Passion, Pantones and persnickity clients: Graphic Designers Surveyed reveals all
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- (opens in new tab)
- Sign up to our newsletter Newsletter

Graphic designers love looking at a chart and graphic designers love having an opinion. Bring these two facts together and you have this beautifully presented, self-generated industry survey, published by Lucienne Roberts and Rebecca Wright’s small but perfectly formed press, GraphicDesign&.
Roberts, Wright and Jessie Price worked with information designer Stefanie Posavec and social scientist Nikandre Kopcke to sift through a mammoth 1,988 responses to their 2015 industry survey. The results are both stylish and informative, shot through with humour (‘have you been asked to make it bigger?’ – 89.7 per cent said yes) and irreverence (the favourite Pantone colours question also unleashed a torrent of sarcastic answers), while also uncovering far more insidious attitudes, from both within and without the industry.
The elephant in the bar chart is gender, and the questions lay bare some home truths about what is still an industry with a very masculine perception, despite being skewed fairly equally between the sexes. Women designers are marginally better educated than their male counterparts yet are still paid less and believe that it’s not what you do, but who you know, that can help your career. Even given the overwhelmingly left-leaning bias of the dataset, this is sadly unsurprising, and shows that even this most creative, passionate and progressive of industries still has some way to go.
The book also reveals transatlantic differences – American designers work longer hours, earn more money and are far less likely to be freelance than in the UK. There are also 90 pages of designers ruminating on the best and worst thing about their jobs, a substantial number of which cited ‘clients’ in the latter category. The practice of graphic design is paradoxical, combining long hours of self-absorption with a need to be aware of a constantly evolving visual culture. Graphic Designers Surveyed highlights the industry’s often conflicting desires. The book itself is a quiet masterpiece of information design, conveying these conflicts with clarity and elegance. Above all, it showcases the obvious passion that underpins every click of the mouse.
Compiling the results of a mammoth 2015 survey on the the design industry, the book is stylish and informative, shot through with humour and irreverence, while also uncovering far more insidious attitudes, from both within and without the industry. Pictured: a ’rainbow’ graphic of designers’ favourite Pantone colours
The book delves deep into the the identities of the surveyed. Pictured: perhaps unsurprisngly, graphic designers tend to work longer hours and earn less than their partners
Graphic Designers Surveyed highlights the industry’s often conflicting desires
The spare, somewhat anachronistic design is both visually engaging and highly functional
Conveying its messages with clarity and elegance, above all the book showcases the obvious passion that underpins every click of a designer’s mouse
INFORMATION
Graphic Designers Surveyed, £15, published by GraphicDesign&. For more information, visit the publisher’s website (opens in new tab)
Jonathan Bell has written for Wallpaper* magazine since 1999, covering everything from architecture and transport design to books, tech and graphic design. He is now the magazine’s Transport and Technology Editor. Jonathan has written and edited 15 books, including Concept Car Design, 21st Century House, and The New Modern House. He is also the host of Wallpaper’s first podcast.
-
Berlinde de Bruyckere on religion, chaos and decay: ‘simplicity is the territory of humans’
Ahead of her show at Hauser & Wirth Zurich, Limmatstrasse we speak to Belgian sculptor and visual artist Berlinde de Bruyckere on her show ‘A simple prophecy,’ on from 26 January – 13 May 2023
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
Under-the-radar bag labels to know
From New Zealand to Japan, get to know the under-the-radar bag labels eschewing trends in favour of long-lasting good design
By Tilly Macalister-Smith • Published
-
Rala Choi: ‘Now is the time to ask photographers about what photography is’
We profile rising star photographer Rala Choi, whose vivid, ethereal images draw on the legacies of art history
By Sophie Gladstone • Published
-
SlowMo eases digital mental health therapy into daily life
SlowMo is a new mental health support app developed by design studio Special Projects and King’s College London that uses visual prompts to combat unhelpful thoughts
By Martha Elliott • Published
-
It’s a Barbie world: new book charts the evolution of the Barbie Dreamhouse
Mattel Creations and Pin-Up present ‘Barbie Dreamhouse: An Architectural Survey’, exploring the fantasy home’s evolution, from its first appearance in 1962 to its latest iteration in 2021
By Pei-Ru Keh • Published
-
Studiomama turns scrap wood into charming animals
Studiomama unveils The Off-Cuts, a book chronicling its menagerie of wooden animals made using scraps from its workshop
By Rosa Bertoli • Last updated
-
Inventive street furniture, old and contemporary, explored in a new book
The unexplored culture of street furniture (from public infrastructure to makeshift seating) is at the heart of Edwin Heathcote’s ‘On the Street’
By Rosa Bertoli • Last updated
-
The theatrical world of Lee Broom is celebrated in a new book
Lee Broom: Fashioning Design, published by Rizzoli, charts the designer’s 15 years in the industry in dramatic style
By Rosa Bertoli • Last updated
-
Woman Made: the book celebrating great women in design
International Women’s Day 2022: new pioneering tome by Phaidon and Kering celebrates over 200 women designers from contemporary history, alongside a series of initiatives to further expand its contents' impact
By Pei-Ru Keh • Last updated
-
Go on a dream holiday with this virtual reality book
Kiss & Fly is a new AR book that blends print media with digital technology for a virtual vacation
By Mary Cleary • Last updated
-
Remembering Haçienda: a journey through the aesthetics of club culture
New photography book Haçienda Landscapes explores the modern myth and magic of the Manchester club
By Jonathan Bell • Last updated