COMD 3503 Oct 31, 2018
Prof. Marianna
Miguel Santos
Reflection 7
Three years ago, I was trying to figure out what major to pursue in my freshman year. I didn’t know what’s the difference between graphic design and advertising design. Now I can say, that both majors are very different. In other words, in graphic design designers creates the work, a message through design and in advertising, that idea is to be sold out, promoted to make a profit. Advertising is a big business with a message to the consumer, showing the benefits of the product or service. Graphic design is the style and art of graphic representations. In today’s class, we learn about design firm, advertising agency, and Stefan Sagmeister.
The design firms are often agencies that create brand standards, identity. In other words, studios will create a lot of things, becoming the support materials. I can say that design firms do all the production of print materials. Also, there are more employees on staff and often accept smaller individual projects. In most cases, there are only one or two graphic designers at a studio. We learn in class, that there are many studios that are the workplace of a self-employed designer who shares office space. Therefore, design firms can be small in size meaning the design studios don’t have a large cash flow. Overall, I learn about the work environment of a studio and what it generates compared to an ad agency.
Advertising agencies are more involved in marketing activities, public relations. In other words, is the client’s target and building awareness through the media. I can say that its main goal is to sell the product, persuades the audience. Therefore, an ad agency is more digitally focused because it offers clients search engine marketing, online advertising, web design, and development. Also, the cost is more. For example, all I can think right now as a fact is the Super Bowl’s commercials. Money is really involved in the Super Bowl ads. Advertising agencies are large in size and have a lot of potential buyers. This means educating the consumers while increasing sales. In general, the difference is that a design firm designs the package and the ad agency will tell us to buy what is inside.
I believe that for a designer, there is nothing more beautiful than having the emotions of satisfaction with the result of a good design. That is the moment of telling oneself “I did it, it works very well, I’m proud of it and that makes me happy.” According to Stefan Sagmeister, graphic design is “A combination of words and images with the goal to communicate.” This is a simple powerful statement that makes anyone understand what graphic design is, I love his definition. Sagmeister has a design firm in NYC called Sagmeister & Walsh Inc. We learn that he hires and give opportunities at his studio which is live on the website. In my opinion, anyone can spend hours exploring the beautiful, creative, playful, and colorful website of the studio, it’s brilliant. Across all platforms, the studio offers strategy, design, and production.
On the other hand, we learn about his life as a designer which is an incredible lesson for us. I personally learn about how happiness is involved in the design. This means that the lesson learned here is to create our own version and that we personally involved wins in our projects. Equally important, we learn not to be behind a computer all day but instead to travel to get a new perspective in life. Also, he points out “everything I do always comes back to me” and “trying to look good limits my life” which are great advice for anyone. If we reflect on this phrases, we noticed how important is always to visualize ourselves and create a list for ourselves as Stefan Sagmeister do. Another great lesson is, we have to live now.
