Elodia
Have you ever seen an amazing image and suddenly wondered, "Wow, was this created by a graphic designer or a visual designer?" You are certainly not by yourself! Many individuals confuse these two. It's completely reasonable since, at first look, graphic design and visual design appear quite alike. However, believe me, once you explore further, you'll discover they possess quite a few unique differences. And that's precisely what we will investigate in this blog! We will initially examine what each of these design areas entails, and afterward, we will delve into the details of how they contrast with each other.
What is Graphic Design?
Let's begin with graphic design. Consider it a highly imaginative mixture of visuals, moving graphics, and text styles. It's akin to an artistic expression in which designers blend these components to make something unique. Nowadays, graphic design has evolved into a highly specialized field. It's entirely about crafting particular visual elements that are designed for various objectives. For instance, if a major event is approaching, a graphic designer could design striking posters and flyers. When it concerns websites, they will focus on enhancing the layout to look stunning and make the graphics stand out.
Graphic designers are the creative minds responsible for the visual appearance of advertisements, brochures, magazines, and corporate reports. They are engaged in numerous fields. In the realm of publishing, they ensure that books and magazines have a visually appealing appearance. In printing, they make certain that each color and line is flawless. In digital media, they generate the visuals that we observe on our displays daily. As the mobile internet has emerged, graphic designers have faced additional challenges. They are currently focused on producing beautiful illustrations, intuitive app interfaces, and impressive web page designs.
What is Visual Design?
Now, let's discuss visual design. At its essence, it's an incredibly intriguing artistic journey that merges the realm of visual art with technology. A visual designer possesses a unique skill. They can transform a basic piece of information, such as a fact, an idea, or a narrative, into a compelling visual depiction. It's about developing something that can connect on a profound level, that can stir feelings, and help individuals perceive concepts in an entirely new manner.
Visual design relies on two fundamental ideas: "visual symbols" and "communication." To begin with, let's examine "visual symbols." These are everything we can observe with our eyes that signifies something about the environment surrounding us. It's a remarkably broad category. It encompasses elements such as stunning photography that freezes a moment, the dynamic visuals on screens and in movies, the sculptures and paintings in visual arts, the design of structures, all the innovative products we utilize daily, and even the scientific illustrations and written materials we peruse.
Next, we have "communication." This is the procedure of transferring information from one location to another. It resembles a series of occurrences. You need to consider who is delivering the message, what the message entails, who the recipient is, and the potential effect it will create. A visual designer must take into account all these factors when producing a visual work. They're not merely crafting something attractive; they're developing a means of communication.
The Distinctions Between Graphic Design and Visual Design
Visual design serves as a link connecting communication design and graphic design. Graphic design, as we have discovered, is an incredibly specialized field. Graphic designers are akin to meticulous artists who concentrate on crafting essential visual components. They are responsible for ensuring that a logo appears flawless or that the typography on a poster is precisely correct.
Conversely, visual design encompasses a significantly wider domain. It's all about developing overarching messaging campaigns or strategies. A visual designer contemplates ways to connect with a broad audience, what messages will strike a chord with them, and how to convey those messages successfully. Visual design occupies the center position. It combines the strengths of both realms.
Any medium or language that can be used to convey information or emotions through vision can be classified as visual communication. This means that visual communication is not limited to planar media but extends to all forms of communication that use "visual symbols" to convey a purpose or message. Visual design is strongly related to other fields including user experience, photography, and illustration and can include the use of color theory, typography, drawing, design tools, data visualization, web and print design, and brand and identity design. Graphic design, professional digital photography and retouching, digital or analog illustration and publication, professional digital animation, advertising, website design, and marketing are just a few of the many different job pathways available in visual design.
Pixso - Online Collaborative Design Tool
Pixso is a web-based design tool that facilitates teamwork. It allows you to create posters, app interfaces, web pages, and H5 marketing pages. Additionally, you can finish several design phases, including resource management, design, delivery, collaboration, and prototyping.
Pixso offers long-term free membership, which provides important conditions for your career transition. You can download the desktop version, which supports Windows, macOS, and Linux systems, to meet the needs of different designers. It also has a built-in resource library with over 3,000 icons for one-click use, and you can directly reuse selected and exquisite visual design templates online to improve design efficiency. When it comes to design functions, Pixso meets various kinds of UI design needs. For instance, the pen tool can freely move anchor points to achieve vector graphic transformation. And the paint bucket tool can easily fill different areas. It's a software specifically designed for vector design, with unnecessary functions removed, thus allowing a visual designer to focus on the design itself.
In the future of the design industry, online collaborative design will become the mainstream work mode, whether it's in graphic design or visual design. Pixso is a great example of this trend. As a design platform, Pixso doesn't just serve designers; it improves the overall project design process. What we need is not just a simple design tool but a design collaboration platform that integrates prototyping, design, delivery, collaboration, and resource management.
Final Thoughts
Visual design is like an all-inclusive adventure, a lively part of our daily lives. Think about your experiences with websites, apps, or ads. Visual design is often at play, making them either great or not-so-great. In web design, it's like a friendly guide. It chooses perfect colors, just like a painter, and suitable fonts, acting like a friendly voice. The layout is like a well-organized floor plan, leading you smoothly through different sections. For app interfaces, visual design is your personal helper. It ensures buttons and icons are easy to find and use.
Here's the cool part: visual design works with other fields. It combines the best of graphic design, such as creating visual elements, and teams up with user experience design to make things both beautiful and useful. Whether you're new to design or an expert, appreciating visual design helps you notice the creativity in everyday things. Go out and start spotting the magic of visual design!
