The problem is technology convincing stupid people they’re being creative. Just as the art of great web design is to make a site that makes people feel clever through its own simplicity and ease of use, new software has convinced the sort of people that would once run screaming from a Lithographic Printing Press screaming that they can compete.

Having Nikes doesn’t mean I’m gonna run a mile in 3:30. We all have to know our limitations. Creative Design is devalued and other professions and skills will follow. Programming is already going down the tubes (Thank God – any other designers glad to see the back of having to deal with some prick on twice the money you are and half the ability?)

The thing is, people are stupider! That rant that someone linked to where the idiot rants about people’s creative MySpace pages – who designed the template that they’re customising? Again an example of non-creative people kidding themselves.

And because people are that stupid, renaming myself a Communications Designer is a real bad idea. Why? Because it causes confusion. And why’s that bad? Because you do not want to confuse potential clients. The internet age has already seemingly lopped 20 off the collective IQ so any ambiguity in a job title is just going to lead to trouble.

Me, I tell ‘em what they want to hear. I’m a Graphic Designer while they pay their bills and a crazy bastard if they don’t.

I studied Multimedia and Animation and that is exactly what my title is – a Multimedia Designer and Character Animator. I very rarely do design and in fact think I suck at it, blank page syndrome.. But everything else, sound, film, animation, motion, graphics..

Anyway, I think Digital Developer has a nice ring to it. Communications does get confused with Telecommunications. Media gets confused with TV or journalists or newspapers. People need an explanation of Multimedia..

Im pretty sure the term Developer is reserved for those more behind the scene coders (which I can also do) but like I said, Im a poor designer.

There seems to be all these new terminologies popping up like motion graphics designer (Im guessing thats the motion graphics used on tv ads?) and some of them Im not even sure of. Do theses people really have such specific jobs and is that all they do all day? Am I in the minority where I can do everything and if so, why does the term ‘Generalist’ make me feel bad for not being.. er.. ‘Specific’ and therefore more focused and better at what I do?

So.. Digital Developer? Or does that give you an image of green code running down the screen?

communications = does she set up phones?
visual = is she a painter?

In the past few years I have stopped trying to fit what I do into a one word tagline – because there is no word that encompasses everything that we do. I don’t try to pigeonhole myself into any one role, and yes, I am very guilty of fluctuating between a few different titles. But isn’t that the nature of our work ?

My current business card says “Graphic Design Strategist + Brand Communications.” It works, for now. n the future I may change it back to “Communication Strategist + Graphic Design.”

I imagine that I will always KEEP the word “graphic” because I find it’s a great reference point for clients and people who might think that I work in a completely different industry. (Telecommunications)

I don’t fret the duality of my title. I wear a thousand hats a week and am delighted to pare it down to two concepts.

Nowadays designers sit on this table. In some cases, they are the leaders – the visionary people. Think of the iMac designer or the designer of the social media campaign for Obama. You just can’t call them “graphic designers” anymore. And the work they do, is often not graphic design at all.

Regards,
Marc-Oliver

I really liked the method you used to get people’s attention. Totally got my attention. And definitely provoked me to think immediately.

But I’m writing to thank you for explaining the exact meaning of “graphic design” and how it has now evolved into “visual communication”. Reading it has made the whole thing crystal clear now. And now finally I can wrap my head round it.

I’m a student of architecture and wanted to pursue a purer form of design in the future. So I have been looking up all my options. But somehow I was always stumped when I looked for “graphic design” or “visual communication”, and yes I definitely wikied it, which got me even more confused by the end. But your explanation was so precise and to the point. It’s almost black and white now.

I write this mainly out of appreciation and gratitude for now I have a clearer idea in my head as to what I want to do.

Thank you.

Visual Design is the design working in any media or support of visual communication[1][2][3]. This is a correct terminology to cover all types of design applied in communication that uses visual channel for transmission of messages[4][5][6], precisely because this term relate to the concept of visual language of some media and not limited to support a particular form of production, as do the terms graphic design (graphic)[7] or Interface design (electronic media).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_design