thumb|[[Isotype (picture language)|Isotype of the Bauhaus school. Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius, it is considered the birthplace of the design profession.]]

A graphic designer is a practitioner who follows the discipline of graphic design, either within companies or organizations or independently. They are professionals in design and visual communication, with their primary focus on transforming linguistic messages into graphic manifestations, whether tangible or intangible. They are responsible for planning, designing, projecting, and conveying messages or ideas through visual communication. Graphic design is one of the most in-demand professions with significant job opportunities, as it allows leveraging technological advancements and working online from anywhere in the world.

Education

Referring back to the history of graphic design development, it is evident that the design field was always a skill demanding profession due to variability of printing responsibilities. The post war era shifted designers’ focus to the advertising and consumerism promotion.

Profession

thumb|A graphic designer working digitally on a logo design

Generally, a graphic designer works in areas such as branding, corporate identity, advertising, technical and artistic drawing, multimedia, etc. It is a profession that exposes individuals to various academic fields during their university career, because they need to understand human anatomy, psychology, photography, painting and printing techniques, mathematics, marketing, digital animation, 3D modeling, and some professionals even complement their skills with programming, providing a comprehensive view of a company by addressing the three essential factors evaluated: structure, team, and product. Graphic designers are usually expected to have process management, conceptual design, technical design and software skills to apply for a graphic designer position.

Graphic design encompasses various extends of expertise, which is categorised by such levels of qualifications:

  • Junior (entry Level)
  • Mid-level
  • Senior (advanced)

Role and Responsibilities

Professional requirements for graphic designers vary from one place to another. Their role and responsibilities evolve and morph each year, adapting to the current technologies and market demands. A practitioner essentially has two primary roles in the process: satisfying the design brief and executing the job. Practical, technical, and academic requirements to become a graphic designer vary by country or jurisdiction, although the formal study of design in academic institutions has played a crucial role in the overall development of the profession. Graphic designers can work with singular clients or multiple people including collaborations. This is where communication is crucial because misunderstandings can lead to setbacks.

The primary responsibility of graphic designers is to manipulate visual and textual content. Today, graphic designers are much more than visual decorators - they are required to be versatile and have various skills besides the design realm.

Graphic design is usually tightly connected with stakeholders and commerce, which means that graphic designers' decisions depend on clients’ vision.

A graphic designer is a versatile instrument that is capable of visually communicating messages through a skilful usage of typography, imagery, compositional layout, visual hierarchy, colour combinations, and more.

Goals

The main goal of graphic designers is to effectively communicate messages relying on text and images.

Qualifications

Designers should be able to solve visual communication problems or challenges. In doing so, the designer must identify the communications issue, gather and analyze information related to the issue, and generate potential approaches aimed at solving the problem. Iterative prototyping and user testing can be used to determine the success or failure of a visual service. Approaches to a communications problem are developed in the context of an audience and a media channel. Graphic designers must understand the social and cultural norms of that audience in order to develop visual services that are perceived as relevant, understandable and effective. Directly speaking with individuals from set audiences can prevent any complications. A good graphic designer is able to adapt existing historical or contemporary models and derive unique approaches, which come from a detailed research, and apply them to solve complex problems in an effortless manner.

Graphic designers should also have a thorough understanding of production and rendering methods. Some of the technologies and methods of production are drawing, offset printing, photography, and time-based and interactive media (film, video, computer multimedia). Frequently, designers are also called upon to manage color in different media.

Future perspectives

While appreciating the advantages of the development of AI technologies in the design realm, it is important to notice a drastic shift in visual communication sphere that influences its practitioners. The position of the human designer is challenged by the advancement of AI(Artificial Intelligence) and ML (Machine Learning) in graphic design, altering how it is defined and perceived. According to some theories, human designers will need to shift their focus to the facilitation and curation of context-sensitive design services. The idea that humans are positioned inside a deficit narrative is one of the most common motifs in the research of automated design technologies. Humans are portrayed as imperfect and untrustworthy in comparison to robots, unable to perform jobs with the same accuracy and speed. The progress is appealing under neoliberal capitalism. In addition to the expenses of acquisition and upkeep, machines might execute a greater workload faster and without payment.

According to some analysts, graphic designers will act as intermediaries between customers and computer-generated goods. In such case, the task of the designer is not giving the form to a product, but seeding the system and evaluating the results. In this case, the human designer uses their expertise, skills and knowledge to understand and improve outcomes to the satisfaction of a client. Designers are more concerned with making sure the product is sound and of the appropriate quality. It is suggested that the designer will collaborate with automated designers as part of a larger digital ecosystem rather than serving as the "master" of tools.