Functional Art: 15 Creative Graphic Design Concepts

Famous graphic designer Stefan Sagmeister said “You can have an art experience in front of a Rembrandt… or in front of a piece of graphic design.” It’s hard to disagree with the expression since there are so many beautiful breathtaking graphic design concepts today. Various modern tools allow designers to create gorgeous graphic concepts that could easily be called artworks. However, graphic design isn’t purely artistic field. In one of our previous articles, we’ve defined graphic design as the sphere of human activity that lies at the crossroads of several directions, first of all, visual arts, communication, and psychology. By means of graphic (visual) elements such as images, types and fonts, pictograms, shapes and sizes, colors and shades, lines, and curves graphic designers do the job of communication. Every visual element transfers the message, so it becomes functional.

Graphic design broadly covers all spheres of human life which deal with visual communication, from books and posters to sophisticated mobile applications or 3D animation. Today’s post presents 15 creative concepts by Tubik, which we gathered to show you the diversity of graphic design.

Character concepts

Girl and Flowers

The first concept introducing this set is an illustration of a girl with flowers. The work is a representation of flat design, which is seen in the simplicity of shapes and visual elements. Despite the minimalist style the illustration accurately transfers the bright and warm feeling of the springtime. The designer applied the color palette, which shows a little girl’s sensitivity and purity. And, the final accent was made via shadows, giving the flat picture a more vivid look.

Underwater Explorer

The next concept is a flat design illustration presenting a character of an underwater explorer. The designer applied various techniques combining classic and new approaches to flat design. Along with minimalistic shapes, there are noisy textures across the illustration, which are unusual for the direction. The dark background and bright elements, including the character’s costume, create deep contrast and enhance visual perception. One more detail complementing the illustration is the light lines which are barely seen still they make the picture complete.

Character design is used for different video and mobile games, which is why designers often need to create more than one character for a particular project. The trick is that all the characters should be made in one original style so that they would be recognizable for gamers. Let’s look at the Wild West set of characters by Tubik.

Sheriff Foxx

The first character created for this set was a sheriff named Jimmy Foxx. The designer has chosen the unique style of drawing, putting accents on the details which transfer character traits. Creating the sheriff personality, the designer aimed at illustrating a fearless and fair man with a sense of humor. The prominent mustache makes Jimmy look serious still there might be the smile hidden behind it. The main attribute is the big hat with the star signifying the sheriff’s power.

Indian Dreamcatcher

Good stories require the presence of cultural spirit, so the native American character was an obvious choice continuing this set. The designer sticks to the style applied to the first character. The character wears typical attributes such as a feather and a painted mask. His eyes are closed which makes a character look wise. The circle around the character, which by the way is shown in the first illustration too, is decorated with a skull of a bird. Such an item usually serves for magical rituals so the character seems mysterious.

Wild West Bandit

It’s hard to imagine a wild west story without a bandit terrorizing the citizens. The designer presents us a bad guy through the well-thought details. The bandit has a massive chin with a dimple and the dark straight hair. The cigarette and the golden tooth give him a brutal look. The hat and scarf are embellished with skull signs to show that he’s a dangerous man.

City illustrations

There are many paintings and drawings illustrating the beautiful sights of various cities. Today, designers have an opportunity to show cities from a different perspective – as digital artworks. Here is the set of city illustrations by Tubik.

Hallo Lofoten

The first illustration presents the Norwegian city of Lofoten. The city’s beautiful colors, natural landscapes, bright buildings, and impressive mountains have inspired the designer to create the illustration. The distinctive feature of this set of concepts is that it is framed as a set of post stamps. The illustration is another example of flat design, created using simple geometric shapes. Lines on the water reflect the building, making the scene feel more natural. Bright colors and various tones transfer the atmosphere of the city.

Buongiorno Roma

The next city chosen for this set was Rome. The designer applies the complementary scheme of colors mixing blue and yellow, which makes the illustration full of contrasts similar the bright Italian city. Famous buildings are formed with simple shapes so the viewer can easily recognize the city. The designer creates lights and shadows on the landmark via different tones sticking to the minimalistic style.

Guten Tag Bavaria

The last concept of the series illustrates Bavaria. The Neuschwanstein Castle, the nineteenth-century palace known all over the world, is presented as a magical place full of spring vibes. The mild color scheme is pleasant for human eyes enhancing visual perception.

Posters

Nowadays, graphic designers experiment a lot with poster creation, following modern design directions such as flat design and applying various techniques. Digital artists design original posters that accurately bring people into the atmosphere of the films, cartoons, and other performances or events.

Star Wars Rouge One Illustration

No matter if you’re a fan of Star Wars or not, you obviously know what they are. This graphic design concept is devoted to the recent episode of Star Wars (Rogue One), which inspired the designer to create the original poster. The illustration presents the main characters of the movie in a minimalistic style. They are shown as focused, strong, and brave heroes ready to fight for the better. Dark blue background creates an atmosphere of deep space. Small but bright details, such as characters’ clothes, make this poster contrasting and interesting for the viewers.

Pikachu Poster

Many people will associate last summer with the hype about the mobile game Go, Pokémon. Designers couldn’t stay unaffected, so there are various design concepts devoted to the topic. Here is a graphic design poster featuring one of the favorite Pokémon, Pikachu. The character’s body isn’t outlined with lines, but the Pokémon’s silhouette is recognizable due to its facial features and the yellow background. Unusual presentation of the character is complemented with white lighting which is the special power of the little creature. Pokemon’s shadow is performed via repeating a word, “Pika” to be more specific. Such a creative idea will definitely strike a fan right in the heart.

Suicide Squad Poster

Continuing the topic of the mainstream, here is the poster for the Suicide Squad movie. One of the brightest and deepest characters of a film is Joker who’s well-known for all DC comics fans. In creating this poster, the designer sought to capture and convey the character’s features through digital graphics. The poster is dark transferring character’s mood still with the original lettering which presents laughing. Moreover, if you take a closer look at the poster, you’ll find small Joker’s signs hidden everywhere.

Covers

The cover illustration is a substantive art direction that deserves great respect. Graphic designers usually work long and hard to create one single composition that will do its function best. Let’s look at the cover designs by Tubik.

Muscles Magazine

The first example presents a cover page for a magazine devoted to sports and active life. The issue shown here is about relations of sport and business. The idea behind the central illustration featuring the athlete was to immediately introduce the topic and at the same time add some fun and style. Graphic elements fully replace the photos creating the original look for the magazine.

Tales of the Jazz

Many graphic designers secretly dream of creating the cover design for their favorite book. Here is an interpretation of cover page for a collection of short stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald called Tales of the Jazz Age. The girl on the cover looks like a typical lady of the jazz age setting the right mood for the viewers. The mild color scheme and noise texture are nice to the visual perception.

Stickers

Today stickers are everywhere, printed and digital, especially popular in mobile apps. Tubik designers constantly work on original sticker packs for apps, websites, and promotional campaigns.

Healthy Stickers

This design concept features stickers of fruits and vegetables. They are intended to encourage everyone to adopt a healthy lifestyle and to provide energy as well. Bright colors make vegetables and fruit look juicy and yummy, so it’s hard to resist the desire to taste one of them in real life, which means the stimulation works well. This flat picture is good for both printed and digital use.

Animated Stickers for Mood Messenger

Today, stickers are popular across various messaging applications. This concept shows stickers designed for Mood Messenger. Each sticker depicts a different emotion, enabling users to quickly communicate with their friends how they feel. Detailed facial expressions in this concept can convey any emotion. Attractive illustrations can make applications interesting and fun for users, bringing great benefits for the owners.

Reviewing creative graphic design artworks is always inspiring. These fifteen concepts are only a few examples, but there are many more of them waiting for you to look. Stay tuned and get inspired!