What extent are design skills transferable?

[l_evernden]

I'm looking into different areas of design, from Architecture to Product to Graphic Design, to investigate if design skills can be transferred between these specialities. For example, can a graphic designer be an Architect? What is the limit?
I'm looking into whether education, experience, or the way people naturally think provide the basis for skills which can be used in other areas.
What do people think?
Lisa

[Corrosive]

can a graphic designer be an Architect? What is the limit?

Yes, but architects train for seven years. You wouldn't want buildings falling down all over the place would you?

[l_evernden]

But could designers at least plan the layout and the way the interior will look in an effective way?

[Corrosive]

But could designers at least plan the layout and the way the interior will look in an effective way?

I wouldn't have though they'd let you near the layout either. Do you know which walls should be supporting and which shouldn't?

You are talking about interior design here and I guess that wouldn't be too big a leap.

[matobo]

I have a diploma in Interior Design and Architectural Draghting from 20 years ago and have managed perfectly well with being a Graphic Designer since then (couldn't find a job in the right industry at the time and grew into Graphic Design with experience over the years) - the basic skill sets are transferrable.

[l_evernden]

the basic skill sets are transferrable.

Matobo- What do you believe are the basic skills that are needed in both Graphic Design and Architecture?

[SparkCreative]

If you mean an artistically minded person with those kind of skills can turn their hand to many different areas given the right training, I kind of agree.

But the 'Right training' bit is massively important. You can't just jump from one to the other.

[matobo]

The course that I did was only a 2 year diploma in Interior Design and it did include graphic training for presentation work - but the actual 'design techniques' part of the course included all the necessary basics like balance, composition, colour, grahic interpretations, perceptual studies... all in 2D and 3D.

Apart from the bias on interiors - the basic groundwork was very transferrable between the 2 disciplines and I have never had a problem adapting - but over the years and through experience, I have also ended up being more of a magazine designer rather than a full-on graphic designer - which probably makes sense considering where I started off from.

I do agree that full-on Architectural training might be a bit more of a stretch regarding transferrable skills into the graphic design world - the thought processes are far too mathematically confined and linear to be adaptable to graphics.

[SparkCreative]

Composition and stuff, yeah that's transferable. But what about type theory - correct use of punctuation, drop caps, kerning, tracking, ligatures, widows, orphans, etc etc etc? The technical stuff. That, I guess is the equivalent of what stops buildings falling down. And it's the stuff that's missing from most self-taught 'graphic designers.' It's just not quite so life threatening when a layout falls down.

[l_evernden]

I agree that Graphic Design is a skill which may be specialised to Graphic Design, and that it is not as important as the knowledge and skills needed in Architecture.

What about the creativity side of the design. Is the creativity and design thinking used in Graphic Design the same as architecture?