What is graphic design?
Graphic design is a term that originally comes from the printing industry. And on average (as there are many definitions), graphic design means: designing materials with a communicative message.
A graphic designer creates products such as logos, posters, book covers and brochures, using shapes, images, typography, color and illustrations to convey a message.
The definition of graphic design is not clearly defined, which has led to different interpretations. There is also ambiguity about whether graphic design only refers to printing, since web design, for example, often also falls under graphic design. This is because a website also has a communicative message, which means that graphic design is no longer limited to printing.
In the past, other disciplines, such as web design, were included in graphic design because there were no separate terms for them yet. When the Internet emerged, it was graphic designers who created websites, broadening the definition of graphic design to include digital and interactive products. The medium shifted from physical and static (print) to both physical and digital, and from static to interactive.
After this explanation, graphic design remains a broad concept. It's about creating ideas that express themselves in words and images, and solving visual communication issues.
What are the activities of a graphic designer or designer?
There is an important difference between a graphic designer and a graphic designer. A graphic designer usually executes an existing vision or concept, while a graphic designer starts from scratch, develops their own vision and converts it into a design. This means that the graphic designer fulfills more roles and can be deployed more broadly, from research and brainstorming to advice and customer conversations. He combines the work of a designer and an art director, where his vision is as important as his design skills.
A graphic designer creates products with a communicative message for a specific target group, regardless of the medium. Whether it concerns physical products such as posters or digital products such as websites, all fall under graphic design. This makes the term 'graphic design' broad and often vague.
How does graphic design compare to visual design?
What used to be called multimedia design is now called visual design. This discipline focuses on the aesthetic design of digital products, such as websites, and is therefore a newer branch than graphic design, which has been around for more than 100 years. Visual design is specific to digital design and focuses mainly on the appearance and partly the operation of products.
Although the term visual design is not ideal, it does provide a clearly defined field, unlike graphic design. That is why this term is only used internally for digital work, such as logo and identity design, and visual design for interactive works.