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November 24th, 2020
Introduction About the Graphic Design Industry
How big is it?: The graphic design industry is pretty significant. There are 290,100 graphic design jobs being held, with $15 billion being made from this industry. The best graphic designers help inspire those who want to be graphic designers, which helps with the growth and popularity of this industry.
Different types within the industry:
Web: This type of graphic design focuses on designing websites for their clients. They make decisions about where things go, the layout of the website, and what kinds of images they want on the website. They might also work on logos or images that will be featured on the website.
Marketing: This type of graphic design helps to promote the brand of a company in an enticing way. This could be done by implementing the company’s logo, slogan, or colors on products or advertisements in a very creative way. Even creating the logo is a form of marketing graphic design.
Publication: This type of graphic design focuses on the layout and design of printed materials, such as books, newspapers, and magazines. Based on what the publication is, the graphic designers are expected to design these in a thematic way to fit what the publication is about.
Packaging: This type of graphic design focuses on the exterior of a product, such as a box, bag, can, bottle, wrapping, or container the product comes in. The graphic designer must keep the product and existing branding in mind when designing their packages.
Motion: In this type of graphic design, the designers create moving art used for web, television, or film. They usually create this type of content by using visual effects, animation, or other cinematic techniques depending on what they are creating.
There are many other types of graphic design, but these are the few we will be covering in this article.
Interesting stats: According to SoftwareFindr, there is a predicted rise of 35% in graphic design employment between the years 2015 to 2022. The typical minimum requirement to become an entry-level graphic designer is a bachelor’s degree in the subject.
Fun facts: The first edition of photoshop was released in the year 1990. A student named Carolyn Davidson created the Nike logo for just $35 in 1971. In 1282, the first-ever watermark was created.
When it started/history: There have been several events in which graphic design was technically used back in ancient times. There were logos, watermarks, fonts, and more back before there was even a word for it. In 1922, book designer William Addison Dwiggins coined the term “graphic design” to describe his entire design progress.
*All photos under each graphic designer belong to the respected designers.
Best Graphic Designers of the World
Stefan Sagmeister
Born: He was born on August 6, 1962, in Bregenz, Austria
Location Listed: He’s the founder of Sagmeister & Walsh Inc. (along with his partner Jessica) in New York
Profession/Category Listed: He focuses on various types of graphic design, depending on his clients.
Experience Listed: 43 years
How He got in the Industry: He began designing at the age of 15, after getting a job at the Austrian magazine Alphorn.
Interesting stats/Accomplishments: He created his company Sagmeister & Walsh in 1993 after moving to New York for a job that was short-lived. His company then became just Sagmeister Inc. in 2019 after his partner left to create her own company called &Walsh. He obtained clients such as The Rolling Stones, HBO, the Guggenheim Museum, and Time Warner.
Website/social media links
Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Website
Michael Bierut
Born: He was born in the year 1957 in Cleveland, Ohio.
Location Listed: He is a graphic designer for Pentagram.
Profession/Category Listed: Various types of graphic design depending on his clients.
Experience Listed: About 40 years
How He got in the industry: He started his career by creating his first poster in his freshman year of high school, and enjoyed it. He loved looking at album cover art, and also discovered the books Graphic Design Manual by Armin Hofmann and Milton Glaser: Graphic Design. This inspired him to major in graphic design at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Design.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: He designed the logo for Hilary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and has had numerous well-known clients. Other clients he has had include the Walt Disney Company, Motorola, the New York Jets, MillerCoors, and many others.
Website/Social Media Links
Paula Scher
Born: She was born on October 6, 1948 in Washington D.C.
Location Listed: She lives in New York and works at the Pentagram.
Profession/Category Listed: She focuses on pop culture and fine art in her designs.
Experience Listed: About 50 years
How She got into the Industry: She started studying at the Tyler School of Art and obtained a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts in 1970. She then moved to New York City and started working as a layout artist for Random House’s children’s book division. In 1972, she then got hired by CBS Records in the advertising and promotions department, where she started to become more well-known.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: She became the first female principal at Pentagram when she joined the team in 1991. She has worked for many clients including Bloomberg, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Shake Shack, and many others.
Website/Social Media Links
David Carson
Born: He was born on September 8, 1955, in Corpus Christi, Texas.
Location Listed: Charleston, South Carolina
Profession/Category Listed: Contemporary and Typing Graphic Designer
Experience Listed: About 40 years
How He Got Into the Industry: As he was attending the University of Arizona in 1980, he took up a two-week-long graphic design course. Then in 1983, he started experimenting more with graphic design at Oregon College of Commercial Art.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: In 1995, he formed his own studio called David Carson Design. He has had many clients such as Pepsi Cola, Ray-Ban, Nike, Microsoft, and many others.
Website/Social Media Links
Chip Kidd
Born: He was born on September 12, 1964, in Reading, Pennsylvania
Location Listed: He lives in New York and works for Penguin Random House Book Cover designer.
Profession/Category Listed: Publication Graphic Designer
Experience Listed: About 34 years
How He got Into the Industry: His love of comic books as a kid influenced him to want to be a graphic designer as he got older. He attended Pennsylvania State University and graduated in 1986 with a bachelor’s degree in graphic design.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: He is the associate art director at Knopf, which is a publishing house from the parent company Penguin Random House. He averages designing around 75 covers a year for different books published within his company. He has also freelanced for companies such as Amazon, Columbia University Press, Scribner, and various other companies.
Website/social media links
Jessica Walsh
Born: She was born on October 30, 1986 in New York.
Location Listed: She currently resides in New York and is the founder of &Walsh and was a partner for Sagmeister & Walsh.
Profession/Category Listed: Branding, typography, and website design.
Experience Listed: About 23 years of experience
How She Got Into the Industry: When she was only 11-years-old, she started designing and coding websites. This inspired her to go to school at the Rhode Island School of Design to study graphic design.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: She graduated from the Rhode Island School of Design with a Bachelor’s Degree in 2008, and moved to New York City. At first, she interned for Pentagram, then worked for a bunch of publications such as Print and New York Times. She then formed a partnership with Stefan Sagmeister, where they created a firm called Sagmeister & Walsh. She now owns a firm herself called &Walsh.
Website/Social Media Links
Neville Brody
Born: He was born on April 23, 1957, in Southgate, London, England.
Location Listed: He is the founder of Brody Associates in London, England
Profession/Category Listed: Typography, Cover, and Poster Designs
Experience Listed: About 44 years
How He Got in the Industry: When attending Minchenden Grammar School, he started studying A-Level Art from a fine arts viewpoint. He then attended the Hornsey College of Art to do a Fine Art foundation course. He was so inspired that he attended the London College of Printing to do a three-year B.A. in graphics.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: His experimentation with typography designs caught the attention of many record companies such as Fetish Records and Stiff Records. Fwa Richards and he created their own firm called Research Studios opened in London, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin. It creates content for film, publications, packaging, and website design. The studio has now been renamed Brody Associates.
Website/Social Media Links
Kate Moross
Born: Moross was born in 1986 in London, United Kingdom.
Location Listed: Moross lives in London, England, and founded Studio Moross.
Profession/Category Listed: Motion and Photography Graphics
Experience Listed: 12 years of experience
How they got in the industry: Moross obtained a Bachelor of Arts degree from the Wimbledon University of the Arts, London in 2008. Since then, Moross has been focusing on her love for both music and design.
Interesting stats/Accomplishments: She has founded two companies since her career took off called Isomorph Records and Studio Moross. Isomorph Records focused on both design and music, but she later closed this company to focus solely on design with Studio Moross.
Website/Social Media Links
Peter Saville
Born: He was born on October 9, 1955 in Manchester, United Kingdom
Location Listed: He lives in Los Angeles, CA and was the founder of Factory Records.
Profession/Category Listed: Art Director and Graphic Designer
Experience Listed: About 45 years
How He Got Into the Industry: He started studying graphic design at Manchester Polytechnic from 1975-1978. He then became a partner for Factory Records along with Tony Wilson, Martin Hannett, Rob Gretton, and Alan Erasmus.
Interesting Stats/Accomplishments: He has designed works for many famous clients such as Stella McCartney, Calvin Klein, Christian Dior, and many others. He was also appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to design.
Website/Social Media Links
Rob Janoff
Born: Culver City, CA
Location Listed: He lives in Chicago, IL where he owns his own studio.
Profession/Category Listed: Logos
Experience Listed: About 43 years
How He Got in the Industry: He attended San Jose State University and originally majored in Industrial Design. However, he realized after working a few jobs that this wasn’t the career he wanted to pursue. He started taking interest in graphic design and got his first job at Regis McKenna.
Interesting stats/Accomplishments: He has created his own studio called the Rob Janoff Studio. Back in 1977, he started his first graphic design job at Regis McKenna where his creative director gave him a task that would change his life forever. He was able to design the Apple Logo that we still know and love today.
Website/Social Media Links
How We Chose These Best Graphic Designers
We looked at the top results on Google, as well as their social media following and reviews on their artwork to see if they could be considered one of the best graphic designers. We also looked at the accomplishments each artist has seen to become one of the best graphic designers.
How to Get In the Industry
Go to college and major in graphic design, then try to obtain an internship designing for a company. From there, work your way up and eventually, you will have a successful career in graphic design and eventually become one of the best graphic designers.
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