The Inside Scoop on Graphic Design

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This guest post is part of our ongoing Small Business Experts series, and is written by Cathlyn Driscoll, co-founder of Best Business Mastery in New Jersey.

What do Graphic Designers really do? Many business leaders I’ve met in my time have limited knowledge in the area of graphic design. Some assume that graphic designers are just there to make a page in a brochure or web site ‘pretty’ or ‘interesting.’

While this is part of what graphic designers do, their main job is to promote communication. Graphic designers are educated in the various forms of software, but they are also could have backgrounds in communication, logic, sociology and even a bit of psychology. It amazed me during my graphic design education that I was studying philosophy and philosophers such as Socrates, Plato and Aristotle as part of my graphic design education.

Art History also plays a large part of a graphic designer’s background. Because of this, they tend to know history better as well. I was once able to save a simple time line in an ad campaign because the execs wanted to use a certain image, and I had to point out to them that they were using a Roman statue, not a Greek statue as they originally intended. Perhaps most customers wouldn’t have noticed this, but it’s one of those details that can make or break an impression on those who may have been interested in investing in the company I mentioned.

A graphic designer’s job is to take a corporate message, slogan, tag line and create an environment which reflects the firm’s ideology, environment, corporate culture and send a message to it’s customers. To do this, the graphic designer employs a wide variety of colors, images, graphics, typefaces, white space to convey the information. A great deal of information and consideration goes into selecting just the right colors, images, and typefaces that will communicate the correct information in a clear, concise manner.

Far too many execs think of brochures and web sites as ancillary items, when they should be utilizing them as important, decisive business tools. Now more than ever, it’s important to employ a graphic designer who goes beyond just being able to manipulate an image in Photoshop.

Best Business Mastery Tip: Do not leave your brochures and web sites up to administrative assistants who have no training in this area. A talented graphic designer on your team can make the difference between having products, brochures and web sites look pretty, or actually communicate to your customers the correct messaging that results in a customers’ understanding, engagement and increased sales.

Other articles similar on this topic can be found here.

Tagged as: graphic design, graphic designers, graphics

Ronnie Saini Design

A nice description of a Graphic Designer here.

and yes, if people think that why to hire an Architect to design their Dream Home which they could easily do by referring any Interior Design Book/Magazine then they know what happens after that, they have to live in the house which may not have enough storage area or the Kitchen at the wrong place.

So, always hire a professional to do a better job! Design or Communications Jobs are well suited for a Graphic Designer than anyone else!

Thanks for sharing!

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cathlyndriscoll

My post probably should have mentioned package designers, medical package designers, product design (wall papers, decorative box designers etc), as well as form designers etc. That is the wonderful thing about graphic design, it's so flexible! I agree too, that package designers are a specialty and if a small business has the need, should seek them out. A friend of mine is a package designer, and though I'm a graphic designer myself, I'd go to him for any POS (point of sale) product that I or any of my clients would need.

Many small business owners know a lot about their own specialty- flowers, jewelry, pizzas, etc, but may not know anything about web sites, graphic design, etc. So my intent was just to inform- in general.

I see way too many large firms hand such projects off to administrative assistants with no knowledge in the field- and expect them to come up with professional looking results. Certainly, a small business would find the expense challenging- but it's so important for all your graphic design needs to be met with professionals in order to get professional results.

Also- here is a listing of price ranges from HOW magazine for small businesses to be aware of some of the costs they can expect- and should budget in to their business expenses: http://www.howdesign.com/article/hourlyrates/
Prices reflect numbers of years in the field and experience.

jasonvistaprint

Hi Jeff,

Sorry that your first comment didn't come through - not sure why that is.

To address your comment, I don't think that we can assume that everyone who reads the blog has the knowledge to understand that graphic design is a vital tool that should be carefully considered. I know from personal experience that at times graphic design is looked upon as something that's "not worth it" or "not in the budget" so hopefully this article was able to shed some light on the topic and explain why it IS so important.

But thanks very much for reading and taking the time to comment!

Jason

jamescsmith

Flag,
I wouldn't entrust it to any "graphic designer", but to an experienced package designer. There is a big difference. As talented as some designers are, package design is a speciality. And even package design has its categories. Cosmetic package designers have a completely difference target market than toy, pharmaceuticals and food and beverage. Just check out sites like packagedesign.com or the thedieline.com. Package design is big business and you only get one chance to make it to the shelf. Why take a chance with an inexperienced excellent graphic designer when you could have an excellent experienced package designer with a track record?
And if I told you what I would do to make it stand out. then I would ruin it for everybody else. Can't give away company secrets. Really, that's what we get into once we receive the client's brief for the project. We never know how to make it stand out until we do the research and go shopping in the category. Then we check out the competition and take it from there. Check out smithdesign.com and see how we have made some our client's brands "stand out".

Jeffrey Jones

So my comment earlier bit the dust somehow. Ain't digital great!?

What I said, best I can recall is that this post is so superficial as to be irrelevant in discussing graphic design as a business communications advantage for companies smart enough to understand that. And that good design adds more value than it does cost, but it is under-appreciated.
Mebbe that will get through the gauntlet.

Jeffrej Jones

What happened to my comment posted this am?

That really is true, even in the media business, people often look to the images first and are then drawn into the story. So you could argue that the image is just as important as the written words and copy.

Thanks for commenting!

James,

Good comment, and interesting point around package design. What advice would you give for package design, would you entrust that to a graphic designer, or would you take that task on your own? What would make it stand out?

Cathy Mason Pixmac

Thank you for defining a graphic designer so clearly here!
In this economy the 'business tools' of graphics are even more important than ever!

DivvyWork

Agreed, graphic designers are just as much comm people as your PR person is. However instead of using press release or speeches to pass along his or her message the designer uses layout and imagery. Its just like the old saying goes... A picture is worth a 1000 words.

Although brochures and web sites are mentioned, the mere exclusion of package design from the article only furthers the notion of good design taken for granted.
Brochures and web sites, as well as commercials, are often support for the product sitting on the shelf, fighting for it's survival. It is the package designer's objective to get that package to stand out from the clutter, while still enforcing the brand's message. Not an easy task in this day of extreme competition and reduced budgets.