This document provides an overview of graphic design, including definitions, objectives, specialized areas, applications, and employment opportunities. It defines graphic design as a visual language used to convey messages through the creation and organization of visual elements. The document outlines several major specialized areas of graphic design such as advertising, branding, identity design, and environmental design. It also discusses applications within these areas and potential employment in design studios, agencies, and corporate design departments.

1. Landis

2. Objec&ves
• Define graphic design
• Become familiar with the major areas of specializa8on

3. Defini&ons
• Graphic design can be thought of as a visual language that is used
to convey a message to an audience.
• A graphic design is a visual representa8on of an idea that relies on
the crea8on, selec8on, and organiza8on of visual elements to
create an effec8ve communica8on.
A graphic design solu8on can:
★ persuade
★ inform
★ iden&fy
★ mo&vate
★ enhance
★ organize
★ brand
★ rouse
★ locate
★ engage
★ carry/convey many levels of meaning

4. The Graphic Design Profession
The graphic design profession is
an expert crea8ve discipline
that focuses on visual/verbal
communica8on and meaning.

5. Specialized Areas
• Adver8sing
– Involves genera8ng and crea8ng specific
visual/verbal messages constructed to
inform, persuade, promote, provoke, or
mo8vate people on behalf of a brand or
group
• “group” represents both commercial
industry and social cause (non‐profit)
organiza8ons.
LOGAN’S: ADVERTISEMENTS
KINETIC, SINGAPORE

6. Specialized Areas
• Branding
– The en8re development process of crea8ng a brand, brand
name, and a brand iden8ty
– Can entail developing an en8re brand experience
• comprehensive strategic, unified, integrated, crea8ve
program for a brand including every graphic design and
adver8sing applica8on for that brand with an eye and
mind on how consumers and individuals experience the
brand or group as each interacts with it
TAUBMAN: BRANDING
CARBONE SMOLAN AGENCY, NEW YORK

7. Specialized Areas
• Iden&ty design
– Involves the crea8on of a systema8c visual and verbal program
intended to establish a consistent visual appearance—a
coordinated overarching iden8ty —and spirit or image for a brand
or group
– Also called corporate iden8ty, brand iden8ty, and corporate design

8. Specialized Areas
• Corporate communica&on
– Involves any visual communica8on applica8ons that
communicate internally with employees, create materials for a
sales force or other employees, as well as applica8ons used by a
corpora8on or organiza8on to communicate externally with
other businesses, the public and stockholders, and customers
– Emphasis is on maintaining a consistent corporate voice
throughout any and all applica8ons

9. Specialized Areas
• Environmental design
– Solves problems about informa8on
or iden8ty communica8on in
constructed or natural
environments, defining and
marking interior and exterior
commercial, cultural, residen8al,
and natural environments
W. L. GORE: EXHIBITION
CARBONE SMOLAN AGENCY, NEW YORK

10. Specialized Areas
• Informa&on design
– highly specialized area
of design
– involves making large
amounts of complex
informa8on clear and
accessible to audiences
of one to several
hundred thousand

11. Specialized Areas
• Interac&ve or Experience Design
– graphic design and adver8sing for screen‐based media, including web,
mobile, widget, kiosks, digital out‐of‐home, CDs, or DVDs, in which the
user interacts with the applica8on
THE DESIGN CENTER at KEAN UNIVERSITY: WEBSITE
LAVA DOME CREATIVE, BOUND BROOK, NEW JERSEY

12. Specialized Areas
• Mo&on Graphics
– screen‐based visual communica8on moving (sequen8ally) in dura8on,
including film 8tle design, TV graphics design, openers, e‐mail videos,
mobile mo8on graphics, mo8on for video‐sharing pla]orms, and
promo8onal mo8on presenta8ons for any screen

13. Specialized Areas
• Package Design
– involves the complete strategic planning and designing of the
form, structure, and appearance of a product’s package, which
func8ons as casing, promotes a brand, presents informa8on, and
becomes a brand experience
OLIVE GREEN DOG:
COOKIE PACKAGING
MODERN DOG DESIGN
CO., SEATTLE

14. Specialized Areas
• Promo&onal design
– Design intended to introduce, sell, or promote brands (products and
services), ideas, or events and to introduce or promote groups and
social causes
– Some8mes overlaps with adver8sing, in defini8on and purpose
HONENS: POSTERS
WAX, CALGARY, ALBERTA

15. Specialized Areas
• Publica&on design
– Involves the design of editorial content
– Also called editorial design.
– The publica8on designer makes content accessible, interprets
the content’s inten8on to clearly communicate, enhances the
reader’s experience, and establishes a voice, character/spirit,
and format for the publica8on.
• Typographic Design
– Highly specialized area of graphic design focusing on the
creation and design of fonts, type treatments, and the
drawing of letterforms by hand (as opposed to type
generated on a computer)

16. Applica&ons within Specialized Areas
• Adver8sing
– Print ads, television commercials, unconven8onal formats, banner ads, web
sites, “webisodes,” web films, product placement, viral marke8ng, direct mail,
branded entertainment, product placement
• Branding
– Brand naming, brand concep8on, brand iden8ty, brand revitaliza8on, brand
launch, brand relaunch, brand environments, global branding, corporate
branding, social cause branding, brand strategy
• Iden8ty Design
– Logos, visual iden8ty, corporate iden8ty, branding

17. Applica&ons within Specialized Areas
• Corporate Communica8on
– Annual reports, brochures, sales kits, marke8ng collateral, corporate
publica8ons, business‐to‐business applica8ons, corporate websites and
intranet, and new product offerings applica8ons
• Informa8on Design
– Charts, graphs, pictograms, signs, symbol signs, icons, web sites, sign systems
• Environmental Design
– Architectural interiors, interplan exhibit environmental graphics, exhibits,
environmental wayfinding (system of integrated signs)

18. Applica&ons within Specialized Areas
• Interac8ve or Experience Design
– Websites, widgets, social networking, video sharing, photo sharing, blogs,
vlogs, games and other entertainment, and mobile applica8ons
• Mo8on Graphics
– Film 8tle design, TV graphics design, openers, e‐mail videos, mobile mo8on
graphics, mo8on for video‐sharing pla]orms, and promo8onal mo8on
presenta8ons for any screen
• Package Design
– Structural packaging, packaging and visual iden8ty systems, packaging
graphics, new brand development, and self‐promo8on, with applica8ons
ranging from consumer packaged goods to CDs to shopping bags and more

19. Applica&ons within Specialized Areas
• Promo8onal design
– CD covers, book covers and jackets, posters, packaging, web
sites, web banners, mo8on graphics (film 8tle design, TV
graphics design, openers, promo8onal mo8on presenta8ons),
mul8media promo8ons, giveaways, merchandise catalogs,
direct mail, invita8ons, announcements
• Publica8on Design
– Book design, magazine design, newspaper design, newslebers,
booklets
• Typographic Design
– Custom and proprietary font design for digital type foundry,
hand lebering, custom typography

20. Mass Media
• For many visual communica8ons categories, different media can be employed.
– Print, digital, broadcast, unconven8onal, or film
– Mul8ple channel campaigns

21. The Nature and Impact of
Visual Communica&ons
• Produced in mul8ples (reproduc8on and distribu8on), graphic
design is created for a specific audience.
• In graphic design, a message is inten8onally designed, transmibed,
and then received by viewers.

22. Employment in the
Visual Communica&on Field
• The main places of employment for a visual
communica8on professional are:
– Design studios – Adver8sing agencies
– Branding firms – Integrated
communica8on firms
– Publishers
– Marke8ng companies
– Digital / Interac8ve
agencies – Organiza8ons with in‐
house design
– Guerrilla /
departments
Unconven8onal
marke8ng firms – Freelance and self‐
employed designers

23. Collaboration
• From developing a strategy to nego8a8ng a fee to choosing a printer,
the client and graphic designer collaborate.
• A graphic designer also works with other visual communica8ons
professionals
– Crea8ve directors
– Design directors
– Associate crea8ve directors
– Produc8on experts
– Photographers, illustrators, copywriters, and art directors
– Specialists
• (interac8ve / type/lebering / architects / film directors /
producers / cas8ng directors / talent (actors, musicians,
and models) / music houses / IT professionals /
psychologists / social anthropologists/market researchers)
– Printers and printers’ sales representa8ves

24. “Design MaVers”
• Paula Scher, Pentagram
– The visual communica8ons profession helps to drive the economy, provide
informa8on to the public, and promote research and development of goods
and services.

25. Ethics in Visual Communica&ons
• Each individual designer is responsible to discover ethical ways to
prac8ce.
• Any design problem can be solved in a great number of ways and
each solu8on has different economic and social benefits and
consequences.

26. Summary
• Graphic design and adver8sing both play a key role in the appearance of almost all
print, film, and screen‐based media, forming society’s popular visual landscape.
• Graphic designers and adver8sing art directors are the crea8ve professionals who,
through ethical prac8ce, use constructed visual communica8on to convey
messages and informa8on to an audience.
• Visual communica8on can persuade, inform, iden8fy, mo8vate, enhance, organize,
brand, rouse, locate, engage, and carry or convey many levels of meaning.

27. Summary
• Visual communica8on professionals work in a variety of secngs—
design studios, branding firms, companies, corpora8ons and
organiza8ons with in‐house design departments, publishers,
interac8ve agencies, unconven8onal marke8ng firms, adver8sing
agencies, and integrated communica8on firms, as well as in their
own studios as freelancers. They collaborate with a good number of
other crea8ve professionals as well as with their clients.
• Design mabers: Visual communica8on helps society in a great
number of ways, from driving the economy to informing the public.
• Visual communica8on professionals need to be well educated with
a strong liberal arts background and excellent training in design and
wri8ng. They must also be conversant in ethics.