Spatial organization and colours determine the overall feel of a graphic design, but what ultimately makes it unique and specific are the graphic elements used on the page – the logo, icons, illustrations, photos, animations, typography, and controls, as well as the fine details (lines, frames, shadows, patterns, ornaments). Creative work with space and colours can indeed be thought of as the author’s intention, but only the graphic elements will reveal in its naked truth the designer’s handwriting, style, and essence of her approach.
Style is, in fact, the essence of graphic design for several reasons. A graphic style must be:
- consistent
- unique
- appropriate
The consistency of a graphic style is certainly its most important measure. What gives away a bad and amateur design is a lack of consistency and a dissonance, more or less pronounced, between individual graphic elements. Websites made by non-designers are typically a disparate collection of elements picked at random from all sorts of sources, icons from one set, illustrations from another – and that is the better case scenario; in extreme cases, each icon and illustration will be in a different style, obviously from a different source, a different author.
Since we are on the subject, issues of copyright and the legality of copying graphic elements from external sources should not go unmentioned. This is the responsibility of each individual designer, who will bear the potential consequences of breaking the law. A responsible professional designer would not even dream of simply copying a picture he happens to like and using it in his design. Licence is the key word here. We need to have a licence for each element used in our design – and it must be the right type of licence, which grants us rights for such purposes and on such terms, as we turn our design over to the customer.
Everything on the internet has an author, is subject to intellectual property law, and to use it, we need the author’s consent, ie a licence.
But let’s leave the issues of copyright to one side for now – just like many other subjects touched upon in this blog, they by far exceed its scope. Suffice to say that it is in the best interest of every designer to learn about intellectual property law and comply with it religiously. And now back to style of our graphic design.
Another one of the aforementioned qualities goes hand in hand with consistency – uniqueness. There may be situations where the way forward is to take a consistent set of graphic elements made by another designer and assemble those into a design (which one would consider one’s own design only at a stretch). Other than that, there is but one way of achieving a consistent style: creating the entire design in our own personal style. It is the designer’s specific personal style that makes a graphic design pleasant, eye-catching, and unique.
Don’t be afraid to be original and strive for your own identifiable style of visual expression. It is a valuable asset, in this day and age, which can help a designer earn recognition and offer added value. In its absence, all we can gain is the “security“ of a universal rank-and-file designer in an agency able to, when briefed, churn out sterile designs based on tried and tested patterns. If, however, we have bigger ambitions, if we want to become a sought-after designer, then we must not only offer potential clients the quality, professionalism, and expertise, that are expected as a matter of course, but also a bold individual style. The market for web design is huge, thousands of new websites are created daily all over the world, and customers often crave a unique and distinctive design. If there is a selection process, how do you even get into the pre-selection? The only way is to create at least a couple of works emanating your signature style – these will make a great portfolio to show to clients. A portfolio of websites, each in a completely different style (let alone obviously copying someone else’s style) is only useful for an interview at the afore-mentioned agency looking for a universal and pliable pixel jockey. For everyone else, though, it is of zero interest, and will be glanced at with a yawn, as it does not stand out from the crowd. But a portfolio of works in a singular style, where the same personality transpires from each piece, will always catch the eye. It may be that the client does not need this style for their current project, but when a time comes for it to be fitting, they will recall it immediately, and skip the boring selection stage…
The key to success: find your own style and dare to be different. Copying other people’s styles is a slippery slope to obscurity.
Last but not least, a graphic style must be appropriate; it must be a good fit for the client’s specifications, requirements, and needs. Cute illustrations will not work for a government website, just like stern, industrial design will not be ideal for a commercial radio station, or rough grungy, street-arty style will not be a great match for a playful site for pre-school kids. It is our task to find the correct form and visual language adequate for the needs of the final product. If we miss, our design – high-quality, consistent, and unique though it may be – will ultimately be completely useless.
