A typical conversation when someone asks me what do you do for a living? ...
"ooh, being a graphic designer sounds like a really great job, what do you do?"
I had a think about this common reaction I get to my job title, and thinking about the education theorising I am doing at the moment with my final major project for my MA I thought how can people not know what I do?
What does a graphic designer do? Ask any child and they won’t be able to tell you, but the key word of 'design' might make them say ‘make something’…
What do you think a graphic designer does?
People tell me that your job seems really exciting…. but what do you do? I explain that anything that is printed and digital is designed by a graphic designer. And then the penny drops… yep the chip wrapper in your 5guys burger, the menu, the business card, the poster, the timetable, the terms and conditions in your packet of pills, the social media posts from your favourite brand, the signage at the service station, the website where you found love…. and the list goes on.
But why don’t people know what this job involves, the education systems is so focussed on STEM subject that it seem to be missing a trick with the creative ones too (hence the emergence of STEAM: Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Maths) key elements to be able to make our society function… a world without signs will mean your new building won't get its post delivered to it.
The mystification of creative subjects needs to be revealed, parents need to be educated to understand that a career drawing cartoons is a legitimate way of earning a living. Talent at making information stand out from the page makes 'way finding' an art and ensures people know where they are going, on a page and in the world… (signs are a reassurance to the Google map you have been following for 15 minutes).
The arts seem to have a bad press, creativity is only spoken about when people consider something to be bad, graffiti is an eye sore but we can’t get enough of Banksy. A whole new conversation can be started about this... so I shall keep that for another blog :)
A Creative Review article 19.08.22 speaks of the key to bringing new and diverse talent into creative industry we need to raise awareness at school level about the careers available. We need to demystify the process the learning and the practical nature of the roles within creative jobs.
In order to get a job as a User eXperience / User Interaction designer (UX/UI), you need these abilities:
Research
ideas / wire-framing
Prototyping
Information Architecture
Writing
Interaction Design thinking
Digital Mobile Design, online and virtually.
I thought I would just write out below the processes I go through as a designer….
Is it what you thought it would be?
Research:
I ask questions, lots of the company, the business and its customer focus from the client hiring me. I ask them how they see themselves in the world and what colours make them feel represent that.
I approach the user research as if I was building a story, the characters in my proposal are really important understanding their narrative is the thing that ensure success in the design of the product or piece of information, for example a poster or a social media campaign.
Ideas
for me is a pen and paper process… I enjoy rough sketches and scribble to get my mind into the right place when thinking about my characters/images. The wireframe is born out of words, sentences, associations and these spark the ideas needed to make something happen.
(Spending time thinking and day dreaming allow creative people to get new ideas into their heads, it was always fround upon in class, when I was not paying attention to the teacher talking about a subject - my head was filling up with ideas and images that I could have translated in my visual language onto the page and given a really good piece of work to the teacher…. But it isn’t what they wanted. The education system just wanted the sentences the marks to go with them - tina).
Prototyping
Making the ideas real and pitting one against another comes together quickly from there, if I am branding then the process can go through 8 different stages until I get to pick my top three. I always reflect upon the conversations I had with the client, and the face to face way of doing business gives you more in the non verbal communication that the words being said. if working through a style with an existing brand I ensure i have read the guideline and keep them open on my desktop. reference the exact colours, the look and feel and then add some of my own personality to the statement item.
Information Architecture
information flow, sequencing, common sense, condensed information, necessary information. The workings of information architecture are complex and require skills that can be learnt and developed the more you add your practical skills and thinking to problem solving.
Writing
very rarely can you do all things, but to be able to communicate the aims of the piece with some meaningful text is a must. I work with a copywriter a lot and we bounce ideas from one to the other, as part of the creative process, words cannot and should not be underestimated… if you get them wrong your aims are lost!
Interaction design thinking
I always advocate the KISS approach 'Keep It Simple Stupid'. If you cannot navigate someone around your idea or your product or page then you need to think again. Your design enhances the brand the flow, the words, it shines alongside and makes the vision for the work front and centre. The interactivity of the designers job is to see it from your clients/ideal customer position… never assume anything!
Digital mobile design
haptics, quick clean and easy, known conventions and their background, always thinking of accessibility for a multitude of diverse interactions your product/app/website/poster may have. No matter what you design showcase your skills set beyond the ‘pretty’ and illustrate your deep understanding of what makes design so important.
So after all this information above why is it that parents of creative children still try and hold them to being managers, lawyers, doctors, sales assistants.... anything but a career in the arts.... from research I have done about the future industries and how humans will be seen in our new tech age, we need MORE creative people and not less, let your kids follow their dreams, because there world is going o be so different from anything we know.... dreams can come true... queue the song by Gabrielle below: