Graphic designers are cool and creative people, who get to wake up everyday full of energy and cool ideas ready to change the world in every aspect possible. We get to come up with great concepts and seeing the end result is always a cherry on top.
One thing though which seems to be a miss conception on especially with new designers entering the working environment, and the majority of students thinking of perusing a career in design, is that graphic design is All about “COOL”, don’t get me wrong though it’s cool but that’s not what design is about and some think it’s probably the easiest Jobs (correction profession) because they think that their artistic talent is all they will need to succeed thus forgetting the essentials and the principles of what graphic design is really all about. Graphic Design is about applying and taking into notice certain principles and understanding elements within the process of seeing a concept to print/whatever the context might be at the end of the day.
I feel that for designers to achieve optimum level in terms of helping the industry progress and produce innovative work, we as designers must not forget the purpose of what design is all about at the end of the day, which is to convey a message as effective and conceptually as possible to the viewer. Design has principles and elements, which have to be taken in to consideration thought the process, things like layout, focal points, colors and context so to speak. I feel a lot of designers tend to forget these especially in this era of drips, splatter and grunge contemporary design (put up your hand if you’ve never used drips in one of your designs to make it look COOL) I feel that it is because of instances like these which why there are more trend followers than trend setters, I would like to mention the fore fathers of graphic design like Milton Glaser and Saul Bass in this instance. They had a simplistic yet effective way of thinking outside the box but still understanding the relevance of what graphic design is about and what is it that needs to be achieved and how.
A design with no concept or purpose (which is more or less the stuff we see nowadays), might be visually exciting but at the end of the day it carries no weight or forward thinking, its like having a nice roof but with cracks on the wall which support the roof, which is where most designers, lack, not the house that is, but understanding the relevance of principles of graphic design, foundations and core of what design is all about. Designers should understand aesthetics and execute design that is conceptually strong and a need to link everything visually and conceptually.
It’s also exciting to see designers moving towards a more cleaner, conceptually strong design which is the true catalyst of innovation and what design is about, a profession which we love and practice.
Posted by: Mphumelelo
