Not enough graphic designers working in television industry

[kamomil]

Note: I realize I am supposed to tag my entry, but I am getting the following error:
Client error: Not allowed to add tags to entries in this journalI have noticed something working in television, and I thought I'd let you guys know

Comments

[charlycrash]

Oblique point, but.. I'm not really sure design is something you can be taught in any sense other than being taught how to operate software. I certainly don't think it's something you're born with either - I don't believe in natural artistic talent - but to my mind it's like saying "I did a degree in good taste". Y'know?

[antigraphic]

You can definitely teach design! Composition, color theory, art history, production, those are learnable skills. Teaching someone how Photoshop and Illustrator works is not teaching graphic design any more than Drivers Ed teaches someone how to build cars.

[kamomil]

Really? You can teach someone Illustrator, bam, they are a graphic designer?

You need to know what things affect readability. If you can read it without getting a headache, or if you can get the point of an ad in a quick glance, then it works. You don't just slap things on a screen, you need to think through what things will get in the way of a person understanding it quickly.

[charlycrash]

Really? You can teach someone Illustrator, bam, they are a graphic designer?

I think you misunderstand.

You can teach someone how to use software, but I don't feel like taste is something you can teach, and you need both to be a graphic designer. You can also teach someone rules of thumb, but that's not really having a basic feel for things. Which is what you need, and it's something you develop outside of a classroom.

[kamomil]

well, you have to be exposed to different types of graphic design, and learn about the history of it, so that you have more "tools in your toolbox".

Also, you need a good teacher and classmates to critique your work. It's one thing to make your art by yourself at home, it's entirely another to place it on the chalkboard ledge at the front of the room, and have people say what they do and don't like about it. I think it's an extremely valuable process when learning about art and design.

I don't think taste enters into it at all. It comes down to, does this help express the message I am trying to convey to the viewer? If it doesn't help, take it out. If it does, leave it in. I think that graphic design should make the message clear, and not be "taste", what the designer personally prefers. And by message, it's not only the literal message, there are other levels of meaning, eg. the viewer can trust this company to do a good job or whatever.

[charlycrash]

I think that graphic design should make the message clear, and not be "taste", what the designer personally prefers.

Then on what guidelines should one seek to make designs attractive? Design isn't just about functionality.

tbh, I've seen a lot of graphic designers who are massively formally qualified and basically lousy designers, and ones who don't have one second of formal training and are great.

Going on some arbitrary guidelines is wack. In any of the arts, the people who are actually good are working by their gut.

[kamomil]

Then on what guidelines should one seek to make designs attractive? Design isn't just about functionality.

Form follows function.

[charlycrash]

Really? Are you saying that every single element on every design you've ever done was chosen strictly to improve readability etc., and wasn't just to make it look nicer?

[kamomil]

Yes, that's mostly correct. I worry more about whether the font is readable, than anything else. It should all look nice, but first of all it has to be readable