The first task for a graphic designer is to understand what it is that s/he is asked to do and consider the possible solutions. The project always starts with a brief, where you are asked to do something. You can’t really start until you understand who the audience for that piece of communication is going to be. A good strategy to go about your initial planning would be what’s called a scenario planning, where the scenario puts the user at the center of the design, not what the design looks like. The next stage is coming up with initial ideas/concepts for the piece of work. Then look at all the constraints that you have: of time, of budget, of production method. The last step you go through before you come up with a final design is prototyping. It is the trial and error stage where you test both the functionality and aesthetic of the design.
All posts by Gwyneth
What is Graphic Design?
Graphic design is all about communication, which is done so through the use of images and text. The job of a graphic designer is to understand what it is that needs to be communicated. For example, if they’re to design a dust jacket, they would have to understand the content of the book in order to come up with a design that communicates the idea/content presented in the book. Graphic design is all over the place, you see it when you pick up your phone (someone had to come up with the design that would work best for that phone), or when you get on social networking websites such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, etc. (the layout for those websites and apps was designed by somebody). These designs not only serve to please your eyes, but also serves to make life easier for you. If it’s your first time visiting a place, you pull out your phone and open your wayfinder app, so you don’t get lost. That app was designed to be easy to use, so that the only thing you’d have to worry about is getting to your destination, not how to navigate through the app.
Introduction
Hi everyone! My name’s Gwyneth, but you can call me Gwen. I am an animation major, and this is my 2nd year at BMCC. I do have prior experience with graphic design starting from high school. I’ve done some personal and professional stuff with Photoshop and Illustrator, although I am much more confident with Photoshop because I create pieces that lean more into painting and drawing much more than I come up with graphic design projects. If you need any help with those programs and if I am familiar with how to go about the problems your face with the software, don’t hesitate to ask! I would love to learn more about coming up with designs because as I am now, it takes me quite a bit of time to conduct research and come up with thumbnail sketches in order to finish a project. I’d definitely like to be more efficient with working in this field because it is something that interests me, and something that I already started dabbling with, so it doesn’t hurt to learn more about it. I look forward to working with all of you!
What a Graphic Designer Does
Thinking back to a time where I knew nothing about graphic design and what graphic designers do, that would be before I took my graphic design class in high school. So prior to that, I don’t really know what I thought what graphic design is prior to watching the video because the video was more of a review for me. But if I’m going to guess, I would’ve thought that graphic design is strictly limited to logos and business cards and all that. Before taking the class, I did not have any experience with graphic design, nor did I ever think about taking into consideration the principles of design when I did my drawings.
As of now, I’ve taken 1 graphic design class, and currently taking another one (this class). I’ve taken a multimedia class before, and it does brush up on the concept of how design works (in a way), so that did help me gain some more experience in this field. I know the experience doesn’t seem a lot, but the high school class I’ve taken was with this teacher who I consider my mentor, since he pushed me and helped me develop my skills in such little time. He helped me become skillful that I was confident enough to take on some personal and professional design projects. What I know and remembered in the video for this week was that: graphic design is not limited to such little things such as logos and business cards, it is much broader than that. Graphic designers build a design that helps their clients or themselves communicate better communicate an idea. What I consider a good design would be something simple and still effectively conveys the idea it’s supposed to carry. What do you think makes for a good design?
