Heart, Head and Hand – what is Graphic Design?

What is Graphic Design? What’s the value of a designer?

For me, we have a responsibility and an opportunity to make a contribution to the culture of our society. We can help to make things better, we can point out universal truths, we can amplify voices that have no megaphone. We can fight for human values and a better society. Justice for all. I also love type and image and wasn’t going to wear a tie after school.

Creativity is the interaction between society that isn’t commerce or logistics. It’s the human voice, the side of us that isn’t fearful or selling something. It is the space in which we grow as people and allow ourselves to appreciate life while we break free of the chains that shackle our inner growth, It is freedom, rebellion and celebration of all that we are and can be despite the forces that attempt to cut us down.

The Royal college of art – Richard Guyatt coined the phrase “Graphic Design” in the post war years after the great upheaval of the Second World War. Profound change and – tragically- extreme industrialisation – brought about a new world, racing toward an assumed future. It was the natural evolution of the commercial artist in a changing world. All the skills, learnings, cultural value, experience and promise of the artist, combined with a healthy dose of real world experience, values, awareness and responsibility brought about new possibilities and requirements.

The Heart of an artist, the head of a businessman, and the hands of craftsman.

The world had changed and a dynamic new attitude/awareness was needed to help a society emerging from the ashes and existential crisis of the abyss. Promise was restored and a better world was being built. Everyone had a job to do and communication was a key pillar in that mission.

No, we don’t just make things look pretty. Used correctly, the service of a serious, experienced graphic designer can add value to you and your organisation is many many ways. Understanding how a company operates, the landscape in which it moves, the people it depends on – both interior and exterior, how to converse and communicate its offers, values and mission… what is the best platform to deliver the best message for optimum effectiveness. It’s a little more than just typeface and colours.

Depending on the scale of the organisation these decisions are made at the top after being informed by a greater group of switched on professionals. Within that mix you should have a senior professional creative. We absorb, process and suggest. We offer a valuable viewpoint/perspective that often compliments, strengthens and translates group thinking and mixed messaging. We add value AND make you look good.

Consult, consider, create, communicate

Without communication we are all siloed individuals. Without common understanding we lose empathy. Without Empathy a society fractures and we fail to meet our promise – our best selves and the world falls further from utopian promise/vision to the dystopia that artists have been warning about for centuries. The battle to educate, increase understanding and build a better world is a fight that never ends. So we must all play our part. Now more than ever.