{"id":436,"date":"2020-08-10T06:04:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-10T06:04:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/whatblueprint.com\/?p=436"},"modified":"2023-04-14T06:42:44","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T06:42:44","slug":"can-an-architect-be-a-graphic-designer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatblueprint.com\/can-an-architect-be-a-graphic-designer\/","title":{"rendered":"Can an Architect Be a Graphic Designer?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Architects and architecture students are designers. Although not well known, architecture students are often learning new ways of expressing their creativity in designs through how they approach problems, create plans, create models, and how they present their works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Can an architect be a graphic designer? An architect can also find work as a graphic designer. Visual presentation is a major aspect of the practice of architecture, and it crosses over into graphic design. Architects study composition, color theory, aesthetics, and how to use software for their presentations – all useful and essential skills for a graphic designer.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let’s look at this in a bit more detail now as there are many things to consider when talking about architects and graphic designers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In architecture school, students present their work in front of a panel of professors. They always show the plans on a board, a \u201cposter\u201d showing and explaining their design, and a digital presentation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The usual workflow of an architect\/architecture student, when presenting their designs, involves turning their CAD (Computer-aided drawings) into drawings suitable for presentation. Aside from the regular CAD software, architects often employ other methods of enhancing their drawings by using programs such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Lightroom, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The difference between presentation drawings and architectural drawings is that presentation drawings don\u2019t necessarily have to follow the strict rules of architectural drawings<\/strong>. Architects can digitally alter their drawings in such a way that allows them to convey their ideas to an audience better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With this, it\u2019s a given that architects\/architecture students are required to be proficient in creating graphics, image-editing, composition, choosing colors, graphic design concepts, and many more. The presentation of the project\u2019s design is heavily dependent on how well the architect\/architecture student can make an architectural drawing understandable to a client\/panel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A common tip that professors often give is that a good presentation shouldn\u2019t need that much explanation from the student. At a glance, a professor\/client should be able to immediately see where you\u2019re coming from and how you arrived at your design.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Going back, here\u2019s the difference between architectural drawings and presentation drawings. They\u2019re both the same drawing; however, through editing, they convey entirely different meanings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s use a floor plan as an example of this. An architectural drawing would have the following:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n It contains information on how the structure will look. Here\u2019s what a presentation drawing would contain:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As an architecture student, it\u2019s important that you master both of these methods of communicating your designs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Architects and architecture students are used to creating their own graphics, especially for their designs. They constantly have to create and edit photos such as site, materials, vicinity, circulation, etc. to help them translate their research into a more digestible medium and establish the reasoning behind design decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The mindset of an architect, as a graphic designer, is quite different compared to those who solely focus on graphic design, and here\u2019s why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An architect probably wouldn\u2019t be as good as a dedicated graphic designer in creating new characters, symbols, logos, and things like that. Instead, an architect would be more suited to creating graphics related to people, places, objects, and nature.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Architects are very stiff when it comes to creating things compared to artists. The mindset of an architect is always based on realistic objects, something that can actually exist and be built, while a graphic designer is more abstract and allows their mind to wander through their imagination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Expect an architect to present things in a more logical fashion.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n To better explain this let\u2019s use a graphic for a pencil product as an example.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A graphic designer would probably create a pencil graphic that would be more on the abstract side or integrate pop culture references, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n An architect would probably do a cross-section (imagine the pencil cleanly cut in half) showing off the wood, lead, dimensions, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is nothing wrong between the two because both graphics have their own use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A big part of the architecture business is presenting designs that would convince clients to approve an architect\u2019s proposal. Architects know how to balance between appealing to a person\u2019s logic (costs and efficiency) and a person\u2019s emotions (through design).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\n\n\n\nHow architects present their work<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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\n\n\n\nHow an architect would approach graphic design<\/h2>\n\n\n\n