It is one of the most sought after. This is not surprising, because the designer is engaged in activities that allow you to make human life brighter and more beautiful. In addition, the salaries of modern designers are quite high, but they also have to work a lot.

Profession designer: what is it?

WITH English word"design" is translated as drawing, project, plan. Under this word lies the manifested in different areas our life. If to speak plain language, then design is the creation of something necessary, important, economical and necessarily beautiful. Actually, the designer is the person who manages the whole process and embodies the most daring ideas.

It is worth noting that, as such, there is no single profession of a designer. The reason for this is the inability to cover a large number of spheres at the same time. That is why, in the course of the development of the profession itself, its varieties appeared, among which the following are the most popular:

• printing designer - typesets, for example, newspapers, creates layouts;
• landscape designer - ennobles the territory. For example, a plot around a country house, a city alley, etc.;
• clothing designer - creates new models of clothing based on the latest fashion trends (For example, Tom Ford);
• phytodesigner - plants trees and shrubs at home, offices;
• web designer - creates websites, banners;
• food designer - creates beautiful images, works on the menu of cookbooks, etc.;
• interior designer - furnishes apartments, houses, offices.

Interior designer is a profession that is well known to many. Modern man home comfort pays special attention. Those who have enough funds, without hesitation, turn to an interior designer for help. Who, if not him, should know what is fashionable and what is best done in a particular room.

The profession of an interior designer requires incredible strength and patience from a person. At first glance, it seems that there is no difficulty in creating this or that design, the main thing is the presence of a wild imagination and the ability to translate your ideas into reality. In fact, the designer has much more requirements:

• creativity, creativity.
• Diligence and perseverance - often you have to make much more effort than expected. And you should always be ready for this.
• Patience - even if something does not work out, you must always be able to adequately get out of the current situation, trying to do everything at the level.
• Well-developed imaginative thinking.
• Ability to present the product being developed as a whole.

In addition, the profession of a designer is the ability to listen to the wishes of the client and translate them into reality, if the latter insists on it.

Among other things, this includes computer skills at the level of a confident user, since the modern profession of a designer is associated with a wide variety of programs. If you install them on your PC, you can do some of the work at home.

Profession designer: pros and cons

The work of a designer, however, like any other, has its pros and cons. The advantages include a fairly high wages, the ability to work not only in the office, but also at home. The advantage is the ease of operation, since almost all of it can be controlled on a computer through special programs. And, finally, the plus is the pleasure that each designer gets from his work.

The disadvantages of the profession include the specificity of the work. No designer can insure themselves against not wanting to do anything. Minus - non-standardized Sometimes the order can stretch for a month, and sometimes the amount of work needs to be done only within a few days.

What is design and what does a designer do?

If design was a sport it would be a decathlon. Design has many facets: composition, typography, coloring, concept, branding, marketing and social communications. A real designer sees and understands the relationship of colors and shades, space and form, is able to understand the hierarchy of the parts of the project and its overall composition. By manipulating the visual elements, the designer can express the main idea in a way that is understandable to the target audience. Graphic design acts as a transmitter of information in a visual way.

Many people think that in order to be considered a designer, it is enough to study a package of graphic programs, including Photoshop, Illustrator, Corel Draw and many others. Undoubtedly, the more such editors a designer knows, the more opportunities open up for him. But today even schoolchildren are more or less able to use Photoshop, and this does not mean that they are involved in design. Developed ability to creative thinking and the ability to competently build a process is the basis of the design profession.

Design as collective creativity, vision, the work of thought and the ability to see original idea in everyday things, to create rhythm and harmony. Illustration: project by Forsman & Bodenfors for the IKEA cookbook " Homemade is best"("Homemade Is Best"). Art Directors: Staffan Lamm and Christoffer Persson Photographer: Carl Kleiner, Mink Mgmt

Creative people are able to effectively operate with contradictory and ambiguous information. Russian psychologist Vladimir Druzhinin gave an interesting definition: creative people often surprisingly combine the maturity of thinking, deep knowledge, various abilities, skills, and peculiar "childish" features in views on the surrounding reality, in behavior and actions.

If design were a sport, it would be a decathlon. A designer is at the same time a psychologist, marketer, visionary, etc.

Design is an activity aimed at solving a problem. Moreover, such a problem that cannot have a single correct solution. Some decisions are more “correct”, others are less, but this “correctness” depends on the vision that is invested in the design process. A design project is able to influence a person: awaken associations, evoke various emotions, lead to certain thoughts and conclusions. Its goal is to arouse in the buyer a great desire to become the owner of the product: to eat this particular chocolate bar, read this particular book, or use this particular double boiler. The design of the cover and packaging, the product itself or its advertising convinces a person that his life without this purchase will be incomplete. And for this to happen, the designer will need time, a holistic vision of the product and some freedom of ideas to create such a concept that allows you to penetrate into the center of the brain or heart of the consumer.

Design is also creation according to the theory of small deeds, everyday art: many of us noted, for example, when traveling around Europe, that even such small things as elegant awnings and signs with trendy fonts transform the streets and create a culture of the environment. Or take the phenomenon of graphic media design: it is what makes magazines and websites cult, even art objects, makes content relevant, associates media with the audience's sense of self and a certain subculture.

There are two main approaches to design: each designer and client chooses the one that is closer to him, and each approach has its own advantages and disadvantages.

1. Customer focus: guess and please. Carrying out a specific order, the designer anticipates the desires of the client and materializes them. In this case, he sells not his individual style, but the one that the customer likes. Within this concept, the designer, working with fonts, layouts and compositions, acts carefully enough to make the client's dream come true. The designer who completes the order is in constant search of the golden mean between "competent" and "beautiful", both in terms of design and in terms of the client's goals.
2. Design as contemporary "fast art". This approach is focused, rather, not on the client's expectations, but on the visual and marketing wow effect that the designer's imagination generates, his art concept. The design developed within the framework of this concept is less utilitarian, but it is he who is able to create a meme and a trend, inspire a product with an exact idea that the manufacturer himself may not know about, build a “legend” for the product and brand. Usually this approach is chosen by a client who is open to experimentation, realizes that he goes to the designer for the original concept and chose the designer for individual style presented in the portfolio.

Design as contemporary art. The work of a designer and 3D artist Chris LaBrooy (Chris LaBrooy)

Design thinking

The society is actively developing, and professionals in any field are faced with tasks related to the search for non-standard approaches to solving problems. What does the modern market require? A sought-after and innovative product, created with a creative approach to the process. And only those who are able to provide a creative solution to the task at hand are competitive. Design as a field of activity has almost no boundaries - it surrounds us and is required in all areas.. Successful design projects penetrate the emotions, feelings and thoughts of the consumer, the essence of materials and modern technologies. At the same time, a competent designer always focuses on social and economic changes in society, catches trends and tries to predict the future.

Russian psychologist Vladimir Druzhinin: “Creative people often surprisingly combine maturity of thinking, deep knowledge, various abilities, skills, and peculiar “childish” features in their views on the surrounding reality, in behavior and actions.”

Classical design education is based on the ability to solve important visual problems: to feel textures and materials, shapes and colors, space and composition, to see the world of things in rhythmic and coloristic reflection, in plane and space. For professional success, a design specialist in any field needs a special mindset. What does this mean? When talking about creativity, there are usually several components that it consists of:

• activity and originality of thinking;
• interest in complex problems and paradoxes;
• sense of beauty;
• developed imagination;
• the ability to concentrate on the main thing and attention to detail;
• increased sensitivity, empathy;
• ability to think clearly, in concepts;
• sense of humor and wit;
• independence of judgment.

The American psychologist Joy Paul Guilford divided a person's mental abilities into convergent, when the brain concentrates on finding the main solution, and divergent - those that are called creativity, that is, the ability to find many different solutions to one problem.

Not so long ago, a special concept appeared - design thinking. It is a technique that is used to create innovation and search original solutions in different areas. Most often, the term is used when talking about the development of new products, but in reality, the scope of design thinking is much wider. It can be used in all cases when it is necessary to solve any problem related to people, or to combine knowledge from different areas. The core element of the design thinking methodology is getting to the heart of the problem and observing carefully. The Stanford School of Design has divided the design thinking process into several stages.

empathy

At the heart of the people-centered design process is empathy, that is, the ability to imagine oneself in the place of another person, the ability to empathize and sympathize. For a long time, a product or service was first created, and only then manufacturers, through the efforts of advertisers and marketers, tried to convince consumers that they needed this product. Today, this approach is considered obsolete, and design thinking is aimed precisely at designing products for those who will use them. The empathy mode also implies studying the behavior of the target audience: in the context of a specific task, it is necessary to understand what is important for certain consumers, how they perceive the world, what they need emotionally and physically, and why they behave the way they do.

At the heart of people-centered design is empathy, that is, the ability to imagine yourself in the place of another person, the ability to empathize and sympathize.

What gives such an approach? Design is a solution to certain problems and challenges, and they are part of the audience for which the product is being created. And for the project to be successful, it is important for the design team to empathize with potential consumers, to try to think and feel like them. People watching is a great way to work out what those people need. Successful design is based on a deep understanding of the worldview of consumers, and empathy mode allows you to look at the problem from their point of view. What does a designer do in the “empathy phase”? Observes, talks, listens and observes again.

One of the most effective tools designer is drafting empathy cards. It helps to synthesize all the received observations and get interesting, and sometimes unexpected, insights (insight is a sudden awareness of a problem, insight, conjecture). To create an empathic map, the board is divided into 4 parts, each of which is filled with notes about the user's characteristics. This includes video and audio materials, recordings, that is, all information obtained in the empathy mode. Each quadrant of the board answers a specific question:

• What did the user say?
• What was his behavior?
• What could a person think?
• What emotions in relation to a certain topic were observed during the interviews and observations?

The answers to these questions determine the needs of the user. It is very important to express his actions and desires with a verb.

Focusing

The next step in the design thinking process is focusing. In this mode, a clear concept of the project is revealed. The designer gathers together everything that he heard and saw, and tries to make a whole picture from the information received, in which it is necessary to determine the most important. During the focus stage, the designer draws conclusions based on the information collected in the empathy mode and creates the exact concept that will be implemented in the project. Focusing is a deep understanding of what is obtained in the process of observation. Having identified the challenge that the need to develop a specific project throws him, the designer proceeds to the next stage - the generation of ideas.

Generation of ideas

All actions of this stage are aimed at finding solutions for the challenge, the task that has been identified. In progress idea generation emotions are combined with rationality, and consciousness with subconscious thoughts, because on this stage it is essential to generate the whole range of possibilities, not to come up with one right idea. To find ideas, designers use brainstorming, sketching, mind mapping, or building a layout. Either way is good, the main thing to remember is that the generation of ideas should be clearly separated from their evaluation. Only under this condition can the imagination be boundless.

Design is the ability to express the “personality” of a brand in simple ways. Designer's work David Lopez

Prototyping

The stage following the generation of ideas is prototyping mode, implying the development of layouts that lead to the final solution. The prototype is expressed various means, for example, using a script or role play. Ideas for prototyping are selected in one of three ways:

1. Each team member chooses 3 ideas that he likes the most.
2. The team names 1-2 ideas in each of 4 categories: the most rational, the most incredible, the most attractive and the most suitable for the user.
3. Designers select ideas they want to try in prototyping mode.

Testing

Prototyping is inseparable from the regime testing. Testing offers the opportunity to learn more about the user experience and at the same time get to know your solution better. When designing a prototype, you need to constantly think about how users will test it. In the process, the audience is able to provide the designer/team with valuable information about what and why they don't like about the proposed solutions. During the testing phase, the designer should be focused on what he has not yet learned about the problem that needs to be solved. Test mode is a great opportunity to refine initial ideas. In order to be even more imbued with the thoughts and feelings of the user, designers offer them:

• Draw your thoughts (for example, draw a picture of how the user sets up for work, or depict your thoughts on how to spend money in the best way).
• Play the game using pre-made cards. The user plays by the rules that the designer came up with - and this helps to get to know him better.
• Be in a simulated situation. For example, you are developing an application that allows students to study on the road. Take your child (or a student you know) for a ride in a car and see if it’s realistic to do homework on the road, and if so, how.

Illustration: Jordanhill School D&T Dept.

When creating prototypes and testing them, you should follow the recommendations compiled by Stanford specialists:

• Start prototyping even when you don't have a clear idea of ​​what you're doing. Grab the right materials (paper, tape, marker) - and go! Even the process of searching for these very materials is already the beginning of action.
• Concentrate on thoughts about the user. What would you like to test with it? What reaction do you expect from him?
• Don't stay too long on one prototype. Move on to the next one long before this one feels perfect.
• One prototype corresponds to one question. The whole concept should be divided into parts, each of which will have its own prototype.
• Remember that the testing process is cyclical: the creation of innovation only begins when your first test ends.

When the ideal solution is found, it is necessary to correctly present it. Otherwise, few people will know about your unique developments. To those who have public performance cause panic attacks advice from practitioners. And for those who want to quickly and clearly explain the essence of their idea to potential buyers, the material will come in handy Entrepreneur's Visual Library.

Design as a method of transforming the environment. The work of designer Fabio Sasso Fabio Sasso

The methodology suggested by the Stanford Design Specialists is just a mockup. In the course of work, each designer can adapt it to his needs, working in a way that suits him. The main rule: do not get hung up on development processes and stay creative.

I once wrote this report at the university. Found, upgraded. And I got my thoughts about my profession. Do not throw stones - she always wrote essays badly. But constructive criticism is welcome.

Perhaps it will be useful for those who are just thinking about repairing.

Moderator, if I posted it in the wrong place, please redirect me to the right section.

I don’t know why the text turns out like that ... sometimes small, sometimes large.

The desire to live in comfort and convenience, as I think, has always been with a person. Even living in caves, people sought to equip their home, decorate it.

As such, the concept of design appeared at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries after the Industrial Revolution. One of the first theorists of the new direction was William Morris (by the way, an exhibition of his work was recently held in the Pushkin Museum). He put forward the problems of interior design of private housing for discussion. This was the first impetus for the formation of the profession of designer. At the beginning of the 20th century, design began to develop rapidly. There were such brilliant people (maybe someone disagrees - criticism is welcome) as Frank Lloyd Wright (Frank Lloyt Wright) Charles Mackintosh (Charles Macintosh), and of course the great Le Corbusier (Le Carbusier). And I would also mention Victor Horta. Although I am not a fan of Art Nouveau and Art Nouveau, but the Tassel Mansion designed by him sunk into the soul. It should be noted that these were the architects who realized that the interior content is as important as the facade. In their projects, they thought through everything: from the foundation to the door handle.

It was a brief digression in history. If it is interesting - the Internet is full of information, replenish your knowledge about the beautiful.

And now to the main thing. Who is a modern designer?

Most people perceive interior design as decoration and do not even imagine that it is taught in public universities and students study this subject, pass tests and exams. Accordingly, it does not fit in the head of the customer what he should pay such money for.

First of all, you need to understand that design is not decoration, but design. Yes, yes, just like an architect designs buildings, thinking over where the elevator shaft will be and where the load-bearing beam will be, the designer works with your apartment / house / office. Quality design should not only be beautiful, it should be functional. The house is first of all comfort and a cosiness of its tenants.

The designer must have a huge amount of knowledge and skills: this is knowledge of the history of art and architecture, and design standards, and colors, and the market modern materials, and special software, and many more nuances that are not initially noticeable to the customer. And the most important thing in any project, in my opinion, is the idea. Sometimes, they appear like in a cartoon - a light bulb lights up, and you know what to do and how to do it. Sometimes, this is a long process of intense brain activity. It seems that just a little bit more, behind that turn of the gyrus, sits the idea you need. You turn there, but do not find the fugitive and continue on your way according to your imagination. (I don't know about others, but that's how it is for me). How to evaluate ideas - after all, they cannot be touched. However, the idea is the foundation on which the entire project is built.

A person can learn the history of culture, various norms, the influence of color and successfully work as a designer. But, if ideas are not able to arise in his head, his projects are devoid of individuality, soul and do not cause admiration. It is for this knowledge and the ability to generate ideas that the designer receives his salary.

Let's go in order:

1. Knowledge of the history of art and architecture

Here, I think, everything is clear. Each person of art has his own idols of the past and present, who inspire new achievements with their works. I personally love strict architecture - it is beautiful. How many times have I been a little bit up to the bumper of the car driving in front of me, staring at some awesome building. I think someday there will be an accident due to the fault of that beautiful building))

2. Design standards

Since interior design is precisely designing, there is nowhere without it. The first designers had to calculate and check everything on their own, on their own experience. We also have the opportunity to work on their experience. The most important subject for any interior designer is the ergonomics of the living space. Not all people know, much less understand the meaning of this word. But they don't need it - there are us, designers. However, if you are thinking about making repairs in your home on your own, I advise you to read smart books about this theme.

Once I printed out an abstract for the university on this subject at the printing house. And a young man, with a smart look, decided to help me: “You have a typo in the title of your essay,” he said, “There must be economics.” And I was very puzzled by such an incomprehensible word as ergonomics) Well, it’s true, a funny story.

To be honest, there are no legal standards for individual housing (i.e. inside your apartment) that are not related to architectural solutions. Ergonomics is designed to make housing comfortable and functional. For example, the designer knows how long a comfortable passage should be between the bed and the wall, at what height to place the TV in the living room, how to plan the wardrobe, how to properly position the kitchen set (so that everything is at hand) - and there are recommendations for this.

Also, important point, is the illumination. It is not easy to calculate and arrange it correctly. The number of lamps and the power of the lamps the designer does not just come up with from his head. There are lighting standards for different rooms. When choosing lighting, the designer takes into account factors that may seem unimportant to the average person, such as the amount of natural light, the material used to decorate the room (after all, tiles reflect more light than wallpaper). Also, for these purposes, special lighting calculation programs are used. Most customers find that it is not difficult. But no, this is real work that takes time. There are, of course, professionals who calculate lighting by eye, but they have jambs.

3. Coloring

I will not talk much about the meaning of color and its combination. I can only say that this is a separate science related to psychology and physics. There are people who have an innate sense and understanding of color - my mother is such a person. She is good at choosing color combinations, not understanding why she did it that way. Most people know what colors are combined with each other, but be afraid to go beyond the generally accepted combinations.

Therefore, you need to trust the designer when he says that this eggplant wallpaper will look good with these mint)))) This is from personal experience. But these emerald ones will go to your pale pink kitchen. Because the designer knows what the end result will be.

And if color combinations and relationships are chosen correctly, color harmony is created. And we like such an interior on a subconscious level, we consider it cozy.

4. Knowledge of the market of finishing materials.

In addition, the designer follows the news in this area and can tell you which material is better to use for a particular purpose. This applies not only to finishing materials, but also to furniture, lamps, plumbing. Thanks to the designer, you save your time - you don't have to go around the markets and construction centers in search of something, I don't know what)))

5. Software

At all, good designer can explain everything on the fingers. But, in our age of modern technology and increased requirements, one cannot do without a visual presentation. There are customers who know what they want - they can simply be offered a collage, which shows the style of their future home and its colors. However, technology offers us more and more options for visualizing ideas. Previously, it was hand-drawn graphics, now computer-aided design has taken its place. There are many visualization programs. I'll show you what a room looks like in one of the most popular programs for 3Ds Max.

Each element (walls, ceiling, sofa, vase) is a separate object that needs to be built, textured (painted), put in its place. Then create light sources: internal (light bulbs) and external (sun, sunset outside the window) - to make the image photorealistic, you need to know not only this program, but also physics. After creating a picture in a 3D program, it still needs to be processed in a graphics editor.

To create the final picture, you need not only the ability of the designer, his knowledge of the program, time, but also good computer. Not a laptop, but a desktop computer, with good content. Therefore, visualization costs money and increases the time of the project.

Recently, an aunt came across who offered very ridiculous money for the visualization of her apartment. When she was told that it costs completely different money, she was indignant: "What's so complicated, I've already thought of everything, you just need to draw my thoughts."

Well, what I would like to add at the end - interior design is really difficult, but interesting job. While the project is going on, your thoughts are always busy in it one way or another.

A person who has never dealt with repairs thinks that everything is simple and clear, as in TV programs about repairs. And faced with the realities very late, he thinks about the need to turn to professionals. Remember, rework is more expensive.

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The main difference between design and what non-professionals understand as it is this: design does not end with appearance. Find out all the features of the profession: where to get training, how and where to get a job, features of the work process, demand in the labor market and much more.

Demand

Payability

Competition

entry barrier

prospects

Designer is a serious, complex and endlessly interesting profession.

Designs for the consumer

The main difference between design and what non-professionals understand as it is this: design does not end with appearance. Let us take the form of a man: behind him is hidden a complex organism with thoughts and feelings. So looking at the result of design work, the layman sees only a picture, the designer sees a ton of work behind it.

What does a designer do?

The designer designs. It constructs a world for the user - comfortable and pretty. He knows what is well designed and what is bad. Someone needs to decide this. Imagine that this someone is looking at the blueprints. spaceship, touches wiring, sits in armchairs, puts on spacesuits, breathes oxygen - and puts his signature: “Checked. Approved. Everything is good, convenient and safe.” This person thinks like a designer. The main task of a professional is to transform into the one to whom the design is addressed, and decide what is good for him and what is bad.

Everyone expects beauty, style, lightness, energy from a designer - meaning by this the picture drawn to the consumer on the TV package. But what does a packaging designer actually do? He makes a tool for storing goods. In fact, any design object is a tool. If the tool is useless, then the design has not even been run through here. A box for storing goods should be beautiful and attract attention; be convenient for storage in a warehouse, in a store, at home; comfortable to carry; it should have readable and convenient designations for quick search in the warehouse and catalog. Will the packaging be light? Will it take up a lot of space for transportation in a container from the other side of the world? Can you save money on this? Will it get wet if you carry it in the rain? How does it feel to put goods in it, take it out, put it back in? How much material will it take to make it? How expensive, environmentally friendly and technologically advanced is this material? How attractive is he? Maybe it will be an innovative polymer or cardboard, without images and inscriptions? Is it labor-intensive to manufacture packaging from such a material? How much time and money will it take? Is this packaging recyclable?

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The designer answers himself a million questions, makes a lot of decisions, provides for everything. If he thinks only about beauty, he will not do a good thing - and that's what he does: the designer creates good things. Many things. Every day. He makes a decision: how will people get to work tomorrow? Will the patient be saved? Will Apple sell its new laptop in a billion copies? Will everyone know in the morning that the clock has changed? Isn't it time to modify traffic lights to save dozens of lives at a treacherous intersection? Or maybe tomorrow your toaster will tell you the news and remind you to take an umbrella?

I will repeat myself and I am ready to repeat myself a hundred times: design is not art, not a picture, not appearance. The designer creates a solid structure, a frame. Each next job is a new task, interesting and difficult.

Solving this problem is your responsibility. You can invite an illustrator, photographer, programmer or psychologist to help, or you can do everything yourself. You can make a book cover incredibly attractive or revolutionary comfortable, you can invent a dollar-priced bicycle or make it an unexpected shape - but you have to make the cover and you have to make the bicycle. Which tool you use - mathematical mind or feelings and taste - is up to you.

Industrial and graphic design

Industrial, or industrial design (industrial design) is one of the most interesting areas in the profession. Create new thing- your own - and release it around the world; to make it cheap, durable, economical, environmentally friendly, beautiful and as convenient as possible - these are the tasks of an industrial designer. A car, a vacuum cleaner and even a paper clip, that is, industrial products - this is the industrial designer's life's work.

The work of a graphic designer is sometimes boring, but varied. And in it, in contrast to industrial design, an animated person can more easily express himself - observing simple technical rules, he will receive complete freedom of action in his hands. The graphic designer creates a lot of everything: packaging, print and online advertising, logos and corporate identities, websites, magazines and books, CD and DVD covers, navigation systems (pointers) and infographics (diagrams and graphs), presentations and advertising booklets, newspapers, even interfaces computer games. What a graphic designer does not do: he does not draw (there are illustrators for this), he does not write slogans and press releases (this is the task of a copywriter), he does not deal with business plans and sales (this is the prerogative of a manager), he does not repair or maintain computers ( system administrators reign here), does not make films (cameramen and directors do this), does not program sites (webmakers are responsible for this), does not place ads (there are advertising managers for this). All these skills are useful and sometimes applicable at the will of the designer, if it is beneficial to him in a particular case. However, they have no right to impose them on him.

A designer doesn't draw - should a designer be able to draw at all? I will answer the question with a question: does a doctor need to know anatomy? Design exists in visual categories, the ability to draw is the only way to understand from the inside the processes of creating a visual space. We are not talking about high artistic skill: a designer is only partly an artist. The draftsman's skills are precisely this very part. The smartness of a self-taught person is not enough here, but an art school will not help much either. University education or private lessons will give a much higher quality drawing, thereby bringing you closer to understanding your future work. The practice of drawing will develop a sense of form, light, color, proportion, composition - as well as instill skills in working with materials and will contribute to the development of artistic taste. The ability to draw will be useful to varying degrees in various fields graphic design; as for industrial and technical, clothing and interior design, illustration, photography, three-dimensional graphics and visualization - the skills of a draftsman are directly required. Design is not a drawing, there are art academies for artists, but handicraft skills should not be written off as scrap: Japanese, Poles, Iranians - all designers manual labor and all respect. The drawing itself is only a tool among others; You can choose it, or you can not choose. The main thing is not to put it ahead of the essence of the design task.

orders and money

The superficial attitude to the specialty and the Russian “designer for himself”, common among customers, knocks down prices. That's why companies often hire self-taught bums to create $100 "masterpieces." The same ones that we see on signs, in magazines, in packaging, in advertising - everywhere. After all, someone did it. Someone who considers himself a designer. Low qualifications are not uncommon. To become a designer, it is not enough just to study at a university or just have work experience. You need to work, study at a university, study outside the university on your own (there are plenty of websites and books around) and along the way love design, and not everyone accomplishes such feats. So this work in Russia is estimated in proportion to the general level of professionalism - not high.

Despite the fact that pseudo-specialists are content with hundred-dollar orders, and customers with hundred-dollar work received, there are also prices of the European level, and they are accepted among real design specialists. Prices in a good studio start, for example, from 1500 euros for a logo. Some work is easier, some is harder; form style for a medium-sized company, it can cost both 10 and 20 thousand euros; a site for several tens of thousands of conventional units will not surprise anyone. The amount of an order from well-known freelance designers can greatly exceed these values. However, one must be aware that this money is not allocated for “beautiful something” or even “nothing”: good design requires a lot of work, equally mental and manual, a lot of time and the work of a certain number of specialists. Professional marketers, copywriters, photographers, illustrators, technical designers, programmers, flashers, technologists, three-dimensional and visualizers, psychologists are involved in serious work... "All in one" does not happen here: the designer quickly finds his own narrow specialization, sticks to it; because of his specialization, he is valued.

However, there is no unsuitable work either - there is an unprofessional approach to business.

For a professional, every order arouses interest and excitement, the solution of a new unusual task spurs on, long-term monotonous work trains the will and consolidates skills.

For everyone, of course, there are topics that he will never take up, but I can’t imagine a designer who, as luck would have it, only religious sects, political parties and pirates turn to (religion, politics, crime - standard set taboo for the designer).

The professional environment is ambiguous. Quite often, people in design think more about themselves than about their work - and produce mediocre design, thereby leaving Russia on the outskirts of the world. But not everything is so hopeless. You just need to keep in mind that there will be another obstacle that needs to be overcome; there will be resistance, there will be windmills - and there will be Everest to climb. We are strong and brave. We are young. Find large order- the task is quite real. Serious business customers are well aware of the importance of a professional solution to a design problem, since it is design that directly affects the quality of the product, its demand, the cost-effectiveness of production and transportation, and, in general, profit.

Who suits the profession

Only a strong and purposeful person will become a designer, a passive and whiner will be overwhelmed. Do not believe in cheap education; Do not think that the ability to draw is everything. There will be a lot of boring disciplines. It is also not necessary to believe that you will be taught everything: the professionalism of a designer is, first of all, artistic taste, visual experience, erudition, the ability to think in an original, sober and fast way. Nothing can be taught - you can only learn. But the university will provide you with quite fertile soil for independent growth.

Where to study

Design education requires diligence. Design does not tolerate lazy people. Do not confuse design with illustration or photography, advertising or website development. Do not choose design if you have not entered another specialty: you will quickly get tired.

A number of universities, not necessarily well-known, offer high level design education. It's easy to tell them apart. It is enough to come to exhibitions (they are always in the halls of universities) - and ask yourself: is what I see applicable in life? There are always works made in the spirit of this educational institution and from this point of view, considered the best in the university. They are applicable in life - fine. But if, apart from beauty and outrageousness, you didn’t notice anything, no matter how much you looked, then in this university they teach beauty and outrageousness, and not design at all.

As a rule, people with a modest character, narrow-minded specialists who, in addition to teaching, have a design practice (I met such people only three times) teach design well.

Alas, teachers sometimes misunderstand the essence of design, and as a result, in the catalogs " Best Design packaging” or “Best Industrial Design”, we see a lot of works, although they are nice - but, alas, not adapted in the best way for the consumer, and therefore unprofessional. An accurate diagnosis of them is a product of the university. Creative, famous, charismatic people harm the process of design education. They don't always know how to teach. Even having taste and having his own point of view, the star will consider it below his dignity to argue in her favor - and will simply try to impose it on you by constantly evaluating your work. Grades will guide the student on the wrong path - and after graduation from the university, the skills acquired there will turn out to be inapplicable, and such a graduate will not be able to work at all.

How training is built

Preparatory courses begin a year before admission. Even if you can't draw, a year-long class with a teacher can get you hooked. It is also worth looking at the preparatory courses of this university in composition. Firstly, they will get used to you, and secondly, often during this period of study time the fundamental course of so-called propaedeutics is shifted. In general, composition (which will be called propaedeutics, and introduction to the specialty, and design, and construction, and design) is the main subject. It is in these classes that you will receive 60% of all useful information- if you're lucky with the teacher.

After the preparatory courses, you have to pass the exams. Traditionally this creative competition(average mark from exams in drawing, painting and composition), Russian (USE) and foreign languages ​​- orally. Exams in creative disciplines are held as follows: a simple setting is put on drawing and painting and is given to create a masterpiece for two days, 4 hours for each subject. (Other options - 6 hours, the exam is taken on 1 day, etc.) The composition is submitted on the same day. It is impossible to carry away the work: everything is sealed together with the audience.

In the first two courses, interesting subjects and tasks will involve you in the specialty, and the teachers will try to instill in you their taste and dispel the stereotypical thinking that has stagnated in us throughout our studies at school. Encouraging someone to think in an original way is quite a difficult task, and when you are asked to portray hatred or longing using only squares of black cardboard that cannot be torn or painted, you really think about what you thought flat until now. Throughout the training, you will be taught computer technology - you have to master completely new set programs - as well as drawing, painting and, of course, composition.

In the third year, you will study special subjects in more depth. Things will get more interesting and more fun: contests, exhibitions, the first work will begin ... True, you should not forget that all art specialties require a six-year education, and design is no exception. You can limit yourself to a bachelor's degree, but then you will waste four years of your life ineptly: it is simply impossible to fit a voluminous program in such a short time.

The diploma is defended in the sixth year. The task is to reproduce a large project - for example, to design a glossy magazine. According to the general opinion of all graduate students, only if you start work in advance, you can do everything on time. Start it in the fifth year - and you will be rewarded: your classmates will fall behind simply because they started when it was supposed to - in the sixth year - and did not have time to give their projects a final shine.

If you successfully defend your diploma, you will probably receive a recommendation to continue your education in this or other educational institutions- and this will allow you to study even, maybe, for free. Some universities send students for internships abroad, others give job referrals... However, remember that not a diploma, but the acquired knowledge will work for you, and only willpower and hard work will help you save the world.

The main difference between design and what non-professionals understand as it is this: design does not end with appearance. Find out all the features of the profession: where to get training, how and where to get a job, features of the work process, demand in the labor market and much more.

Demand

Payability

Competition

entry barrier

prospects

Designer is a serious, complex and endlessly interesting profession.

Designs for the consumer

The main difference between design and what non-professionals understand as it is this: design does not end with appearance. Let us take the form of a man: behind him is hidden a complex organism with thoughts and feelings. So looking at the result of design work, the layman sees only a picture, the designer sees a ton of work behind it.

What does a designer do?

The designer designs. It constructs a world for the user - comfortable and pretty. He knows what is well designed and what is bad. Someone needs to decide this. Imagine that this someone looks at the blueprints of the spacecraft, touches the wiring, sits in chairs, puts on spacesuits, breathes oxygen - and puts his signature: “Checked. Approved. Everything is good, convenient and safe.” This person thinks like a designer. The main task of a professional is to transform into the one to whom the design is addressed, and decide what is good for him and what is bad.

Everyone expects beauty, style, lightness, energy from a designer - meaning by this the picture drawn to the consumer on the TV package. But what does a packaging designer actually do? He makes a tool for storing goods. In fact, any design object is a tool. If the tool is useless, then the design has not even been run through here. A box for storing goods should be beautiful and attract attention; be convenient for storage in a warehouse, in a store, at home; comfortable to carry; it should have readable and convenient designations for quick search in the warehouse and catalog. Will the packaging be light? Will it take up a lot of space for transportation in a container from the other side of the world? Can you save money on this? Will it get wet if you carry it in the rain? How does it feel to put goods in it, take it out, put it back in? How much material will it take to make it? How expensive, environmentally friendly and technologically advanced is this material? How attractive is he? Maybe it will be an innovative polymer or cardboard, without images and inscriptions? Is it labor-intensive to manufacture packaging from such a material? How much time and money will it take? Is this packaging recyclable?

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Basic elements of the user interface, psychophysiology of perception, data collection and analysis, UX and UI design, Customer Journey Mapping, design tools, user interface quality assessment, group work at workshops.

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Web designer tools, modular grids, design and prototyping, responsive design and layout preparation, composition, color, typography and visual hierarchy in web design, project management systems, work presentation and portfolio preparation.

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The designer answers himself a million questions, makes a lot of decisions, provides for everything. If he thinks only about beauty, he will not do a good thing - and that's what he does: the designer creates good things. Many things. Every day. He makes a decision: how will people get to work tomorrow? Will the patient be saved? Will Apple sell its new laptop in a billion copies? Will everyone know in the morning that the clock has changed? Isn't it time to modify traffic lights to save dozens of lives at a treacherous intersection? Or maybe tomorrow your toaster will tell you the news and remind you to take an umbrella?

I will repeat myself and I am ready to repeat myself a hundred times: design is not art, not a picture, not appearance. The designer creates a solid structure, a frame. Each next job is a new task, interesting and difficult.

Solving this problem is your responsibility. You can invite an illustrator, photographer, programmer or psychologist to help, or you can do everything yourself. You can make a book cover incredibly attractive or revolutionary comfortable, you can invent a dollar-priced bicycle or make it an unexpected shape - but you have to make the cover and you have to make the bicycle. Which tool you use - mathematical mind or feelings and taste - is up to you.

Industrial and graphic design

Industrial, or industrial design (industrial design) is one of the most interesting areas in the profession. Create a new thing - your own - and release it around the world; to make it cheap, durable, economical, environmentally friendly, beautiful and as convenient as possible - these are the tasks of an industrial designer. A car, a vacuum cleaner and even a paper clip, that is, industrial products - this is the industrial designer's life's work.

The work of a graphic designer is sometimes boring, but varied. And in it, in contrast to industrial design, an animated person can more easily express himself - observing simple technical rules, he will receive complete freedom of action in his hands. A graphic designer creates a ton of everything: packaging, print and online advertising, logos and corporate identities, websites, magazines and books, CD and DVD covers, navigation systems (pointers) and infographics (diagrams and graphs), presentations and flyers , newspapers, even computer game interfaces. What a graphic designer does not do: he does not draw (there are illustrators for this), he does not write slogans and press releases (this is the task of a copywriter), he does not deal with business plans and sales (this is the prerogative of a manager), he does not repair or maintain computers ( system administrators reign here), does not make films (cameramen and directors do this), does not program sites (webmakers are responsible for this), does not place ads (there are advertising managers for this). All these skills are useful and sometimes applicable at the will of the designer, if it is beneficial to him in a particular case. However, they have no right to impose them on him.

A designer doesn't draw - should a designer be able to draw at all? I will answer the question with a question: does a doctor need to know anatomy? Design exists in visual categories, the ability to draw is the only way to understand from the inside the processes of creating a visual space. We are not talking about high artistic skill: a designer is only partly an artist. The draftsman's skills are precisely this very part. The smartness of a self-taught person is not enough here, but an art school will not help much either. University education or private lessons will give a much higher quality drawing, thereby bringing you closer to understanding your future work. The practice of drawing will develop a sense of form, light, color, proportion, composition - as well as instill skills in working with materials and will contribute to the development of artistic taste. The ability to draw will come in handy to varying degrees in different areas of graphic design; as for industrial and technical, clothing and interior design, illustration, photography, three-dimensional graphics and visualization - the skills of a draftsman are directly required. Design is not a drawing, there are academies of arts for artists, but handicraft skills should not be written off as scrap: the Japanese, Poles, Iranians are all handmade designers and everyone is held in high esteem. The drawing itself is only a tool among others; You can choose it, or you can not choose. The main thing is not to put it ahead of the essence of the design task.

orders and money

The superficial attitude to the specialty and the Russian “designer for himself”, common among customers, knocks down prices. That's why companies often hire self-taught bums to create $100 "masterpieces." The same ones that we see on signs, in magazines, in packaging, in advertising - everywhere. After all, someone did it. Someone who considers himself a designer. Low qualifications are not uncommon. To become a designer, it is not enough just to study at a university or just have work experience. You need to work, study at a university, study outside the university on your own (there are plenty of websites and books around) and along the way love design, and not everyone accomplishes such feats. So this work in Russia is estimated in proportion to the general level of professionalism - not high.

Despite the fact that pseudo-specialists are content with hundred-dollar orders, and customers with hundred-dollar work received, there are also prices of the European level, and they are accepted among real design specialists. Prices in a good studio start, for example, from 1500 euros for a logo. Some work is easier, some is harder; corporate identity for a medium-sized company can cost both 10 and 20 thousand euros; a site for several tens of thousands of conventional units will not surprise anyone. The amount of an order from well-known freelance designers can greatly exceed these values. However, one must be aware that this money is not allocated for “beautiful something” or even “nothing”: good design requires a lot of work, equally mental and manual, a lot of time and the work of a certain number of specialists. Professional marketers, copywriters, photographers, illustrators, technical designers, programmers, flashers, technologists, three-dimensional and visualizers, psychologists are involved in serious work... "All in one" does not happen here: the designer quickly finds his own narrow specialization, sticks to it; because of his specialization, he is valued.

However, there is no unsuitable work either - there is an unprofessional approach to business.

For a professional, every order arouses interest and excitement, the solution of a new unusual task spurs on, long-term monotonous work trains the will and consolidates skills.

For everyone, of course, there are topics that he will never take up, but I can’t imagine a designer who, as luck would have it, only religious sects, political parties and pirates turn to (religion, politics, crime are a standard set of taboos for a designer).

The professional environment is ambiguous. Quite often, people in design think more about themselves than about their work - and produce mediocre design, thereby leaving Russia on the outskirts of the world. But not everything is so hopeless. You just need to keep in mind that there will be another obstacle that needs to be overcome; there will be resistance, there will be windmills - and there will be Everest to climb. We are strong and brave. We are young. Finding a large order is a very real task. Serious business customers are well aware of the importance of a professional solution to a design problem, since it is design that directly affects the quality of the product, its demand, the cost-effectiveness of production and transportation, and, in general, profit.

Who suits the profession

Only a strong and purposeful person will become a designer, a passive and whiner will be overwhelmed. Do not believe in cheap education; Do not think that the ability to draw is everything. There will be a lot of boring disciplines. It is also not necessary to believe that you will be taught everything: the professionalism of a designer is, first of all, artistic taste, visual experience, erudition, the ability to think in an original, sober and fast way. Nothing can be taught - you can only learn. But the university will provide you with quite fertile soil for independent growth.

Where to study

Design education requires diligence. Design does not tolerate lazy people. Do not confuse design with illustration or photography, advertising or website development. Do not choose design if you have not entered another specialty: you will quickly get tired.

A number of universities, not necessarily well-known, offer a high level of design education. It's easy to tell them apart. It is enough to come to exhibitions (they are always in the halls of universities) - and ask yourself: is what I see applicable in life? There are always works made in the spirit of this educational institution and from this point of view, considered the best in the university. They are applicable in life - fine. But if, apart from beauty and outrageousness, you didn’t notice anything, no matter how much you looked, then in this university they teach beauty and outrageousness, and not design at all.

As a rule, people with a modest character, narrow-minded specialists who, in addition to teaching, have a design practice (I met such people only three times) teach design well.

Alas, teachers sometimes misunderstand the essence of design, and as a result, in the catalogs "Best Packaging Design" or "Best Industrial Design" we see a lot of works, although they are pretty - but, alas, not adapted in the best way for the consumer, and therefore unprofessional. An accurate diagnosis of them is a product of the university. Creative, famous, charismatic people harm the process of design education. They don't always know how to teach. Even having taste and having his own point of view, the star will consider it below his dignity to argue in her favor - and will simply try to impose it on you by constantly evaluating your work. Grades will guide the student on the wrong path - and after graduation from the university, the skills acquired there will turn out to be inapplicable, and such a graduate will not be able to work at all.

How training is built

Preparatory courses begin a year before admission. Even if you can't draw, a year-long class with a teacher can get you hooked. It is also worth looking at the preparatory courses of this university in composition. Firstly, they will get used to you, and secondly, often during this period of study time the fundamental course of so-called propaedeutics is shifted. In general, composition (which will be called propaedeutics, and introduction to the specialty, and design, and construction, and design) is the main subject. It is in these classes that you will receive 60% of all useful information - if you are lucky with the teacher.

After the preparatory courses, you have to pass the exams. Traditionally, this is a creative competition (average mark from exams in drawing, painting and composition), Russian languages ​​​​(USE) and foreign - orally. Exams in creative disciplines are held as follows: a simple setting is put on drawing and painting and is given to create a masterpiece for two days, 4 hours for each subject. (Other options - 6 hours, the exam is taken on 1 day, etc.) The composition is submitted on the same day. It is impossible to carry away the work: everything is sealed together with the audience.

In the first two courses, interesting subjects and tasks will involve you in the specialty, and the teachers will try to instill in you their taste and dispel the stereotypical thinking that has stagnated in us throughout our studies at school. Encouraging someone to think in an original way is quite a difficult task, and when you are asked to portray hatred or longing using only squares of black cardboard that cannot be torn or painted, you really think about what you thought flat until now. Throughout your training, you will be taught computer technology - you will have to master a completely new set of programs - as well as drawing, painting and, of course, composition.

In the third year, you will study special subjects in more depth. Things will get more interesting and more fun: contests, exhibitions, the first work will begin ... True, you should not forget that all art specialties require a six-year education, and design is no exception. You can limit yourself to a bachelor's degree, but then you will waste four years of your life ineptly: it is simply impossible to fit a voluminous program in such a short time.

The diploma is defended in the sixth year. The task is to reproduce a large project - for example, to design a glossy magazine. According to the general opinion of all graduate students, only if you start work in advance, you can do everything on time. Start it in the fifth year - and you will be rewarded: your classmates will fall behind simply because they started when it was supposed to - in the sixth year - and did not have time to give their projects a final shine.

If you successfully defend your diploma, you will probably receive a recommendation to continue your education in this or other educational institutions - and this will allow you to study even, perhaps, for free. Some universities send students for internships abroad, others give job referrals... However, remember that not a diploma, but the acquired knowledge will work for you, and only willpower and hard work will help you save the world.