COMMUNICATION DESIGN BASICS

Table of contents

• What is Communication design?
• Introduction to communication design/visual communication
• Communication design course
• Scope of communication design
• Jobs in Communication Design

What is Communication design?

We all know and understand that non-verbal form of communication is the most powerful tool of communication. That is exactly what communication designers are using as their aid. It is about making use of visuals to create or weave a story that the creator wants to convey to the audience. When we see a movie, or look at some pictures/artwork that famous artists made, generally people have different opinions and perceptions, which the creator is fine to allow that to happen. But in the case of communication design, before the visuals are decided, the key message is decided on what to portray and visuals are just used as a medium to communicate that.

“Design is the intermediary between information and understanding.” - Hans Hoffmann, painter.

Introduction to communication design/visual communication

Communication is more of a strategy based approach to depict a certain feeling or information to the person with the help of a visual. Many people confuse themselves with similar terminologies such as Graphic design. Yes, both are similar one way or another. Graphic design entails creating stunning graphics which can be used by the brands for advertising. Now, communication designers enter the part where using the visuals a specific information should be portrayed. There is a fine line between these 2 profiles, which we cannot say as a difference, but the objective of the end results are slightly different.

Nowadays every brand builds its own story before they deliver their products or services to their target audience. The reason behind this branding and marketing is because people buy emotions, feelings, thoughts, and then the product. The customers just don’t wanna see the product description, buy and leave the store. Customer retention will be very difficult in that case. We need stories that can tie and relate customers to the brand. If we say noodles, everyone says “Maggi”. This is so because of all the advertisements, the message that it portrays over the years is what makes it a successful brand and a successful marketing campaign.

For this communication strategy has to be streamlined and coordinated with the brand’s philosophy. Communication design and visual communication is used interchangeably in most situations. As mentioned before, when we say someone is a communication designer, he/she uses keywords, text, graphics to communicate a certain message, lets say on their website for instance. But a graphic designer is focussed on creating visuals and graphics as per the demand of the job profile that they are catering themselves to.

Communication design course

The trends keep swaying, they say. When it comes to education, it sure has. The kind of courses that were relevant and popular, let's say, 10 years ago, are now looked down upon and there is a huge rise in a lot of creative courses which are sort of off-beat from the rest. Nevertheless, many youngsters are getting in this direction and seeing a lot of success in these arenas.

There are courses such as communication design and technology which gives the students the overall preview of all the wide range of communication forms and different media types involved. The society and the culture that we are living in are also very important to understand and the course offers perspective on those social environmental conditions as well. A message to a particular sect of people with different belief systems may find it very insensitive and offensive, but the same message will be taken lightly by others. So, it is very important to understand the MACRO-ENVIRONMENTAL factors before we portray or depict any message.

The aspiring students will also familiarise themselves with research, technologies, art forms, illustrations, graphics, typography, etc which acts as a channel for them to communicate. The idea is to familiarise them with everything that can be possible done under the umbrella of communication designing. So they are ready to face their work life with ease. We will not be able to predict what opportunities will come our way, or we might want to start our own business and become entrepreneurs. So, leadership and entrepreneurial skills will also be taught and guided by these arts and design colleges.

Scope of communication design

There are multiple opportunities for a person who wants to establish themselves in the communication design field. Communication design is not a field by itself. It's more of a weapon or it's more of a tool which can be used in many different ways and in different industries also. The dynamic nature of this field enables the individual to equip themselves with much more knowledge than depending only on what colleges or universities teach them. What I mean by this is, the trend now is completely drifting into online education and distant learning. The students can go through the below listed scope and gather information regarding that by doing small online courses. This will help them in the long run as it can give you the fuel to explore different industries and different job descriptions that communication designing can offer you.

CORPORATE BRANDING -

Every company needs a logo. This everyone knows. But some might not understand why the logo is in a specific colour or why the word is spelled in a different way instead of the regular way. All these, as we have been speaking earlier, is communication. The brand is indirectly communicating to its customers about who they are and what they do. So, communication designers can be working for Branding and promotional activities.

ADVERTISEMENT -

Most of the communication designers work in the advertising sector. Now, advertisements can be both online and offline modes of advertising. So, the skills required for both these modes also vary. After the advent of Covid-19, many brands are completely relying on their online presence and e-commerce sites for their revenue. They don't even own a physical store. So, communication designers can get into this where they can be working for online websites for designing billboards, posters and campaign development.

UI/UX -

User interface and user experience are also the kind of fields which are always in need for communication designers. The interface of the website which helps in navigation is also used as a stream of communication for the brands. Graphic design team, web developers, and communication designers can work together to create the output.

Jobs in Communication Design

CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT - Brainstorming ideas and concepts for campaigns and other marketing activities for the brand is the mainstream kind of work for a visual communication designer. The brand’s message and ideology should be well articulated in forms of visuals and text through their products and services. SOCIAL MEDIA MANAGEMENT - Establishing the brands presence in social media is also another key responsibility of a communication designer. Editing posts, videos, content, blogs are some of the areas where the communication designer focusses his/her attention on.

WORKING CLOSELY WITH PR (Public Relations) - PR is kind of like a bridge that connects the message and communications between the organisation and their target audience. Whenever a brand releases a statement regarding their motto, mission and vision, it is well taught through and a lot of changes happen before it is released to the general public. PR is also an effective persuader and it can also be used for marketing. Communication is also persuasion and negotiation on one level. So a communication designer will have his/her work cut out to design the proper communication tool and channel to direct a specific message to the audience.

PRINT MEDIA DESIGNERS - Working alongside newspapers and magazines agencies, the role of communication designer there is well justified and defined. Visually enhancing the layout of the magazine, making it more readable and accessible so that customers are engaged and the loyalty can be established between the brand and its consumers. They should also handling digital marketing tools such as e-mails, graphics on social media, web page management (UI/UX)

INFORMATION DESIGNER - Infographics, statistics and other analysis are also a pictorial representation of a given data or information. This is also a type of communication, statistically with percentages and numbers. Understanding consumer psychology and analysing data are the key skills that are required to be a successful information designer. These people can work closely with research agencies, consultation agencies and other marketing firms who are more into number crunching and who provide data and information to its audience.

Endnote

Communication designing is such a multi faceted and multi purpose study, where a person can try many different things under different industries as well. This is not a static job as it involves so much interesting and engaging work, that one filled with passion for the job would absolutely love every piece of it. The goal of every individual on some level is to make sure that their work doesn't feel like work. It should just be an extended version of their passion and hobby which in turn provides them revenue as well. If this situation has been achieved then there would be very less friction in our work life and we can try out different sectors under communication designing.