1. Visual identity

The relationship of a company/organization with its public is known as branding. Brand identity is the way an organization conveys its personality, essence and tone, as well as its emotions, experiences and memories. Similarly, visual identity graphic design is the visual elements of brand identity that function as the face of a brand, thus it can convey such intangible qualities by means of images, colors and shapes.

Visual identity graphic designers work together with brand stakeholders to design logos, color palettes, typefaces, and image libraries that represent brand personality. In addition to creating regular business cards and company stationery, designers often generate visual branding guidelines (style guides) that provide best practices and examples of visual branding used in different media. These guidelines help ensure brand consistency across all future applications.

2. Marketing and advertising

Graphic design for most people represents the designs made for marketing and advertising. Companies rely on the best marketing efforts to influence the decision-making process of their target audience. Effective marketing allows people to participate based on their needs, wants, knowledge, and satisfaction of a product, service, or brand. Since visual content is more attractive to people, graphic design helps companies/organizations to communicate and promote themselves more effectively.

Marketing designers work together with business owners, managers, directors, and marketing professionals to generate assets for marketing strategies. Some work as freelancers, while others work as part of an internal team or creative group. Other designers specialize in a particular type of media, such as magazine ads and vehicle wraps, or create a wide variety of collateral that is used for both print and digital. They used to be print-focused, but their role has evolved to add more digital assets to be used particularly for content marketing.

3. User interface

The user interface or UI is the way users interact with a device or an application. User interface design is the process of designing interfaces to be easy to use and provide a great user-friendly experience.

A user interface comes with everything that a user interacts with, such as the keyboard, mouse, and screen. However, in terms of graphic design, user interface design focuses on the visual experience of the user and the design of graphic elements, such as buttons, menus, and micro-interactions, among others. The job of a UI designer is to create a balance between aesthetics and technical functionality.

UI designers work on mobile apps, desktop apps, web pages, and games. They work hand in hand with UX designers, designers (who know how the app works), as well as UI developers, who write the code to make it work.

4. Publication

Posts that come in long-form pieces communicate with viewers through public distribution. They used to be in print media like books, magazines, newspapers, and catalogues, but there has been a significant rise in digital publishing in recent decades.

Graphic designers who specialize in publishing coordinate with editors and publishers to make layouts that have carefully chosen typography and accompanying artwork such as graphics, illustrations, and photography. Publication designers can work as freelancers, as members of a creative agency, or as part of a publisher.