Graphic design. It’s bloody everywhere. From cereal boxes to hospital signage, it’s impossible to avoid the stuff. People want it. We sell it. But what is graphic design, and why do we need it?
Put plainly: graphic design is the creation of effective visual communication. Most of it carries messages about products and services in the commercial world, but the same craft runs through information design, wayfinding, and general brand awareness.
Done well, graphic design conveys more than a message (black text on a white background can do that). It carries a range of ideas, feelings and a sense of emotional tone. Those emotions and ideas are what create a connection with the viewer. That connection makes the message easier to understand and gives it far greater impact and persuasive power.
What a graphic designer does
The role of the graphic designer is to understand the ideas and emotions the client wants to convey, and make sure those reach the viewer along with the core message. A good graphic designer also understands the relationship between design and the many disciplines it partners with: copywriting, marketing, advertising, promotion and branding all need to be taken into account. Not to mention the more specialist visual skills of illustration, photography and typography.
This is all very well as a dry, academic description of the purpose and structure of design, but what does it mean in practice? How do we go about creating it, and what does it look like? How do we get from having a message to a piece of graphic communication? Let’s use some apples.
Message + concept + emotions = graphic design
Imagine you’re strolling around a market (or possibly the internet) and come across this piece of signage:
An educated guess might tell you that something to do with apples is happening here. But this isn’t a message. It’s a single word. It’s informative in one way, but it also tells me nothing. I’m not about to run down to the market and spend my cash on those apples. Not yet, anyway. I need convincing.
OK. This is better. It confirms that apples are for sale, and it’s urging me to take action. It is, if you will, a call to action. Is it graphic design? Not even close, but it is copywriting, and that’s a start.
Hold on! What’s happening here? These apples are different from the other apples on the market. They’re not dry, they’re juicy! I’m starting to feel like I might want one. Still not graphic design, but it is marketing, and that’s an essential step on the way. This sign is graphic design waiting to happen.
See what they’ve done there? The apples are called happy, so maybe I’ll be happy if I eat one. Do I want to feel happy? Yes! Do I look like I belong with the sad people? No, I do not! Give me that apple! Experiential and aspirational. This might not be graphic design, but it has created a perceived need for the product. I give you… advertising.
I want to belong! I want to belong! Take me with you! Almost there. This is branding. If you don’t understand the brand, you can’t express it with design.
Now for the fun bit
Now, what if I were to combine words, typography, image, colour, space, form and texture to convey the message and all of the ideas above, and create an emotional connection between the consumer, the product and the brand? Impossible, you say? I beg to differ. It can be done, and in many different ways:
Woot! Graphic design! Don’t like it? How about either of these?
There are many solutions to any given problem, and all of them are open to opinion and improvement. These could be finished graphics, or the start of a collaboration between designer and client. That collaboration is a natural part of the process, and it leads to a satisfying graphic piece that achieves its objectives while giving the client something they love.
How this works at Eggbeater
Those apple signs are the shape of every graphic design project we take on in Vancouver: understand the message, find the concept, then give it the emotional tone that makes someone stop and look. That starts in the Discover phase of our 4D workflow, where we ask enough questions to know what you’re selling and who you’re selling it to before we design a thing. We price the work as a project: one number for the scope we agree on, so you know the cost before we start.
OK then. I’m off to find a happy juicy apple to eat. I’m starving!
Still Have Questions?
What is graphic design?
Graphic design is the creation of effective visual communication. A designer combines words, typography, image, colour, space and form so that a message reaches the viewer along with the ideas and emotional tone behind it. Most graphic design sells products and services, and the same craft covers information design, wayfinding and signage, and brand awareness.
What’s the difference between graphic design and branding?
Branding is the set of decisions about who a business is: the name, what it stands for, who it serves, and how it looks and sounds. Graphic design applies those decisions to specific pieces, such as a poster, a package or a website. Branding happens once, or once a decade; graphic design happens whenever the business needs a new thing.
Is graphic design the same as marketing?
No. Marketing decides what a business says, to whom, and where, then runs the campaigns and measures what worked. Graphic design produces the pieces those campaigns need, from the ad to the landing page. In the apple example, “Buy These Juicy Apples” is marketing; the poster that gives that sign type, colour and an illustration is graphic design. Marketing changes with the season, and the design system underneath it stays put.
Do I need a graphic designer, or can I do it myself?
You can make your own graphics with a template tool, and for a one-off social post that’s fine. A graphic designer earns their fee on the pieces that carry your business: the logo, the packaging, the website, the trade show booth. Those need a concept and a consistent system, and mistakes on them cost reprints. We price each piece as a project, so a small piece gets a small price, and you know it before we start.
How much does graphic design cost in Vancouver?
Graphic design in Vancouver is priced by the hour at some studios and as a fixed project price at others, ours included: one number for the scope we agree on, settled before the work starts. What moves the price is the size of the piece and how many applications it needs; a full brand identity with guidelines is a larger project than a flyer or a social template. Send us the brief and we’ll come back with a project price and an outline of what’s in it.
…and if you’ve still got questions, let us know or fill out our request form!
