Nov 29, 2022
Although the term "graphic design" has only been around since the 1920s, the art form itself has been an important part of visual communication for thousands of years. Early examples of graphic design can be seen in ancient manuscripts and even in prehistoric cave paintings. With the appearance of the printing press in Europe, mankind was able to recreate text, art, and design relatively cheaply on a mass scale. The ancestors of modern companies noticed how such visual elements can influence shopping behavior and increase profits, thus modern graphic design was born.
Today, the graphic design industry encompasses many different disciplines. It's an exciting field that's constantly evolving, but its adaptable nature can make it complicated to understand what exactly graphic design is and which types of work professionals do it.
Graphic design is a type of applied art that most often involves combining typography, illustration, photography, and printing to convey an idea or message through visual communication, for the purpose of informing, persuading, or educating. Its application in creating the visual identity of the company should also be emphasized, and this refers to all graphic images and "visual" components of the brand image. Everything that clients can see and associate with your business can be part of the visual identity (logo, business cards, e-mail design, product packaging, website). Graphic design also plays a big role in the creation of NFT tokens, and they represent a unique asset in the digital world.
Today's story is with Stefan Prodanović, founder and CEO of Design Stockers company. Through an interview, Stefan will tell us his business story, as well as clarify certain terms that we have mentioned, which are considered to be the digital, and perhaps realistic, future.
Virtuo: Stefan, you are 26 years old, and you have been running your own company for almost 2 years, tell us about your beginnings, how did you enter the world of design?
Stefan:
I started designing around 10 years ago. In the beginning, it was some kind of 2D elements for mini-games, and then 3D models, later I found myself in the field of graphic design, which we still do today. The moment when I started to package my knowledge into services, which I can provide to various clients, was the point where my past hobby started to take the form of a profession.
Virtuo: Since you worked as a freelancer for a long time, you made a comparison between freelancing and doing business as a company, tell us the good sides of both ways of doing business!?
Stefan:
Apart from the bureaucracy brought by running a company, there is no major difference. If we talk about the transition to the legal form of a company, it was necessary due to business development and the employment of workers. As far as my job is concerned, the biggest difference is in doing the job itself. Nowadays, I deal with graphic design less and less, and I am more and more occupied with management and organization, which, frankly, are not so demanding when you are a freelancer and when you work alone.
Virtuo: How long have you been around, how many people does your team have and what activities are currently current in your business?
Stefan:
We have been in existence for about a year and a half and currently employ 6 workers. We provide various graphic design services, but Logo design and the creation of NFT collections are our two primary spheres.
Virtuo: Can you bring us closer to the concept of NFT and what is its potential from your point of view?
Stefan:
NFT is a lot more than a monkey image, as most people might see it, because those images played a big role in promoting NFT, but mostly because of the high figures at which they were sold, and are still being sold today. Those thumbnails are just the collectible form of NFT, where someone is registered on the blockchain as the owner, which enables easy and quick authentication of ownership, which is again not the case with traditional forms of collecting. Also, the artist behind the project has the possibility of collecting royalties from the resale of his works. The real potential of NFTs lies not only in this but in the real-world application of "smart contracts" and the transformation of paperwork and protocols onto the blockchain.
Virtuo: The arrival of the Metaverse is announced. Is this a safe perspective for you designers, can we expect an expansion of the need for your services?
Stefan:
The Metaverse sure sounds exciting, but we're still a long way from its actual application. A lot of companies are developing their own versions of Metaverse and we don't know how compatible the assets from one will be with the other and whether that 3rd party entry will be enabled and to what extent. Other activities such as programming and 3D realization of these projects play a greater role in creating them, but if companies, such as Facebook, leave space for advertising in their Metaverse, will they create additional space for designers and the necessity for their services?
Thank Stefan, and we can only admire the energy, enthusiasm, and courage of this young businessman, and wish him a long and successful career between the digital and real world!
Enjoy the gallery of the artworks of Design Stockers - NFT Factory!