Graphic Design Branding
By Eric Miller, About.com

Filed In:Education > Career Paths

To create a “brand” for a company is to create their image, and to promote that image with campaigns and visuals. Working in branding allows a graphic designer or design firm to get involved with many aspects of the industry, from logo design to advertising to copywriting and slogans. The goal of a brand is to make a company unique and recognizable, and to project a desired image. Over time, a brand can make a company a household name, and identifiable by a simple shape or color. To create a brand for a company, a designer needs to fully understand the goals of the organization, the industry as a whole, and working with design to create the appropriate materials to represent that company.
Type of Work

When working in branding, a designer can expect to work in:
Logo design 
Business card design 
Letterhead design 
Packaging 
Copywriting 
Writing slogans 
Advertising design 
Typeface design 
Research 
Marketing 
Examples of Branding

Examples of branding are all around us. The NBC peacock, the UPS brown truck and Nike’s “just do it” are some of the most famous examples. They are so recognizable that we don’t need to hear a company name to know what they are. Online brands such as MySpace, Facebook and YouTube are more recently developed but now just as recognizable. Logos on your favorite products, the packaging they come in, and the slogans that represent them are all examples of branding.

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Working as an Illustrator
By Eric Miller, About.com

Filed In:Education > Career Paths

Illustration, while often closely related to graphic design, is for many a separate profession. It is common for a graphic designer to do illustrative work and for illustrators to incorporate their work into graphic design, but there are also those who work solely in illustration, often being commissioned to create works for larger projects. An illustrator may be called on to create an image for a magazine cover, and that image will be passed on to a design to complete the layout. Similarly, an illustrator may create a logo, but not develop the business cards or other materials featuring that logo. Most commonly, illustrators work in software such Adobe Illustrator or Corel Painter, and often incorporate hand-drawn elements into their work.
Type of Work

When working in illustration one can expect to create:
Logos 
Images for books and magazines 
Icon sets 
Packaging graphics 
Getting Illustration Work

Illustrators will often work with an agent or representative that helps get them jobs. An agent allows the illustrator to focus on the creative side of their work, and collects a percentage of the fee earned in return. Agents will often have a focus on a particular type of work or industry, and greatly increase the potential workload of an illustrator.
Protecting Illustration Work

Illustrators should always attempt to retain the rights to their work. The details of an illustration job should be clearly spelled out in a contract, as the illustrator should own the copyright and be compensated for use beyond the original agreement. An understanding of copyright law, work-for-hire and other legal issues are important in any design career, and especially in illustration.

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Working as a Web Designer
By Eric Miller, About.com

Filed In:Education > Career Paths

Website design, while a relatively new industry, is now an essential part of a company’s image, brand, and advertising, marketing and public relations campaigns. The side of web design that would be considered graphic design is the creation of the actual look and feel of a website. Many web designers are also involved in web development, creating the functionality behind a working website. Even if someone wants to just focus on the design side, an understanding of the technology behind websites is essential to create designs that are both attractive and functional.
Type of Work

Work for web designers can include:
Designing websites to hand off to developers 
Designing web banner ads 
Creating animated flash websites 
Creating mockups and site wireframes 
Understanding web technologies 
Understanding browser and operating system differences 
Working closely with web programmers 
Software Used in Web Design

For someone working on the design side of website, Photoshop is the most popular software. Often a designer will create one or several layouts in Photoshop and hand them off to a developer, who will create a working site based on them. For those continuing into the development side, products such as Dreamweaver, GoLive, and countless HTML and CSS editing programs can be used.
The Technology Side

There are often differences between web designers and programmers, each with their own goals in mind. Web designers are looking to create the most beautiful site possible, while programmers want something fast and functional. Being a great web designer means understanding both sides, and creating websites that look good and that are designed with function in mind (therefore avoiding these differences). While the ability to code by hand may not be necessary, it is important to know what types of layouts are feasible, how they will appear in different browsers, and what typefaces and color combinations work well on screen rather than on paper. These types of questions make web design an interesting and challenging profession.

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