As a professional graphic artist, when I work on a project, my job is to listen to what the client envisions and attend the client’s goals for that project. The goal is usually common: get the target market’s attention, generate interest for the product, service, message, or entity that is the project’s focus.
The client’s goal usually falls into one of two or three categories, and, yes, sometimes several simultaneously:
- FOLLOW: look a lot like something successful already on the market in order to siphon as much of the desired reward (money or interest) as possible from a clone;
- COUNTER: provide an alternative to something successful, providing contrast, again to siphon reward;
- LEAD: present something completely new and different.
Creating the artwork and design to effectively meet any of those goals is the graphic artist’s job…which is identical to the client’s–to fulfill a desire or a need…which is what most things boil down to in this life. 😀