Difference Between Graphic Artist and Graphic Designer

Last Updated : 29 Dec, 2023

A Graphic Artist is a professional skilled in Graphic Design and Art responsible for designing visuals that can convey subtle messages to the target audiences. Whereas, a Graphic Designer is a professional responsible for designing graphics for an application, website, billboard, ad, etc. as well as implementing those graphics in the overall design. Oftentimes, these two roles are overlapping and may seem confusing. In this article, we will discuss the difference between a Graphic Artist and a Graphic Designer.

Graphic Artist

A Graphic Artist is a professional skilled in Graphic Design and Art responsible for designing visuals that can convey subtle messages to the target audiences. Graphic Art is a set of processes that collectively is about creating creative visuals without worry about how they will be placed together in a design. The Role of a Graphic Artist is more on the side of creative art rather than web or application design.

Roles and Responsibility of a Graphic Artist

Roles and Responsibilities of a Graphic Artist may vary from organization to organization, but here are the most common responsibilities that a Graphic Artist performs:

Creative Thinking: Creative Thinking is essential to both a Graphic Artist and a Graphic Designer. For a Graphic Artist creative thinking is coming up with creative visuals that can convey a subtle message to the end consumer. These visuals or graphics are then handed over to Graphic Designers who will then implement these visuals in the overall design.
Creating Assets: The primary role of a Graphic Artist is to design or create art or assets without worrying about how they will be used in the design. Graphic Artist creates those assets whereas the Graphic Designer puts assets together or modifies it to make it the final version.
Graphic Design: Graphic art is a niche inside Graphic Design. A Graphic Artist therefore also responsible to work as a Graphic designer creating designing and implementing them in the overall website or application design.
Graphics testing: A Graphic artist may also be responsible for testing whether the graphics are working well in different screen sizes or not. This may vary from company to company.

Graphic Designer

A Graphic Designer is a professional responsible to designing graphics for an application, website, billboard, ad, etc. as well as implementing those graphics in the overall design. In many cases a Graphic Artist would design graphics for the Graphic designer who would then refine those graphics according to the website or application design and implement those graphics in the website or the application design.

Roles and Responsibilities of Graphic Designer

Roles and Responsibilities of Graphic Designer may vary from organization to organization, but here are the most common responsibilities that a Graphic Designer performs:

Creative Thinking: Creative Thinking is essential to both a Graphic Artist and a Graphic Designer. For a Graphic Designer creative thinking is more about coming with creative ideas about implementation of the visuals created by Graphic Artists.
Designing Graphics: As the name itself suggests, A Graphic Designer is responsible to design graphics and visual elements for an application or a website and implement them in the website or application design.
Manage Business and Clients: A Graphic Designer also has to be a business person in certain cases. They may have to manage client's expectations like budgets, timelines and some other constrains.
Technical Knowledge: In addition to understand design, some of the companies also expect Graphic Designers to understand the fundamentals of software and the technical aspects of design.

Difference Between Graphic Artist and Graphic Designer

	Graphic Artist	Graphic Designer
Skills required	Graphic Design Creative Thinking Collaboration	Graphic Design Creative Thinking Management Graphic Testing Collaboration
Responsibilities	Creative Thinking Creating Assets Graphic Design Graphics testing	Creative Thinking Designing Graphics Research Manage Business and Clients Technical Knowledge
Salary	Average salary of a Graphic Artist in the US is about $100k	Average salary of a Graphic Designer in the US is about $100k
Technologies/tools used	Adobe Photoshop Sketch Adobe Illustrator Adobe Indesign Adobe After Effects Pen + Paper Tablet	Adobe Photoshop Sketch Adobe Illustrator Adobe Indesign Adobe After Effects
Lifestyle	In a survey, Graphic Artists rate their lifestyle as 4 out of 5 stars	In a survey, Graphic Designers rate their lifestyle as 4 out of 5 stars
Education Required	Students from any educational background can apply for post of a Graphic Artist.	Students from any educational background can apply for post of a Graphic Designer.

Conclusion

The roles of Graphic Designer and a Graphic Artist may look similar and has is also overlapping, but there are many differences in these two roles. A Graphic Designer does not need to know how to draw, but a Graphic Artist is expected to know that. Similarly, a Graphic Designer can be a mixture of both Artist and Designer but may lean more towards artistic side or more towards the designer side. All in all these roles, responsibilities and differences may differ from organization to organization and from team to team. But the points we discussed in this article remain the same for both.