Comparing Graphic Design To Interior Design

You might think that designing graphic elements or websites is completely different that getting all of the colors, shapes and details right inside your home, but the more you think about it, the more you'll understand the the underlying principles are, in fact, nearly identical.

For the purposes of comparison, consider the following five categories of thought, including thinking about graphic design vs. living room design, deciding on main points of artistic interest, considering educational equivalents of the designers, researching overall theories, and practicing the skill sets that are involved.

Graphics Vs. the Dining Room

Imagine that you're creating the basic elements for a web page. These colors and designs go on this part of the page in order to make the human eye move from one place to another accordingly. And now imagine the setup of a dining room. If it's well-designed, then your eyes will go through the equivalent process. In a way, you might even think about interior design as the same concept of putting graphics in a real-time, three dimensional space, if that helps you wrap your mind around it.

Main Points of Artistic Interest

And now think about graphic design vs. interior design in terms of overall artistic interest. Boring graphics let you just pass on by. Boring interior design does the same. But, if there's a main focal point in each particular environment in question, then that when you start to look at how well everything is put together from a design perspective, regardless of the medium involved. Without understanding how to create that focal point, both design processes are going to fall flat, whereas if they keep that target in mind, both succeed at their individual goals.

Consider the Educational Equivalents

Now think about college classes for graphic design. And what about interior design? If you notice how they compare, you'll see there's a huge amount of crossover when it comes to the basics. The undergraduate curriculum is probably going to be almost identical - it's only the matter of computer skill vs. physical skills that take the paths their separate ways later.

Researching the Theory of Design

And further into the concept of education, the theories of design are always the same. Form, function, balance, color coordination, spacial integrity. If you don't understand those principles, you can't be successful either as a graphics artist or an interior designer.

Practicing the Skill Sets

And finally, when it comes to practicing the skill sets involved with both graphic design and interior design, the length of time required to master each skill is going to be nearly identical, both in the brain power aspect, and the physical skill aspect. You might consider that it takes that same amount of passion to understand computer graphics design as it does to install physical elements in a room, and those passions are directly proportion to practice time required to obtain the expertise.