What is Graphic Design and why use a graphic design company?

19 May, 2012Redbox Design

Graphic design is a word used a lot by many people and I decided to just look it up in the dictionary and I took the simplest explanation I could find….

“graphic design

noun

the art or skill of combining text and pictures in advertisements, magazines, or books.”

It’s quite a simple explanation and this is exactly what we do here at Redbox Design. I have had many people asking me was does a graphic designer do and I have always tried to explain what the two words mean, it has been difficult to try so I’ll let the dictionary do the telling.

The Dictionaries description of the work graphic is as follows:

graphic |ˈgrafik|

adjective

1 of or relating to visual art, esp. involving drawing, engraving, or lettering : his mature graphic work.

• giving a vivid picture with explicit detail : he gave a graphic description of the torture.

• Computing of, relating to, or denoting a visual image : graphic information such as charts and diagrams.

2 of or in the form of a graph.

3 [ attrib. ] Geology of or denoting rocks having a surface texture resembling cuneiform writing.

We here at Redbox do all three, we draw, create lettering with vivid pictures with detail and we use computers to do this and we can depict anything in any way.

The word design is also misunderstood and the dictionary indicates the word design as:

design |dəˈzīn|

noun

1 a plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings of a building, garment, or other object before it is built or made : he has just unveiled his design for the new museum.

• the art or action of conceiving of and producing such a plan or drawing : good design can help the reader understand complicated information | the cloister is of late twelfth century design.

• an arrangement of lines or shapes created to form a pattern or decoration : pottery with a lovely blue and white design.

2 purpose, planning, or intention that exists or is thought to exist behind an action, fact, or material object : the appearance of design in the universe.

verb [ trans. ]

decide upon the look and functioning of (a building, garment, or other object), typically by making a detailed drawing of it : a number of architectural students were designing a factory | [as adj. with submodifier ] ( designed) specially designed buildings.

• (often be designed) do or plan (something) with a specific purpose or intention in mind : [ trans. ] the tax changes were designed to stimulate economic growth.

See note at intend .

PHRASES

by design as a result of a plan; intentionally : I became a presenter by default rather than by design.

have designs on aim to obtain (something desired), typically in a secret and dishonest way : he suspected her of having designs on the family fortune.

ORIGIN late Middle English (as a verb in the sense [to designate] ): from Latin designare ‘to designate,’ reinforced by French désigner. The noun is via French from Italian.

So essentially we are planners and we plan out what we want to do from a brief usually provided by a client. From this brief we move into a conceptual phase where ideas are born and then these are then laid out on layout paper to see if these ideas are of value. This phase is know as the layout stage and we sketch and scribble all our ideas out to ensure we get our thoughts on paper before proceeding to the next phase.

Once we are sure about our ideas we then go to the computer, we use Apple Macintosh computers and we have the latest on the market these are ideal machines to use for creative work as they allow for maximum manipulation and creativity, they are very fast and are intuitive. Apple Macs are loved by almost all designers particularly graphic designers. The Adobe suit of software works extremely well with Apple machines.

So why use a graphic design company? The first thing is that they are trained designers and have gone through a training school, art or design school or some institutional regime. This is of great benefit as this allows for maximum creativity and to experiment. Most design companies will only hire designers who have been through a college system and come out the other end with a good portfolio of work to show upon interview.

Generally a design company is experienced and has previous and current clients with testimonials to verify and account for this experience. You can always Google the company in question or even the managing and creative directors. A graphic design company generally has good resources and they know what they are doing but before you choose have a look at their work and read the testimonials.