  • Print design
  • Branding
  • Animation
  • Motion graphics

and many more. In essence, graphic design offers options and opportunities for almost any kind of interest you have.

One of the most picked fields is the web design. What the web designers do is create a user-friendly, easy to use website and send it to the programmers to code. Their responsibilities are making the site adaptive and easy to use, and responsive to all devices. As the website evolves, so does the web design and the graphic designers have to adapt to the environment.

However, if website is just not your thing, there are plenty of other things you can choose from. Why not be an Animator? The animator is responsible for creating special effects on TV-Shows, video games and in movies. Or, perhaps you could try Mobile Design? You'll have to design how a particular application will look like, and what each button should do.

No matter your taste, graphic design has a specialization for you!

What job can you get as a graphic designer

Since technology has evolved this much, it had a great impact on how business run and improved the online presence. This impact has led to great changes in graphic design too. For example, the demand for having “traditional” designers have fallen drastically.

Naturally, when a job is proportionally evolving with the internet, the jobs you could specialize grow too.

With this being said, we've analyzed over 15,000 job posting which required the graphic design degree, and we've listed the top 6 jobs for you:

  • User experience
  • Web designer
  • Graphic designer
  • Graphic artist
  • Art director
  • Visual designer

Based on your experience and your interest, you can pick one and start your journey in specializing!



Is there a future in graphic design?

Based on the growth of graphic design, businesses and customers tend to look on the internet immediately for services. If you know how to visualize your product, it will boost your potential in the marketplace.

Business.com has a great article on “Trends and prediction for the future of Graphic Design“.

“Design, similarly to all the creative fields, requires a fusion of the artist's eye and the approach of a craftsman” – Smith.

Having a great eye for design is a perfect start – but you'll need to have talent too. And you'll need to work harder than anyone else in order to be successful. When it comes to the future of graphic design, the first thing that comes to mind is the VR and animation. Since printing media is dissolving, the digital media is becoming the future of graphic design.

You can always check our Design section to get informed on the newest trends on the design field.

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