Graphic Design for a New Century

Written by: | September 25, 2009

I’Graphic Design for a New Century ve now reached the grand total of three posts, I’ll have a mini stroke when I reach four. Ok, down to business, having discussed briefly some of the origins of Graphic Design in my previous post, lets now look at what the profession has become, in the 21st century.

As much as the industry has tried to educate the business world, unfortunately few people still understand fully the work we do and this still remains one of the challenges this profession faces. I often wonder why this is the case and then I ponder to myself, do I know the ins and outs of what a chemical engineer does? Excuse my ignorance but all I know is it has something to do with chemistry and working on a pharmaceutical plant, and I’m fairly certain there’s much, much, much more to it than that.

One could say that graphic design is more visible in our daily lives and therefor should be more widely understood, but then do we not take pills and vitamins on a daily basis that come from somewhere, maybe its these pharmaceutical plants where the chemical engineer works?

So understanding that there is little understanding, I usually kick off my first client meeting by having my potential client explore their beliefs and ideas about Graphic Design.

Frequently, one´s beliefs is one of the factors that will dictate the effectiveness of a design project. Before the designer and a client can carry out effective graphic design, the client must first understand what Graphic design is and believe me, very few people have a good grasp and understanding of the role and importance of graphic design in communication. Ironically, the first step toward understanding graphic design, lies in knowing what is isn´t:

Graphic Design is not:

Graphic Design is:

A Changing Industry…

Any discussion about what graphic design is or isn’t must also include what the term means to the industry today. I mentioned in my previous post that the industry now encompasses many creative disciplines and the boundaries between these disciplines seem to becoming increasingly more blurred.

Therefore the question must be asked, is the term “Graphic Design’  a relevant or even sufficient title to describe what the profession has become? This very topic is the subject of a on-going debate within the industry and the profession appears to be split on the way forward. Marketing, advertising, branding, packaging, editorial design, web design, print design, animation, interactivity, audio, multimedia, content creation, GUI´s and now even film have become part of what we do.

The questions are many and the debate will continue. My personal opinion is that the term is outdated and no longer defines fully what we do, but it is an internationally recognized term and to avoid further confusion within the mainstream we must continue under the title of graphic design with more specialized terminology falling under this title and yes, its a boring and dull solution.

How can we regulate?

I questioned myself wether or not I would discuss this, and the last thing I want to do is appear arrogant or superior, but I do feel it is a very real problem for the industry today. With new technology and user friendly software, some of the tools of the graphic design profession have become more widely accessible.

This has lead to an influx of self thought designers who may be proficient with using design software but lack the design education to understand and carry out effective graphic design. With little or no understanding of graphic design, they offer cheap and ineffective design work that often results in superficial solutions leading to disillusioned clients and further damaging the industry´s reputation and the work we do. You might say that every industry has the high and low end of the market, even the aviation industry with all those big and expensive planes works along this understanding so why can’t graphic design.

Well to help you understand why not, lets say for example you bought a plane ticket to travel from Malaga to London, would you be happy if your final destination without your consent and no remuneration became Madrid, and then after all that, you had to buy a new ticket to get to London.

Something similar could be said for employing an uneducated or unqualified designer, the project is never fully completed, the design process is never carried out correctly (dropped off in Madrid), and usually with an extra cost a professional designer is called in (a new plane ticket to get to your destination) to sort the mess out. I would say to anyone thinking of hiring or working with a graphic designer, look for evidence of an education/qualification in graphic design first.

The Future

I see the design industry having a bright, diverse and vibrant future that will continue to evolve and push the boundaries of visual communication. Technology will obviously continue to play a huge part in the evolution of graphic design, it has already revolutionized the industry and will continue to change and improve the way we work. Look around, there´s new visual digital based technology appearing like acne on a teenagers face, its everywhere, the need for educated designers is only going to increase.

Until next week, adios…

Graphic Design for a New Century

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  • Graphic Design for a New Century

Topics: Graphic Design | 12 Comments »

Posted on 25 September 2009 by Peter Goulding

Peter is a multi-disciplined graphic designer, specializing in branding, editorial design and layout, user interface design, advertising and typography. He currently operates as Creative Director of a Media and Design company based in Southern Spain. If you were to ask Peter for some good design advice, more than likely he would repeat over and over again ¨Good design is in the small details¨. You can connect with Peter on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin.

has written 10 articles for Cloud Mixer

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  • http://www.justinparks.com Justin Parks

    “Making things look pretty or cool” Yes, this is graphic design, asm uch as websites are “Pictures with buttons and clicky bits”. :P

    Regulating any of our industries is not easy, but that's one discussion we should touch on more. I heard today that France where introducing laws regarding the use of Photoshop in advertisements and although not exactly what your referring to its definitely a change in standards. Heres the article I read about it: http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2009/09/glossy_m…

  • http://www.angiescopywriting.com/ Angie Haggstrom

    Hi Peter,

    You're right. Along with an increase in accessibility, our industries have seen an influx of what I like to call 'I-can-do-it-too's. And unfortunately, it has cheapened are professions something awful. They all figure they can get an article for $20, just like someone thinks they can get a logo or a brochure layout for $20. And it's sad.

    As for standardizing, I wonder if the graphic design world would have a lot of the same issues as those in SEO: things change too quickly, who should be in charge, who would be the authority, who would do the policing, what would the consequences be, etc. It is definitely something to ponder.

  • http://andrewnoddings.co.uk/ Dubai Graphic Designer | Tony

    It's important to adapt to the changing times. As concepts get more radical, so should your ideas. The competition among graphic designers gets stiffer everyday so being able to go with the changing times will help you succeed and acquire more projects.

  • Petergoulding

    Hi DGD,

    Thanks for the feedback and I whole heartedly agree, to succeed in anything, you must be flexible and be willing to adapt.

  • Petergoulding

    Hi Annie,

    Good point and thanks for the feedback. Being honest, I think for ¨SEO¨to succeed as a credible profession, you need to be able to attain some sort of recognized and accepted qualification. As it stands, anyone and their granny can call themselves ¨SEO¨experts, at least with graphic design, you can check for a qualification and feel more comfortable in knowing somebody has devoted time and money in educating themselves to do it properly. Don´t get me wrong, i know there are plenty of excellent and knowledgeable ¨SEOers¨ but how to tell the good from the bad is the problem.

  • http://diseno-earle-staff.blogspot.com/ Sugarcane

    I think it's simple – you look at their portfolio. That's really the only way to know if they know what they're talking about. Any SEO worth his or her salt will have good examples of what they have achieved in terms or rankings and more importantly leads/sales generated. I don't think having a qualification would do any good on that at all, and more to the point, I wouldn't even know how you could begin to offer such a qualification as SEO techniques change far too often.

    The same I think applies for designers. Regulation is normally reserved for industries where people's lives are literally at stake – things like architecture, construction, engineering etc. Seems a bit over the top for something like graphic design. A design qualification, whilst it shows commitment to what you're doing and a certain level of background knowledge, doesn't give any indication of talent nor all the technical skills needed to complete jobs. The only way to be sure of someone's skill is to look at their work. A well-rounded, varied portfolio speaks volumes about a designer and their abilities. A design qualification becomes irrelevant once this portfolio has been built.

    I think it's down to the client to check portfolios, get references if necessary. But let the work do the talking – that's really the only way you know for sure of someone's abilities.

    Perhaps what might work better would be a guild that designers could join. Membership could be based on both knowledge and skill and could give the member a “seal” that would offer a guarantee of a good standard of work.

  • http://diseno-earle-staff.blogspot.com/ Sugarcane

    I think it's simple – you look at their portfolio. That's really the only way to know if they know what they're talking about. Any SEO worth his or her salt will have good examples of what they have achieved in terms or rankings and more importantly leads/sales generated. I don't think having a qualification would do any good on that at all, and more to the point, I wouldn't even know how you could begin to offer such a qualification as SEO techniques change far too often.

    The same I think applies for designers. Regulation is normally reserved for industries where people's lives are literally at stake – things like architecture, construction, engineering etc. Seems a bit over the top for something like graphic design. A design qualification, whilst it shows commitment to what you're doing and a certain level of background knowledge, doesn't give any indication of talent nor all the technical skills needed to complete jobs. The only way to be sure of someone's skill is to look at their work. A well-rounded, varied portfolio speaks volumes about a designer and their abilities. A design qualification becomes irrelevant once this portfolio has been built.

    I think it's down to the client to check portfolios, get references if necessary. But let the work do the talking – that's really the only way you know for sure of someone's abilities.

    Perhaps what might work better would be a guild that designers could join. Membership could be based on both knowledge and skill and could give the member a “seal” that would offer a guarantee of a good standard of work.

  • http://www.studiofiftyfour.eu Peter Goulding

    Hi Ed,

    Thanks for the reply, you made some good points, the issue of regulation/certificiation in relation to graphic design is causing serious debate within the industry and obviously there´s no simple answer. I think believing the solution is simple, lacks understanding of the problem. Check out this article on icograda.com

    http://www.icograda.org/feature/current/article…

  • http://diseno-earle-staff.blogspot.com/ Sugarcane

    I thought that might be a controversial statement!

    I base that statement on my experience last year when I was seriously contemplating a move back to London. I was unsurprised to find that most of the senior roles I was looking for didn't mention a degree or equivalent qualification, what they were looking for was an extensive and varied portfolio. I would say that less than half of the jobs I investigated mentioned a qualification – what they were after was experience. And they're not looking for a portfolio of made-up projects, but actual real-world projects.

    I don't mean to belittle any education, education is very important and valuable but it only takes you so far, and it isn't proof of any kind of quality in terms of design. You can sleep your way through uni and still walk away at the end of it “qualified”, albeit with a much lesser grade than someone like yourself, so it really isn't the best indicator. I base this on my own experience of working with qualified designers – I would say 50% were good, 50% were bad. Graphic design, as it stands, encompasses so many different disciplines these days that it would be impossible to teach everything in one 4 year course. Take for example web design. Knocking up a web page in Dreamweaver or Flash a web designer does not make. It requires much research to be done, examples to be followed and lots of practice and experimenting.

    Speaking as a dreaded unqualified designer, do you not think I've worked equally hard at my trade? Do you not think that I might have actually had to work harder because I don't have that qualification? It has been a struggle and a time-consuming one at that for me to reach where I am today with the large and valuable skill set I have today. Many books read, much of the design web trawled and projects worked on.

    I suppose I just feel it's simply not fair to disregard someone who may have worked equally hard simply because they either didn't have the opportunity to study design at uni or they studied the wrong subject.

    With regards to SEO, well done on getting to 3 position. But that is an incredibly uncompetitive search term. As you know from being a designer, your process is equally as important as the result and that's the kind of thing a future employer would look for as well as proven results, and certainly for infinitely more competitive and varied terms than that.

    Getting back to the original question posed, I do understand the problem, and have given it much thought over the years. I've lost track of the times I've had to take over a project from another designer that's poorly executed, or had to work with a logo that's way too small or just plain rubbish or asked to work on a website that's been thrown together in Dreamweaver or something equally as bad. I feel a system such as this might help:

    Qualification + Number of years worked = Designer Grade

    So if you don't have a qualification, your years of experience can still count, albeit to a lesser degree.

    So maybe someone like yourself could score a 10 for a design qual, then another 10 for hands on experience. Whereas I might get a 0 for not having a qualification in design but get 15 for years of experience. Perhaps that could be then associated with a letter, so you could be a level A designer (20 points or more required) and I could fall into, say, a category C designer (10 – 15 points). Perhaps this could be managed by some kind of guild, and certificates awarded. Just an idea.

  • http://www.studiofiftyfour.eu Peter Goulding

    The paragraph in my post Ed, was in no way directed at someone like yourself. I think we both know the type of self taught designers I'm referring to, the bottom feeders, the ones will do the work cheaply and do the work badly. The ones who keep lowering the standard and as a result the public's expectation of design. The purpose of that paragraph was to to give clients a safety net, so if they were ever feeling unsure about a designers credentials, check for a qualification.

  • http://www.studiofiftyfour.eu Peter Goulding

    The paragraph in my post Ed, was in no way directed at someone like yourself. I think we both know the type of self taught designers I'm referring to, the bottom feeders, the ones will do the work cheaply and do the work badly. The ones who keep lowering the standard and as a result the public's expectation of design. The purpose of that paragraph was to give clients a safety net, so if they were ever feeling unsure about a designers credentials, check for a qualification.