Graphic Design: its Concept, Fields and How to Learn it
Graphic design is one of the most influential fields in our daily life. We are exposed to this field as we browse social media platforms, search websites, work on mobile apps, and even when walking the streets and monitoring storefronts and road ads.
The graphic design blends skill and creative sense in delivering messages to the viewer, and its objectives vary according to where it is employed. So, we devoted this article to defining graphic design, defining its concept, enumerating its fields, and lighting on how it is learned.
What is graphic design?
If we want to answer the question, “What is graphic design?” We say it is the art of visual communication consisting of a creative combination of symbols, words, images, and graphics employed to convey a specific message. Suppose we want to define graphic design more broadly. In that case, it is a creative approach through which a designer creates a particular work that meets the customer’s wishes and delivers a specific message to the target audience, complying with each viewing place’s design protocols.
Graphic design can be embodied in advertisements printed in newspapers and magazines, digital website ads, or corporate visual identities. It is frequently used in packaging products and depends on special basics for each one's output.
Graphic design can be produced via many programs, including Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Victor, Raster, and other programs to which animation software is added.
Definition of graphic design
Graphic design can be defined as a combination of skill and creativity in using images, drawings, symbols, and words. Its goal is to send a message to a target audience in a way that expresses the design owner's vision of the product or service rollout.
Graphic design can be defined as the art of using visual forms and texts to showcase ideas and experiences. It is the art of communicating a specific message, information or idea that facilitates people’s lives. The graphic designer’s footprint is to transform habitual objects into more beautiful objects by allowing people to look at them from the perspective of his vision, which is used to illustrate graphic design tools.
Before entering the seas of graphic design programs, it is important to learn about the general principles of graphic design, from differences between points, shapes, lines, colours, connotations and other details, and most importantly, learning more flexibility in dialogue with customers.
The importance of graphic design
The importance of graphic design seems prominent in our present day. It plays an essential role in forming our impressions of applications, products and sites without even being aware of this. So, it must be enumerated some of the strength points that highlight the importance of graphic design, including:
1. Graphic design gives a strong impression
The importance of graphic design is its ability to attract attention and gain public attention and imagination. This is due to having the keys to the visuals and exploiting aesthetic aspects. It also contributes to making the public aware of the brand's visual elements before remembering the content, making distinctive graphic design a highly competitive vehicle among companies.
2. Graphic design contributes to building a unique visual identity
One aspect that highlights the importance of graphic design is its contribution to building a unique visual identity of the brand, which greatly helps in marketing campaigns. The brand’s logo is one of its most important marketing strengths because it links it and its potential customers. So, we note the efforts of companies and brands to obtain a graphic design of a distinctive logo that tells its story and explains its identity as an effective and shortened visual form of communication that signs a lot of lengthy explanations and messages.
3. Graphic design is an effective communication method
The proverb “Images have voice are louder than words” highlights the importance of graphic design. This field can deliver more acceptable and influential messages to the public about the brand because graphic design uses colours, images, and good planning to deliver messages to potential customers, and a lot of them are affected and turned into actual customers. All without the need for long speeches, only using simple vocabulary and abbreviated phrases that serve the desired purpose, in addition to the graphic that makes the graphic design more direct and clear in delivering the required.
4. Graphic design professional guide
The importance of professional graphic design indicates that it reflects the strength and professionalism of its owner or brand. Professional logo, business cards, brochures and elaborately designed packaging casings reflect the excellence and attention of the exporting company in the most accurate detail and take all the reasons for obtaining the customer’s trust and interest, enabling it to acquire new customers and gain the loyalty of its existing customers and hold on to its product or service.
5. Graphic design earns trust and credibility
High-quality graphic design is important to earn the brand credibility with its customers. This credibility is in the interest of the brand in cases of extreme competition, and customers often buy from highly credible brands.
The importance of graphic design does not stop solely on attracting customers, as it goes beyond to attract investors and looking forward to partnering with a brand that expresses itself with a professional and perfect visual identity.
As for the consistency of the brand’s visual identity on its website and in the road advertisements it publishes on the street, it provides greater credibility and trust between it and the customer. Important brands are therefore keen to keep their website up to-date and organised. This reduces their reliance on printed materials, reducing their expenditure. Marketing experts, therefore, advise that the brand’s website be built in an orderly and careful manner to be the hub from which the other elements of their own are divided, which are supposed to be consistent with the site's visual identity.
Apple company is perhaps the best example of the graphic design of a simple, unique and easy-to-remember brand used on the company’s website and in all its stores worldwide. It is sufficient for the customer to see the company’s sign of a product so that any hesitation in purchasing it disappears. This is due to the close correlation between credibility and the company’s logo.
6. Graphic design attracts customers
The importance of graphic design seems to be how the customer makes the first impression about the company or product. Because the first impression is very important in attracting the customer’s attention, companies are keen to express themselves using positive and vibrant graphic design with aesthetic values that will capture the customer’s attention and focus even for a short time. This is because it affects the company and increases its chances of getting new customers.
Graphic design fields
In performing the mission of impact and excellence, the fields of graphic design vary according to the space in which the design is used. Accordingly, there are many fields of graphic design that are used to prepare designs for websites, company logos, book covers, clothing, product guides, toys, and other fields that agree with the need to use software to create modern and unique designs. Thus, the fields of graphic design in which work can be done are:
1. Photo editing
Photo editing is one of the most important and common fields of graphic design. The designer’s role in this field is to edit the photo and modify its colours, combine a set of photos into a single photo, and add company-specific data such as the logo or a brief description of the product or address and communication modalities.
2. Clothing drawing design
In this field of graphic design, the designer designs images and brand logos in an attractive way that qualifies them for printing on clothes. We find examples of printed designs in restaurant staff clothing or footballers’ clothing bearing the logos of their teams.
3. Logo design
Logo design falls within the field of graphic design. It aims to design an attractive and unique brand logo based on the information it expresses and can be easily remembered by consumers.
4. Cover design
Cover design is also one of the fields of graphic design. It includes the design of the product cover and explanatory labels, in addition to the design of product containers. Cover designs include writings about how to use the product and attractive drawings.
5. Web page design
Web page design is classified into graphic design fields, in which the designer designs the site pages in all their details. It presents the content clearly and attractively using images and graphics.
6. Multimedia design
This type of graphic design aims to design videos, images and animations. Designers in this field can work in the development of video games, TV, or cinema.
7. Advertising design
It is a field of graphic design concerned with creating marketing content to attract customers towards corporate products and brands, such as advertising design for websites and road ads.
8. Brochure design
It is a graphic design field through which the designer designs and plans printed publications, such as catalogues containing information and images that facilitate the user’s understanding of content.
9. User interface design
It is a graphic design field in which the designer works alongside the programming team to design web pages, applications, software and user interfaces. This is to facilitate its interaction with the designer’s vision.
How to learn graphic design?
Given the important role that graphic design plays in attracting the client's and viewer’s attention, learning this field has become necessary in order to get good job opportunities. Graphic design courses are now available through colleges or online courses.
Here are the best ways to learn graphic design:
1. Graphic design learning methods at universities
- University of the Arts London
- University of Tzingwa
- University of Tongji
- Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Royal College of Art
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Parsons School of Design
- Rhode Island School of Design
2. For websites and platforms that teach graphic design, we mention
- Graphic Design Essentials Course provided by Idraq Platform
- Fundamentals of Graphic Design by Coursera
Conclusion
Graphic design is one of the most important terms of reference at the current stage, and it is increasingly needed day by day because it is important to make a good impression and influence recipients in all fields in which it is employed.