7 types of graphic design

If you are interested in starting your career as a full-time or freelance graphic designer, getting to know a few different types of graphic design will be helpful in exploring your work.

What are the types of graphic design?

  1. Advertising design
  2. Environmental design
  3. Design of publications.
  4. Design in motion
  5. Corporate Design
  6. The website is designed
  7. Cover Design

Below, we’ll review these different types, examples of each, and job titles that match your category. Not sure which program to start with while improving your skills? Find the best graphic design software available on the market!

Advertising design

Marketing and advertising professionals would be nothing without graphic designers. Creative managers and technical managers are responsible for little things like brochure design concepts to designing small marketing materials like brochures, business cards, and big projects like advertising publications. The visual content is engaging, and companies rely on effective graphic design to take advantage of consumer purchasing decisions.

These types of designers work with different media needs than the needs and want of their clients effectively. While graphic design in the advertising and marketing industries has traditionally been about printing, it is rapidly expanding to include digital assets. Understanding how to design both print and digital is critical for designers seeking to penetrate ads to satisfy the needs and wants of any customer with confidence.

Social media graphics and email marketing and content marketing templates.

Examples of advertising graphic design:

  • Brochure design
  • Newspaper and magazine ads.
  • Social media graphics
  • Digital Ads
  • Email Marketing Templates
  • Infographic design

Job titles for graphic designers in advertising

Illustrators – Illustrators are responsible for viewing and creating images that represent a story or idea and can later be used in advertising content. Painters can use a variety of methods to get the results they want, from pencils and paint to digital tools and software.

Environmental graphic design

Environmental graphic design includes elements from multiple disciplines to connect people to the places they visit. This may sound perfect, but by combining graphic, architectural, interior, landscape, and industrial design, graphic designers can enhance a person’s experience. Improvements are generally made by making the environment more reminiscent, informative, or easier to navigate.

Wayfinding is the primary focus of environmental design, which includes visual signs or placards to indicate where people are and where they should go. However, its uses go beyond that, such as serving as a caller for organizations to tell a story or convey a meaningful message to visitors. To create designs of this level of complexity, those who have environmental design jobs must have an understanding and experience in both graphic design and architecture.

Job titles for graphic designers in environmental design

Associate Designer: Associate Environmental Design Designers are beginning graphic designers. This position is a great place for recent graduates to get their feet wet in the world of environmental design.

Cartoonist: Cartoonists turn designs that connect designers, architects, and engineers into drawings. This job becomes more technical than typical graphic design work and requires specialization in architectural, electrical, or mechanical drawing.

Examples of environmental design.

  • Banners
  • Office brand
  • Murals
  • The brand of the stadium
  • Exhibitions
  • Event spaces

Design of publications.

Publication design traditionally refers to print media such as books, magazines, newspapers, etc. However, like many other subgroups for graphic design, technological advances have created new opportunities for their potential use.

Digital publishing design uses traditional elements of art, such as colour, print, and space. Post designers can carefully combine these elements to create visually recognizable content on a digital platform. This includes e-books, e-newsletters, magazine design, etc. Most people who have a post-design job work for a publishing company, on their own, or as part of a creative agency.

Job titles for graphic designers in publications

Production Artist – An artistic and creative profession, the job title designates plasterwork or planning for this position. Production artists work with the agency’s designer and technical director to ensure everything is in the right place. This situation often requires extensive knowledge of print production, design, and creativity programs.

Design artists: The design artist is responsible for designing the structure of images and text in a format that is pleasing to the eye, primarily for print media. This includes magazines, posters, books, and brochures.

DTP Artist: DTP (Desktop Publishing) artists are responsible for translating the designs of painters and art directors into digital format in preparation for print or online publication. DTP artists are usually experts in multiple design programs and desktop publishing programs.

Examples of publication design.

  • Wrote
  • Journals
  • Newsletters
  • Catalogues
  • Newspapers
  • e-books

Motion Design

If you are not involved in graphic design, you should ask yourself – What is motion design? Motion design is creating the image in animation form. You can find traditional uses of motion design when opening movies, TV shows, or news production. Today, motion design examples are found across all digital platforms, such as GIFs, apps, web design, etc.

In the past ten years, the popularity of movement design has grown as our society continues to digitize. Technological developments have given designers the opportunity to explore the value that this medium offers. Make sure you stay on top of the latest design trends to stay one step ahead of the competition.

Job titles for graphic designers in motion design

Animation Designer: These designers are trained in traditional graphic design and incorporate other elements into their current design knowledge. It can also come from the background of a movie or video production with the ability to use animation to enhance stagnant graphics.

Motion design examples.

  • Video game
  • Applications
  • GIF files
  • Animated texts
  • Ad
  • The sequence of titles and end of credits
  • Internet banners

Corporate Design

Organizations use institutional design to express the relationship between the brand and its audience. The visual elements of brand identity serve as the face of the company to communicate its tone, personality and essence. Intangible elements, such as colour, shapes and images, evoke specific feelings from the audience and dictate how the consumer perceives the brand.

Maintaining brand consistency is essential to corporate design, as consumers respond to familiar visual media. Typically, when designing a corporate identity, designers work with brand owners to create products such as printing, logos, colour palettes, and photo libraries. Next, designers will develop guidelines for institutional design, to ensure that visible branding is applied consistently in all current and future applications.

Job titles for graphic designers in corporate design

Brand Identity Designer: When a company is standing, a visual representation of its products and services is required to engage with the public, regardless of the identity of that public. Brand identity designers can work within an advertising agency to ensure that the customer has a strong brand identity by updating the logo, print, colour palette, and assets.

Logo designer: responsibilities are directly in the direction. The logo designer is responsible for going through the logo design process with the customer and ultimately providing a logo that matches the brand. Logo designers often work for advertising agencies, but they can also work as freelancers.

Examples of corporate design.

  • Designing a logo
  • Business Letters
  • Permanent
  • Commercial newsletters

Tip: Use our graphic design template repository to help create stunning graphics on the go.

Web design

Page design, image selection, and determining the best website impression are all part of web design. Web design is closely related to UI design and UX design, which aims to create an interface that balances aesthetic appeal on the front page with optimal ease of use.

Job titles for graphic designers in web design

Web Designer: These people use graphic design concepts to create a responsive and consistent web design that is easy to use with UX and UI design.

Cover Design

When you look at the shelves of any retailer, grocery store, etc., almost all items come in some kind of packaging. While this packaging acts as a protection for products, companies are also aware of the opportunity that product packaging design offers. By strategically implementing colour, shape, and print, packaging becomes a way for companies to convey their brand personality and history directly to their customers.

Retail packaging design, makeup, and food packaging are just a few of the countless industries where this design style is a valuable marketing tool. Effective packaging design is characterized by the ability to give the product a “shelf effect”, which can dramatically increase business sales. For packaging designers, this means that a deep understanding not only of graphic design but also of successful product marketing methods is crucial.

It’s just the beginning

With a better understanding of where graphic design skills can go, it’s not a bad idea to start looking for your opportunities. Becoming a graphic designer in any of these areas is an unequalled opportunity to make your mark on the world.