Graphic design has been around for ages. From advertisements on paper and screen to company logos and product packaging, we encounter design every day. Combining thought, appeal, and function with colors, lines, and fonts, designers influence our views of the world.

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	Designers use the elements of typography, images, and white space to communicate ideas and messages from clients to audiences.

Designers use the elements of typography, images, and white space to communicate ideas and messages from clients to audiences. Combining art and technology, graphic designers create work which not only provides pleasure and attracts audiences' attention but also informs, convinces, and causes audiences to act.

Graphic designers work with a large variety of communication mediums like CDs, books, magazines, movie credits, TV ads, posters, catalogs, and websites.

Graphic Designers' Tasks

Graphic designers usually perform the following tasks:

• Interacting with clients and identifying their needs
  
  
• Collecting relevant information about products/services and their users
  
  
• Brainstorming and planning design ideas
  
  
• Deciding the most effective ways to visually convey messages
  
  
• Presenting probable ideas, along with budgets and schedules, to clients
  
  
• On approval, adjusting designs to suit clients' needs, and, if need be, incorporating their suggestions
  
  
• Preparing sketches and layouts and illustrating their visions for designs
  
  
• Developing the sizes and arrangements of different elements on a page or screen
  
  
• Selecting colors, sounds, illustrations, artwork, photography, animation, styles of types, and other visual elements for designs
  
  
• Using computer software to execute designs
  
  
• Working with printers, programmers, developers, or other technicians to help complete assignments
  
  
• Submitting final designs to clients or art/creative directors for approval
  
  
• Acquiring the latest knowledge in the field
  
  
• Supervising assistants' creations
  
  
• Devoting a substantial amount of time to develop new business (applicable only to designers who work on their own)

Useful Skills

To excel in a competitive field like design, professionals need to possess the following skills:

• Artistic sense and creativity
  
  
• Ability to synthesize client's business needs with design elements
  
  
• Verbal and visual communication skills
  
  
• Problem-solving skills
  
  
• Ability to produce quality design ideas and execute them within work, time, and budget constraints
  
  
• Ability to use design software and graphic tools like InDesign, Quark XPress, Photoshop, and Adobe Illustrator
  
  
• Solid understanding of the corporate world's needs

Designers' jobs carry high visibility—they are the first to draw commendation or condemnation for all successes and failures of their work. Although risks and rejections, irregular schedules, and difficult deadlines are integral parts of this field, they fail to frustrate designers who are in deeply in love with their work.

On the net:

Graphic Design Job Description
www.allartschools.com/faqs/graphic-design-job.php

Graphic Designers: Occupational Outlook Handbook
www.bls.gov/oco/ocos090.htm

Graphic Design: A Career Guide
www.aiga.org/content.cfm/guide-careerguide

Career Profile: Graphic Designer
www.princetonreview.com/cte/profiles/dayInLife.asp?careerID=74

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