I recently had the opportunity to speak at a local school on Career Day. It’s a wonderful opportunity for kids to be exposed to a variety of careers and hopefully get the wheels turning in their minds about what interests them.

While the approach to the presentation was left to each speaker, there were certain key points that should be addressed:

JOB DESCRIPTION: daily tasks/responsibilities, special tasks, working hours, salary range, etc.

EDUCATION: courses needed in high school, amount and type of college/university education or specialized training required, special degrees, certifications, and/or licensing needed.

PROS AND CONS: what are the benefits and challenges of this job.

This is the second time that I have participated and I thoroughly enjoyed it. While it seems daunting at first, the process of putting together a talk about what you do, why you do it and share insights on steps a person could take if they had interest in your industry was a very satisfying way to spend a day.

Each classroom that I spoke to had approximately 20-25 kids, plus a few teachers and adult volunteers. When I finished speaking there was a little time for Q&A. I didn’t expect kids at that age to be overly talkative, so I had plenty of samples to pass around for them to interact with in case things fell flat.

There were some groups that had more interest in looking at samples and asking more about those specific projects, but I did have a few that asked insightful questions about the role of a designer.

However, what struck me afterwards was the number of the adults who came up to me and said how much they enjoyed the presentation; one said, “You made me wish that I could be a graphic designer.”

After doing this for 20 years, it felt like high praise to talk about what the job entails (both the good and bad) and have another adult say, I want in!

Which got me thinking about what we are doing with this blog and the two audiences we try to address each week.

For our audience of designers, we want to bring value to help you do your job to the best of your ability. Sometimes it may be tips and tricks, but other times it may be a reminder of your role as a professional, so you can avoid being in the position of “short order cook” and be proactive in visually solving problems.

The second half of our audience is people who work with creatives, either hiring them for projects or leading a department. To this group we hope that this blog peels back the curtain and brings some understanding about what designers actually do so that you can speak their language which results in better processes and stronger solutions.

Keeping those two groups in mind, I thought I would share some of my presentation. For my fellow designers I hope it reminds you of the value you bring to a project and to keep pushing yourself to strengthen your creativity.

For the non-designers I hope this inspires you to bring problems to your team and provide what they need to work out solutions. (I’ll admit I’m kinda hoping you’re also going to wish you were a designer by the end of it.)

What is graphic design?

Most of us have heard it tossed around before, but do we really know what a graphic designer does? Before we answer that I first want to point out that we are constantly surrounded by the work of graphic designers.

For example, did you have breakfast this morning? I would hazard to guess that the cereal, oatmeal, yogurt or muffin you had this morning was housed in packaging.

That packaging had graphics, color palettes, logos, & type all organized on a box or bag that was created by a graphic designer.

Have you ever relied on signage to tell you where you were or how to get to where you needed to be? That signage was created by a graphic designer.

What about using apps or visiting a website? While the functionality was most likely built by a programer or a web developer, the icons, colors, and photography were probably selected/created by a designer.

The same way that each person has their own identity, every company, especially the wise ones, invest in establishing their identity to help their customers understand who they are and help set them apart from the competition.

For example, when you walk into a Target, it has a certain look and feel. The layout of the store, the signage, even the design of the carts are specific to the Target identity. Contrast that with walking into Walmart which has a different look and feel.

Creating the identity of a company is in part the work of a graphic designer.

Do you read? Books or magazines, even the digital ones, involve the work of a graphic designer. Whether it’s concepting artwork for the cover or selecting fonts for the interior, a designer is part of the mix on almost anything you would read for information or enjoyment.

Now back to our original question, what is graphic design? It is the process of problem solving through visual communication using one or more of photography, illustration, and typography.

Ultimately, a graphic designer is a problem-solver.

Being a designer is not about working with pretty pictures and colors, but about understanding the objectives of a project and finding the best visual solution to serve those goals.

As our definition states the tools that a designer uses are photography, illustration and typography. I’m guessing that most people have an understanding of the first two, but I think there can be a lot of confusion and misunderstanding around typography.

Typography is the visual art of creating written words.

Many people confuse typography and fonts, thinking that they are interchangeable. While fonts are a part of typography, typography goes well beyond fonts.

An important thing to remember is that typography exists to honor content. A designer needs to select fonts and work with the typography in a layout to serve the content and function.

Let’s look at an absurd example of this; hopefully it will help to clarify. Here is a standard highway sign. Simple and utilitarian, this use of typography and selection of font serve the function of directing drivers.

However, what if instead of that san-serif font, the designer went with a script font? How does that change the readability and function of the signs? Clearly, this choice doesn’t serve the content or purpose of the sign and would probably result in more collisions since some drivers would slow down to understand the signs, while others would be maintaining traditional expressway speeds.

So, we’ve established that designers solve problems. Now let’s see this in action with one of our real-life projects. At the start of any project we need to establish the goals and identify any potential problems.

Real-life Example

We were approached by Bruce Rudi, Principal of St. Peter Lutheran School. He wanted their informational materials, which are handed out to prospective families, redesigned.

Their current materials were inconsistent both in messaging and visuals. The presentation of the materials lacked a polished, professional design which felt disconnected from the quality of education that St. Peter’s provides.

As a designer there will be many times that you work on a project that makes use of existing elements which you need to incorporate in the final design. Sometimes it’s an existing imagery, a color palette or particular fonts.

In the case of this project, the existing logo was used for both the school and church, which were housed in the same facility. While it wasn’t a requirement to make the logo a centerpiece of the design, looking at it gave me an idea for the structure of the brochure.

The bug, which is the graphic part of a logo, was a cross at the center with people of different sizes and colors around it. This visual indicated a community of different people who are brought together with their faith at the center.

However, we saw an opportunity to take this visual concept one step further. The school was also divided into 3 groups: Early Childhood, Elementary Grades, and Middle School.

Since the three figures also increased in size, it further expressed the concept of kids growing up through their education at St. Peters. We came up with photography that represented each of those age groups and showed them on the cover along with the tagline “Come grow with us.”

On the interior, we created a spread for each age group and used the color as part of the identification of that age. Any family that was interested in a particular age could reference the corresponding page.

In the end, we provided St. Peters with a high-quality brochure that served their needs and gave them materials that better reflected their mission as a school.

Pros and Cons

All jobs have pros and cons and designers are no exception. Certainly there are days when we could talk extensively about the positives or negatives you could face. In the interest of time, we distilled this down to three each.

PRO — Use Your Creativity.

This is definitely a job where you will have ample opportunity to work your creative muscle. While there are some who operate more as the “free-spirited” artist-type, graphic design also allows for creatives who enjoy more structured as well.

I, who tend to be more of a organized type, discovered that design can operate at the center of the Venn diagram between Creative Artist and Organization Enthusiast.

PRO — Variety of Projects.

Rarely will you just be working on one project. In some cases, you may find a job where your sole focus is one catalog or magazine that you work on throughout the year.

It is more common for a designer to work at a company where they are responsible for a number of project. You could be designing booth signage for a conference, graphics to post on social media, and concepting a layout for the company’s annual report all in the same week.

Depending upon your particular wiring, you may consider this a con rather than a pro.

PRO — Industry Always Changing.

There is always something new to learn. Whether it’s the ever-changing landscape of the internet or social media, how design can be leveraged, or software updates and upgrades.

Certainly, the concepts of design are foundational, but you can see the difference between the designers who continue to evolve versus the ones that stay stuck in old practices because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.”

Bottom line, you won’t get bored because there is always something new to learn.

CON — Create on Deadlines.

This is a big one and can be quite intimidating. The reality is that you will find yourself in the position of having to create even on days that you don’t feel like it. Which is why it is important that you take care of yourself as an artist and make sure that you continue to “feed” your creativity.

Sure, that can look like going through design annuals and being inspired by the work of others. Beyond that, it’s also a good idea to expose yourself to different ideas and mediums.

Maybe it’s a visit to a local art museum or attending a music event. Sometimes it could be reading a good book or experimenting with a new media that is completely different from design, such as painting or sculpting.

What we do know is that creativity is a muscle, and the more that you use it, the stronger it will be. If you take care of your artistic-self, chances are you will get yourself to a place where creating on deadlines becomes part of your rhythm of life.

CON — Imposter Designers.

A challenge of working in this industry, where the tools and software we use are readily available to anyone, is periodically you will cross paths with people who believe that everyone is a designer.

First, we would like to take this opportunity to say that we firmly believe that everyone is creative. If you are reading this, chances are you are a human being and your very human being-ness makes you creative. (Please message us if you are in fact NOT a human being. This would apply to certain evolved animals, robots or maybe an alien situation; we have LOTS of questions for you.)

How you choose to use your creativity is entirely up to you. Even if you don’t currently work in a “creative industry,” that doesn’t mean that you can’t use creativity in what you do.

But, as we have said, a designer is a problem solver. Just laying out text and placing photos is not problem-solving, that’s desktop publishing. Sometimes that is all that is needed. However, in those cases you don’t need a designer because you aren’t solving a problem, you are just executing someone else’s direction.

The best thing you can do as a designer is to be clear about your role as a problem-solver. There are plenty of projects better suited for technicians who execute the ideas of others. Those don’t require the work of a professional graphic designer.

CON — Industry Always Changing.

We couldn’t resist putting this one in both categories because the truth is that it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with everything that keeps changing in the world. As soon as you feel like you’ve got things figured out, there will be a new platform or shift in business that you need to get up to speed on.

With the advancements that keep happening in our world, the old adage of, “the only constant is change” really is true. They’ve even come up with a new math (actually old math for those that are keeping track), for goodness sakes.

Conclusion

So there you have it — a condensed version of what it looks like to be a graphic designer. Hopefully, we shared something of interest or provided a reminder of something you haven’t considered in a while.

We really do believe that it makes a difference to have a designer in the mix of any project where there is a problem to be solved; asking questions and uncovering the best visual solution for a project.

If you’d like to talk through any challenges you’ve been encountering, either as a designer or someone who works with designers, please give us a call.