I cannot say when graphic design as we know it s started perhaps when the computer became a household item and the software allowed for creation. Graphic design has brought about many opportunities for young, skilled and gifted individuals to break out into business and make something of themself. Of course, the term graphic design has a wide range of areas and today we are going to look at 5 areas within graphic design that can be specialised in and become fully-fledged businesses.
Desktop Publishing
Desktop publishing is a discipline that involves the creation of documents on a computer. Documents include books, newspapers, magazines, brochures and pamphlets. These days these are produced both in print form and digital formats such as Portable Document Format (PDF). What makes this lucrative as a business is that you can charge based on the expected number of copies and not just the number of items you produce because in most cases that is one. Specialising in DTP can easily help you boost your income.
Brand identity
Brand identity covers many elements of branding that include logos, letterheads, banners and other artwork that businesses use in their day to day activities. Logos go far in the right hands and the same can be said for all identity work. Specialising in identity you can expect to make a lot more for your work. What seems like simple work can earn you thousands once you get in the right rooms with the right clients and you get there by specialising. Identity is very important to businesses and clients value someone they can trust with theirs.
Branding
Branding, for this discussion, refers to placing brand identity such as logos and colours on items such as vehicles. You’ve seen a lot of this around and that is a specialised job when done right. Sure you can slap a logo onto a car but uniquely branding a car is another level. The next level so to speak. This work needs someone well versed with design and contour making sure the images will look at the very least presentable when placed on an object which is not a flat surface. This makes it a great business opportunity that a person who is skilled and dedicated can make good money from.
Signage
Signage is another big area of graphic design that offers an opportunity to specialise. Banners, flags and other identifying marks are used all over the world in business and for personal use. Large format printing and signage as a business represent a good opportunity for those with skills and experience. You have your pick here because you can choose to niche your offering even further for specific types of jobs. You could focus on vinyl signage, neon signs or perhaps billboards. There are a lot of opportunities here.
3D modelling
With both computing power and the internet helping it along 3D modelling is fast becoming the standard of design. Why look at it in two dimensions when you can view it in three? This is possible and it is making sense for more people to pay extra to see house designs, for example in 3D. 3D modelling goes beyond house and building design though. There are many applications including object design, graphical representations of product concepts and a range of other ideas that take advantage of the technology.
Graphic design is a big area with many opportunities for specialising. As we go deeper and deeper into the development of the
