Coming from the outside understanding the industry that revolves around professional graphic design can be quite difficult. As it is an ever-evolving industry many things are considered to be status quo that can change from year to year. If you have any interest in joining the industry or at the very least understanding the Inns and outs of this industry that has become incredibly massive stick with us as we delve deeper into it. So, let’s take a look at some of the elements that make professional graphic design what it is today and what could potentially change as technology keeps developing. You may be surprised to learn things that you would have never expected about this industry.
When we talk about graphic design many people only think about people working with Photoshop and creating logos for companies. Mind you this is not too far off of some of the massive sectors that make up professional graphic design. If you look up graphic design online you might see search results that come up with a library of professional logos on Pinterest or a list of animated logo examples to inspire you. The reality though is that graphic design is way more than simple corporate logo designs. Nowadays graphic design become a catch-all term to include people who work on TV shows and even video games. But to understand what this entails we need to look a little deeper and the graphic design in these specific industries.
Let’s talk about graphic design and video games since it has become a billion-dollar industry that year after year keeps growing. When we talk about graphic design in video games it could mean anything from are directions to UI design. You see graphic design is all about understanding the language of shapes and human understanding. The idea is to be able to design things that easily catch the human eye and potentially make user interfaces easy and intuitive to navigate. This is especially important in interactive media like video games since people will be interacting with every graphic aspect of the video game at every moment. This means that from the pause menu to the in-game interface you need to take into account every single pixel and its placement on the screen. Being able to understand the graphic language required to make those things efficiently is extremely difficult.
You might notice that there is a pretty big similarity to our graphic design in advertising and web design works. In the same way you wouldn’t make a website or a video game you need to be able to draw the eye of people towards the things you want them to focus on. On a website, this is extremely important especially if you have a website for a company that offers a service or products that you want people to spend money on. This is why there is a lot of overlap when it comes to graphic design advertising and interactive media. Many people would compare graphic design to being able to talk directly to someone through images. As much as many people don’t understand the language of graphic design the reality is that there is a profoundly structured way that we understand graphics and interface.
This is why when we talk about advertising and corporate graphic design there is a lot to say about simplicity. Many people complain that over the past few years, many companies have simplified their logos to an absurd level. But as you can imagine when it comes to graphic design the idea is to make something that is both easily rememberable as well as striking. Many people might think it’s silly but the idea for example that the Pepsi logo is so simple that a child could draw it means that even without seeing it if you hear Pepsi, you see the logo instantly. This means that if you see the logo even without the name you instantly think of their product. This is a genius level of graphic design the same goes for companies like Adidas or Nike. While many people might think that these logo designs are overly simplistic and easy to come up with the reality is that to be able to create something that is both simple and evocative of a brand takes a profound understanding of shape languages as well as advertising.
What all these things exposed you might understand better why graphic design such a massive part of advertising is always and building brand recognition for massive companies. To have effective advertising and brand image you need effective graphic design that speaks for the company without any words. There is a reason why some companies like McDonald’s haven’t changed their logo in many years. Sometimes all you need is to find the perfect balance of simple and evocative to truly make your brand a household name that is pretty much impossible to forget.
