Graphic Design is Not All About the Pretty

Most people think that designers only care about making their projects pretty. For some inexperienced designers, that might be the case. But that notion couldn't be further from the truth.

As a graphic designer, the first thing I consider, when working on any visual marketing project, is its role in the brand. This sometimes frustrates clients, because they want the designer to just design, not to ask a lot of questions, or to constrain their creative flair.

However, every good designer cares about where a project fits. They want to know questions like:

• Who’s the target market?
• How does this fit the brand?
• What part of the marketing cycle does this appear?
• What’s this suppose to accomplish?
• What are the legal, budgetary, or physical constraints?

They want to know these factors because brand consistency, marketing goals, and communication is more important than aesthetics. This is not to say that aesthetics are unimportant. It’s to say that the underlying foundation must be there for aesthetics to matter.

Photo courtesy National Gallery of Art