In our media saturated age great graphic design Edinburgh or elsewhere has never been more important or more in demand.Every book or magazine we read, every website we visit or software application we use, has had to be designed.

Design is an under-the-radar phenomenon: it matters more than ever but we rarely notice it. It affects our whole perception of an item but we rarely think of the graphic labour which has gone into the everyday elements of our lives when they work. We usually only notice, in fact, when that design doesn't work, when we find ourselves struggling to make sense of something or taking longer than we expected to do what we want.

Everything from kettles to computers, from road signs to washing machines, is carefully designed. Graphic design is all about creating compelling and effective visuals - arranging and increasingly creating visual elements to both help the user and the content creator. The user is entertained, pleased, impressed - or simply guided to their destination. The content creator is able to present their material to the user in a thought-through, effective, desirable manner.

Originally confined to traditional print, designing for that great visual medium the Web has become an increasingly important part of the every graphic designer's portfolio over the last decade or so.

Finding design

If you have a need for graphic design Edinburgh style, how do you wade through the competition and sort the great designers from the mediocre?

Talk your requirements through with them carefully and see how they respond. Watch for those ideas which combine spark and originality with practicality. Spark is all very well, but graphic design has a job to do as well.

Spend as much as your budget will allow: there is, after all, little point in saving money on a graphic design project if the result is mediocre and forgettable.