The idea of graphic design is usually associated with aesthetics, the make up that’s put on top of an already developed product or concept in order to improve its image and sales.
Under this point of view, design is just a part of production, an extra adjustment in the assembly line to achieve the final goal: increase sales with a more seductive image.
 
A designer is a person with creative sensibility, often with an artistic background; and good skills in generating visual ideas. But the most important point: A designer is someone who understands the creative process from the beginning to bring things into being, into existence. 

In the times of Leonardo da Vinci, it wouldn’t be surprising to find an artist capable of painting canvas and conceive helicopters, or a sculptor who was at the same time an expert in anatomy. A designer needs to have a holistic approach as a creator, inspired by the discovery of the beauty and harmony present in every creative process. Since the times of the industrial revolution the process of art has been displaced from being an independent conceptual process itself to become just a part of an assembly line. As industries grow, the role of the designer has become more and more specific. Currently we can find fashion designers, interior designers, industrial designers, graphic designers, communication designers, interface designers, light designers, set designers, etcetera; and within each category they can even become more specialised: there are designers specifically for typography, branding, packaging, magazines, print industries, concept artists, art directors, illustrators, 2D and 3D artists and so on.
The artist is still responsible for the idea generation but now from a specific position. Their work is no longer to bring something into existence; instead it is limited to bringing only the aesthetic into existence. The product or concept has already been determined, in many cases, by a business group that works closely with the financial and marketing department.

This changing role has serious implications in terms of the way we value the artistic process. The main issue is the frustration for the artist in loosing their creative autonomy, which is by nature a holistic process, ecstatic.

Vertigo and Ecstasy

Any creative person will be sensitive to experiences of “ecstasy”, from the Greek “existanai” which mean: “drive out of one’s mind”, something that comes from inside to outside. Ecstasy is an experience that born to be share.
People consciously share ecstatic experiences during creative processes of any type. The result always opens up a new world of possibilities. Creativity then is a constant starting point to new possibilities. On the other hand, we have experiences of “vertigo”. From Latin “vertere” originally used to represent the whirling movement of liquids.  An experience of Vertigo opposes to the experience of ecstasy: “vertigo” is something that comes from outside to inside and is experimented individually. An experience of vertigo will not open up a world or any possibilities. It’s just a pleasant short moment, a feeling that ends up when the stimulus is not present or relevant anymore.
From the consumer point of view, an element of consume is an experience of vertigo. As its name indicates: consume, it extinguish it self once the short satisfaction is reached. From the designer point of view, creativity applied to process of vertigo is destiny to die like most of the pages of a shallow magazine. A real design should focus in open up possibilities for new creations. It is vital for all artist and people in general to create experiences of ecstasy in order to survive in time.
Ecstatic collaborative processes are the key to success.

Logos (λὀγοσ) is a Greek word that can be translated as “the word that explains”. Logo, as we have come to understand it means to produce meaning and which unifies a concept with a visual design. In ancient Greece, for Philosopher Heraclitus “Logos” was the place where the universal belongs. The universe can be seeing as chaos, as a river that flows constantly and never repeats the same pattern. But if we all head towards the “logos” we would achieve a universal way to understand the world. In order to see things in the same common way, we should “homo-logate” (ὁμολουεῖν) become one to the logos (homogeneous).

In post-industrial times, Logo is the word that unifies a group of people working in a project under a name, usually represented through an icon, which is easy to identify.
Heraclitus was worried about each one having its own logo so as to avoid chaos. In modern times, a business, a company, a project requires the same unification or “homogenisation” in order to ensure that all the people involve are on the same boat.
For a project to run properly, it needs “Logos”.

When a graphic designer creates a logo, is not simply doing a nice drawing to promote a company; instead, it is discovering that universal symbol that belong to everyone involve in the project and unifies the project it self. There is nothing about aesthetics or make up; instead, it is the ultimate creative process, the beginning of the universal value that produces identification or “homogenisation” for the group. For this reason, an assembly line would never fit into an artistic conception; as in nature and life, there is no order in what should be first or second, instead, everything works and belong to a coherent collaborative process: The artist discovers the symbol that drives us all towards the universal and in this light it is where everyone can see themselves as belonging to the same thing.

Another linguistic particularity is the word “project”, commonly used in our times. “Pro-eject” means to head towards something. If “logo” is the symbol that identifies the group, a “project” should be coherent with the logo, with its symbol. For example: an olive tree can identify a company that produces olive oil. There is a direct correlation in what this company does and its symbol. But we do not always find this obvious and direct relationship; usually, logos and promotional images are based on the concept of manipulation, distortion of the reality and many companies use their logo as an aesthetic camouflage. A very clear case of this is commonly identifiable in Petrol companies, most of them use green flowers or vivid environmental colours to mislead consumers into thinking their products are environmentally sound.
The idea of manipulation thought images evolved with the time responding to consumer’s expectations. Few decades ago, petrol companies where identified with symbols of power/energy while these days the new black is green.

Beyond moral, a designer is a communicator, not a manipulator. When Heraclitus invokes Greeks to follow the Logos (λὀγοσ) I guess he was hoping for a more creative world. A true artist should be Demiurge, someone capable of finding creativity between two worlds: the fluent chaotic river and universal beauty of the tree on the other side of the river.
That is what we become when we advocate to a pro-eject.
Logos (λὀγοσ) is a Greek word that can be translated as “the word that explains”. Logo, as we have come to understand it means to produce meaning and which unifies a concept with a visual design. In ancient Greece, for Philosopher Heraclitus “Logos” was the place where the universal belongs. The universe can be seeing as chaos, as a river that flows constantly and never repeats the same pattern. But if we all head towards the “logos” we would achieve a universal way to understand the world. In order to see things in the same common way, we should “homo-logate” (ὁμολουεῖν) become one to the logos (homogeneous).

In post-industrial times, Logo is the word that unifies a group of people working in a project under a name, usually represented through an icon, which is easy to identify.
Heraclitus was worried about each one having its own logo so as to avoid chaos. In modern times, a business, a company, a project requires the same unification or “homogenisation” in order to ensure that all the people involve are on the same boat.
For a project to run properly, it needs “Logos”.

When a graphic designer creates a logo, is not simply doing a nice drawing to promote a company; instead, it is discovering that universal symbol that belong to everyone involve in the project and unifies the project it self. There is nothing about aesthetics or make up; instead, it is the ultimate creative process, the beginning of the universal value that produces identification or “homogenisation” for the group. For this reason, an assembly line would never fit into an artistic conception; as in nature and life, there is no order in what should be first or second, instead, everything works and belong to a coherent collaborative process: The artist discovers the symbol that drives us all towards the universal and in this light it is where everyone can see themselves as belonging to the same thing.

Another linguistic particularity is the word “project”, commonly used in our times. “Pro-eject” means to head towards something. If “logo” is the symbol that identifies the group, a “project” should be coherent with the logo, with its symbol. For example: an olive tree can identify a company that produces olive oil. There is a direct correlation in what this company does and its symbol. But we do not always find this obvious and direct relationship; usually, logos and promotional images are based on the concept of manipulation, distortion of the reality and many companies use their logo as an aesthetic camouflage. A very clear case of this is commonly identifiable in Petrol companies, most of them use green flowers or vivid environmental colours to mislead consumers into thinking their products are environmentally sound.
The idea of manipulation thought images evolved with the time responding to consumer’s expectations. Few decades ago, petrol companies where identified with symbols of power/energy while these days the new black is green. 
Beyond moral, a designer is a communicator, not a manipulator. When Heraclitus invokes Greeks to follow the Logos (λὀγοσ) I guess he was hoping for a more creative world. A true artist should be Demiurge, someone capable of finding creativity between two worlds: the fluent chaotic river and universal beauty of the tree on the other side of the river.That is what we become when we advocate to a pro-eject.