At the heart of it, digital design is any design made to be interacted with on a digital device. While that might seem simple—and self-explanatory—the definition of digital design does little to capture the depth of what it actually accomplishes.
What is digital design Illustration
Digital design is a complex field made up of different categories. Illustration by Orange Crush.
There are an overwhelming number of digital devices these days, and for each of those, an exponential amount of use cases that design must consider. Understanding the various shapes digital design can take as well as the purposes each one serves is essential if you want to achieve the best result, whether it’s for a specific project or for your career overall.
You may be planning to focus on one type of digital design (or a digital design position), only to discover that your needs or abilities may be better suited for another.
As broad a field as it is, digital design can be broken down into a handful of categories, each with specific benefits. We’re here to walk you through the many incarnations of digital design and to point you in the direction of a winning interactive product.
Digital designers in UK help businesses communicate with consumers using imagery such as logos that can instantly bring a product to mind. You can see Digital design at work all around you, on labels, packages and billboards as well as the opening credits for films. Designers create messages with the help of artistic elements such as typography, negative space, illustrations and photographs. The field relies heavily on technology, including fonts, video editing software and digital cameras. In this profession, you can create designs and layouts, either drawing by hand or using computer equipment, and then update these drafts based on collaboration with coworkers, supervisors and clients. Digital designers design for websites, company logos and products.
The difference between digital design and graphic design
Graphic design is for print products and digital design is for digital content. This is, of course, a generalization. These days the realms of print and digital overlap more often than not. Many digital designs rely on skills from the graphic designer’s playbook, such as brand implementation and typographical layout. Graphic design projects, meanwhile, commonly have to account for digital distribution in addition to print. And to make matters more confusing, “graphic design” is commonly used as a catch-all term for every type of visual communication.
Education qualifications for a Digital designer
There are many courses in Digital design that impart sound theoretical and conceptual insight into the nuances of becoming a professional Digital designer. There are diploma, certificate and degree courses in graphic design learning London. Apart from various principles in Digital design (such as typography, type design, print design, photography and illustration,) these courses may also impart knowledge in web design, multimedia and computer Digital. Professional Digital designers should also have a good understanding of tools and software such as Photoshop, Corel Draw and In Design that may come in handy for various Digital design assignments.
Types of digital design and when to use them
Digital design is a vast category encompassing a wide variety of digital interfaces, each with their own uses. To get a better idea of which one is the best match for you, let’s go over some of the most common types of digital designs.
- Web design
Web design is the most popular incarnation of digital design: a website is about as common for businesses these days as a logo. Websites act as hubs for a topic or service, incorporating many branching pages, and are used for information, business and commerce, entertainment and much more.
- Landing page design
Landing page design is a subset of web design, but it is more focused towards marketing purposes. Whereas a business’s website will act as the central channel for all things related to that business, a landing page is a single web page devoted to a specific product/service and usually culminates in a call-to-action. Often businesses will use a different landing page for each of their products/services and digital designers must ensure there is cohesion between all of them.
- App design
App designs often resemble web pages, but they are designed to perform a specific function. Whether that function is shopping, scheduling, messaging or playing music, apps are essentially digital tools for users. Though they are commonly implemented on mobile devices, apps can be desktop-based as well.
Skills required by a Digital designer
Since this a highly creative line of work, it goes without saying that Digital designers should have the basic skill sets required of a designer:
- Basic drawing skills
- Creativity and imagination
- Eager learner and observant
- Have an eye for detail
- Knowledge of Graphics design software
- Good listening and communication skills
- Career opportunities for a Digital designer
Career opportunities could include design for print media, mobile device applications, websites, electronic publications and videos. Design plays an important role in marketing, media, advertising, publicity, promotions and communications for organizations in both the public and private sector. Designers may work in design service firms, advertising agencies or the entertainment industry, or they may start their own freelance businesses. With a background in computer science, creative professionals can also seek positions in the game design and software publishing industries.
Digital artists take advantage of their communication skills in teamwork projects with colleagues such as writers and production specialists. Designers may also interact directly with customers to determine their needs and seek their approval on ideas. With experience and the right training, some designers move into management roles such as art director or design director.
Salary outlook for Digital designers
The starting salary for Digital designers varies and is dependent on factors like the institute from which they graduate and the company that hires them. “If you graduate from brands like London College of Art, National Institute of Design (NIL) and get recruited by established companies, your starting salary could be around 3000 USD. Otherwise fresher can expect anything between USD 1000-1500 says Pritika Arora who is a senior User Experience (UX) designer with an internet company. “After four to five years in the industry, the average salary is around USD 5000–6000 per month,” she says.
According to PayScale.com, the average annual salary range for a Digital designer or Digital artists is between $9822 -$5175. After a few years of experience in the industry, a senior Digital designer may earn up to 7.5 lakh per annum.
