September 2006

What Exactly Is Graphic Design and Why Should You Care?
By Jodie Stowe, Stowe Design, and Gabriela Martínez, Texto

Webster's defines graphic design as "the practice or profession of designing print or electronic forms of visual information, as for an advertisement, publication, or web site."

Graphic design as a practice can be traced back to the origin of the written word. Once you arrange image and/or text to communicate a message, you are entering the world of graphic design. It can appear in any media - print, digital media, motion pictures, animation, product decoration, packaging and signs.

To understand how much graphic design touches your life, imagine a trip to the movies. All around you will see the creations of graphic designers:

• Your cell phone screen to call your friend to join you – graphical user interface design
• The newspaper with the movie times and locations – newspaper and advertising design
• The Fandango web site where you pre-purchased the tickets – web design
• The logo on your VW bug – branding and ID development
• Your ticket – technical layout design
• The movie posters – promotional advertising
• The popcorn, Red Vines box and water bottle – package design
• The opening and closing credits to the movie – typography or motion pictures
• The icons identifying genders on the bathroom doors – symbol design
• And finally the exit signs pointing the way out of the building – signage design.

Play this game in different environments – your health club, an airport or a restaurant. The more you do it, the more your eye will develop a sense of all the graphic design surrounding you.

As you become familiar with the graphics in your day-to-day life, ask yourself: Does the design communicate the message? Do you like the design? These are important questions to keep in mind while searching for a designer. Which leads us to the next section.

Why Do You Need a Graphic Designer?

As you begin to see how pervasive branding and design are, you will also see the need to develop your own graphic presence. This does not necessarily mean that that you'll be competing with NIKE®’s branding department. It just means that your business should have its own professional look and style, just as you do. After all you wouldn't cut your hair yourself or let your kids select your clothing.

You need to hire a graphic designer if:

• You do not have a business logo
• You have a logo, but use it just on your business cards or only occasionally
• You have a logo, but you've outgrown it.
• Your existing company materials are all over the map, meaning they don't look like they all come from the same company.
• You are considering a marketing campaign
• You are launching a new product or service
• You are creating a web site.

These are all different applications of a designer's talents. A good designer can make a tremendous difference to your company's image. But how do you find one of these experts? Where do you start?

How Do You Hire A Graphic Designer?

As in hiring any other consultant, ask your colleagues and friends for recommendations. You will get information about creativity, performance, reliability and pricing. You wouldn't normally get such information from a more anonymous search. Once you have a list of designers, consider their styles, portfolios, experience, education, references and price.

You have to love their style

You can get a good idea of the designers' styles from their web sites or from seeing samples of their work. The samples are the primary way to evaluate the designer's skill and styles. Ask yourself:

• Is the work creative, different from the norm but not too gimmicky?
• Is the work professional-looking? Are pieces easy and inviting to read?
• Are the colors pleasing?
• Does the designer have only one style or multiple styles to fit different industries?
• If just one style, does it fit your industry?
• Can you tell what message is being conveyed in each piece?

In design, more than in most other areas, much of what we like or dislike is subjective. Trying to rationalize that something is "good" even if we don't like it is missing the point. The chairs below are all well-designed, each in a different style. Still, would you have a set of any six of them in your dining room? If your first answer is no, then you understand why picking a graphic designer is ultimately a matter of taste. Yours and theirs.

Once you have found some designers whose style you love, you can move on to the next step: assessing the professionalism and reliability of the candidates. In the next issue we'll discuss how you evaluate their portfolios, experience, education, references and price to find the right person for your job.

©2006, Stowe Design and Texto. All rights reserved.

About the Authors: Jodie Stowe helps companies needing to accelerate their business through graphic design. Jodie has more than 25 years of experience thoughtfully transforming business messages into memorable, enduring design. She graduated from Rochester Institute of Technology with a BFA in environmental design (which included product, interior, packaging, exhibit and graphic design). You may contact her at 650-326-6664 or, to see online samples, go to www.stowedesign.com.

Gabriela Martinez, BA, is founder and principal of Texto, a graphics design firm. For more than 15 years Texto has been creating imaginative and practical marketing and technical materials for companies that need a solid, behind-the-scenes design resource. Texto’s extensive portfolio includes corporate identity, marketing collateral, technical publications, PowerPoint presentations, patent drawings, and websites. You can contact Gabriela at 408-395-8943. To view a partial portfolio please go to www.texto.com.