Designers work in many scales of business, from small one man specialist consultancies to larger agencies, designers may be part of in-house teams of large non-design companies or work in specialist external studios. The majority of graphic designers work for clients, responding to a given brief.
There are many stages involved in producing a work of graphic design. These range from defining the creative brief, undertaking research, visualizing initial ideas, laying out the design, to final preparation of artwork for print and overseeing printed reproduction.
In our organization these tasks are divided into specialized roles, along the lines of assembly line manufacture. The concept part of graphic design will be generally dealt with by an art director or senior designer, whilst more junior designers will lay out design ideas. Sometimes much of the preparation for print production of digital files is done by a separate production department.
Tools graphic designers use are the mind, eye, hand, traditional tools, and computers. A creative concept is not usually considered a design unless it is given a tangible or visual form. However, since the design consists of ideas, the most important and only tool that is required in the design process is the mind. Critical, observational, quantitative and analytic thinking are also required for page layout and rendering. If the executor is merely following a sketch, script or instructions (as may be supplied by an art director) they are not usually considered the author. The eye and the hand are often augmented with the use of external traditional or digital image editing tools. The selection of the appropriate one to the communication problem at hand is also a key skill in graphic design work, and a defining factor of the rendering style.