subject: Graphic Design: The Rudimentary Ingredients [print this page] Art is defined as anything that is desirable to the senses. A visually appealing design is thus an artpiece. While no one would seem to contradict this statement, designers - particularly graphic designers - are aware that it takes more than a visually appealing image to make a functional design.
Indeed, the man who coined the term graphic design ultimately believed that graphic designing is mostly an application of common sense and critical mind. Hence, art takes a secondary role in graphic designing.
The explanation behind this principle is that an artpiece is almost always associative and connotative. Graphic designs, on the other hand, are required to be explicit and denotative.
Graphic Design: The Designer's Dilemma
With regard to the employability of a graphic designer, the designer that demonstrates the skills of the artisan draws more attention than those who are faithful in maintaining the subjectivity of their creations. This is for the simple reason that artists do a piece of artwork for the sake of self discovery and personal expression. Artisans, on the other hand, are conscious that the artistic expression of their design is bound to a particular purpose.
Moreover, the process of designing to an artist is almost always experimental and speculative. To the second type of graphic designer however the goal is always clear from the start. That is, to come up with a precise and denotative design.
Meeting these last two requirements assure every graphic designer of attracting the interests of clients. This makes clear which of the two positions a graphic designer should fill in. Hence, this enlightens designers in terms of which they should select between the two options.
Graphic designers must choose, more than anything else, function over aesthetics. Whether the client is in the manufacturing or service industry, meaningful designs mean only one thing: being able to channel information that can modify, shape and influence the consciousness of the people to the world around them.
A skilled graphic designer therefore makes sense of a design by using the right material and interweaving it with the appropriate codes of visual language.
