A Whole New World

By David Anaya, Graphic Designer

A completely different world was revealed to me once I started my graphic

design education. I realized that design is all around us. Just by reading this

blog post, you’ve already seen the work of three different graphic designers. This

website, your web browser, and your computer or mobile device interface were

all meticulously refined into the final products that you see before. What I find

most fascinating is that each of these designs play a vital part in the core

concept of delivering information to consumers in an easily understandable form.

The great architect Louis Sullivan once said “form follows function,” which means that the form of the design all depends on how it will function in its finished state. You probably

wouldn’t design a bright and colorful brochure using Comic Sans font for a

professional ‘Fortune 500’ business, nor would you design a highway billboard

with a typeface that is meant to be read at arm’s length.

To the untrained eye, mistakes such as these may not seem like a big

deal, but they are enough to make graphic designers cringe.

Our view of the world is both a gift and a curse, as designers involuntarily

analyze every design we see. Every product package, every clothing tag and

every flier posted on a college board is imprinted in our minds in some way. To those

who have accepted this curse, life is more interesting.

We designers are in a continuous state of learning; constantly observing, evaluating and

absorbing designs. The world is our source for inspiration and our playing field

for practicing creative critiques. We learn and we improve.