I fought for years that a Graphic Designer and Web Developer were two different positions. Well, after months of searching for a new place to call my work home it finally sunk in. It seems the role of the traditional graphic designer has died, but you can also say it has expanded into a new breed of GD’s. Bummer, seems I didn’t get that memo. When you’ve been with a company for 7+ years I guess you kinda fall off the grid. When you used to say you were looking for a Graphic Designer then the name reflected what you needed. Someone to Design some graphics. Weird I know, it seemed like a no brainer. Now when you look for jobs and you see that headline that reads “Graphic Designer Needed” the excitement fills you and you click with anticipation only to see that the requirements are C++, ASP, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Flash, and Dreamweaver. Oh and a few other programs Called Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign. WHAT THE C@$*?!? You think to yourself, thats not a Graphic Designer. You sir need a web developer. But over the years It seems companies don’t know the difference anymore. I guess it’s the same reason we get asked to design logos in Word or get a 200 x 300px image at 72dpi and get asked to use it for a printed magazine cover. It’s really not their fault, they don’t know any better. At this point there is no going back. With many things in life you have to continue to evolve or you are going to get left behind. As much as I am not a fan of the coding process I really am looking forward to increasing my knowledge in the ways of the web. I sir or Madam, will not get left behind.
I know the majority out there is going to read this and say Duh, where’s this joker been. But for those who don’t I hope this little bit of information will help you to not stay stale and make sure that you too continue to grow as the position does.
