Just like not all building trades are the same, neither are graphic designers. Although these days many people think a graphic designer does just about everything cue in unicorn! 🦄 Requests for branding, magazines, ads, video, animation, photography, illustrations, website coding plus many more… Well many of those skills are stand alone professions. A professional animator is not necessarily going to be able to take professional product photography, and a video specialist is not necessarily going to be able to code websites. Are we asking too much from people, expecting to deliver at an expert level, with skills that are so vastly different…do people know they are different? Isn’t there an app for that? 🤔
When we get right down to many actual graphic design skills you might be surprised who has them and who doesn’t. Here at Paliant we hold some particular aspects of a graphic designer high on a pedestal. A graphic designer should know the difference between designing for print and designing for digital display. Especially the colours and the scale. We pride ourselves on being multi-performers, having knowledge across signage, packaging, print work and digital design, not only what is on it, but how it is read, the matching the application, the legals and the production specifications and restrictions. We also have the final end-game in mind and adaptability for applications…as often we have finished jobs, and then decisions to expand the collateral occur, which are with much ease with scalability in mind.
We could write an essay on the ins and outs of important processes we have committed to memory and practice. It is all in the details 🧐. When you see your training guide come off the printer, being coil bound, it was laid out differently to a standard brochure you normally see with staples, how and why would you know that…the right designers do. The difference is whether you have copy cut off or not…some would say quite important! 💪🏼 Again, end game in mind, creates the ultimate setup for success. When you see product labels set across different sizes (small, medium or large), each was set out not just to the brand and vision but also proportionate to its size, its readability and shelf presence. Having confidence in your designer to join the team, to raise everybody up and problem solve across your brand with consistency and accuracy, is the game changer! 🙌🏻
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