Besides Passion, What Makes a Good Graphic Designer Truly Great?https://www.aiga.org/design-job-question-how-to-be-a-better-graphic-designer. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.
Designer Ram Castillo is the author of this article. Castillo is a design director, author, and podcast host based in Sydney, Australia. He has worked with well-known companies such as Tesla, McDonalds, Apple, Audi, Google, and many more. His main focus these days are to coach business owners and organizations with critical design problems.
Castillo gives his opinions and summarizes the answer to what makes a graphic designer great. The main points are to be willing to listen, collaborate, take critique, be productive/professional, use technology to create design solutions, understand cultural sensitivities, and know that design is business based (Not personal). To expand on the last point, Castillo means that designers should always design to meet the business needs/wants. A designer should not prioritize his or her own thoughts/ideas. Castillo ends the article with his opinion that asking questions to mentors, who have a similar design style, will help a lot. He also says that great designers are constantly working on their craft behind the scenes. One should remember to work hard but have fun in the process.
“Give It Five Minutes.” Signal v. Noise by Basecamp, https://signalvnoise.com/posts/3124-give-it-five-minutes. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.
This article is written by Basecamp Co-Founder Jason Fried. In addition to being a CEO, Fried is a columnist for the Inc. Magazine. His columns are called “Getting Real”. His education is from the University of Arizona.
In the article, he talks about the time when he was in a disagreement with a guy name Richard Saul Wurman. They both had a talk at the Business Innovation Factory in 2007. The main point of the article is to give a think about it five minutes before saying anything back. At the time, Fried confronted Wurman and gave many counter arguments to the talk he gave. Wurman then said to think about it again for five minutes. Fried began to realize that Wurman has studied his points for thirty years, while he immediately dismissed them in seconds. Fried’s main point is that this moment was a great lesson. It taught him that an idea should be well considered. An idea starts off as completely vulnerable and fragile. It is easy to ignore and destroy. It is hard protect and explore it. Fried says that it may be worth it. Do not just dismiss an idea because it is too much work or is out of the ordinary.
Norcross, Natalie. “Council Post: How Graphic Design Is Evolving.” Forbes, https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/10/09/how-graphic-design-is-evolving/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2021.
Natalie Norcross is a “Council Member” of Forbes Agency. Norcross is also the CEO of A Design Partnership, which is “a marketing agency that serves as an outsourced CMO for design-minded brands”. She has a degree from the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising.
The article starts off with a point on graphic design’s ability to grow and give success to a business. Companies are now starting to invest a lot into their design teams, because it is the design of buildings and posters that give companies an edge over competition. Norcross goes on to say that graphic design has been a huge success for hotel businesses. Designers create an engaging and beautifully composed website for hotels that capture the eyes of tourists. Hotel websites are now not just for bookings, but also serve as a portfolio for the hotel’s interior design.
The second half of the article talks about the growth of the graphic design industry. With the evolution of technology happening at a rapid pace, the graphic design field is growing as well. Companies are in need of solid designers in order for their brand to excel. According to Norcross, Adobe has gone up from around 5 billion to 6 billion of revenue from Creative Cloud subscriptions in a year span.
“The Evolution of Graphic Design in the Gaming Industry.” Designer Daily: Graphic and Web Design Blog, 30 June 2016, https://www.designer-daily.com/the-evolution-of-graphic-design-in-the-gaming-industry-58262.
Mirko Humbert is the author of this article that stresses the importance of graphic designers in the gaming industry. Humbert is the editor-in-chief and of main author of Designer Daily and Typographer Daily. In addition Hubert is the founder of WP Expert, as well as being a graphic designer himself.
Humbert’s first paragraph talks about the history of gaming technology. He mentions that the very first video games were all text based. There was no such thing as RAM (Random Accessed Memory) or graphics cards in PCs. When the Atari 2600 first came out in 1977, there was no RAM. Humbert then goes in on saying the 1990s was the rapid turning point for gaming technology. After mentioning multiple games and their capabilities, Humbert leads into his main point that these games would not be possible if there wasn’t excellent graphic design components. Humbert said that the first gaming designs were all flat with only a few poses. Now days, graphic designers are able to create life-like facial features and movements. Humbert ends his article by saying that graphic design is a “key component” in which it allows gamers to “immerse yourself completely” into the experience.
