Design

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part of Creative Production · tier 1 · 0 pieces of work carry it · 4 crafts it is confused with

The craft, and who hires it

Brands hire design studios and in-house design teams for identity programs, campaign graphics, product interfaces, and visual systems — the 'Design' capability line studios sell at the top of their menus (Hornet: Design; Tendril: 'Design + Design Systems'; Work & Co: design systems, brand design).

The visual-design craft field: static and systematic visual creation — brand identity, graphics, interfaces, illustration, type, and 3D imagery. The parent family of the Design specializations; the maker is a designer, illustrator, or art director rather than a filmmaker, animator, or photographer.

Tag it when…

Tag at L1 when the item is clearly designed visual work but no leaf fits confidently — discipline-known/leaf-unknown is a legal honest L1 tag (CM1); L1 tags roll up under the discipline. Prefer the specific leaf (Logo Design, UI Design, Illustration…) whenever its signal is visible and checkable.

Never tag it when…

Never use L1 as a junk drawer when a leaf signal is visible — tag the leaf. Never tag for photographic capture (that goes to Photography), moving-image craft (Animation / Video Production), physical make-and-finish craft (Print & Physical Design), or written craft (Copywriting). Being an ad, a testimonial, or a social post is content-type/placement territory, never a basis for this tag.

Easily mistaken for 4 other crafts

Every other page suggests neighbours by similarity. This one navigates by difference: each line names the craft this is confused with, and the rule for telling them apart.

• design art direction — Art Direction is a LEAF under this discipline (the governing look across crafts); the L1 tag is the honest abstention when no leaf — including Art Direction — is checkable
• disc animation — The moment designed elements MOVE as the work itself, the craft is Animation; static/system design stays here
• disc photography — Captured with a camera → Photography; composed/drawn/rendered → Design
• disc print physical — Designing the creative is Design; the physical production craft (packaging engineering, print production, environmental build) lives under Print & Physical Design

At what size it applies

Asset tag when the whole piece IS designed visual work to a buyer but no confident leaf exists (honest L1). A designed insert — title card, graphic overlay, infographic beat — inside live-action or film work is a MOMENT; the parent asset keeps its own craft.

The 22 crafts inside it

• 3D Design — 89 pieces
• Art Direction — 0 pieces
• Brand Identity Design — 0 pieces
• Character Design — 1 pieces
• Collage Style — 0 pieces
• Concept Art — 0 pieces
• Data Visualization — 39 pieces
• Digital Ad Design — 0 pieces
• Graphic Design — 2,403 pieces
• Iconography — 3 pieces
• Illustration — 81 pieces
• Illustrative — 0 pieces
• Logo Design — 530 pieces
• Minimalistic — 0 pieces
• Motion Identity — 0 pieces
• Print & OOH Creative — 0 pieces
• Product Design — 3 pieces
• Product Renders — 0 pieces
• Storyboarding — 0 pieces
• Type Design & Lettering — 0 pieces
• UI Design — 1,867 pieces
• UX Design — 0 pieces

Where to look next

• The whole services tree — the services index.
• Every other vocabulary — the vocabulary index.
• How work gets credited to a craft — the entities chapter.