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Can you explain the difference? There's a lot of sub-specialty naming in the field and very little in the way of standardization. I'd see those as basically interchangeable. I see a pretty big difference in UX vs. GD/VD — Boxes & Arrows vs. gradients and brand elements, but I'd love to how you divide them.

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I think that visual designers are more about building design languages; graphic designers are worker bees.

I might be wrong though - I already was once!

That said, I didn't change the article because the distinction is not as well-known, and I liked the headline ;)

I understand that view, but I don't think it's commonly understood that way. There are a lot of prestigious "Graphic Design" programs at colleges, but I've not seen many "Visual Design" ones. I do manage a team of 2 UX designers and 2 GD'ers. The UX team makes our apps work well and the GD team gives them their polish, but there is a lot of overlap between the two.

Great article, BTW, very interesting thought experiment.

Thanks.

Obviously, I'd prefer they mean the same thing ;)

The courses are generally called Visual Communication Design and tend to have a wider remit than older GD programs. Most of the stuff up this thread is spot on.

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