PragmaGraphic

If you’re a graphic designer, take a look at this interesting post written by Mark Busse at Industrial Brand Creative. Here’s an excerpt:

It seems to me and the dozens of colleagues that I’ve polled in the last year that the word “graphic” no longer accurately describes the design solutions that we create.

Mark has gathered a good cross section of information on the subject. This is a topic that many professional designers, myself included, wrestle with often. I’ve always considered myself to be, at the core, a graphic designer. Someone who can influence outcomes by creating visual systems of words and pictures (yes, that’s off the top of my head). Of course, the modern designer acts as a strategist for his or her clients on many levels, and there’s a need among us designers to point that out, in an effort to force the business community to acknowledge the value we bring to the party. While many executives still view us as merely stylists, I do believe the situation is improving as design-centered giants like Apple or Target pave the way. Like Mark, I’ve wrestled with many different terms to define what I do. Graphic Designer. Communication Designer. Digital Media Designer. When I recently updated my resume, I landed on “Interactive Designer/Producer, Strategist, Creative Director”.

I feel that a perspective worth noting here is the situation that interior designers are in. Interior design has gained much popularity and respect over the past several years, thanks to cable programming like HGTV and the DIY Network. Take for example, Candice Olson, who has become something of a superstar interior designer with her show Divine Design. On shows like this, the terms “interior designer” or “interior design” are never used. It’s only “the designer” and “design”. On the downside, this practice clouds the public’s definition of “designer” because these shows are viewed by so many people. On the other hand, these shows demonstrate that good interior designers, like graphic designers, assess the client’s current situation, identify problems and challenges, and invent solutions, often within the limitations of time and budget.

I understand Mark’s choice of “Communication Designer”. I’ve used this term too. But I’m not sure I’m ready to let go of “Graphic Design” just yet. I’m an AIGA professional member. In the past, AIGA has stood for “American Institute of Graphic Arts”. While this is a mouthful, I’ve always thought it to be appropriately formal, and generally accurate - whenever I describe the AIGA in layman’s terms, I say it’s “the national professional association for graphic designers”. Recently the AIGA has dropped the old descriptor, in favor of “the professional association for design”, which, IMHO is just too broad.

As for me, I am still a graphic designer. I’ve been in the business for about 15 years, and have grown into a creative strategist, brand strategist, even sometimes an operations strategist. And while these disciplines are interesting, I participate in them out of necessity. They are the “common sense” we designers use to continually explain to our clients that well-designed materials don’t just look pretty, they make work easier, they sell products, they create change. For us designers, this is obvious. Until it’s more ubiquitously obvious to the business community, graphic designers must to continue to educate, which I think is best done through effective work.

If you’re reading this and you’re a designer, I encourage you to join the AIGA. Whatever your feelings about the words “graphic” and “design”, this is the association that will help you connect with the design community on the national level, that forges respect for our profession, and connects average joes like me with the Clement Moks, Hillman Curtises, and Stefan Sagmeisters of the world.