What is Graphic Design exactly? I really thought I knew, but of late it’s become more confused and gray. Why does Graphic Design exist? The purpose is utility, not art. The purpose of Graphic Design is clear communication. This isn’t meant to be a definite answer, but to start some sort of dialogue about what Graphic Design is.
Working with clients
In this view, a client comes to you with a job. You take the content you and try to mold it into the most compelling outcome. The main feedback that you get is from the client. From my (limited) experience, this is how the print world works. You can propose different ideas to the client and try to sell them on what would work best. It feels very intuitive. Your decisions are often based on experience and what you know has worked in the past.
The economics of Graphic Design
A Graphic Designer is not self sufficient. The very nature of the profession depends upon others. Graphic Designers work for the client, for the money. That’s what it really comes down to. It is love of the the craft, but it does make a living. Thinking about the economics of Graphic Design becomes much more interesting and measurable when it comes to the web. A lot of what I’ve been learning at my new job is this. Design is measured by its success. How many people complete the form? What are the numbers? Do people prefer red to blue? And what not. What is good Graphic Design in this model? Is it good if it sells a lot but looks like garbage?
Aesthetics?
What consideration should be even to aesthetics? In school we learned that good design follows rules (or breaks them eloquently). But what if beauty doesn’t sell? Ideally, design that follows the rules and is built on a grid and is typeset well will sell. I believe this deeply. But what if you can be mathematically proven wrong? If this ad makes a lot of money is it good design? If good design is clear communication and this ad speaks to people who are wanting to refinance their home it must be good design? I know you might think, “of course it isn’t good design.” But it has really got me questioning things. If weird poorly designed (ha!) flash ads work as a marketing tool than who am I to say they aren’t good Graphic Design. Is it me being an elitist? Does it really help anyone for me to ream somebody for having no consideration for typesetting?
Type
Ligatures, kerning, smart quotes, none of these really exist on the web the way they do traditionally in print. This is a real loss to me. I do what I can, but there are many inconsistencies to worry about. There is no way to anticipate for dynamic content. I mean, I have smart quotes happening, I specify font size and line height, but I can’t really force there to be no widows or orphans, especially on content I’m not generating. Also, I use Helvetica for this blog, but if you view it on a Windows machine or even in a feed reader chances are you are reading it in Arial. Helvetica and Arial are 2 fairly different typefaces (to say the least). They look and work in very different ways. They will even render differently render in different browsers on the same operating system. Ugh.
What do you think?
This is not to be a one sided conversation. What do you think makes good design? You don’t have to be a Graphic Designer to answer this. Are you attracted to ads like the one above? Do you gravitate to minimalism and clean design? Do you own a mac? Do you hate anti-aliasing on Windows?
Is web design considered the same as Graphic Design? There ought to be different terms and definitions for web and print design because I truly think that what you are exploring here, and what I explore myself due to working in the web industry is the very important fact that web design is driven by a kind of money that is ONLY made through traffic and metrics. That is it, that is the only way to stay afloat. What I think it particularly interesting is the difference between your company and my company. Thinking about this could keep me up for weeks. User behavior is everything in the web industry, whereas Graphic Design is everything in print. Is this due to history and the maturation of each, or is it the very nature of the mediums? Perhaps good Design on the web is, in fact, this ad. I know that is what you are getting at, but what I mean to say is that it does not have anything to do with print at all. It does not live in grids, there are none. I am not sure if there will ever be a need for them. Perhaps it even has to do with the nature of how our EYES interact with computer screens and printed pages. Yes, maybe it even comes down to anatomy and human physiology. Dang.
There are grids on the internet. But they exist differently than they do in print. It also depends on what parts of the web we are looking at.
People come to print and web media with different expectations (obviously). When I’m reading something online, I feel the presence of the entire web hovering just a click away–there’s a sensation of being pulled from what I’m trying to focus on at the moment. So, in many cases, whatever is loudest wins out. I gotta prioritize and filter what I look at in some way (the contents aren’t already ordered and bound for me), so I go for the picture or phrase that catches my eye, or the link recommended by a friend. Traditionally good design will make me linger at a site longer, and think more highly of it, but does it get me there initially? Probably not. So, I think it comes down to competition–when I sit down with a book, little else is competing for my attention. A page of print can afford rules and simplicity and not worry about being flashy or novel (thank god). Sorry, just stating the obvious.