8 Main Types of Graphic Design Explained

Graphic Design
8 Main Types of Graphic Design Explained
Article by Jelena Relić
Last Updated: July 22, 2024

Graphic design is a dynamic field encompassing various forms to create visuals that convey messages through imagery, colors, typography, and other graphic elements. From creating eye-catching logos to developing user-friendly websites, graphic design plays a crucial role in shaping how we interact with the digital space.

In this article, our experts discuss the eight fundamental types of graphic design, what they are used for, and the best examples for each.

1. Branding Design and Visual Identity

Branding design and visual identity involve the development of a brand’s visual representation and identity. Shapes, images, and colors are put together to create a visual narrative that effectively communicates the unique story behind the brand.

A brand's visual identity or branding design is meant to be timeless, which requires designers to give careful thought to its elements, particularly its imagery. It is one of the graphic design categories that requires consistency across all business collaterals and materials published on all platforms, whether physical or digital.

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What Do Branding Design and Visual Identity Do?

A brand identity leaves a lasting impression and encourages the continued positive perception of your brand for your target audience. It attracts attention, evokes emotion, and enhances brand recall.

Samples of Branding Design

Samples of Branding Design
[Source: Propaganda Creative]
Propaganda Creative
[Source: Propaganda Creative]

These are the examples of graphic design produced for visual identity and branding:

  • Signage and logo design
  • Company letterhead
  • Business cards
  • Website branding
  • Company brochures
  • Corporate or business stationery

Every aspect of your company’s branding design should focus on, align with, and fit your business’s bigger picture, including your overarching mission and vision and the greater aesthetic concept. Moreover, image libraries, branding guidelines, and color palette details should be readily available for future or evergreen usage and applications.

Skills Required for Branding Design

Design specialists and branding experts should possess the following skills to shape consumer perception:

  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Lettering and typography
  • Market, trends, competitors, and industry research
  • Original conceptualization and ideation
  • Communication skills and teamwork

2. Advertising and Marketing Design

Advertising and marketing design has a narrower, more targeted objective, strategically creating concepts that resonate with a certain demographic. Excellent advertising and marketing design can be measured by the effectiveness of the campaign for which it is used.

Design for advertisements can come in the form of digital, print, a combination of both, or a hybrid campaign.

What Does Advertising and Marketing Design Do?

When your marketing design meets your audience’s needs and wants, it promotes and builds brand awareness, engages audiences, effectively impacts their decision-making process, and ultimately, increases conversions and revenue.

Samples of Advertising and Marketing Design

Advertising and Marketing Design
[Source: DD.NYC®]

Here are the creative assets and collaterals most useful for content marketing and advertising areas of graphic design:

  • Postcards and posters
  • Banners and billboards
  • Vehicle wraps
  • Flyers and brochures
  • Magazine and newspaper ads
  • Infographics
  • Trade show display ads and signage
  • Email templates
  • Presentation decks
  • Social media ads
  • Website and blog images

Skills Required for Advertising and Marketing Design

These skills and sets of experience are most valuable for these types of graphic design projects:

  • Adobe Creative Suite
  • Social media marketing
  • Digital marketing
  • SEO
  • Email marketing

3. Digital Design

Digital design is specially conceptualized and created for viewing on screens and virtual platforms online. It is one of the types of graphic design that is widely encompassing, especially since all industries are increasingly digitized.

What Does Digital Design Do?

Digital graphic design helps brands establish a memorable visual identity and engage audiences in the digital space. These creative visuals are used in websites, mobile apps, social media posts, and ads.

Moreover, digital design goes beyond aesthetics; it also focuses on user experience (UX) and functionality. Intuitive, responsive, and user-friendly design elements increase user engagement and satisfaction.

Samples of Digital Design

Samples of Digital Design
[Source: Clay]
Clay
[Source: Clay]

Here are some of the most prominent examples of graphic design under this category:

  • Website design
  • App design
  • User Interface and User Experience (UI/UX) design
  • Theme design for web pages
  • Gaming interfaces

When designing for online and digital spaces, your creative output and interactive pages must be visually attractive, responsive, and easy to navigate.

Skills Required for Digital Design

Collaborating with a reliable IT solution provider can ensure that the technical aspects of your design are well-executed for your app or website. Your designer should also follow the best and most compatible search optimization (SEO) practices and know how to align these with your overall branding. They should possess the following skills:

  • Branding and visual graphic design
  • UI/UX design
  • Wireframing
  • SEO
  • Coding
  • Programming languages such as JavaScript, CSS, and HTML
  • Problem-solving

4. Product Design

Product design is one of the more specialized among the different types of graphic design. It should be executed after deep research into the target market and relevant intellectual property laws. Product design involves creative practices and processes for research and design that ultimately lead to the development of new products.

What Does Product Design Do?

Product design is a multidisciplinary approach that combines function, aesthetics, usability, and marketability to create products that will address consumer pain points and solve their problems. Engineers, marketers, designers, and researchers brainstorm concepts and test multiple prototypes to ensure that the final product meets user needs and is possible to produce.

Samples of Product Design

Samples of Product Design
[Source: PKG Brand Design]

Here are the types of graphic design work produced in product design:

  • The product itself
  • Product packaging
  • Marketing collaterals
  • Product diagrams and prototypes
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Skills Required for Graphic Design for Products

When venturing into product design, your graphic designer should have proven skills in these areas:

  • Market research and analysis
  • Prototyping
  • 3D modeling and illustration
  • Adobe Creative Suite

5. Publication and Editorial Design

Publication and editorial design are the most common and in-demand types of graphic design. They deliver visuals for periodicals, journals, and other reading materials that should capture the attention of your target audience.

What Does Publication and Editorial Design Do?

Whether produced for traditional print media or online publishing, such as ebooks, these designs convey the author’s message and vision. They strategically combine imagery and text to make each visual element easy to distinguish and read.

Samples of Publication and Editorial Design

Samples of Publication and Editorial Design
[Source: FRW Studios]
FRW Studios
[Source: FRW Studios]

Here are the creative works under the publishing and editorial graphic design categories:

  • Covers for printed books or ebooks
  • Newspapers, magazines, and magazine spreads
  • Newsletters and journals
  • Directories
  • Business reports
  • Informative materials
  • Infographics
  • Products or services catalogs

Skills Required for Publication and Editorial Design

These are the required fields of expertise for successfully delivering designs for editorials and publications:

  • Conventional and digital printing
  • Color management
  • Market research
  • Adobe Photoshop
  • Adobe InDesign
  • Publishing graphic design software
  • Photography, lettering, and typeface

6. Environmental Graphic Design

Environmental graphic design encompasses various elements and creative components to better visualize landscaping, architecture, and industrial and interior design and translate their messages and purpose to the audience, effectively enhancing their experience.

What Does Environmental Graphic Design Do?

More than sparking interest in audiences, environmental graphic design aims to create a remarkable experience and journey for individuals in a physical space. It makes time spent in one place and within a certain atmosphere memorable, worthwhile, productive, and informative. It should be easy to navigate and even idyllic.

Samples of Environmental Graphic Design

Samples of Environmental Graphic Design
[Source: Wildfire Ideas]

Here are the types of graphics for environmental design:

  • Murals
  • Stadium branding
  • Office branding and other workspaces
  • Study areas
  • Signage and other visual cues and landmarks
  • Exhibits and art displays
  • Museums
  • Conferences and events places
  • Brick-and-mortar shop interiors and exteriors
  • Restaurant design and vibe
  • Public transportation areas

Skills Required for Environmental Graphic Design

These skills are needed for environmental graphic design:

  • Market research
  • Spatial awareness
  • Architectural processes
  • Material fabrication
  • Sustainability practices
  • UX design
  • CAD software and technical drawing
  • Adobe Creative Suite, Sketch, and other cutting-edge design software

7. Set Prop Design

Set Prop Design
[Source: The Art Department – Studio Babelsberg]

Prop design professionals specialize in costumes, signage, and other physical elements, whether big or small, in the background of a movie or TV set. This wide-ranging field requires skills in imagery, typeface, fashion illustration, construction, and more. The different types of graphic design can all come together for effective set prop design, as each element impacts the setting and helps create a new world.

What Does Set Prop Design Do?

Prop design is a highly specialized field that involves creating all objects used onstage or on the screen for films, TV shows, music videos, commercials, etc. Props and backgrounds are essential for effective storytelling and bring authenticity to the production. Set prop designers collaborate with script writers and directors to ensure all visual elements align with the production’s goals.

Samples of Set Prop Design

Some examples of set prop design include:

  • Static backgrounds
  • Moving sets
  • Location dressing
  • Props
  • Costumes
  • Animatronics
  • CGI props and backgrounds

Skills Required for Set Prop Design

These are the skills and specializations needed for set prop design:

  • Creative conceptualization and visualization
  • Carpentry and construction
  • Drawing, painting, sculpting
  • Welding and material fabrication

8. Human-Centered Design

Human-centered design, also known as Design Thinking and Design for Good, is often considered a philosophy rather than one of the traditional types of design. However, it is an excellent addition to the field.

What Does Human-Centered Design Do?

Human-centered design is often deployed for community projects and social entrepreneurship. It aspires to create a positive societal impact built around humanity's greater good.

Samples of Human-Centered Design

Samples of Human-Centered Design
[Source: Snyder & Associates]

Architecture, interior design, and graphic design prioritize the human component in their output. These are some of the more popular human-inspired designs found in urban cities and rural communities:

  • Children’s playhouses
  • Well-lit, well-ventilated, and health-friendly playgrounds
  • More efficient traffic plans and patterns
  • Ecofriendly office buildings
  • Greenhouses
  • Landscapes, privately owned lawns and gardens
  • Public parks
  • Thoroughfares and walkways
  • Bicycle-friendly lanes
  • Apps, websites, games, ads, and other publications that advocate human-centricity

Skills Required for Human-Centered Design

These skills are required for those specializing in human-centered design:

  • Qualitative and quantitative user research
  • Prototyping and iterative designs
  • User testing and data analysis
  • Mind mapping and journey mapping
  • Inclusivity and accessibility

Takeaways on the Types of Graphic Design

The types of graphic design overlap in many different areas, making it easier and more convenient for businesses to find the perfect aesthetics for diverse projects. By leveraging their rich properties and mixing different design elements, businesses can create memorable visual experiences for their audience and effectively stand out from the competition

To make the most of the various types of design, consider partnering with the top graphic design companies.

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