What is Graphic Design?

The term “graphic design” tends to be thrown around a lot in the businesses of website design, marketing, and similar. When you're looking to build a website, market your business, or get a logo for your website or business cards, the term “graphic design” will get thrown at you quite a bit. This short article will explain what is graphic design, exactly, and why you need it.

First, let's look at what graphic design is. Dictionary.com says that graphic design is “the art or profession of visual communication that combines images, words, and ideas to convey information to an audience.” That's a good start.

There are many specialties within the field of graphic design, including print design (design meant for printed media such as magazines and newspapers), billboard design, website design, electronic ad design (Internet ads), logo and branding design, and more. There are many jacks of all trades in graphic design, of course, but each of the specialties and media used in design are very different from one another. Website design, for instance, has many elements that are very different from billboard design – core elements like what the design is meant for, how it works, and how “artistic” it is. Most websites are not “artistic” in that they aren't heavy with art—it's usually subtle. Billboards, on the other hand, are “3 second” designs meant to convey a message in about three seconds' time.

Graphic design is everywhere, so answering the question “what is graphic design?” is a matter of perspective. The right question to ask is not what it is, but rather “what do I need graphic design for?” This will give you a better definition to answer “what is graphic design.”

Most likely, you\'re in need of graphic design for a website, logo, advertisement, or similar project. That is because businesses are who need graphic designers the most. Almost all advertising includes graphic design, as do websites and the other items I\'ve mentioned so far.

Website graphic design includes integrating color schemes, graphics, and other artistic elements with navigation and other usability implements on a website. Logos are simple artistic designs geared towards conveying a simple idea (“working,” “speed,” “strength,” “utility” are common concepts) as well as branding the company's name with that idea by working type-faces and fonts into the design. Print-based graphic design includes the use of photos, colors, and even texture to put forth an idea or organize a concept. Graphic design in wider print media such as magazines and newspapers uses readability concepts, font types, and layouts of blocks of text as well as graphics and other pieces to create a visual whole while still appealing to those who focus on individual elements (reading articles).

So you see, graphic design is much more than just slopping photos and text together or swishing out some graphics on a computer screen. It requires skill and art, both of which come from practice and experience.

Most graphic designers are capable of doing almost all types of graphic design, but nearly all of them have a preference or specialty they focus on. Each specialist will no doubt have an individual answer to the question of “what is graphic design” as well, but the overall answers will be the same.

Hopefully, this article has given you a good idea of what is involved in graphics design and has answered the question “what is graphics design.”