Graphic and Visual Content Designers
Plan, design and develop animation, pictures, diagrams, visual effects and other visual content for a variety of purposes.
A poster, a deadline and a printer
You are a graphic designer at a small studio, finishing a poster for a local music festival that must go to the printer by 3pm. It is 11am. The festival organiser wants a last change, your colleague has spotted something in the artwork and the printer needs the file. There is no time to waste and no room for a mistake.
Choose what you would do. Then see what happens. There are often good reasons for each choice.
I just had a thought. Can we add the three new sponsors' logos along the bottom? I know it is late, but they are paying for part of this. They sent their logos by email, just now.
Squeeze them all in and send it as is to meet the printer's deadline
The poster is crowded, one sponsor's logo is blurry because the email file was small, and the headline loses its punch. You hit the deadline but cannot be proud of the result.
Check each logo's quality, make room by simplifying the layout, and show Bridget a quick preview before it goes
One logo needs a better file, which Bridget chases. The layout still holds together and everyone sees the final version before it prints. A late change can be handled if you protect the whole design.
Say it is too late and the sponsors will have to wait for the next poster
The poster is clean, but Bridget has a difficult conversation with her sponsors. Saying no is allowed, though she needed an option, not just a wall.
I was looking over your file. The headline says the festival is on Saturday the 14th, but the date on the ticket text says the 15th. I am not certain which is right, but one of them has to be wrong.
Check with Bridget in writing and wait for her answer before you send the file
Bridget confirms the date, and one line is wrong. You fix it and thank Tom. Printed mistakes cannot be taken back, so a few minutes of checking is cheap.
Assume the headline is right and quietly change the other date on the ticket text to match it
You guessed correctly this time, but you got lucky. Bridget later tells you the other date was the real one, and the posters have to be reprinted.
Mention it to Bridget but send the file anyway so you do not miss the printer's slot
You protect the schedule, but you have sent something you know could be wrong. If Bridget replies late, the whole print run is exposed.
Your file has come through and the colours look very bright on my screen. Last time your files came out darker than expected. Do you want me to run a proof first? It will add a few hours.
Say no, because there is no time and it looked fine on your screen
The posters come back with the main colour noticeably duller. Your screen was not the same as the printer's. It cannot be fixed without another run.
Accept the proof, tell Bridget about the short delay and ask Gus to check the dark areas
The proof helps you catch a small colour shift and fix it. Bridget is annoyed by the delay, but the posters look right when they finally arrive.
Ask Gus for a quick proof of just the main colours and approve it on the phone
Gus sends a photo within the hour and you adjust one colour. The job goes out on time and looks right. Good designers use the printer's knowledge as part of the process.
How it went
The posters are printed, on time, with the right date and a sponsor strip that still works. Graphic design is creative problem solving under a clock, with clients, printers and colleagues all depending on your judgement. Do you like the idea of making something and then seeing it out in the world?
This is a simplified, fictional situation to help you explore. It is not professional instruction or a test of your ability.
Case study: The logo that looked wrong on a truck
A fictional case set in a graphic design studio making logos, posters, packaging and animation for clients.
The situation
Nadia designed a new logo for a small plumbing business called Clearwater Services. The client, Mr Hendricks, loved it on the screen. It had a fine, detailed drop of water with a thin outline. Two weeks later the vehicle signwriter rang to say that the logo looked muddy on the side of a van and unreadable from the road. Mr Hendricks had already ordered stationery, and thought it would be easier to blame the signwriter.
What they did
Nadia drove out and looked at the van herself. She saw that the thin lines vanished at distance and in bright sun. She did not defend the original design. She produced a simpler version of the same drop with thicker lines and fewer details, and a one colour version for the van. She showed Mr Hendricks both versions side by side at the size they would be seen, so he could judge for himself.
How it turned out
He chose the simpler logo and paid for the stationery to be reprinted. It cost him, and he was not happy at first. Months later he told Nadia that customers kept mentioning how easy the van was to read at traffic lights.
What would you do?
- How would you tell a client that your own design has a problem?
- Why might a design look good in one place and fail in another?
- What could Nadia have asked at the start that might have avoided all this?