What Does a Graphic Designer Do?

What Does a Graphic Designer Do?

Derek Rogers

A graphic designer, also often referred to as a graphic artist, wears many different hats while using an equally diverse number of media to create numerous types of designs. Graphic designers work to visually convey a particular message or idea that has noticeable appeal and the respected profession is highly sought out for promoting and displaying a wide variety of products, activities, ideas, and communications.

Graphic design is used every single day in the world of advertising, including everything from books and magazines, health and personal care, food products, automobiles, clothing, computers, and just about everything else you could think of in between. Product packaging is a huge part of any type of business and requires the expertise of a graphic designer who understands not only the general marketing aspect of business, but also the client's main objective.

Working closely alongside the client, a graphic designer begins expanding upon an initial concept, asks pertinent questions as to the end goal, discusses budgets and deadlines, then agrees on the finalised design, fee and due date. Many designers successfully juggle more than one project at a time, allocating a certain portion of their time to each. Some duties of a graphic designer may include:

• Meeting or communicating regularly with clients to discuss the aspects and goals of a project.
• Staying abreast of the latest technologies in terms of computerised media and common design programmes such as Dreamweaver, Flash, Adobe Photoshop, and Quark Xpress.
• Designing a product from rough drafts, sketches and vague ideas while still knowing how to reach just the right audience.
• Demonstrating excellent proofreading skills while also showing high attention to quality and detail.
• Working with other professionals in the industry such as copywriters, photographers, marketing specialists, web developers and printers.
• Effectively managing time in order to meet deadlines while staying within budget constraints.

An experienced and knowledgeable graphic designer has the uncanny ability to take a general idea and turn it into a visually compelling product that garners not only attention but favourable results as well. Somehow they instinctively know when to use clean lines and muted tones and when to instead use vibrant designs with bold hues that grab your attention.

Graphic designers may work for themselves on a freelance basis or may be employed full time by someone else, whether it be a small organisation or a large corporation. If self-employed, a graphic designer must work diligently to market themselves and their skills in order to build their portfolio and client base as well as making continued learning a large part of their career.

The CSD, the Chartered Society of Designers located in London, offers a number of programmes providing graphic designers with the opportunity to pursue continuous professional development, or CPD for short. Designers can learn the latest in illustration, typography, corporate identity and interactive media design for websites and computers.

When working for a design firm or similar entity, the opportunity for advancement is definitely there in this exciting and ever changing field. Within just a few short years, one may progress to senior designer, obtain a management position such as creative director, or even venture out on their own or create a partnership with another like-minded designer.

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What is Offset Printing?

Offset printing is a commonly used printing technique where the inked image is transferred (or "offset") from a plate to a rubber blanket, then to the printing surface.

When used in combination with the lithographic process, which is based on the repulsion of oil and water, the offset technique employs a flat (planographic) image carrier on which the image to be printed obtains ink from ink rollers, while the non-printing area attracts a water-based film (called "fountain solution"), keeping the non-printing areas ink-free.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Offset_printing

Color Psychology

Color psychology is the study of the effect that colors have on the moods, behavior and feelings of people. Color psychology is a new field of psychology, whose science is not widely accepted by the mainstream. Its use is found primarily in interior decorating and marketing. Individual colors invoke negative or positive feelings which are used to promote products or create a desired atmosphere inside a home or business.


It is important to note that although some ancient civilizations believed color was able to influence people, the first modern scientific research of color psychology has taken place in the West. Color does not exist in a vacuum and different colors have different meanings to different cultures. For example the color green is associated with nature and wealth, whereas in Muslim countries, green is connected to Islam. When practicing color psychology, the cultural context must be considered.

Black is the color of power and authority, and is often associated with mystery, silence and intelligence. It is also usually associated with evil and death. Regardless of which connotation is used, black is expected to inspire strong emotions. White is the color of purity, innocence and cleanliness. If too much white is used, it can promote feelings of isolation. Advertisers and decorators use white in moderation to inspire peaceful feelings in people.

Red is responsible for increasing a person’s heart rate and increasing adrenaline production in the body because it is such an extreme color. Red is the color of love, fire, energy, passion, anger. Red is used to draw attention to something because the eye will naturally look at red first. Orange is the color associated with all things happy, fun and flamboyant. The color is used to inspire trust, warmth and happiness and it has no negative connotations.

Similar to orange, yellow inspires feelings of happiness because the color is associated with sunshine and optimism. Serotonin levels increase in the brain after a person has seen yellow. However, it has been proved that too much yellow can be overpowering and certain shades of yellow may provoke feelings of cowardice. In color psychology, green has multiple meanings that are both positive and negative. On the positive side green is the color of wealth, money, growth, nature, peace and can have a calming effect on people. Negative associations of green include envy and illness.


The color blue arouses thoughts of the sky and the ocean, which are tranquil and peaceful. Marketers and decorators use a good amount of blue because of its tranquil properties and also, darker shades of blue, which display a sense of loyalty. Purples have a reputation of stimulating creativity, imagination, spirituality and compassion. Shades of purple are also used to counter emotional shock and disturbance and be symbols of royalty and sophistication.

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Color Theory

Color theory is the study of color and its role in art and design. Obviously, humans have been thinking about colors for thousands of years, but modern color theory really arose in the 1800s, when it began to diverge from science into a pure art. A knowledge of color theory does require some understanding of basic scientific principles about color and perception, but much of modern color theory surrounds the way that people view, think about, and interact with colors, from those used on their walls to the hues in a company logo. Color theory incorporates psychology, history, and criticism just as much as it does science.


The field of color theory is quite large, with a number of prominent theorists and authors who offer commentary on the issue. Color theory could be said to be about a lot of things, but fundamentally it is an examination of color, how color is formed, how colors are arranged, and how they interact. Color theorists look at how the context of a color changes it, for example, or how various colors work for or against each other in compositions ranging from paintings to brochures.

Many people can look at something and confidently say that the colors clash, but they cannot explain why. Someone who has studied color theory can look at the same object and discuss how the saturation of the colors, their tones, their placement, and their context combine to make them clash. “Clashing” colors aren't necessarily bad things, but a lack of color harmony can be quite unsettling, as you may have noted if you've ever tried to pair, say, red shoes and a red sweater; small variations between the reds can completely ruin the look.

One aspect of color theory involves the study of the historic use of color. Color theorists look at the shades which dominated particular eras in art, for example, for clues to the societies that the art was produced in. Some artists theorize, for example, that the dark, subdued tones which dominated Northern European art for much of the Middle Ages were related to the “little ice age” of the era, which made European life significantly darker and more dull. Colors have also been important historically because some were quite expensive and difficult to obtain, due to the ingredients needed.

Students of color theory also like to look at the meanings of specific colors, exploring the use of things like bold colors in company logos, or the subtle messages which people might be sending with something like sage-green stationery, for example. These color theorists also look at the ways in which colors change a space, making recommendations for interior design based on the space and how it will be used.


Color theory can get incredibly complex, and it takes up years of study in art schools. Some people go on to be experts in the field, devoting years of serious research to the issues involved in color theory. It can also be extremely fascinating; your local library probably has some basic color theory books if you would like to learn more.

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