The graphic design profession occupies a unique position intersecting a range of design disciplines, such as interior, product, furniture and textile, and a range of specialised communication services including marketing, public relations, advertising and the newly emerging multi-media.

Through this position it can be understood how the occupation consists of a range of specialist areas from business, trades, industrial and arts settings including technology, fine art, publishing, crafts, management, research, graphic reproduction, consulting, and design itself.

Not surprisingly then, graphic designers at their best hold attributes such as creativity, analytical power, business acumen, relationship skills, technical discipline and organisational ability within their range of skills and talents.

For many graphic designers, satisfaction within the profession comes from being able to combine a number of these attributes and apply them in a way which makes a meaningful contribution to the community, be it through business, retailing, manufacture, social service or the environment.

Graphic design is seen by its leading practitioners as being a vehicle for visual communication, one which sees positive change as a primary reason for its existence. Further, it is the idea of harnessing this change and generating presence for defined commercial and social outcomes that provides graphic design its greatest power. The process of designing, therefore, should be seen as more than a selection of creative and technical functions - which were the origins of the profession - but a means of integrating their outcomes within the cultural fibre of clients.

Whether a graphic designer finds themself working in a field of visual identity, packaging, publishing, multi-media, corporate communication, environmental graphics, merchandising or, as is often the case, a mixture of these, they can be assured the privilege of belonging to an international fraternity of professionals who hold a special passion for their occupational lives.

John Frostell
Managing Director
Dialogue Visual Communication Pty Ltd
AGDA National President