Graphic Designer

Gabriel and Maxim Shamir
Occupation
Names	creative director, art director
Activity sectors	advertising, book design, branding, illustration, page layout, typography, web design
Description
Competencies	technical knowledge, cultural relevance, art history

A graphic designer is a professional within the graphic design and graphic arts industry who assembles together images, typography or motion graphics to create a piece of design. A graphic designer creates the graphics primarily for published, printed or electronic media, such as brochures (sometimes) and advertising. They are also sometimes responsible for typesetting, illustration, user interfaces, web design, or take a teaching position. A core responsibility of the designer's job is to present information in a way that is both accessible and memorable.^[1]

Qualifications[link]

A degree or certificate from an accredited trade school is usually considered essential for a graphic design position. After a career history has been established, though, the graphic designer's experience and number of years in the business are considered the primary qualifications. A portfolio, which is the primary method for demonstrating these qualifications, is usually required to be shown at job interviews, and is constantly developed throughout a designer's career.

One can obtain an AAS, BA, BFA, MFA or an MPhil / PhD in graphic design. Degree programs available vary depending upon the institution, although typical U.S. graphic design jobs require at least some form of degree.

Current graphic designer jobs demand proficiency in one or more graphic design software programs. Arguably, the most common software used in the graphic design industry is Adobe Creative Suite. The "Suite" has three primary programs used by a designer:

• Photoshop -manipulate photos, typography and create images with a variety of effects.
• Illustrator -create logos and typography.
• InDesign-create typography, and output print layouts. (Some designers still prefer QuarkXPress when creating layouts, as it was previously the industry standard choice.)

Outside the graphic design industry many people use Microsoft Word to make a layout or design. However, depending on the job at hand, most designers create the layout in either InDesign or QuarkXPress. Specifically, the designer will type the text in the layout program, importing the graphics and images they created in PhotoShop or Illustrator. There are a couple reasons a designer builds a layout in this fashion:

• Files going to press are printed at 300 dots per inch. As a result, the file size can become very large. So by using a layout program and importing the graphics and images, the working file is a fraction of the file size. When the designer is ready to go to press, they will either create a press-ready PDF; or do what is called, "Collect For Output."
• InDesign or QuarkXpress make it possible to work with large multipage layouts like catalogs and booklets.
• Since InDesign and QuarkXPress import the original file, linking to the graphics and images, the designer can change the "original file" and it will update all instances throughout the document to save time.

A web designer should understand how to work with XML, HTML, and basic web programming scripts. A print designer should understand the processes involved in printing to be able to produce press-ready artwork.

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 solution. 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 solutions that are perceived as relevant, understandable and effective.^[2]

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.^[3]

Career portfolio[link]

Fifty years ago, the graphic designer's portfolio was usually a black book or large binder in which samples of the artist's best printed pieces were carried to show prospective clients or employers. Printed pieces are often protected inside by being mounted on boards or slipped into Acetate sleeves.

Since the 1990s, portfolios have become increasingly computer digitized, and now may be entirely digitized and available on the Internet, or on CD, DVD, or via email.

Branding[link]

Graphic design relates heavily to corporate identity, the branding and "persona" of a corporation.

See also[link]

• Graphic design occupations
• List of graphic designers

References[link]

Wim Crouwel
Born	1928 Groningen
Nationality	Dutch
Field	Typographer, Graphic designer
Training	Academie Minerva, Groningen, NL Gerrit Rietveld Academie Amsterdam, NL
Works	New Alphabet
Awards	H.N. Werkmanprijs 1958/1966 Frans Duwaerprijs 1965 Piet Zwart Prizes 1991 Jan-Stankovsky-Preis 1991 BKVB Funds Oeuvre Award 2004 Gerrit Noordzij Prize 2009

Willem Hendrik (Wim) Crouwel (Groningen, 1928) is a Dutch graphic designer and typographer. Between 1947 and 1949, he studied Fine Arts at Academie Minerva in Groningen, The Netherlands. In addition to that, he studied typography at what is now the Gerrit Rietveld Academie in Amsterdam.

Work[link]

Type face
New Alphabet

Type face
Gridnik

In 1963, he was one of the founders of the design studio Total Design (currently named Total Identity). From 1964 onwards, Crouwel was responsible for the design of the posters, catalogues and exhibitions of the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam. In 1967 he designed the typeface New Alphabet, a design that embraces the limitations of the cathode ray tube technology used by early data display screens and phototypesetting equipment and thus only contains horizontal and vertical strokes. Other typefaces from his hand are Fodor and Gridnik. In 1970 he designed the Dutch pavilion for Expo '70 (Osaka, Japan). A design of Crouwel that is well known in the Netherlands is that of the Number Postage Stamps for the Dutch PTT (in circulation from 1976–2002).

In the years Crouwel was working for Total Design, he designed many geometric wordmarks,^[1] one of which is the wordmark for the Rabobank, designed in 1973. The lettershapes have been influenced by the fact that the wordmark had to be used as a 3D light box. After the 3D application was finalized, the 2D design for print was adapted from it.

According to Wim Crouwel,^[2] New Alphabet was ‘over-the-top and never meant to be really used’. However, as unreadable as it was, it made a comeback in 1988 when designer Brett Wickens used a version of the font on the sleeve of Substance by Joy Division.^[3]

In addition to his work as graphic designer, he was also active in the educational field. In the 1950s he worked as a teacher at the Royal Academy for Art and Design in 's-Hertogenbosch (currently called Akademie Voor Kunst en Vormgeving St. Joost or AKV|St. Joost) and at the predecessor of what is now the Gerrit Rietveld Academie. Between 1965 and 1985 he was connected to the department of industrial design of the Delft University of Technology. From 1987 to 1993 he was extraordinary professor in the fields of History, Arts and Culture Studies at the Erasmus University Rotterdam. In the years 1985–1993 he was director of the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen in Rotterdam.

Crouwel's graphic work is especially well known for the use of grid-based layouts and typography that is rooted in the International Typographic Style.

Awards[link]

• 1958 and 1966 – De H.N. Werkmanprijs
• 1965 – The Frans Duwaerprijs
• 1991 – The Piet Zwart Prize
• 1991 – The Jan-Stankovsky-Preis (Germany)
• 2004 – The BKVB Funds Oeuvre Award (National Foundation for Art, Design, and Architecture)
• 2009 – The Gerrit Noordzij Prize

Literature[link]

• Frederike Huygen, Hugues Boekraad, Wim Crouwel: Mode en Module, 010 Publishers, Rotterdam (1997), (ISBN 90-6450-310-9), (Dutch).
• Kees Broos, Wim Crouwel: Alphabets, BIS Publishers, Amsterdam (2003), (ISBN 90-6369-037-1), (English).
• Catherine de Smet, Emmanuel Bérard, Wim Crouwel: Architectures Typographiques / Typographic Architectures, Editions F7, Paris (2007), (ISBN 978-2-916796-02-4), (French/English).
• * Kerry William Purcell, "Wim Crouwel: Modern Method", Eye Magazine, No. 79, Spring, 2011.

References[link]

1. ^ 'Broos, K, Wim Crouwel: Alphabets, BIS Publishers, Amsterdam (2003), (ISBN 90-6369-037-1)
2. ^ Wim Crouwel on his 80th birthday (www.design.nl)
3. ^ Brett Wickens on Saville Associates

External links[link]

• Wim Crouwel bio at Iconofgraphics.com
• Postage stamps designed by Wim Crouwel
• Architype 3 Collection containing Crouwel's typefaces on Foundrytypes
• Definitive digital version of Gridnik on Foundrytypes
• *Kerry William Purcell, "Wim Crouwel: Modern Method", Eye Magazine, No. 79, Spring, 2011