[Graphic] design is essentially a process of problem solving – a creative process requiring playful and inventive thinking that brings together words and visual imagery to communicate to an audience. Each communication will ask different questions and the role of the designer is to work out what these questions are and how to respond to them.

– what needs to be communicated, why and the interrelationship between different elements

– how particular audience/s might read a communication in view of their likely existing ideas and visual responses

– how best to construct the communication, aesthetically and visually to bridge this gap.

Adapted from Graphic Design 1 Core Principles OCA 2010 p12