Graphic designers are asked to perform the difficult task of being creative every single day. Often, our main priority is to feed our client's fascination for originality. We experiment with colors, composition, typography, and photography in order to deliver an original visual solution. This sort of free-ranging experimentation is often the expectation of graphic designers. However, this approach is becoming less and less effective.
Being original is not enough any more. The high level of competition and tremendous amount of information requires an evolution in our design process. Another stage of graphic design is necessary in order to remain successful. Our clients often do not realize this. They think that originality and creativity are still valid approaches to providing solutions. Instead, we need to incorporate tools in our design process that help us to solve their problems in a successful business way. It is our task to provide our clients with the best solution, not just offer one that looks better.
Anatomy of Graphic Design
To make graphic design more effective, we need to change the way we think of ourselves as graphic designers. A typical definition of Graphic Design is:
Graphic Design is the art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and other type of visual communications.
Please note that the word art is included in the definition of graphic design. People still think of graphic designers as artists. The majority of graphic designers even call themselves artists, despite the fact that nothing could be further from reality.
Artists are all about self-expression. Their only boundaries are their own skills and imagination. They deal largely in aesthetics and have the unfiltered freedom to invent new visual codes to deliver their feelings or perceptions. They choose the message. Graphic designers select the right tools for the goals of their project. They are asked to translate and transmit their messages in a clear, clever, and situationally relevant way.
While expression is the foundation for artists, it is not a priority for graphic designers. In graphic design, self-expression becomes a characteristic that must blend with the message. If style becomes too "loud" in graphic design, the work loses effectiveness and turns into noise, interrupting the communication. While artists are often problem tellers, graphic designers must be problem solvers.
Many of us entered this career thinking of our practice as some kind of art and as a vehicle for self-expression. Instead, we have a greater responsibility as graphic designers to merge into our society and participate in making changes for the betterment of humanity. While this might require some self-control of our expression, it also requires that we share, discover, and explore with those around us - our co-workers and our clients. This sort of collaboration is certainly a beautiful thing to me.
Looking to the future
The old image of a graphic designer being an unapproachable artist needs to change. A next-generation graphic designer is an accessible professional who is open to suggestion and collaboration with clients, account people, copywriters, strategists, and even other graphic designers. We must put ourselves into a larger context. A more dynamic, organic, and natural process will lead to better solutions and enable our profession to grow.
Graphic design is a helping tool that translates the experiences inside of us waiting to be discovered; yet, it is simple enough to find by observing the most basic human behavior. As graphic designers, we can enjoy an incredibly fulfilling career, characterized by collaboration, mutual enrichment, and efforts to make the world a better place. Our work may not be centered on our own self-expression, but it doesn't need to be |
