We often misunderstand graphic design as a profession. In this profession, designers click or push the mouse’s buttons and master a few design software applications. It is far beyond making vector or pixel-based designs. We agree that knowledge of tools is crucial in crafting the design. But its origin truly depends on the narrative and visualization skills.
Our design veterans like Paul Rand and Saul Bass called graphic design a “creative language” used by designers to convey a message. It is the language that has visual grammar to guide artists in evoking emotions in their target audience.
A true graphic designer is a storyteller so we can’t just give this profession a technical skill tag. It is something different.
Note: We are not against any tool or software here. We are just trying to explain the importance of creativity and the steps involved to achieve a good design.
Let’s discover the true essence of graphic design where creativity meets the technicality of tools. Are you ready? Let’s get started!
Why Graphic Design is not only about Tools
It is not the tools that make an effective design. It is an understanding of the target audience, knowledge of the design production, and familiarity with the brand’s needs. All these let designers produce effective designs capable of saying a lot without using a single word.
User-centered design (UCD) is an iterative design process in which designers and other stakeholders focus on the users and their needs in each phase of the design process. UCD calls for involving users throughout the design process via a variety of research and design techniques so as to create highly usable and accessible products for them.
— Definition of user-centered design (UCD) by the Interaction Design Foundation
Why is Relying Solely on Software Bad?
When we start relying more on software than our visualization skills; It brings many hindrances, some of the main ones are:
1. Creation of repetitive designs
Following the ready-made templates available to edit websites like Freepik, it is quite popular nowadays. Designers spend hours editing them using their software expertise. This brings a state of rigidity in the mind which blocks creative ideas. Rigidity results in the creation of repetitive designs. This way of working also brings a lack of quality. Most of the designs are already used hundreds of times by others.
2. Less creative thinking for new designs
Software knowledge cannot bring innovative design ideas. It is creative thinking that encourages the production of graphics made never before. The right start of making an innovative design can’t begin with software directly. There are many stages of planning involved in it.
There are plenty of steps involved when you use creative thinking or design thinking, not the given image aside.
3. Designs without emotional connect
Our users are humans so designs must be expressive. When designs are created by humans then creators add emotions to it, which in return makes that design emotionally stronger.
“It is only at the reflective level that consciousness and the highest levels of feeling, emotions, and cognition reside. It is only here that the full impact of both thought and emotions is experienced. At the lower visceral and behavioral levels, there is only affect, but without interpretation or consciousness. Interpretation, understanding, and reasoning come from the reflective level.”
― Donald A. Norman, Emotional Design: Why We Love (or Hate) Everyday Things
4. Tools create a design without the process
Everything follows a process so designers should also. ADMEC Multimedia teaches a multi-step design process to create any design for its all graphic designing students.
Let’s take a logo, for example, there are many steps involved in designing a logo.
- First plan for idea layouts
- Then create a rough layout
- Decide design elements
- Decide a type of layout
- Decide a grid system
- Digital layout using tools or software
Just imagine, if we have to skip all these steps and start with the digital step first! Do you think it will end with an effective logo design?
The chances are 1% only. This happens when we rely more on software instead of giving time to creative thinking and brainstorming.
Power of Creativity in Graphic Design
The human mind and its vision have the strength to get the most unique designs in the universe.
Creativity is an important part of human vision. It is what makes designers’ work unique from others. With creative thinking solving design-related problems and producing unique ideas becomes a piece of cake.
Below points will explain power of creativity in graphic design:
1. Creativity is the root of innovative designs
Creative thinking drives innovation. It helps innovators to team up and come up with new ideas. By creative thinking, we can come up with new ideas to improve our existing ones. Which will make a real difference that will spark innovation in design.
2. Know the role of imagination in creativity
Imagination is the core of creativity, as it helps in picturing the things that do not exist. Through imagination, we see possibilities beyond what is in front of us. Recently, the Aditya Birla ad campaign, where the idea was to showcase that the whole world is black and white. But through their paints, it turned out to be colorful. That’s why they campaigned to be Duniya ko Rang Do. This kind of imagination is all about the creative thinking of designers and artists working on the designs.
3. The impact of emotional designs
When designers make designs and make people feel something, it becomes more memorable. Whether it’s excitement or nostalgia, connecting to emotions enhances the bond between an organization and its audience. A recent Spotify ad where they emotionally relate to the audience through their visuals. Stating that “When brands are love, but Sarojini is Bae, there’s always a playlist for it”. It is a big example of how creative thinking emotionally affects the audience.
Key Elements of Creative Graphic Design
1. Understand your audience
- Identify target markets
When you know your users perfectly. It is easier to make designs that your audience will enjoy and relate to. This also includes figuring out specific groups of people that your design will appeal to. Designers can consider facts like their age, interests, and lifestyles. You can make designs that connect with these factors, which will increase the impact and importance of your work.
- Developing buyer personas
This means creating detailed profiles ideal for your customers. These include their age, hobbies, and the difficulties they face. By understanding these things, you can design in a way that connects with them better. It will help them to create more engaging content.
2. Develop a style guide & visual strategy
Another key includes the style guide, which is prepared after the research of the audience and making personas. Style guides include color schemes, typography, fonts, theory, and many more. This will help keep your design consistent so your brand will look professional and the same.
3. Ideate and create
When you have enough information about your user after intense research. It is the time to prepare a style guide and design strategy. Now you are ready to decide on features and their ideas.
The team at ADMEC focuses on feature designing as a serious activity. We ask our graphic design students to follow Crazy 8’s or similar activities to work on. This activity helps in having a well-researched and refined user interface.
How Tools Enhance Creative Vision in Graphic Designing
Tools are not always bad but ignoring the design process and focusing on tools only is not good. Tools are the building blocks of your design. They play an important role in design planning, designing, publishing, and testing at the end.
A few important roles are given below:
1. Smooth the design process
When designers think of creative ideas and want to generate ideas then software and tools help to do so. These tools help designers to work faster, design ideas, and make changes easily which smoothens the process. Designers now focus more on their creative vision rather than becoming caught down in the details because of this.
2. Time-saving software features
Professional software applications like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator have various features. These are integrated into them to make the workflow faster. For example, we have “Actions in Photoshop” which helps users save time. You can play the most frequent action with a single click using it. Other features include repeat commands, auto alignments, and image trace options in Adobe Illustrator.
Characteristics of Creative Graphic Designers
1. Love for experiments
Creative graphic design requires a lot of exploration of designs and new ideas. They are always open to new ideas, colors, styles, designs, and layouts to experiment with new ideas.
2. Take calculated risks and don’t be afraid to failed
Designers are never afraid to take risks, which are very calculated. Whereas if one design strategy does not work, they should prepare other design strategies in advance. This is known as a calculated risk.
3. Always explore new techniques
To adapt to this design industry, designers must constantly learn and adopt new technologies, software, and trends to stay ahead.
Best Practices to Boost Your Creativity
1. Creativity is a skill, not a talent. Everyone can learn and improve it.
Enhancing creative skills refers to using good habits to improve your designs and creativity. These techniques can help you stay creative by establishing a connection with your audience. When you are creative and know your audience then it improves the quality of the design. Some of the practices provided are:
2. Understand all the principles of graphic design
Design fundamentals are the building blocks for designers. Do you think a building that has a solid foundation will remain standing for many years? Well, it won’t stand strong without a robust foundation. The same importance is there for fundamentals; without them, you as a designer can’t stand for long in the industry.
3. Knowing design principles, color theory, and its psychology
When you take an interest in the design fundamentals, which is the first stage to nurturing your creative thinking. It becomes important to understand the design principles too.
The Essential Design Principles are:
- Balance
- Emphasis
- Movement
- Contrast
- Pattern
- Repetition
- Proximity
- Alignment
- White Space
- Unity
4. Practice abstract art
Abstract art making is a traditional brain exercise to think outside of standard layouts. Abstract art will allow you to play with different shapes and colors without needing the things to look realistic. This kind of art helps to express ideas and think outside of the box.
5. Follow all design stages
There are four key stages in the design production process:
- Idea layout making: It is the step-by-step process that helps graphic designers to scribble ideas on paper.
- Rough sketch: The step where the designer selects ideas from scribbled ideas. And then roughly makes that idea into a big one.
- Color layout: After designing rough sketches, designers create a color layout. Then they pick the colors that they would use in their design through different combinations of color.
Digital layout: When the color is chosen, designers move to the digital layout stage. Softwares like Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop are used to make rough designs into clear and polished designs.
6. Stay inspired
- Inspirations are everywhere: Our surrounding is filled with inspirations. Right from the pen to chair and plan to tress, everything is an inspiration for designers. Notice the patterns, movement, texture, and colors in nature.
- Design communities: Joining design communities helps you keep creative and new ideas alive. Through mentors, you can connect with many designers, transfer thoughts, and get reviews on your work. This will help you keep motivated and updated on new trends.
- Always keep learning: Design is always changing, so it is important to keep updated. These workshops, online platforms, and courses will help you keep updated and improve your skills.
How does ADMEC Institute Make you Creative?
Since 2006 ADMEC has focused on design thinking too much, our focus is not tools only. At ADMEC, we provide practical classes on commercial art and visual grammar. Our focus is to teach design thinking so that our students can think creatively. Along with this, we host interactive events, workshops, seminars, and quizzes. Such events challenge students to think creatively and apply it to real-world design problems.
Our instructors focus mainly on creating thinking, design thinking, and grammar of design. We teach students that design is a language so learn its grammar to be master of it.
Top Courses Offered by ADMEC that Make You a Creative Graphic Designer
Check out our below given courses in graphic designing which are packed with creative thinking and commercial art sessions. If you are a graphic designer and feel thin in creativity then don’t be disappointed. We have many creativity-boosting courses for you too.
1. Graphic Design Master Plus Course
Duration: 12 Months
This 12-month course is designed in a very special way. It covers topics like graphic design, UI design, and motion graphics. Students will learn to design for media, such as print, web, and television, using AI-enhanced software and tools. This course covers sketching, visual design, print layout, advanced photo editing, UI design, and motion graphics. It provides hands-on experience through live projects and internships.
2. Graphic Design Master Course
Duration: 08 Months
This 8 months advanced training in graphic design covers post-press and pre-press processes specific to print media. Students will learn planning, designing, and publishing techniques while mastering tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. The course includes a capstone project, allowing students to create a comprehensive design campaign.
3. Graphic Design Premium Course
Duration: 06 Months
This 6 months diploma course covers leading software like Photoshop, Illustrator, and CorelDRAW. Students will learn practical skills in design principles, color theory, typography, and layout techniques. They will be completing a capstone project to create a comprehensive design campaign also.
Real-World Examples of Creative Graphic Design
1. Case Studies of Innovative Design Solutions
Creative graphic design often follows in practical applications as designers find new solutions to challenges.
a. Nike’s “Just Do It”
For instance, Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign created a powerful message. It is connected with people all around the world by using bold typeface and simple design.
Look at the variations of the same design and logo. Designers are advised always to think out of the box and in fresh perspective. The user must be the center of thinking.
b. Coca-Cola “Share a Coke”
Another example is the Coca-Cola “Share a Coke” promotion. Here, label customization combines marketing and creativity to create a powerful emotional bond with customers and increase engagement.
These case studies show how creative thinking in graphic design can produce powerful outcomes. They engage audiences and meet organizational objectives.
How AI is Influencing Creativity in Graphic Design?
AI provides various chances to graphic designers by automating boring tasks, which helps them focus on creative works. But the problems, like job loss and depending too much on technology, can limit personal creativity.
Undoubtedly, AI can create designs in no time but it will lack human touch. AI-generated designs can be attractive but not more emotional touch.
Final Words
In conclusion, graphic design is much more than just using software or tools. It involves the blending of strategy, storytelling, and creativity. Designers can produce art that effectively communicates with viewers. It connects with them by understanding design principles and using creative thinking. Mixing traditional abilities with new technologies is crucial as the design industry keeps on changing.
ADMEC Multimedia Institute provides courses that help future designers with the skills and practical experience. You can check and learn about these skills and creative thinking by enrolling in our certified courses in Graphic Design.
Author Introduction
Hello readers, meet Anuradha Sengar, an expert in graphic designing, photo editing, video editing, and digital marketing. She has been training aspiring students since 2015 at ADMEC Multimedia Institute.
