Conventional vs. Modern -  Design Guide

Hello, everyone; today, I'd want to discuss the differences between conventional graphic design and all of the technical words used in today's design, such as UI design, UX design, product design, and visual design. I'll go through what they are, how businesses are typically managed, and what you may anticipate in each kind of employment. So keep an eye out.

Conventional Design

№1: Graphic Designer

Let's begin with graphic design. So this is the conventional design that you most likely learned in school, are learning, or will learn. It is a great basis for any design profession that involves graphics. So, whether you want to specialize in tech or not, a graphic design degree will be advantageous.

You will learn how to create logos, Wayfinding fonts, colors, grid systems, and the components and concepts of design composition. Using all of those elements usually leads to advertising, packaging design, signage, or corporate identity logo design. You may also be running campaigns that range from print advertising to billboards to internet banner ads or different marketing materials distributed at an event. So these are all more conventional graphic design uses.

The owner, creative director, art director, designers, junior designers, and many more stages are typical of conventional graphic design firms.

Projects are typically ok in terms of their scope and budget. So you'll be starting to work in a Waterfall Project Management approach, which ensures you'll get all the requirements, all the print specifications, how gigantic it needs to be, how much drip has to be on the edges, where this is going, what it's for, and then you do the work, stay within your allocated hours, and hand it off. So that's a high-level outline of how a typical graphic design company works.

Modern Design

№1: UX/UI Designer

First, you have UI design, which stands for user interface design, and it essentially implies that you are creating the top layer of the website, app, or piece of software. You're choosing the colors, typefaces, and how much space to leave between each tiny piece, essentially putting that visual varnish on top of the rest of the design below.

What lies underneath now?

That is user experience design. Everything else that goes into the framework is referred to as user experience design. Consider it the blueprint for the design, the layout, and the way the user will navigate and utilize the app to do the job you've set out for them to complete.

All of the choices in the information hierarchy, such as which material is in which part of the website. All of these factors are taken into account in user experience design. User experience design and user interface design often collaborate and, in some instances, are the same professional position. So, in my situation, I've been handling UI and UX for a business, and I've had my hands in both aspects, the planning, testing, and organizing, as well as the actual visual interface on top of that.

№2: Product Designer

There's also product design, visual design, and a slew of other terminology for designing for AR and VR. That includes augmented reality, virtual reality, and any other new realities that emerge.

Basically, the whole computer software industry operates in a somewhat different manner. You lack a creative director and an art director. Typically, there is a product owner or product manager who supervises everything. You won't necessarily be dealing with clients; therefore, you'll most likely be working for the business. So, if the business is Snapchat and you are creating for Snapchat, you are not designing for a particular customer; you are designing for Snapchat. The project management styles are also very distinct.

So, unlike conventional graphic design, when you have all of the specifications upfronts, you get to pass it off, perform the job, and give it back, and that's it.

№3: Web Designer

Iterative design is increasingly common in web design. You may have heard of Agile development or Agile methodology, which implies that you take small parts of the project, develop ideas and solutions, quickly prototype something useable and functional, test it, and check whether it works and meets the objective set for it. If it does, fantastic; if not, we'll keep trying and improving until we find something that works.

So, instead of being given a mountain of work, you're working on little bits at a time, making adjustments as you go since technology advances so quickly and requirements change all the time. Your users will tell you things you hadn't even considered when you go in and test with them. That approach enables you to constantly improve the product, while if you chose to create the whole thing from the start, that's fine; I hand it off. Then you go out into the actual world and discover that it doesn't truly function or fulfill the requirements you expected it to. So you just squandered a lot of time and money. That is why, in technology, we use an Agile, iterative approach instead.

If you want to work in technology, it's beneficial to have some basic coding skills, particularly for designers who want to understand how coders create things. So you don't create something that isn't really feasible with today's technology and having that user experience, expertise, and insight will be critical for these tech jobs.

You must understand how users will best accomplish the job at hand, what they will anticipate, what will meet them precisely where they are, and how you will fulfill their requirements before realizing they have that need. So, when it comes to Web designers, all of these factors will be essential.

In conventional design, you may have a more defined function, such as a graphic designer. Still, it's a little hazier with technology since we have all these words that often overlap and are essential aspects of the user experience. You may discover that your work title isn't as well defined, which may be a positive thing if you don't want to be pigeonholed into one thing. You want to be able to work on a variety of aspects of the project. Technology enables you to put your talents to work where they are required, which is good and might be nice.

Which is best for you?

The analogy is ever-changing. Every year, new development languages, tools, and design methodologies and systems are introduced. It's as if you're always learning something new, and if you're the type of person who needs to keep learning and growing and trying new things, and even trying new project types altogether as new things come out, then technology is for you. But if you're more interested in delving into design and seeing how far you can push a design in a single medium that doesn't change all that much, traditional graphic design is the way to go.

The primary distinction between traditional and modern design is that graphic design is more concerned with visual appeal than shouting from mountaintops. You want everyone to see it, be wowed by it, be enticed by design to buy that product, or go to that show or, you know, just the design itself to be the movie star.

Whereas in technology, it's more about usability and functionality than aesthetics. Surprisingly, if you're using an app, you wouldn't even notice the best design for that app was there. It's almost as if it's not there. According to tech, good design is when the design is so usable and intuitive that the average user does not even realize it has been designed to perfection. So you're not going for a lot of visual appeals. You were aiming for utility; you aimed to get the user to do what I want them to do without them having to think, which is huge. I was hoping you wouldn't lead me to believe you might hear that quote.

Final Thoughts

So, if you like to design and pushing the boundaries of design in terms of visuals, and you're really interested in the aesthetics side of things, graphic design is definitely something you should pursue. If you're interested, like I am, about how to make the design seem seamless and as if it's almost not even there since it's so flawlessly done to the point where it's simply useable and feels natural, then look into the technology.

When I initially started working in technology, I was completely perplexed by various jobs and terms. So, I hope this post has clarified some things for you, and thank you for taking the time to read it.