Categories:> Design

8 Types of Graphic Design

The words “graphic design” brings different thoughts and ideas to different people because there are different types of graphic design. Some people associate graphic design with web design and apps while others think of brochures and business cards, and some people instantly think of logo design and brand identity. Graphic design is a visual communication skill, which means it exists in a spectrum from the more cerebral and interpretive concepts to the most literal and direct types of messaging.

No matter where along the spectrum a single piece of work may lie, there is no doubt that graphic design is essential to modern businesses. In today’s 24 hour multimedia environment, graphic design fuses technology, aesthetics, and creative thinking to communicate a message. Look around and you’ll see design everywhere. You see it in the web browser’s user interface that you’re using to read this, the leaflet you were handed on the street, and the packaging of your most recent snack.

Despite being ubiquitous, the different types of graphic design each require a different skillset and library of knowledge. Some graphic designers specialize in a single area while others prefer a variety of challenges.

Below we will highlight 8 types of graphic design. We’ll briefly explore each and also identify the skills require for that particular type of graphic design. Let’s go!

1. Visual Identity Graphic Design

Every business has its own story to tell and a business tells their story through their own unique brand identity. The visual identity of the brand is just that, the visual elements that communicate the intangible qualities of the brand through shapes, colors, and images.

Designers and agencies like our own, create visual assets such as logos, typography, color palettes, and image libraries to represent the personality of a brand. We go beyond the standard business cards and stationery. We also develop brand guidelines to help anyone in your business understand and follow best practices and provide examples of your brand’s visual identity used across various media. The guidelines help to ensure consistency for the brand for future use.

Visual identity designers use a broad range of knowledge and skills to create visuals that are suitable across different types of media. Working with us, we understand that creating a solid brand identity for our clients means excellent communication, creative conceptual skills, strong research, understanding trends, and understanding competitors. Beyond those skills there are also elements of marketing and advertising design that come into play when creating a brand’s visual identity. Because of the need for the brand identity to be applied into these areas.

My Thai Condo branding

2. Marketing & Advertising Graphic Design

Advertisements surround us daily. Ads are on TV screens, store shelves, and are squeezed into almost any suitable area in public spaces. Of course a successful advertising campaign leads to sales of the products or services in the advertisements.

Have you ever given consideration to the time effort that goes into creating an advertising campaign? How about a single advertisement?

To develop a campaign that perfectly communicates a story takes more than just days or months of generating ideas, researching consumer habits, and developing visuals. Marketing and advertising designers need to excel in communicating, problem solving, and time management. Of course the designer also needs to be familiar with the product or service, the brand, and the behavior of the target audience.

Designing the visuals for marketing and advertising requires not only creative design talents, but also sales and the ability to capture the attention of people. 3 Cats Labs works with company leadership and their internal marketing team to create assets that fit a particular marketing strategy.

Marketing and advertising can be divided into printed advertisements such as posters, catalogs, packaging, and more. Digital advertisements also fall under the marketing and advertising category; this is a category that continues to grow as screens become increasingly prevalent in our lives and we can more easily access social media platforms, websites, and streaming services.

times square brand awareness cover

3. Web Design

UI and UX are terms that seem to be everywhere lately, and you’ve probably heard or seen them before. Do you know what they mean?

UI, or User Interface, is how a user interacts with an app or website. UI design is the process of designing easy to use interfaces for a user friendly experience. It includes everything that is used to interact with the product or service, which includes the screen, keyboard, and mouse. In the sense of graphic design the focus is the on screen elements such as the menu, buttons, and other visuals. We want the user to have the best visual experience possible.

UI designers balance aesthetics and technical functions. UI design and designers are usually experienced in desktop applications, mobile apps, web apps, and games.

Often UI designers work in tandem with UX designers who design how something works. It’s UI developers who write the code for desktop, mobile, and web apps.

The mobile industry continues to grow fast and almost every brand needs to consider UI and UX design for their website, apps, or other interfaces such as Augmented Reality. With a great UI and UX design you create a relationship between brand and user. Professionals, like us, will fuse an easy to understand interface, attractive icons, and beautiful art to create a positive brand experience for your users and customers.

4. Package Design

Packaging protects products while simultaneously communicating to consumers. It’s also an important marketing tool for brands wanting to move their products. Packaging designers create concepts, develop mockups, and create the final designs for printing. This means that a package design professional needs to know printing processes and understand industrial design.

A skilled package designer is able to understand current trends and also learn about the competition. A package designer has to be sure that the package they’ve designed stands out to consumers. It must not look similar to competitors because the product will likely then be overlooked.

3 Cats Labs’ designers know package design must be innovative and catch the consumer’s eye.

5. Graphic Design for Publications

Print was the big thing because books, magazines, newspapers, and catalogs needed to be printed for vast audiences. Times have changed and digital is on top. Even the smallest brand or publication can have a global reach. Books have been replaced by ebooks and fashion isn’t in the print magazine but online and on social media.

When working with publications, graphic designers will work closely with editors to create layouts, select typography, and create artwork to accompany the photography, graphics, and illustrations of the publication.

To successfully design for publications a designer needs to be an effective communicator, be organized, and understand layouts. Design for publications also requires color management knowledge, understanding of the printing process and requirements, and certainly digital publishing.

pile of magazines

6. Motion Graphic Design

With more video content and companies turning to animation for showcasing their products and services, motion graphic design is growing in popularity. In addition to marketing, motion graphics are used in video games, apps, banners, subtitles, and animated text.

You’ve probably seen a lot of gifs lately? To create those, a motion graphic designer is needed.

Motion graphic design is one of the newest types of graphic design and also includes 3D graphic design because of its popularity along with motion graphic design. 3D and motion graphic design both share many of the same qualities and required skills. However, 3D graphic designers need to understand lighting and its effects on objects and functions in environments.

3 Cats Labs Creative Agency animated logo

7. Illustration Graphic Design

Graphic designers and graphic artists are often lumped together, but they are different. A graphic designer creates a composition that communicates and solves a problem. A graphic artist creates original artwork.

Graphic artists will often use a mix of media and technologies to create their artwork. Often graphic artists work closely with editors, marketers, and art directors across a range of projects requiring their artistic skills.

Graphic artists usually have a foundation of work in animation, fine art, or architecture. Due to overlapping skills it’s likely that a graphic designer dabbles in graphic art or a graphic artist takes on graphic design projects.

8. Environmental Design

Environmental graphic design connects people to places; in fact it’s one of the types of graphic design you see all day every day without giving a thought to it. Environmental graphic design includes office branding, transportation, navigation, and retail environments. When you’re at the airport and looking at the gate signs telling you where to go; that’s environmental graphic design.

When doing environmental graphic design we want to make places more memorable, interesting and informative, or simply easier to navigate. This type of graphic design is truly interdisciplinary because it combines graphic, environmental, interior, architectural, and industrial design. This means that environmental graphic designers are capable of reading and sketching architectural plans and are also familiar with industrial design concepts.

Changi Airport environmental graphic design

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shane@3catslabs.com | Call +65-3159-4231

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