communication design
How did I miss this?
The International Council of Graphic Design Associations “Icograda” in 2007 ratified a new definition for our profession: Communication Designer.
“Communication Designer:
One who has the sensibility, skill and experience and/or training professionally to create designs or images for reproduction by any means of visual communication, and who may be concerned with graphic design; illustration; typography; calligraphy; surface design for packaging; or the design of patterns, books, advertising and publicity material; broadcast, interactive or environmental design; or any form of visual communication.- Ratified by the Icograda General Assembly 22, La Habana, Cuba, 26 October 2007”
http://www.icograda.org/about/about/articles836.htm?query_page=1
And according to http://beyondgraphic.org/ A Communication Designer can be defined thus:
PRACTITIONER
Communication designers create and combine all of the necessary elements of modern messaging (concept, text, image, colour or sound) to produce static or animated layouts for print, electronic or three-dimensional applications.FIELDS
Communication designers work across and/or specialize in many fields such as branding, marketing, advertising, packaging and publishing.PROPER USAGE
Based on the above model/definition, communication design is a discipline which can be applied to various fields such as branding or advertising. Categories such as “Branding and Design” or “Advertising and Design” do not make sense as communication design is a part of and contributes to a brand or advertisement i.e. you would not say “Advertising and Copywriting”.ARE YOU BEYOND GRAPHIC?
> you design for the client
> you charge professional fees
> you deliver strategic creative
> you don’t need a “strategist”
> you can read, write and think
> you have a natural talent
> you are the “art director”
> you help develop content
> you are message-driven
> you are a business professional
> you work in every medium
> you care about your profession
So my question is where does this leave production artists, studio managers, quality control?
Do we drop “Graphic Artist” in favour of “Communication Artist” when our main discipline is not design? Statements like “you care about your profession” are meaningless. And how often has a productioni artist ran with an art director’s sketch and fleshed it out beyond the direction given? Are we not “creating content”?
The key point in the list above seems to be “you work in every medium”. And that’s what it may boil down to, that simple phrase.
This needs further looking into but as we are not a regulated professional body, with membership in organisations such as “The Society of Graphic (not communication) Artists” being optional we are not bound to call ourselves anything in particular. A quick search query of their site did not yield up the phrase “communication design”.
But, for clarity and to help clients understand the value of the work we do, it would help if we were all consistent. I’ll add more about this as I find it.
david
April 26th, 2008 at 1:33 pm
I think it’s a waste of time. We aren’t an organised or regulated profession and the general public knows none of this so what we call ourselves is irrelevant to them. It’s so all encompassing that very few artists can do all of those things and will still technically be able to call themselves a “Communication Designer” thus diluting its importance.
April 29th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Hi John
I disagree… the actual definition of Graphic Arts is pretty limiting (see below) and I think it’s about time that someone tried to get a grasp on all the different aspects of the profession.
“graphic arts
plural noun
the visual arts based on the use of line and tone rather than three-dimensional work or the use of color.”
david