By: Kehinde Amusan
The Ibadan chapter of AIESEC, the world’s largest non-profit youth-run organisation on Saturday, 20th of October, 2018 organised a training session on graphic design at Faculty of the Social Sciences. The training which welcomed interested non-AIESEC members was held with a view to giving the trainees the needed foundation in graphic design, said Ezim Osai.
In the course of the training, Mr. Ezim Osai, a professional graphic designer, in his instruction told the attendees that they cannot learn the course in a day. According to him, it takes time to learn, develop, and manage graphic design. In his general perspective of the subject-matter, Mr. Ezim Osai affirmed that “design is about a specific end goal.” According to him, “we can not agree that graphic design is about making information more attractive.” “Why we design is the most important thing before we design.”, he noted. He also commented that ” Design is about making suggestion.” Thus, he advised that before making a design, the purpose and reason for such design should be clear.
Hence, Mr. Ezim Osai gave a precise and technical definition of graphic design. According to him, “Graphic design is basically taking emotion, feelings associated with events and transforming them into pictorial form.” “Visuals are just the ways of passing this emotion and feelings across.”, he pointed.
Speaking of the process of a design, he mentioned inspiration, ideation and implementation as the elements of this process. According to him, “Inspiration in design context is basically an idea or when you have an idea.” He further noted that“In 2018, you have to understand design as a field before you now specialize in graphic design.” He added that ideation has to do with how an insight turns into tangible ideas while on the other hand, implementation deals with the technical aspect of design. According to him, the implementation stage probes into how to make an innovative concept real? And how to plan for sustainability if the concept works.
Mr. Ezim Osai further explored the nature and importance of such design softwares as ” Adobe Suite, Affinity Studio, Gimp Emulator.” Speaking of what to have as a designer, he mentioned that sketch book, life and such other tools as “YouTube, Tastytuts, Design podcast and Instagram” are important to a designer. On sketch book, he said that it is important to first have a scamp or rough sketch of a design in order “to see where each element of the design should go.” He added that this ” is to ensure consistency of the elements of the design.” Speaking of life as a designer’s tool, he stated that a designer cannot feel powerful emotion if he follows the same routine every day. According to him, “as a designer, you are a product of your environment.” He further advised not to get too comfortable as a designer.
In conclusion, he pointed that “it takes time, effort, frustration, and a lot of money” to make a genius design.
