A graphic designer trying to improve in 2021 👨💻
Why is every design article about digital design and what happened to the real stuff?
I’m really excited to see such a buzz around design in 2021, it’s so cool to see Spotify, Facebook, DropBox and many other companies really showcasing their internal design teams and sharing resources and ideas. However the impact of these companies has shifted the dogma of what it means to be a ‘designer’ and set us on a new course of experience centric design.
It’s led to a very confusing landscape for traditional designers working in branding or marketing such as myself to find resources outside the context of digital products. From my experience there seems to be three polarised areas of education for designers which I have categorised as Product Design, Technical and Traditional.
📱 Product Design
Digital design almost feels like some kind of boomer term in the sphere of product design, or should I say, consumer experience, or UX/UI. I have to admit although these terms make sense the lines between them feel very blurred. Nevertheless there has been no lack of recourse for product designers, almost every article on Medium attempts to offer solutions to digital challenges. I theorise its popularity has emerged as a result of accessibility to user friendly tools such as Figma and Sketch combined with the ability to emulate design trends quickly and easily from a landscape with well established design tropes. There is nothing wrong with emulating trends, in fact it’s a really great way to get into design with a satisfying return on investment of effort (if you like). However step outside the safety of rounded corners and subtle drop shadows and into the world of branding where the rules are much more undefined and it can be much more challenging.
📏 Technical
Let me begin by saying I am deeply saddened by indesignsecrets.com now being behind a paywall, how will I ever learn GREP! It was arguably my most prized, secret resource for really getting into the nitty-gritty of InDesign and has taught me much about the correct way of using this software. I am a big believer in hard skills when it comes to design, many design agencies are quick to overlook the role of an artworker and thus the responsibility of delivering professional assets often falls to the designer.
Technical resources cover all those specific use cases where you want to learn how to achieve a certain goal or outcome. They are also some of the most enduring skills you can learn, I often find myself reading articles from the early 2000 or referencing books such as Thinking With Type from 2004.
📙 Traditional
Although graphic design is a relatively modern profession there is a great deal of graphic design books that could be considered canon. There are also interviews and essays from prestigious designers with discussions around creative thinking and design ideas that are both eloquent and inspiring. As previously mentioned much technical knowledge especially around typesetting has endured the rise of computer aided design with us still relying on well established principles.
🤓 The Gap
Within traditional graphic design we have two ends of the spectrum covered. High concept design thinking on one end and technical hard skills on the other. But what sits in the middle seems to be missing and this is where product design has risen up. Understanding day to day processes and using new tools to help you achieve your goals is very well documented in product design but few and far between within graphic design.
I think there is much to be learned from product designers in terms of thinking about systems and experiences. I also believe product designers can learn from traditional designers in the realm of craft and creativity.
It’s a really exciting time to be a designer, change can be intimidating but it’s also what keeps the industry alive and thriving! I can’t wait to see what and how we will be designing over the next decade.
