Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art that involves creating visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdisciplinary branch of design and of the fine arts. Its practice involves creativity, innovation and lateral thinking using manual or digital tools, where it is usual to use text and graphics to communicate visually.
The role of the graphic designer in the communication process is that of the encoder or interpreter of the message. They work on the interpretation, ordering, and presentation of visual messages. In its nature, design pieces can be philosophical, aesthetic, emotional and political. Usually, graphic design uses the aesthetics of typography and the compositional arrangement of the text, ornamentation, and imagery to convey ideas, feelings, and attitudes beyond what language alone expresses. The design work can be based on a customer's demand, a demand that is established linguistically, either orally or in writing; that is, graphic design transforms a linguistic message into a graphic manifestation.
Graphic design, as a field of application, encompasses different areas of knowledge focused on visual communication systems. For example, it can be applied in advertising strategies, or it can also be applied in the aviation world or space exploration. In this sense, in some countries graphic design is related as only associated with the production of sketches and drawings, this is incorrect, since visual communication is a small part of a huge range of types and classes where it can be applied.
With origins in Antiquity and the Middle Ages, graphic design as applied art was initially linked to the boom of the rise of printing in Europe in the 15th century and the growth of consumer culture in the Industrial Revolution. From there it emerged as a distinct profession in the West, closely associated with advertising in the 19th century and its evolution allowed its consolidation in the 20th century. Given the rapid and massive growth in information exchange today, the demand for experienced designers is greater than ever, particularly because of the development of new technologies and the need to pay attention to human factors beyond the competence of the engineers who develop them.
Terminology The term "graphic design" makes an early appearance in a 4 July 1908 issue (volume 9, number 27) of Organized Labor, a publication of the Labor Unions of San Francisco, in an article about technical education for printers:Paul Shaw, Blue Pencil no. 46—Yet more on the early history of the term "graphic design" , 1 June 2020.
An Enterprising Trades Union … The admittedly high standard of intelligence that prevails among printers is an assurance that, with the elemental principles of design at their fingertips, many of them will grow in knowledge and develop into specialists in graphic design and decorating. …
A decade later, the 1917–1918 course catalog of the California School of Arts & Crafts advertised a course titled Graphic Design and Lettering, replacing the course titled Advanced Design and Lettering. Both classes were taught by Frederick Meyer.Paul Shaw, "The Definitive Dwiggins no. 81—Who Coined the Term 'Graphic Design'? ", Blue Pencil, 7 January 2018.
History
In both its lengthy history and in the relatively recent explosion of visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, the distinction between advertising, art, graphic design and fine art has disappeared. They share many elements, theories, principles, practices, languages and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In advertising, the ultimate objective is the sale of goods and services. In graphic design, "the essence is to give order to information, form to ideas, expression, and feeling to artifacts that document the human experience."Meggs, Philip B., 'A history of graphic design'. New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1983
The definition of the graphic designer profession is relatively recent concerning its preparation, activity, and objectives. Although there is no consensus on an exact date for the emergence of graphic design, some date it back to the Interwar period. Others understand that it began to be identified as such by the late 19th century.
It can be argued that graphic communications with specific purposes have their origins in Paleolithic cave paintings and the birth of written language in the third millennium BCE. However, the differences in working methods, auxiliary sciences, and required training are such that it is not possible to clearly identify the current graphic designer with prehistoric man, the 15th-century xylographer, or the lithographer of 1890.
The diversity of opinions stems from some considering any graphic manifestation as a product of graphic design, while others only recognize those that arise as a result of the application of an industrial production model—visual manifestations that have been "projected" to address various needs: productive, symbolic, ergonomic, contextual, among others.
By the late 19th century, graphic design emerged as a distinct profession in the West, partly due to labor specialization there and to the new technologies and business opportunities brought about by the Industrial Revolution. New production methods led to the separation of the design of a communication medium (such as a poster) from its actual production. Increasingly, throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, advertising agencies, book publishers, and magazines hired art directors who organized all visual elements of communication and integrated them into a harmonious whole, creating an expression appropriate to the content.
Throughout the 20th century, the technology available to designers continued to advance rapidly, as did the artistic and commercial possibilities of design. The profession expanded greatly, and graphic designers created, among other things, magazine pages, book covers, posters, CD covers, postage stamps, packaging, brands, signs, advertisements, kinetic titles for TV programs and movies, and websites. By the early 21st century, graphic design had become a global profession as advanced technology and industry spread worldwide.
Historical background
In China during the Tang dynasty (618–907), woodblocks were cut to print on textiles and later to reproduce Buddhist texts. A Buddhist scripture printed in 868 is the earliest known printed book. Beginning in the 11th century in China, longer scrolls and books were produced using movable type printing, making books widely available during the Song dynasty (960–1279).
In Mesopotamia, writing (as an extension of graphic design) began with commerce. The earliest writing system, cuneiform, began with basic pictograms representing houses, lambs, or grain.
In the mid-15th century in Mainz, Germany, Johannes Gutenberg developed a way to reproduce printed pages at a faster pace using movable type made with a new metal alloy that created a revolution in the dissemination of information.
Nineteenth century In 1849, Henry Cole became one of the major forces in design education in Great Britain, informing the government of the importance of design in his Journal of Design and Manufactures. He organized the Great Exhibition as a celebration of modern industrial technology and Victorian design.
From 1891 to 1896, William Morris' Kelmscott Press was a leader in graphic design associated with the Arts and Crafts movement, creating hand-made books in medieval and Renaissance-era style, in addition to wallpaper and textile designs. Morris' work, along with the rest of the Private Press movement, directly influenced Art Nouveau.Fiona McCarthy, William Morris, London: Faber and Faber, 1996
Will H. Bradley was one of the notable graphic designers of the late nineteenth century for creating art pieces in various Art Nouveau styles. Bradley created a number of designs as promotions for a literary magazine titled The Chap-Book.
Twentieth century
In 1917, Frederick H. Meyer, director and instructor at the California School of Arts and Crafts, taught a class entitled "Graphic Design and Lettering". Raffe's Graphic Design, published in 1927, was the first book to use "Graphic Design" in its title. In 1936, author and graphic designer Leon Friend published his book titled "Graphic Design" and it is known to be the first piece of literature to cover the topic extensively.
The signage in the London Underground is a classic design example of the modern era. Although he lacked artistic training, Frank Pick led the Underground Group design and publicity movement. The first Underground station signs were introduced in 1908, featuring a solid red disk with a blue bar in the center and the station name. The station name was in white sans-serif letters. In 1916, Pick enlisted the expertise of Edward Johnston to design a new typeface for the Underground. Johnston redesigned the Underground sign and logo, placing his typeface on the blue bar in the center of a red circle.
In the 1920s, Soviet constructivism applied 'intellectual production' in different spheres of production. The movement saw individualistic art as useless in revolutionary Russia and thus moved towards creating objects for utilitarian purposes. They designed buildings, film and theater sets, posters, fabrics, clothing, furniture, logos, menus, etc.
Jan Tschichold codified the principles of modern typography in his 1928 book, New Typography. He later repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this book as fascistic, but it remained influential. Tschichold, Bauhaus typographers such as Herbert Bayer and László Moholy-Nagy and El Lissitzky greatly influenced graphic design. They pioneered production techniques and stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth century. The following years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and application.Crouch, Christopher. 2000. Modernism in Art Design and Architecture, New York: St. Martin's Press. (cloth) (pbk)
The professional graphic design industry grew in parallel with consumerism. This raised concerns and criticisms, notably from within the graphic design community with the First Things First manifesto. First launched by Ken Garland in 1964, it was re-published as the First Things First 2000 manifesto in 1999 in the magazine Emigre 51 stating "We propose a reversal of priorities in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication – a mindshift away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through the visual languages and resources of design."
Applications
Graphic design can have many applications, from road signs to technical schematics and reference manuals. It is often used in branding products and elements of company identity such as logos, colors, packaging, labelling and text.
From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinions and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information – known as information design. With the advent of the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools are increasingly used to illustrate the background to news stories. Information design can include Data and information visualization, which involves using programs to interpret and present data in a visually compelling way, and can be tied to information graphics.
Skills A graphic design project may involve the creative presentation of existing text, ornament, and images.