Steps Of Becoming a Graphic Designer
Research Proposal:
One-page synopsis (summary) of your research topic (350 words).
Include why you feel your topic is important to your interests as well as the development of
your practice as an artist / graphic designer / interior designer.
Include at least three references that you have used in your research.
Include at least 5 key words or themes that relate to your topic.
Artist’s Statement
Write a short statement (250 words) about your artistic interests including the history of how you came
to visual arts. Also discuss what aspects of the arts field you plan to explore in the future.
Solution
Research Question
Graphic design can be defined as the process by which images and text are combined for
purposes of advertisement and storytelling. Images carry with them the ability to create emotion,
influence and even manufacture consent within individuals. Even if one is not aware, individuals
are flooded with purposeful creations facilitated by graphic designers daily. Reading signs,
surfing the Internet, watching television, reading a book with graphic content and perusing a
magazine in all expose the beholder to graphic design. Images have been used throughout human
history to communicate messages, ideas and express various elements of emotion. Graphic
Design has the profound ability to instantly attract or repel and individual from an idea or
product through targeted suggestions. Modern graphic designers will find themselves in positions
of web design, advertising layout, marketing teams, packaging creation, print design and a
variety of other constructs that entail working for a client or reflecting the needs of a respective
organization. Graphic design topics can be specific to graphic design majors and be focused
more on application and production than theory since graphic design involves more human
interaction which individuals can feel, see and touch. I relate the work of graphic design with the
works of one Samy Selim, a leading graphic designer in the UAE who has been credited for a
series of artistic works conveying various messages to the public. Based on this, it is important to
ask the role that technology has played in the promotion of graphic design works in the modern
times. Another research question will be, what is the role played by graphic designers in the
sensitization of the general population in various issues of interest? Finally, what is the role of
education and background training towards the enhancement of a good graphic designer?
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Research Findings
Looking back one sees designers engaged in a process where intuition informs the
development of visual rhetoric intended to raise mixed responses from the target audience. The
significance of the study is to; explore the similarities and differences between institutional and
workplace training of Graphic Designers, establish the benefits of stakeholders, where
applicable, such as academia, individuals and communities, industry, and commerce,
policymakers and make an original significant contribution to knowledge by developing a
conceptual model for the training of non-formally trained Graphic Designers to enhance their
design practices. Specifically, the main research question about the study is: what is the
sufficient training required by designers both experienced and inexperienced to be able to
produce designs in context. Moreover, this study is considering professional development that
might help both industry and academic design practitioners. The study would identify the
problems inherent in the work of non-formally trained graphic designers and that of formalized
education and suggest a common solution for their professional development. Graphic design is
seen everywhere in one form or another, persons without formal education in Graphic Design are
now operating as Graphic Designers of which whether you are ready or not, this modern world
has made everyone a designer. Cross (2006) argues that design ability is possessed by everyone,
this makes the profession which in the past was practiced only by skilled and trained persons
with a design background, now, being practiced by anyone having a personal computer and
design software. However, it appears that due to technology and software applications, among
others designers can move into fields formerly limited to design professionals. Studies by
Hodgson (2010), Mcwade (2013), Cheung (2015) discusses Graphic Design in general
concerning business survival skills and behavior, things every designer needs to know and
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making of competent graphic. Information about the practices of non-formally trained Graphic
Designers will be used for example who they work for, how they work, the kind of project they
engage in and what do they think is missing in their expertise(Owen,2009). Data will be gathered
by the researcher from stakeholders such as student designers, expert designers, professional
designers, graduate designers, senior graphic designers, design managers in the industry, clients,
consumers, as well as design apprentices and non-formally trained Graphic Designers would be
identified to participate in interviews and fill out questionnaires. The researcher would require
extensive training in research methodology using a mixed-method approach, employing both
qualitative and quantitative data. Moreover, the chosen approaches are intended to yield rich
results, taking advantage of multiple ways to explore the research problem of the study, instead
of using only one method which can reduce the reliability and validity of this study. Purposive
sampling will be used to choose a representative sample from the accessible population of the
study. Although graphic designers have expertise in visual matters they must learn to speak the
language of research since they are the producers of interdisciplinary knowledge and not just
visual translators of a client's knowledge.
Research Outcomes/Future Projects
From the research findings, it was realized that most graphic designers were not skilled
and had no formal education concerning art. Most of the images did not reflect the cultural
diversity and help to bring different reaction amongst individuals. Most of the visual media
content is not up to standard and some portray a negative impact on the target audience. Graphic
designers need to collaborate with scientists since scientists have been able to make great
discoveries in terms of visual. The power contained in the pictures is worth more than a thousand
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words but scientists graphic are of poor quality so more sophisticated graphics are required to
communicate the results of even more complex research.
Reflection on my Research Process and Findings
My research process was able to cover extensively into Graphic design both skilled and
non-skilled. Based on the findings, most graphic designers did not have the right expertise to do
the work since most of them worked for in-experienced individuals who do not have the right
idea of graphic design. Besides, most of them lacked the equipment necessary for doing graphic
design which made them disadvantaged in terms of visual communication. The challenges I
encountered in the research is that there were very few respondents and most of the data
collected were not accurate since most of the questionnaires were not filled properly.
Artists’ Statement
My artistic interest lies in the ease to conceptualize the ideas which form a self-
motivating aspect to express my views to the world. The amazing aspect of designs is that it
creates a brand that unites a certain group of individuals for instance workers and employees.
They create a global image of the products and institutions they are branded on. Therefore,
graphic design initiates professionalism thus creating a lasting impression in the mind of vendors
and clients. When clients see a logo, for instance, the brands of Apple products, they are
automatically informed about the product. Therefore, a great design has persuasive power to the
clients thus having significant market value. It is also good to put in place the steps that
successful artists like Samy Selim took towards their success in the graphic art industry.
Literature Review
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Studies by Hodgson (2010), Mcwade (2013), and Cheung (2015) discuss Graphic Design
in general concerning business survival skills and behavior, things every designer needs to know
and the making of competent graphic designers from the transition period of academia to a
professional design life respectively. Also, Cross (2006) argues that design ability is possessed
by everyone. This makes the profession which in the past was practiced only by skilled and
trained persons with a design background, now, being practiced by anyone having a personal
computer and design software to operate as one. Persons without formal education in Graphic
Design are now operating as Graphic Designers of which McWade (2013) expresses that
‘whether you are ready or not, this modern world has made everyone a designer. Also, Owen's
(2009) study on lay graphic communication examined the graphic design practice as handled by
non-experts and non-professionals and their relation to professional practice.
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References
McWade, J. (2013). Before & After Things, Every Designer Should Know [Video file].
Retrieved from http://www.lynda.com/Design-Page-Layout-tutorials/Before-After-
Things-EveryDesigner-Should-Know/110285-2.html
Owens, S. T. (2009, October). A study of lay graphic communication. In Proceedings of the
seventh ACM conference on Creativity and cognition (pp. 341-342). ACM.
Cross, N. (2006). Designerly ways of knowing (pp. 1-13). Springer London. Chicago
Cheung, P. S. B. (2015). The making of competent graphic designers in Hong Kong: the
transitional period from academia to professional practice (Doctoral dissertation, The
Hong Kong Polytechnic University). Chicago.
Hodgson, K. (2010). Graphic Design Practice: business survival skills and behaviors.