There is a lot of confusion when it comes to graphic design and even design in general. When people I know find out that I’m going into graphic design, they each start giving me a different definition of what it is. Some will say, “Oh so you make logos and stuff” and others think you just make business cards and stationary. I think it’s about time to tell people the real story when it comes to graphic design and why it’s becoming increasingly more so when it comes to the web.
I think it’s kind of funny how people think about design and the ideas that come into their heads about it. I am guilty of this as well, when I hear someone say web design, I along with a lot of other people, think about coding, links, and bad type. There is web design and what people think is web design and being a graphic designer I get misunderstanding and want to know what it really is. It’s not that much different from graphic design except for the fact that you are doing it on the web which is unique and can’t just be thrown together. There are a number of challenges when it come to the web like the massive scope of the web itself, to the immense amount of clutter that’s out their, and technological aspects of it like coding languages and so forth.
The web in its early was very static and uniform. Most sites would just have endless lines of text that were thrown on with out any thought and if there were any pictures or graphics, they would be these hideous little clip art images. Generally the internet of the past was slow, clunky, and not a very interesting place to be. There wasn’t a lot of thought when it came to the design when it came web pages, they were all very boring and poorly laid out, but whether it be from technical limitations or just growing pains, the web now is nearly unrecognizable from it’s early self. The limitations that once hindered it, now seem to all but disappeared. It has become more and more interactive, a web site is no longer just a single page with just type to a site that changes and reacts to what you do with it. The world of the web is changing; it’s becoming boundless and more complex. It’s no longer the day where you can just put your message on a site and expect people to get it and be interested in it. You have to think about every little thing you do anymore, from where your navigation goes, how your type looks, or how your page will look when people first come to it. So what does graphic have to do with any of this? Most graphic designers aren’t exactly the most technical people in the world, and when it comes to numbers it’s like a vampire reacting to a cross. But while web and graphic design are different in many ways, there is one thing they both are trying to accomplish. Communication.
Besides thinking you just make logos and business cards, a lot of people think that graphic design is all about making something pretty. I was taking a class awhile back about the history of graphic design and illustration. One day my teacher gave us one of the best examples of design and communication, he told us that some of the best examples of this can be found almost everywhere in our day to day lives and we just don’t even think about it twice. We see these in the buildings we work in and the roads we drive to get where ever we’re going. What he’s talking about is the sign that tells us that we need to merge, that we are driving in a school zone, which restroom is the one we are going to use. That’s when it hit me, that these little unnoticeable little symbols are what graphic design is all about and that is communication.
What makes these symbols so powerful is how they are able to communicate such relatively complex tasks and information into something can be read and understood regardless of where you come from or what language you speak. That to me is why I agree that this is what graphic design is all about. People just put these symbols in the back of their thoughts and just forget about it. They don’t even think to wonder about why they think handicapped when they a half a circle and a line or that a fork and knife me there are places to eat. It just comes natural to people and I feel that is what graphic design is why it is so important. It’s about being able to communicate your message in way that can easily be recognized by the masses. And with the internet be able to connect all sorts of different peoples and cultures from around the world, the role of graphic design is becoming increasingly more important.
Nowadays it’s not just signs on the road that tell us where to go, but there is another important and increasingly used highway of information and we will need signs and symbols that will be able to guide us through in a way that is efficient, safe, and recognizable to everyone. I mean think about it, why do most people put up sites or visit the web? Most if not all of them go to the web to able to communicate and whether it be to sell you something or you just want to tell people how your day went.
So you see, design is all about communication. We need to break down this misconception that most people have when it come graphic design and design in general. Design is something that can be used in ways regardless of it being as something as small as a poster to something as big as a building. It’s not something that has a generally excepted definition or even a simple one. But when someone come up to me and asks what I do with graphic design, I will tell them I communicate ideas, and to me that’s all design is. Communication.
