A graphic designer is an artist in the graphic arts and graphic design industry who design together graphics, typography, or other motion graphics to produce a specific piece of art. A graphic designer not only makes the actual graphics but also subliminally manipulates these graphics into the desired form. In order to be qualified as a graphic designer, one should have an advanced degree in either arts and sciences such as art history, graphic design, computer graphics, and psychology, or an equivalent trade-related degree. Most designers begin by building their skills in the lower levels of design like layout and illustration. As their skills progress, they may choose to study art direction, printmaking, production, and sculpture before advancing to more challenging design courses.
One type of graphic design job involves being a user experience designer. In this position, a person would take the user experience to the next level and enhance it. For example, if a person designed a poster, the designer would add a few buttons and arrows so the user could click on the ones that she wanted to see. If she liked the poster she might be willing to buy it. This type of graphic designer often works with advertising agencies to create ads that will appeal to a specific demographic.
Other type of graphic designer jobs are those that focus on creating visual communication. In order to excel in this field, a designer must be good at taking abstract designs and transforming them into something that is more identifiable as a face-to-face idea. For example, if a person wanted to create visual communication about the American President’s historic speech in Chicago, he might draw a rough draft and use a speech writer to make the words flow and become more understandable. Designers who specialize in this area of expertise to work with advertising agencies and communications departments to make sure that their clients’ visual aids are persuasive.
One of the newest areas of concentrate for graphic designers is website design. Web designers use many different types of software to create engaging and informative pages for their clients. Some use flash software to add 3D graphics and dynamic elements to their pages, while others use Adobe Dreamweaver to build functional pages without the use of HTML coding. Web graphic artists also work with advertisers to help them create brand imagery and to better convey their messages through photos, video, and text.
There are many other areas of focus for graphic designers. Some specialize in advertising while others may specialize in web design. Some may even do both. It all depends on the particular artist’s interests, capabilities, and the needs of their clients. The main goal is to be able to provide their clients with a creative and functional interface that will allow their audience to get the most from the site.
It’s important that graphic designers make complex ideas easy to understand and visualize. The more a graphic designer can take an idea and simplify it, the easier it will be for viewers to understand. For example, a child may see a baseball game on television and see the hitters involved in the game. A child who is only able to visualize a batting cage in his imagination would not be able to appreciate how successful the hitter is in hitting the baseball. A graphic designer has to do both drawing and visualization in order to give their client a clear idea of the problem at hand. It’s not enough just to have a fancy graphical interface; they must know how to make it work.
