New knowledge is created in three major types of situations: by confronting knowledge in practical applications, through the acquisition of new knowledge, and by exchanging ideas and practices.
This approach has been my focus since the beginning of my career as a graphic designer/web designer/trainer. Staying informed about contemporary trends, whether technical or artistic, has been one of my essential driving forces, leading me to continually enhance my skills and enrich my journey.
Engaging in a process of validating my skills for a multimedia master's degree is a result of this approach. After some years of reflection, I took the plunge.
Now that we're here, what are we talking about? A predetermined issue? No, I must talk about... myself! Delicate idea, there are surely more interesting things than my professional life. By the way, have I ever deeply, calmly reflected on the entirety of the work I do? Can one judge, assess a design, and by what right?
François Jollant-Kneebonr, in Design Criticism - Contribution to an Anthology, positions modern design in the following way:
"What fundamentally distinguishes design from geography or sociology is that it considers the world as a project, whereas the sciences consider it more as an object. The subject/object relationship is radically modified because, for project disciplines, the subject is necessarily engaged, situated, in its object."
Designers fully exist in this constant context; they respond to an issue, an era, a culture...
"Graphic design creates and articulates visual signs allowing the appropriation of places, objects, services, and data delivered to users, consumers, or users. It communicates identity, meaning, functionalities, information, but also stories, feelings, style, positioning, or opinion. In the commercial ecosystem, it is found, for example, in the product signature, user interface, packaging, in-store presentation, store signage, or advertising promotion. Graphic design is inseparable from other forms of design that appeal to the visual sense."
Design reflects its time, with the designer being its first victim. It is up to them to stay sufficiently informed about techniques and aesthetics, managing the constraints and limits of their project, collaborators, and the expectations of the client.
I will specify, for each project: graphic research and techniques used. By taking a broad view of the project and its creation era, I will provide my analysis based on a question: "if it were to be done again?"
Due to my dual discipline, graphic and web designer, my graphic works span various designs. This is due to the communication medium, whether print or web, as well as the environmental nature of the project.
Graphic Designer?
ONISEP begins the description of the graphic designer as follows:
Posters, advertisements, flyers, magazines, websites, logos, packaging: graphic design surrounds us and colors our lives at every moment. However, only communication professionals notice the technicality of this department store poster, the originality of this web page, or the dynamism of this company logo. The work of the graphic designer responds to a client's request. Through work on form and color, the graphic designer visually conveys the message that the client intends to deliver. As an image professional, they can intervene at different stages of production: creation, execution, printing.
The graphic designer can be an art director, graphic designer, infographic designer, or even an illustrator. These positions are often closely related, with thin boundaries.
The job of an infographic designer appeared with the arrival of computers in the field of graphic communications. It was said that they were a computer graphic designer.
The graphic designer was the one who created, often using traditional and analog methods (photography, illustration, typography, collage,...), the concept to be realized. Subsequently, the infographic designer created the document on the computer to enable reproduction and printing (digitization, layout, photo retouching, graphic assembly, prepress,...). Thus, in the graphic chain, the graphic designer was closer to ideation and concept, while the infographic designer was at the level of producing the final result.
According to Etienne Robial, (Interview by Johann Frarier, Laurent Thurnherr for the lenodal.com website):
"When you take a typeface on the Mac and place it like that to make a synth, nothing happens. It's extremely cold! Working by hand brings something else. For each panel, we cut out the letters and stuck them on one by one. For a long time, I had a lot of fun with the photocopier, for example: I cut and enlarged certain characters to 101% of their size, others to 99%... And by sticking them back together, it created a dynamic. We create a difference between each character, so in a way, it makes it alive..."
This example of a renowned designer (creator of various graphic identities for the Canal Plus group, among others) working on a board and not on a screen has always piqued my interest. Nevertheless, I started working with a computer, and this practice has never left me. Thus, my presented works will not contain any "hand-drawn" elements.
Over the years, the role of each has evolved. Today, both professions mainly use the same tools, almost exclusively composed of Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign software. Also, fewer visuals are intended for printing, caught up by digital media (websites, videos, PDFs...), limiting the barrier of specialized equipment.
Graphic Design or Visual Communication?
Visual communication uses visual signs to communicate with others. These signs can be written and/or visual, whether signed gestures, colors, color variations, shades, shapes...
It allows for highlighting a work environment, a familiar setting, an object... for a certain period, more or less long, depending on the intended purpose. This highlighting allows recognition by the largest number.
Working on visual identity is especially important in our time, where distances and digital screens separate clients from the company. Previously, before the era of all things digital, clients visited their usual merchants, and competition was less intense when we were only looking for the nearest shop or the most recognized company.