many people I come by, when they first find out I am a designer think I mean interior design. When I mention that I mean graphic design they quickly get confused or lose interest. People either think I doodle for a living or make websites. Graphic design is so much bigger than that.
so… what is graphic design?
Graphic design in short is visual problem solving. It goes over a wide range of medium from print to digital and umbrellas a large range of skillsets. When someone says they are a graphic designer they are giving you a broad and easy context into what they actual do. A designer can be a coder, book designer, typographer, content creator, social media specialist, interactive designer, video editor, the list goes on. I am proud to say I am a graphic designer and I do multiple of the listed trades (to know more on that check out the services listed blogs).
This is an example of graphic design. A very simple piece created for social media. The problem solved here is creatively ask a question to attract a response.
I label myself as a designer and illustrator and again this confuses people. Can’t all designers draw? The answer is actually no. You don’t have to be able to draw to design, you just need a good aesthetic mind and visual language. Illustration is a completely seperate skill set. Many designers can be illustrators but they are not one in the same thing.
Illustration is the use of drawing and artistic techniques to tell a story through imagery. My personal preferred mediums are watercolour, acrylic, pencil and digital illustration. It is such a diverse field there are literally hundreds of ways to illustrate and I love exploring the captivating beauty of each individual artists take on the world. I follow many illustrators and I am lucky enough to have interviewed some great talents, you can see these in the inspiring illustrators tab beside.
A quick illustration depicting sea creatures I found at the aquarium.
I hope that this short blog helped you learn what graphic design is and distinguish between design and illustration. It is important you find the right person for the job (as not all people can do both). Design is using visual aesthetic to problem solve and illustration is using drawing and pictures to tell a story.
If you have problem that requires a multi-disciplinary solution of illustration and design try seeking out a multi-disciplinary designer like myself or contacting an agency to match you with the talents you need.
I hope you have a good week and I will see you in the next blog.
Happy Easter.