We often associate graphic design with something visually appealing and significant. However, graphic design has more to it than just being a pretty image. It meets multiple goals of a business. A graphic design becomes the identity of a brand or an institution for its target audience.
The significance of graphic design is that it has acquired different forms for a wide range of businesses and industries. This post describes the major types of graphic design along with graphic design examples for beginners.
Graphic design comes in varied types depending on its usage and purpose.
Here are the 9 types of graphic design:
Graphic design plays a vital role in marketing and promoting companies through advertisements. Businesses use design in various ways. They must create small marketing materials to convey a brand message through visuals. These visuals include business cards and brochures.
With such visual content, companies can effectively engage their target audience. In turn, these visuals help consumers make a buying decision. These designs aim to create visuals that drive viewers’ attention to a product or service, making people buy things.
Advertising designs come in a host of categories. But here are the prominent examples of such designs.
Examples of advertising graphic design
Career options in advertising design
Graphic designers have many opportunities to cheat visuals for advertisements across all industries. They can work as illustrators who are required to conceptualize images and create them for advertising all types of products or services.
The average salary of advertisement designers
As of September 2023, the average salary of a graphic designer in advertising and marketing is $57,990; according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average salary is estimated to be between $35,580 and $63,287.
Career outlook.
While the overall demand for graphic designers will continue to rise, advertising and marketing demand will likely be lower. That is what Graphic Designers in the US-Market Research Report says.
Environmental graphic design is about creating visuals regarding wayfinding. This includes signage and other visual clues that passersby can use to find a location. It is also about designing visuals that serve as communicators to tell a brand story.
The intention is to make the environment informative, navigable, and memorable. Therefore, an environmental graphic designer should also know architecture.
Job titles for environmental graphic designers
Associate designer: It is an entry-level job for those wanting to start a graphic designer career. Recent graduates can apply for the job.
Draftsman: The Draftsman is responsible for converting the designs provided by environmental designers into drawings. The job requires specialization in mechanical, electrical, and architectural drafting.
Environmental design examples
Average salary for environmental graphic designers
The average salary by the U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics for environmental designers is
$60,400 per year, or $29.04 per hour.
Career Outlook
Many new employment opportunities are likely to open for environmental graphic designers. Experts have hoped for a steady 4 percent growth in employment up to 2032 in the above-mentioned visual design examples.
Publication design is related to print mediums, including magazines, newspapers, books, etc. This field of design uses traditional typography, colours, and space elements. By combining these elements, the designer can create an appealing visual. It is for physical products and digital platforms like email newsletters and eBooks. Publication design is also one of the popular types of graphic art used in several industries.
Job titles for publication graphic designers
Production artist: A production artist does layout work and collaborates with the designer and art director to ensure that everything looks perfect. The artist must have sound knowledge of design software and print production.
Layout artists: A layout artist designs the text, images, and structure to make a structure for printed media such as brochures, magazines, books, and posters.
DTP artist: DTP (desktop publishing) artists turn illustrations into digital format. These artists are required to have skills in DTP software programs.
Publication design examples
The average salary for publication graphic designers.
A publication graphic designer can expect a salary of between $47,910 annually and $23.04 per hour.
Career Outlook
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the demand for desktop publishers will likely reduce by 19 percent up to 2029. So, choose this career carefully for the next few years.
Motion design is about creating digital graphics that give viewers the impression of motion or rotation. It is used in many television shows, movies, and other media. Technological advances have made motion designs popular with users and viewers.
Job titles for motion graphic designers
Motion graphics designer: The designer works on integrating different elements to create a unique motion design. Such a designer might have a filmmaking or video production background in creating animation.
Motion graphic design examples
The average salary for motion graphic designers
The average salary for motion designers with great skills in the art mentioned above in graphic design examples is $129,670 per year.
Career Outlook
There are plenty of employment opportunities for motion graphic designers. The demand for designers to create visual effects in films, TV shows, and video games is estimated to be robust from 2022 to 2032.
Corporate design establishes a closer relationship between a brand and its target audience. The design is about creating a brand identity for a company to make its face in terms of personality, essence, and tone. So, a corporate design involves and integrates colors, shapes, imagery, and other elements to evoke the feelings of a target audience. The design then aims to make consumers perceive a brand in a certain way.
Design consistency is a key to creating corporate design. Consumers trust only brands with visual consistency across their marketing and promotional campaigns. These designers also work with brand stakeholders to create unique typography, color palettes, logos, and other visuals.
The designers are also responsible for setting guidelines for the creators to follow when incorporating design elements.
Job titles for corporate graphic designers
Brand identity designer: As a brand identity designer, you are supposed to make products or services visuals in a way that the audience can relate to. The designers may be working with an advertising agency initially.
Logo designer: The designer will create a logo for the company by following a set design process. A logo is designed to align the visual with the company’s brand.
Corporate design examples.
The average salary for corporate graphic designers
The average salary for corporate designers is between $123,000 and $212,000.
Career Outlook
According to some reports, the demand for corporate designers might be lower than before. It will likely drop to four percent from 2019 to 2029.
UI design is about creating user interface design that looks aesthetic and stylish on different devices. It is thus about designing different layers of interaction. The designers use visual elements that users can interact with. However, the design should also optimize the usability of the interface. The UI design includes designing buttons and menus as screen graphic elements.
UI designers aim to balance aesthetics and functionality in their designs. They specialize in mobile apps, web apps, and games.
Job titles for UI graphic designers
UI graphic design examples
Average salary for UI graphic designers
The average annual pay for UI graphic designers is $77,962 in the USA.
Career Outlook
UI designers are in demand due to the rising trend of artificial intelligence, AR, VR, and big data. These designers are also in demand for creating aesthetically appealing user interfaces.
Web design involves creating a page layout and choosing the right images. It is also about deciding on the right typography for websites. The designer also uses UI and UX design to create an interface.
Job titles for web designers
Web designer: A web designer aims to create a responsive web design with a cohesive web UI.
Examples of web design
The average salary for web designers
The average annual pay of web designers is around U.S. $50,520.
Career Outlook
Web designing is a growing field for designers, with an eight percent growth from 2019 to 2029.
Packaging design involves creating visuals for merchandise packaging. The design strategically uses colors, fonts, shapes, images, and other elements to communicate a brand message and personality.
This design category includes many businesses, such as makeup, food packaging, retail, etc. Packaging design is crucial to driving consumers’ interest in the product when displayed on a shelf.
Job titles for packaging designers
Packaging design examples
The average salary for packaging designers
The average annual pay of a packaging graphic designer is $79,500.
Career Outlook
According to some reports, the demand for packaging designers may grow over the next few years. However, designers with updated design skills have the best job chances.
Information design involves designing data on a particular issue. For instance, infographic design visually presents data so viewers can understand the problem quickly. Similarly, street signs should be such that viewers can get the directions instantly at a glance.
Information design aims to give the viewers or users a clear picture of what they seek. So, the design emphasizes usefulness more than aesthetics and quality.
A key feature of information design is that it incorporates elements from various disciplines, including data visualization, infographics, visual design, technical writing, usability, and editing.
Examples of information design
The average salary for information designers
An information designer in the U.S. earns an average annual salary of around $56,161. The salary range for the above computer graphic design examples is between $45,871 and $66,851.
Career Outlook
The demand for Information designers will grow consistently in the digital space. However, the demand may not be that good for print media.
So, these are the nine major types of graphic designs you can explore that suit your interests. Focus on developing your skills to win more clients and have an excellent career.
Wrapping Up
There are nine main types of graphic design: advertisement design, environmental design, publicity design, motion design, corporate design, UI design, web design, packaging design, and information design. Skilled designers have many career opportunities in these types of graphic designs.
