Back to the drawing board: Designer producing initial sketches

With pressure on

Graphic Designers,

clients are now

demanding them to

be strong in more

than one discipline

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G r a p h i c

DesignerAn in-depth look into the

role of the Graphic Designer

Graphic design is a challenging and continually changing role, especially in the publishing industry. The field is vast and with many varying

technical disciplines. The constantly changing landscape the publishing industry is going through has meant that more and more companies are needing to showcase their products or brands, meaning the rise and expectation on designers has grown just as fast. With graphic software having become more widely available, it’s led many to believe they can adopt a DIY approach to design. But design is a skill which many are born with and that others are taught through years of education. With the pressure on graphic designers rising, it has lead to clients demanding designers who work for them to have years of industry experience to land the top jobs or for the designers to be strong in more than one discipline.

But with so many different disciplines in design it’s likely that a designer will have to first find their niche. An area they can feel comfortable in before progressing on to other areas in the field. Over the course of their career graphic designers will continually be learning about their trade. New trends come and go, new software is developed meaning designers have to quickly master the skills in order to keep up. Over time designers become more rounded naturally. The love of design usually keeps pushing them to develop new skills in other areas themselves.

The disciplines graphic designers may touch on or pursue further in their career as a designer are: Brand Identity, which is the process of creating a visual standard or a style guide for a company. The main elements of branding are logo design, fonts, colour schemes, symbols, ideas and even personality for a company. Advertising: This is an area where many graphic designers work in. It’s

a dynamic and creative field and offers

the most benefits financially. It’s also one of the biggest areas to work in too. With the rise of online advertising and mobile advertising, the scope here is huge. Print design: Once the exclusive area of graphic design before other mediums came along. Again, like advertising the field is vast. It covers almost all printed material from business cards to magazines, posters to record covers. Designers working in print design have a good understanding of the printing process too. From picking the right paper to colour separation. These elements will all effect the final result. Illustrators: These are able to replicate ideas through their drawings. They enhance design work by providing a visual representation which fits with the content. Web Designers: These are split into two areas. The front end which provides the visuals the viewer gets to see, i.e the web pages and the back end, which are the programmers, responsible for the programming of the entire site so it can be realised just as the designer set it up. Designing an interface is challenging as you need to see every view of the user whilst also taking into account usability and information provided for the user. This process involves both designer and programmer working together to produce the finish site.

Now most areas in graphic design have been covered we’re going to take a closer look at the print designer and look in more detail at the processes they follow. From the brief to the final printed stage...

Print design is a creative process similar to other design disciplines and involves a client and a designer. It’s normally carried out in response to a need from the client. Each new brief involves a certain amount of planning which clients can sometimes have difficulty in pinpointing their exact requirement, which is why a designer is approached. Graphic designers are employed to bring their own individual and creative ability along with their practical understanding to solving their client’s problems.

Throughout the design process communication with the client is vital. Regular updates are expected, whether it’s in the form of a face to face meeting or file transfer sent via email. This builds trust and confidence for the client. It shows that the designer respects the client and wants to involve them in the process. This is the designers responsibility and an area where working relationships can turn sour if not carried out correctly. If the client feels they are not being included in the process or they feel the designer is doing what suits them then the client can feel left out, leaving a strain on the working relationship.

Once a relationship has been established between designer and client it is then down to the designer to pinpoint the exact nature of the brief. Some clients can be vague on their exact requirements, so the designer needs to dig a little deeper and investigate the clients business. The way the designer would go about this is to find out the general message the client or business wants to communicate to its customers through visual design. Doing this should uncover the problem that needs solving. Then, why does the client want to communicate this message? Where will this message be communicated and under what conditions? Who is the intended audience or market for this message? With each of these questions it gives the designer a better picture of who he or she is aiming for with their design. It will also help them build a picture of where it’ll be seen, giving them a feel for the whole project and hopefully stimulate further ideas.

Once the brief has been has been agreed it’s time to discuss budgets for the project and time scales. Both of which are of upmost importance to the designer and are essential they are agreed early on. This gives both parties clear guidance on how long the project is expected to last for and

t o what costs.

Now a deadline has been set it’s up to the designer to get started with the brief

and take it in the direction they see it going in. For this, more research is done by the designer as a carry on from the information gather at the first meeting. This may involve taking a further look at the company, its clients, its employees, its rivals, other design agencies work and books. From this information initial sketches are drawn, either by hand or digitally produced to generate ideas, themes or concepts which can be relayed back to the client and give them a view on the direction the designs are going in whilst also getting feedback on them which in turn, could be used to form further ideas. Colours, fonts, legibility, images and layout will all be looked at and worked on at this stage. The designer will produce various drafts to demonstrate a rough look for the final piece that he or she can present to the client.

Sometimes on big briefs the client may supply their own images or text that they want to appear in the final printed material. In which case it can sometimes makes the designers job more difficult when producing a layout as it restricts their creative control over how the design will look and feel. This is a challenge designer’s face a lot and it pushes their creativity further as it forces them to work with images or text they wouldn’t normally choose too. Other times the designer might be given free rein to create something from scratch. In this case designers may look to commission illustrators or photographers to help on the brief, if the budget allows.

Once all of the research, brainstorming and initial design work has finished its time to present the designs to the client. Normally designers bring just one design to the final meeting before production, others take in two or three, giving the client scope to pick parts of each or voice their opinions on them all. It depends on the designer and how many ideas or concepts they have come up with. What’s important is to only show something that you’re really proud to produce. The ideas presented at this stage are still roughs. By presenting the basic concept and the thought behind the design, there is a bigger chance for the client to

Tools of the trade:

The designer is

responsible for

quality control. No

one else. They must

check, re-check,

then check again.

Running order: A flow chart showcasing the design process

End of the line: Finished worked being printed

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become interested. Once both designer and client have agreed on an outcome, the designers’s can now focus on refining the design. With most clients not having a strong visual understanding, it can be hard for them to visualise ideas the designer is putting across. That is why communication is a key part of the modern deigners armoury. The designer needs to be able to communicate with their client and present information to them in a language they understand, whilst keeping the pitch exciting and informative. Methods to acchieve this can

involve anything from mood boards, movie clips, songs, objects to hold to scribbles or fully built models. The pitch is the time to showcase creativity. Good design should speak for itself but it still needs to be presented well to the client. The pitch can be a daunting time. Many designers might freeze. But if designers trust their work it will show. Designers must show the client the process they

went through to reach the final stage, talk them through the design, and explain how it meets the needs of their business and clients. The communication will help the client understand the work that has gone into the design and prove just how solid the foundations of the idea is.

After successfully selling the client the design with a confident and well delivered pitch and maybe after correcting a few little things with the design, it now has to be brought to life. The end is in sight but there is still a little way to go. Fact checking and proof reading needs to be done before the design reaches the printers. Before sending it off to the printers, designers need to determine what issues might arise and what could go wrong. Printers have their own worries and shouldn’t be burdened with design related problems. The designer is solely responsible for quality control, no one else. They must check, re check and then check again before sending the file. Areas for checking include: making sure the colour profiles are correct, page sizes and counts are specified, photos are the right resolution and colour and fonts are packaged with the file once sent. These are the things that can turn a great job into a terrible one. Only once all of these elements have been checked, re-checked, then checked again, is the design is ready for print.