Graphic Design Essentials for Technical Communication

By Rahul Kulkarni

The modern Technical Communication demands an increasing amount of visual information to illustrate its content in print, packaging, and motion graphics for apps, digital, and online displays. Graphic designers combine all the different types of inputs coming from multiple sources and prepare them for specific audiences. To be a successful graphic designer, you must be a well-informed, curious researcher.

Graphic design is a huge part of our everyday life. It is all around us providing visual communication. Any communication that cannot be delivered verbally must be put into some form of design to spread the message across. Stop reading this article for a while and look around you; you can see splendid examples of graphic design. Maybe there is a beautiful poster on the wall, an advertisement coming on the TV, the notification that your phone beeped with, the phone cover, the curly font on your wallpaper, and even the typeface in your phone. All these demonstrate an excellent application of design principles. We take it so much for granted that we barely notice it.

What is a graphic design?

If we dissect the term graphic design, we get two words – graphic and design. The word graphic means visual that is proper and accurate, and the word design means creating a specific message in a professional and artistic manner. The aim is to produce a piece of visual information for a target audience.

With so many things competing for our visual attention on a daily basis, they must stand out to be noticed. A good graphic design quickly communicates what your product is and what business it would like to do with you. A potential client can tell so much about your business just by looking at your branding and company material. First impressions are of the utmost importance in business. A good graphic design will ensure you made the right one.

How does graphic design help your business?

Graphic design serves a crucial role in communicating technology, commerce, pop culture, and many aspects of modern life. Branding is the essence of graphic design. For example, if you observe the apps on your phone, they are all made up of small icons and logos. You do not need to read their names to identify the apps. Let’s test your logo quotient here 😊

Does it help your business?

Where can you apply graphic design?

Graphic Designing is a vast arena. As a graphic designer, you can inform, persuade, direct, organize, entertain, and catch attention with designs. You can combine the art and the technology in order to communicate a message. Graphic Design establishes brand identity by using logos, icons, and customer-targeted visual content.

Just a few of the uses of graphic design include: 

  • Signage
  • Corporate identity/ branding
  • Packaging
  • Printed materials
  • Online art
  • Film and television titles and graphics
  • T-shirt and clothing designs

 

Technically, digital graphic design can be used to display information, Data Visualization, User Interfaces, and Simulation.

Increasingly, graphic design and web design go hand-in-hand. Magazines must have an online presence, and so do newspapers, grocery stores, hospitals, and other kinds of business and institutions. Therefore, the graphic designers must create and maintain a consistent look and feel across many disciplines. Most often, the digital design guides how the rest of the identity is created and executed.

About the Author

Rahul Kulkarni is a full-time Technical Illustrator and Visual Media Expert. He has been creating digital learning experiences via visual communication for the past 8 years. He actively publishes content focused on Graphic Design and CAD on Social Media platforms – Medium and YouTube. In his current role at Schlumberger, he creates 3D animations and digital photorealistic images for industrial CAD renderings.