Other visual design definitions include a focus on user experience specifically as it relates to those aesthetics. Visual designers focus on the aesthetics of a website, web app, or other digital design. Other differences and similarities between the two disciplines are outlined in the infographic below. If a designer is doing print design, for example, then “Visual Designer” isn’t really an accurate job title. The biggest one is in the end products each type of designer creates. While there is overlap between the two jobs, there are also stark differences. Graphic design is often thought of as the dinosaur of design disciplines. Perception of visual design as a more cutting-edge discipline likely has a lot to do with this difference. Graphic designers generally top out around $65,000 per year while visual designers may earn over $90,000 per year. There’s a significant difference in the salary range between the two disciplines. If all the work a designer is doing could be classed as visual design or graphic design, does it matter which one the designer calls themselves? Actually, yes. So why would someone call themselves one thing over the other? Websites and web app designs can be created by either visual designers or graphic designers. Graphic Design: The Blurred Line Between the Two Disciplinesīecause graphic design and visual design both focus on aesthetics, the line between the two disciplines is often blurred, especially when referencing digital designs. And those digital communications have also gone a long way toward blurring the lines between visual design and graphic design. Many graphic designers now create digital products at least as often as they create print designs.Īs our work and personal lives increasingly use digital means of communication over print forms, graphic designers have had to adapt to stay relevant. Many graphic design agencies added web design to their offerings, further establishing that graphic designers could work in both print and digital spaces. With just a bit more training on the technical aspects and restrictions, graphic designers are quite capable of creating a website. It made sense since many basic design principles remained the same whether designing for print or digital. In the 1990s, as web design became possible as a means of communication, graphic designers started to expand their offerings into web design. Magazine and other print layouts fit the definition of graphic design. Graphic designer responsibilities include creating page layouts, advertisements, marketing materials, and sometimes more specialized products like typefaces. Graphic designers started out designing for print publications: books, magazines, newspapers, brochures, catalogs, and the like. The term “graphic design” first appeared in an essay by William Addison Dwiggins, New Kind of Printing Calls for New Design, in 1922, but in reality, the practice dates back to the earliest artwork created by humans. Graphic design as a profession has been around much longer than visual design. It goes beyond the scope of a single end product (website, app, brochure, etc.), and covers the way the entire organization approaches design projects. Where a web designer works on designing websites, a visual designer’s brief may include creating entire visual languages for a brand or product. Visual designers are often tasked with larger design projects than web designers. Visual design jobs do not include coding.

But one key area of difference lies in the fact that most web designers are expected to know at least some coding - HTML and CSS at the very least. Some web designers could definitely be classed as visual designers. (by Nextpage)Īnother common area of confusion is visual design vs. Website and web app designs fit the definition of visual design. While visual design is specifically focused on the look and feel, visual communication is somewhat less concerned with aesthetics, in favor of the communication aspect of the discipline. Visual communication as a term often encompasses much more than just digital design and is focused on the communication of a message visually. Though they’re not quite the same thing, visual design is sometimes used interchangeably with the term visual communication. Does the finished product look good? That is the question visual designers aim to answer. It focuses on the aesthetics of a website or any other type of digital design. Visual design was born out of a mixture of graphic design and user interface (UI) design.

While there are plenty of similarities between visual designers and graphic designers, there are also stark differences between them.

On the surface visual design and graphic design sound like the same thing and are sometimes used as interchangeable terms, particularly outside the design industry.

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