What is graphic design?

[Chisa]

I'm hoping one of the graphic design students/graduates that we have here can properly answer this question biggrin

It seems that many people have idea that 'graphic design' equates to 'colouring pictures on the computer'. I'm not a design student, but I don't think that that is correct.

The definition at Dictionary.com for 'graphic design' is:

Dictionary.com

graphic design
n.
The practice or profession of designing print or electronic forms of visual information, as for an advertisement, publication, or website.

I really like the term 'visual information'. Because thats what I think of graphic design as: something visual that informs, sells, attracts; basically it has a purpose. It's not purely for self expression, like say fine art might be. And of course it is much more broad than just cging images.

But hey, that is just my (uneducated) opinion; I'm sure it is very open to interpretation. So tell me what you think graphic design is!  

[GhoSt-X]

I think just looking at the two words ..
graphics and design... it sums it all up...
i just see it as the design of graphics ...

may seem a lil simple ..
but simple is often the best way of doing things ^_-  

[edison]

CGing wouldn't be graphic design. It would be fine art or illustration. It's painting basically, but with an electronic medium.

Anyway, i like dictionary.com's def.  

[Acis]

well you have many different areas of graphic design:
web design
advertising
company identities
video editing too

it's all incorporated by the term graphic design. so you can study it all and have a wide range of skills making it a damn good profession.,.. plus it's just fun to do!!  

[Kitsunehime]

I think of 'Graphic Design' as anything that incorporates text, images, and the like to get a message across.  

[Chisa]

Here's something I stumbled across in the Gaian Artists Guild that I thought was interesting...

jam-wired

I recently came across a positive viewer's comment in the Art Arena that said something like "you have a future in graphic design." This comment really annoyed me because graphic design and traditional/fine art aren't the same thing. Granted, graphic design has its roots in fine art -- today the two are related -- but the fact is that you can be a great graphic designer and a horrible artist (I happen to know quite a few...).

Anyhoo, I saw this in the May/June 2004 issue of Before&After, and thought it appropriate.

 

[GhoSt-X]

yes ... im no too bad at GD ... but im a horrible artist..i wouldnt be able to draw to save my life..  

[Novocain]

woot, go graphic design major go smile i love explaining what i learn in school, it makes me feel so smart. also, it's a good signifier that i've learned something.

Kitsunehime

I think of 'Graphic Design' as anything that incorporates text, images, and the like to get a message across.

she pretty much hit the nail right on the head there. whenever an individual or a company publishes something that is going to be destributed to large audiences, the vast majority of media they'll be dealing with contains visual elements. "Graphic Design" is a message being communicated visually. Whether it's an ad in a magazine, a website, or a commercial on tv, someone needed to design what you're seeing so that it effectively communicates the message the person/company is trying to get across to his/her/their audience in a way that is both memorable and visually appealing.

as an example here's something i did for my Graphic Design 2 class. the assignment was to make an ad for a fruit with a USP (unique selling point) and target audience. my group used pomegranates, our USP was that they fight heart disease and my target audience was teenage male comic book nerds... though most heterosexual males would find it appealig.



that is copyright Brian Grossman by the way. anyway, all the visual elements in the ad were deliberately chosen. the girl is Persephone, Greek goddess of the Spring (i'm to tired to explain the mythology involved with her and pomegranates, however their relationship isn't pivotal to the ad since she's a pretty girl with a low-cut toga), and you'll note how the line weight in the illustration varies. This keeps your eye moving around the picture and appreciating that she's a pretty girl with a low-cut toga. All the colors i chose were warm, so the stripe is an olive green because a)it's the complementary color of the red-violet pomegranate, b)it's a muted shade that won't distract the viewer from the other visual elements but cools down the image a little without throwing a huge amount of a cool color in there (which would be way to abrasive), and c)olives were a big part of the Ancient Greek diet and since i'm a huge nerd i found it a suitable choice.

the background has a stripe and isn't completely filled to subconciously direct the viewer toward the text once they're done oggling the pretty girl with a low-cut toga. the typography was even deliberately chosen. it's colored black because of the pronounce black lines in the illustration and the scribbly lookin' font was chosen because it balances the attention between it and the image (as a plain font would be ignored, a script would have also worked well but i couldn't find one that would arrange the way i wanted without looking like dung).

in anycase, Graphic Design is putting together visual elements (even the small subconcious ones) to deliver a message. i hope that helped... if not, i got an excuse to show off my girl with a low-cut toga (and rampant anatomical problems, i know, but she's a cartoon).  

[Acis]

wow
in depth
i could get so much good advice and techniques from this forum... study hard