What Do Graphic Designers Do?
Think of your favorite brand, what part of their design grabs your attention? Is it the way their website is structured, how the logo looks, or maybe there was an infographic that helped you out? Behind any graphic visual is an experienced graphic designer who took the necessary steps to get to the final outcome. So what do graphic designers do? The main goal is always the same, and that is to solve a specific problem using visual design.
In order to solve that problem, a graphic designer has to take into account certain things depending on the issue. Here are some examples of what graphic designers determine:
- What is the issue?
- Who is the target audience?
- How should the information be organized?
- What medium is this for?
- Are there guidelines to consider?
- Etc.
Keywords and Ideas
Then to get the core idea(s) down, it is best to come up with a few keywords that convey what the end product should be like. For example, the client has a business called IronFist Karate, but they need a logo. So as the designer, you come up with some keywords that fit with that theme. A small list can consist of iron, steel, strong, square, bold, hand, and fist. Once all of that is written down, the actual designing can begin.
What Do We Do - The Graphic Design Process
Before moving onto the computer, it is best to sketch ideas based off of the list of keywords onto a piece of paper. This way, the process would not be slowed down by trying to seem perfect when on the computer. These sketches don’t have to be clean at first, but they do need to get the concept across.
Once the client approves the design, all that is left is to clean it up and package the necessary files back to them.
Additional back-and-forth with the client may be needed when it comes to deciding on colors and fonts.
Technical Aspects
When it comes to logos, it is best to make them in a vector-based program like Adobe Illustrator. This is so the logo can be scaled to any size without it looking pixelated.
Adobe Photoshop and InDesign both have their own separate uses that do different tasks. While Photoshop is perfect for photo manipulation, Indesign is perfect for creating page layouts.
This is just a brief overview of what a typical graphic designer does for a job. Other kinds of tasks may require more steps depending on the complexity of the project. Website creation, company branding, and magazine layouts are some examples where extensive planning is needed.