Graphic Design is everywhere—the box of your fave cereal, the tag on the clothes you bought, your favorite magazine, this website… the list goes on and on. All of these exhibit graphic design, art that communicates.
So who makes all of that happen and how? Who puts the factors of graphic design collectively with a message? How do they do it in a strategic and effective manner? You may have guessed from the title of this post, it is a graphic designer, but…
What does a graphic designer actually do?
There are plenty of funny stereotypes available about graphic designers. Maybe you picture a hipster kind with their MacBook, headphones, and Kombucha tea holed up the nook of an espresso shop “designing.”
Here are five things that Graphic Designers actually do on a daily basis:
1 - Graphic designers specialize in visual communication.
Graphic designers take the words you need to communicate and pair them with carefully selected visual factors that will support the message and invoke a reference to the customer.
This process includes getting clear on your desires and vision for your design project, setting a scope, taking budget into consideration, creating initial artwork, revising the artwork—all with an end goal of creating a stunning design that connects with your ideal clients and makes your business more memorable.
Graphic designers commonly have studied graphic design in university programs and then honed their abilities in years of client work with the intention to carry an excessive level of impact and effectiveness to a design solution.
2- Graphic designers use all the elements of design to support your brand and message.
Graphic designers have a group of tools in the tool box in terms of how they artistically share your message. Each design project is unique and calls for a completely unique blend of factors to get the maximum bang to your buck.
A few of our tools include: color, line, size, shape, emphasis, layout/arrangement, photography, typography (specific arrangement of words and font choice), and illustration.
Graphic designers may use one or all of those to create a stand-out design, but how they select them is a part of number three!
3- Graphic designers use both artistic and technical skills to do their work.
Graphic designers need both an artistic eye and technical know-how to get their task completed each day. Knowing the way to compose a piece of visual communication calls for both.
When it involves the artistic side, most graphic designers may have a natural gift of seeing how the pieces fit collectively to create a stunning whole. However, particularly if the designer has had formal training, she has studied the concepts of design and composition—regulations for what makes a powerful and visually eye-catching piece of art. These concepts help guide the process while making choices about the manner the design appears.
Graphic designers use multiple design programs to perform particular design tasks associated with every project and ought to recognize the way to correctly use each. In addition to the usage of the programs, graphic designer must recognize what end product they’re designing for and use the correct technical specs to make sure that when the design is out of the computer, printed or produced it appears similar to the customer expected it to appear.
4 - Graphic designers become chameleons.
To effectively communicate a customer’s message, the graphic designer must take at the client’s point of view—similar to a chameleon takes on a brand new color while looking to blend into its environment.
The graphic designer has to listen and become acquainted with the desires of the business she’s trying to help. Then she can make their vision her guide while operating on the project. It becomes not about her fashion or her personal goals, however truly about serving and speaking for the customer so their enterprise can revel in growth!
5 - Graphic designers have fun!
Graphic designers love what we do! It’s challenging but fun to discover a creative solution for how to best exhibit a customer’s message from a business card to a branded environment. There’s a lot of pleasure in seeing your work come to life and assist someone else’s enterprise goals become a reality.