Graphic Designer or Production Artist?
Author of this post: Matthew T Grant | About Blog Authors »
A quick glance at graphic design job ads on Monster will teach you that, at the entry-level, there is little difference between the role of Graphic Designer and Production Artist. Aside from the fact that most of the responsibilities involve creating sales collateral, client inserts, and applying logos to various things — in other words, “designing” within predetermined formats and guidelines — the job requirements will inevitably include lines like, “Complete Mac proficiency in Quark, Illustrator, PhotoShop, Dreamweaver, and ImageReady,” or “Proficiency in all relative graphic design software; willingness to train where software deficiencies are identified,” or, to the horror of most designers, “Advanced skill in PowerPoint, including use of color palettes, master slides, animations, imported elements, and template creation.”
This state of affairs should remind anyone entering the design job market that your ability to execute designs, prepare files for output, and see projects through to completion mean more to potential employers than your ability to design from scratch.
That being said, how are your software “chops”?
April 29th, 2007 at 9:31 am
I was a Production Artist for 10 years and it always kind of irked me that it was generally considered that Prod. Artist = Jr. Designer. As if a Prod. Artist were an “assistant” or lower on the totem pole than a designer. To me they are totally seperate and but equally important jobs. One left brain, one right brain. As a Production Artist, your job is to make sure all the technical aspects of the file are in order, not the asthetics. In a fast paced environment it is hard to do both design and production roles at once because (depending on how organized the design house is) there usually isn’t time to set up a file correctly from the beginning. It is more important to get an idea down and approved by the client. A LOT of the time Designers will create something on screen or something that will print off your office laser printer that looks great but send that file to a commerical printer or a publication and you could have all sorts of problems. That’s where the Production Artist takes over. The Production Artist is the last person to touch the file before going to the printer or a publication so their role is key to provide a clean file in order to keep costs down if the reciever has to fix the file. While the Graphic Designer’s job is to create for the client, the Production Artist makes sure that the idea is realized.
April 30th, 2007 at 4:32 pm
I couldn’t agree more with M. Production Artist/Prepress employes are really viewed as being at the bottom of the totem pole. We say that around here all the time. We save the company so much pain and agony along with countless amount of money. But i always say, “if designers knew how to build a file, we wouldn’t have a job.”
May 9th, 2007 at 9:16 pm
M and K-Rob. Thanks for your comments! I totally agree that these are separate jobs and that the technical know-how and skill required by production artists are both invaluable and, well, under valued. Even though there is a bias, as you point out, that suggests that “production artists” do “low-end” work, I share your view that it is actually the work which allows creative design to become a reality. It is also far from unusual for production artists to be called on to “fix” designs because they will not work as created.
July 25th, 2007 at 9:13 am
[...] Notes on Design » Blog Archive » Graphic Designer or Production … … little difference between the role of Graphic Designer and Production … Matt Grant Says: May 9th, 2007 at 9:16 pm. M and K-Rob. … Each video delivers either a desktop or in-studio view of the … http://www.notesondesign.net/design/graphic-designer-or-production-artist/ [...]