Graphic design has spread into everything. Most things we take for granted as universal symbols were, at one point, designed by someone. Take the men and women bathroom signs for example. At one point they were basically drawings of a person with no dress and a person with a dress, but now everyone understands them to be the men’s and women’s bathroom signs. Another example is the plus sign used to represent health care or hospitals. Without context it is just a plus sign, but everyone knows if you are injured you can get help there.

The basic premise is that graphic design is not just about drawing symbols and logos, but about drawing meanings and instructions. When a graphic designer designs a logo, he or she wants it to be known what that symbol represents. Every graphic design has meaning attached to it, and we usually never would think about it. Everywhere you go, there are symbols that represent feelings, meanings, emotions, or anything else. Look around your office or home and notice that those designs and drawings have deeper meanings, and consider those meanings when you are creating a graphic design.