Graphic Design in Search of Its Identity

Abstract

To encompass the multitude of activities currently attached to graphic design, scholars, practitioners, and other stakeholders have proposed a range of names in recent times. Owing to the expansion of the role and multiple proposed and prevalent nomenclatures in education and industry, some confusion and identity crisis exists. This study investigates and traces the journey of graphic design, how its roles and functions have evolved with time, and the challenge of assigning a universally acceptable nomenclature encompassing all that graphic design stands for now. Data has been collected from both primary and secondary sources to get a sense of the situation. The secondary sources helped understand the breadth of the problem, views of scholars, practitioners, and the education world. Primary sources helped establish the inconsistencies of nomenclature in graphic design education, mirroring the situation of graphic design’s expanded functions in the profession. Primary information has been collected from the design institutes’ official websites in India, government documents, and reports to understand prevalent names of similar study programmes. The paper calls for shared and renewed efforts by design associations, scholars, practitioners, and educationists to access the profession’s past, present, and future trajectory towards strengthening and reinforcing its identity