What is Graphic Design?

Graphic Design is defined on a broad scale as the art or profession of visual communication that combines images, words, and ideas to convey some type of information to an audience in order to produce a specific effect. It is as ancient as language itself. It is the cryptic ticks of Sumerian record keeping; the intricate embellishments of German religion; and the life-saving iconography of clever institutions.

Because the primary purpose of graphic design is to pass along information, the usage, methods, and technologies have grown and evolved with society. Ancient civilizations standardized the visual representation of their language resulting in the first alphabets. The need to spread identical information to masses of people resulted in the first printing presses and, as the world grew, designers needed a better way to compile information faster, resulting in Linotype machines (the grandfather of the first word-processor). Each new development in technology opened a new door for graphic designers that required them to not only master the communication of the message itself, but also the medium that message was to be presented on.

This marriage of art and craft required designers to understand topics such as: typography, illustration, color theory and composition in order create visual and verbal elements into an ordered and effective whole.¹ Additional challenges presented to modern designers include linear time-based design (animation and video) as well as non-linear time-based design in the form of the interactive presentations often found on the web. As long as there is information to convey, graphic design will continue to evolve and adapt its ever-growing repertoire to society and the new technologies it develops.