What is Graphic Design?

Over at the Design Observer there is a wonderful article entitled "A Layperson's Guide to Graphic Design". I am sure most graphic designers have found it extremely difficult when trying to describe what it is you do to someone that doesn't work in the field. This gives a brief description of what graphic design is and what a graphic designer does to a non-professional audience.

Here is a portion of the article:

Considering graphic design’s ubiquity in modern life, I’m not sure that many people (non-designers that is) understand much about it. It’s something that people encounter every day — perhaps every minute of their waking lives — yet they hardly bother to consider the impact, either for good or bad, that it has on their lives. It’s a subject that means a great deal to the people who do it for a living, but rarely means much to the people it’s aimed at.

Graphic design has been likened to a wine glass. When we drink wine we barely notice the glass it’s served in. It wouldn’t be true to say that we don’t care what glass we drink out of — we wouldn’t choose to drink a rare vintage out of a Tupperware mug, for example — but it’s the wine that matters, not the vessel it comes in.

It’s the same with graphic design: people absorb the messages that graphic designers use their skill, training and ingenuity to make, yet rarely stop to think how the message is constructed or how it affects the viewer. This seems odd considering graphic design’s ubiquity in the modern world.

You can read it in it's entirety here.