Meaning of Graphic Design (What it is, Concept and Definition)

What is Graphic design:

Graphic design or visual communication consists in the projection and production of visual objectives with the purpose of transmitting a message of public interest in an effective way.

The visual objects produced by the graphic design are very varied. Among them we can mention posters, informative flyers, brand image (logos and logos), typography, advertising image, animation, POP material, stationery, web pages, magazines, newspapers and books (layout and design of covers) and many more.

Graphic design uses the use of graphic signs, organized from aesthetic and functional criteria that consolidate the expression of a concept or message. In this way, the design is oriented to solve a communication need.

Luz del Carmen Vilchis maintains in his book Methodology of design: theoretical foundations , that design, in general, "studies the behavior of forms, their combinations, their associative coherence, their functional possibilities and their aesthetic values captured in their entirety".

Within the design, and consequently, in the graphic design, methodological constants intervene. These are: the problem / project / solution, the need, the user, the creativity and, finally, the form-function.

Specifically, graphic design must take into account the communicative capacity of visual signs, such as typography, color, tone, point, line, direction, contour, texture, scale, dimensions and the movement. It is, therefore, a matter of composition.

The effectiveness of these signs is related to the social context. The graphic designer must understand the conventions and codes of social communication, psychology, color and the rhetoric of the image within a certain context.

Types of graphic design

Within graphic design, there are many specialties. We will name some of the best known below.

• Editorial design: is the area of design that specializes in the layout of printed publications, such as books and periodicals (press and magazines).
• Illustration: the illustration is concerned with enhancing or complementing a text by means of the design of an allusive graphic composition. The illustration can be in itself the content of a book. For example, graphic novels.
• Corporate design: is the one that deals with the development of the corporate image of companies or institutions. It covers logos, logos, stationery, etc.
• Advertising design: it is about the design applied to the promotion of a certain brand or product.
• Web design or UI: it deals with the projection of the user interface (UI) in web pages and apps , articulating three elements: the promotion of the brand, the visual aspect and the content.
• UX design: is the branch of design that is responsible for projecting the "user experience" ( User Experience Design or UX), taking into account the interaction between the system, the user and the context. The design of UX approaches the field of industrial design.
• 3D design / animation: is responsible for the design of visual objects in three dimensions and / or in movement.
• Packaging design: is the one that projects the image and functionality of the packaging of products of all kinds. For example: CD's, food packaging, bags, etc.

Graphic designer as a profession

The profession of graphic designer was consolidated in the twentieth century, although it is true that graphic design itself has existed since antiquity.

The invention of the different forms of writing (cuneiform writing, pictograms, hieroglyphics, Greek and Roman alphabets), typographic design and emblems, to mention some significant examples, are testimony to this.

However, the profession of the graphic designer is consolidated in the contemporary era, of an industrial nature. The mass and consumer society demands a new form of communication that is more direct and effective, capable of reaching as many people in the shortest possible time.

In this, the emergence of mass media such as the press in the 19th century, and cinema and television in the 20th century played a determining role. These media offered a more effective alternative for propaganda, previously conveyed through public art, and favored the development of advertising.

What is graphic design software

Graphic design, as well as some artistic expressions in the digital age, have been influenced by the use of software as a tool. The use of computer programs as assistants in the generation of cultural objects and their subsequent digital circulation, is a thing of every day. However, despite the daily nature of its use, little is reflected on the "proprietary" nature of these programs, the legality and the possible "obscuration" that their functioning represents.

A little history

One of the first programs to generate graphics assisted by a computer, and that used a graphic interface was the Sketchpad program, created by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 as part of his doctoral thesis at MIT. Sketchpad is considered by some authors to be the father of computer-aided graphics. With him it was possible, by means of a photoelectric system, that a photosensitive pen, draw simple shapes on a monitor thanks to the electrical synchronization of both. It showed with it, a new method of human-computer interaction; He also opened the possibility that computer graphics could be used for both artistic and technical purposes. But nevertheless,

Why is the Adobe package so important?

It is usually chosen because it is the one that is learned during university training and because it is the "norm". They are design programs used for years, due largely to its strong marketing strategy, its further development in the market (and versions) and its wide range of possibilities and tools to carry out a digital design, but also, because it is unknown the existence of other types of tools that perform the same functions.

Advantages of free software (SL):
A) In the technical aspect:

• The SL can be modified, which makes it flexible, allows to integrate solutions.
• Access to the process of the works.
• The SL is multiplatadorma and does not require excessive hardware specifications.
• Use of standards
• There is less incidence of virus.
• Stable and safe.

B) Technical and social aspects:

• Low cost.
• Legal.
• Easy to get.
• It deals with people who develop and not with companies that create a product, does not encourage monopoly.
• All for one and one for all.
• An example that we find admirable is the creative studio, Grafica Liebre , which works exclusively with software and free tools.

What design programs do you recommend if I am a beginner?

• It's what I usually ask first and I'll answer: use the professional design programs. No more no less.  And even more if your intention is to dedicate yourself to it.
• In the graphic design they are in the Adobe package, which contains Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Dreamweaver, Premiere, among others.
• In technical design, architecture, industrial ... you can use  Altium's PCBS design professionals .
• In 3D design I can highlight: Cinema 4D, 3D Studio Max or Blender.

Why use professional graphic design programs?

Your clothes talk about you, communicate to people a way of thinking, a way of being ... and if your external image takes care of it, why do not you take care of your business, your blog or your passion?

The graphic design can speak from you there where you apply it in the labeling of your car, your online shop, your business cards, your gift ... the care that you give each of your creations speak without you being present since you leave your essence impregnated in it and the best way to control what you communicate is being you who controls the design and not the other way around .

What is graphic design logo

A logo (called colloquially logo ) is a graphic element that is made up of a group of letters that have a certain design and typography, which forms a visual set that is used to identify a certain product, brand, company or institution. The logo can be the affirming axis of private property through the fact of the audit.

What is Logo:

The logo is a graphic design that represents the corporate image and visual identity of a brand.

The logo, or simply called logo, is defined strictly in the area of ​​marketing as typographic design, that is, the design of the brand name itself. The logo in this sense has dimensions, colors, shapes and specific and regulated provisions of the name of a company or institution.

The logos are characterized by the graphic design of the word or name of the company or organization. For example, we can find in the image the logos of: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Coca Cola and Yahoo!

Although the word logo, English logotype has been associated only visual word formation or brand, the logo, in its most general form, it covers all kinds of graphic representations of a brand, being all physical manifestations of the image part of the logo of a brand or company, nowadays, encompassed in the corporate visual identity.

The importance of the logo , in its broadest sense, is the visual, quick and almost immediate way of printing the brand or corporate image of the brand in the public's memory. The logo for the corporate image is like the slogan for advertising.

Types of Logos

In the broad sense of logos, we can find five different types of logos:

• Logo or logo : translated into English as word mark , refers exclusively to the typographic design of the name or word that defines the brand that you want to represent.
• Isotype : translated into English as brand mark and represents the symbolic image of the brand as we can see in the image, for example, the Apple Apple, the Starbucks siren and the Nike curve.
• Imagotype : translated into English as a combo mark , combines both word and image in the iconography. It is characterized because both the image and the word can work separately. In the image we can see some examples, like the case of: Unilever and Adidas.
• Isologo : translated into English as emblem . The isologo is a kind of emblem, since it combines, as in the imagotype, both image and word, but they are fused, representing a kind of "shield" of the brand. You can find in the image some examples like the case of: Nikon, Ikea, Samsung and Transkerja.com.
• Acronyms, anagrams, monograms, pictograms or signatures : classified within the group of isotypes, their nature is flexible, since they emphasize the word but not necessarily in the full name. It is known in English as letter mark . This can be accompanied by a background design or not. Examples of this type are: LG, eBay, GE, among others.

What is graphic design image

Graphic design and image design involve a process of visual communication that consists of the transmission of ideas, concepts, emotions and information, through the use of non-verbal language in a specific context.

Nonverbal language includes the visual language whose elements are: color, texture, shape, image, typography, size, proportion and scale; to body language that corresponds to the language of gestures and postures; space and sound.

Communication needs are determined by civilization and culture. They vary according to the context in which they are immersed. In visual communication, a message configuration process based on visual codes is integrated.

One of the elements of visual language is color. Our perception of color depends not only on the pigmentation of physical surfaces, but also on the intensity and type of ambient light.

We perceive a certain color in relation to the others that are in their environment. When we perceive an object of a certain color, its surface reflects a part of the spectrum of white light that receives and absorbs the others.

In the graphic design the color is applied considering the theory and psychology of the same one to project the concept and to give sense to the graphic proposal be it two-dimensional or three-dimensional. It also takes into account whether the design will be printed or digital format to choose the right color system.

In the graphic design two-dimensional figurative, natural, artificial, verbal, abstract, calligraphic, organic and geometric forms are generated, which are part of the elements that are integrated into the messages of the graphic proposals to be communicated.

The image design applies the form from the anthropometry that is responsible for studying the body measurements of man, to classify body types according to size and proportions; in rectangle or square, apple or type "O", triangle and hourglass. The caramorfología that studies the proportions and form of face, classify the faces in; elongated, rectangle, round, square, triangle, heart, diamond, and oval.