Graphic design is the art of visual communication that combines text, pictures and illustrations, colours and shapes.
The graphic designer uses these elements in order to create posters, brochures, websites, magazines, books, billboards, logos and other types of media.
Graphic design is present everywhere. From billboards in the street and buses to magazines and newspapers; from product packages to websites.
Some of the most usual forms of graphic design are:
Advertisements
Logos
Websites
Business cards
Posters
Product Packages
Magazines and newspaper layouts
Books covers
Brochures
Billboards
Credit Cards
Banners
Sides of buses
Post Cards
Flyers
Newsletters and bulletins
Many different softwares are used for graphic design. Some of the most popular are:
Xara
Photo Pos
Magix Xtreme
Corel Draw
Photoshop
Print WorkShop
ACD Canvas
Paint
Scribus
InDesign
Illustrator
QuarkXpress
iStudio Publisher
Corel Ventura
Adobe PageMaker
Adobe FrameMaker
Ability PhotoPaint
Adobe FireWorks
ArtWeaver
Deluxe Paint
Deneba Canvas
GIMP
iPhoto
A graphic designer needs to have many skills in order to be successful. Some of them are:
* Ability to use photoshop and understand the basic aspects of photo manipulation.
* Ability to work with vector based graphics, which is essential for logo designing and other types of artwork. The most used program for this purpose is Adobe Illustrator
* The ability to use a page layout software. This kind of software is used to create print work including book covers, magazines, newspapers and brochures. The most common programs used for this purpose are InDesign and Quark Express.
* The ability to use flash
* Generation of ideas. A good graphic designer has the ability to come up with new and great ideas all the time.
* Basic business skills. Every graphic designer should have some general knowledge on marketing, sales and accounting. These abilites are really important for freelancers and independent graphic designers.