Design is Not Simply Graphic Design… It is so Much More

With all the changes the industry has gone through over the last three decades - especially with digital and industrial printing, one thing still amazes me. I am flabbergasted that most printers still perceive designers as "graphic designers." Today’s products rely on design as never before, so why do many printers think they don’t print for creatives? 

Last year marked the first PRINTING United, an event meant to showcase the broad range of printing technologies. It was a convergence of Specialty Graphic Imaging Association (SGIA) and North American Publishing Company (NAPCO). The event was revitalizing for an industry that has been battered and reshaped by economics and new print applications. The "print by the pound" world of Yellow Pages is now gone, replaced with a broad spectrum of newer technologies. 

Desktop publishing was in its infancy in the '90s with printing companies purchasing Benny Landa’s E-Print E-Print 1000, one of many Indigo printers that would change print history. Xerox entered with its DocuColor 4040 and later the iGen3, and others from Kodak, Xiekon, HP and more. Thirty years later, almost every printer has a hybrid production of offset, xerographic and inkjet technology.

And the materials have evolved too. What was once print on paper is now print on plastic, PVC, vinyl, textiles and more. PRINTING United saw direct-to-print on trucks from Ricoh, textile printing from EFI and Mimaki. The show highlighted how printing continues to evolve at a fast pace. Some print suppliers are also embracing 3D printing with companies like Massivit offering 3D printing for in-store displays and 2 ½ D printing for bus signage.

Just as printing has evolved so have designers.

Graphic designers in the 1990s were on the bleeding edge using Adobe Illustrator, QuarkXpress and Apples IIFX. Logos, magazine layouts, album covers, adverts, marketing materials and others all had a creative explosion. The internet, email and social media brought about Omni-channel communications pushing printers and designers to work across multiple mediums. As a result, today’s designers are not merely graphic designers. They are branding managers, marketing managers, visual merchandisers and more. 

I recently spoke with Amanda Altman, president of A3 Design, a retail packaging and branding agency in upstate New York. Altman commented how she has watched the design landscape evolve over the last 20 years.

“What used to take weeks now takes days, and our clients expect immediate gratification for both them and their customers," she said. "For example, logo design has become a living breathing story for a company. Today, it consists of every touch point a company has with a consumer, employee and vendor. Our job as designers and brand advisers is to keep the creative train on the track. To make sure that all of the pieces of communication – from the graphics, messaging, packaging, displays and digital – are done with finesse, consistency and authenticity.”

As we approach a new decade, it’s clear that design has never been more critical to the success of a product. It’s a part of the product, company branding, the unwrapping of the package, the user experience (UX), displays and much more. And the role of the designer has grown and expanded as a result. 

Graphic designers are the most common, responsible for 2D designs. Some graphic designers have honed their skills to become specialists in one area, such as logos, packaging or type design. There are visual merchandisers, responsible for the look of retail displays and brand experiences in stores. Visual merchandisers use wide-format and 3D printing to create today’s retail experiences. Interaction designers or industrial designers focus on the experience of the product - how it feels, works and engages with the user. Product designers are the umbrellas for everything under the product, encompassing the digital and physical requirements. And this list only gets bigger.

There are web developers, user experience and user interface designers. These individuals are highly focused and skilled, and their roles are focused on one thing - the digital realm. There are footwear and apparel designers (who are very tactile and visual). Today’s textile designers are engaging digital printing like desktop publishing did 30 years ago. There are architectural designers who are responsible for the interior or exterior of a building. They are using today’s print technology to create an environment that may look like bamboo but is printed on tile or wrapped on metal.

The role of design has evolved so much that there is now a color and material designer. These individuals are responsible for concept boards and provide seasonal direction and design themes that can be applied across materials. A brand may have a seasonal pallet of 100 to 150 colors, and a color material specialist looks at how colors produce across materials, from print, packaging, textile, plastics, leather or whatever the role specifies. 

For the designer rooted in pen and paper, there are technical designers to support them. These technical specialists are similar to prepress managers but reside inside the brand. They require a deep knowledge of printing techniques and take sketches and turn them into accurate Illustrator files that can be produced. Packaging engineers look at material and design to find ways to save space, protect products during shipments and leverage new materials for sustainable packaging.  All this, plus a focus on how packaging interacts with consumers.

Inkjet technology from Memjet and Meteor Inkjet Ltd. are changing manufacturing and empower anyone to create and design printed products. Inkjet is reshaping the world of direct-to-consumer manufacturing. For example, our grandparents' wallpaper was limited to what they could order from books, and in many cases it was easier to plaster over wallpaper than take it down. Inkjet technology has changed all that. It allows interior designers and DIY folks to be more creative and design and produce their own custom wallpaper designs. This same technology makes it easy for marketers, product managers, sales, small business owners, consumers or anyone else to think beyond wallpaper to sets, exhibits, trade shows, murals, interiors, tiles, plates and much, much more.

It’s time to market to all creatives

Printers who define themselves to paper limit their growth and possibility. Branding is at the heart of a company; it defines the organization's value, products and services. Today that includes the physical product, labels, displays, packaging, shipping, retail space, on-line, apps and everything else. Branding is how consumers, in a millisecond, identify a product and choose that product. If you think creatives are simply graphic design, then maybe you should stop watching "Mad Men." Today’s creatives are marketing departments, branding agencies, product managers and everyone else in those departments. To be successful in the next decade, printers will need to start marketing their business offerings and unique application offerings to all types of creatives - not just graphic designers.