Library Graphic Design Best Practices and Approval Processes

Library Graphic Design Best Practices and Approval Processes by Diana K. Wakimoto

The purpose of this paper is to explore graphic design best practices and approval processes used by librarians. This paper used an online, qualitative survey to collect data on librarians’ design processes and best practices. The responses were reviewed to determine categories and themes of librarians’ design processes and best practices to gain an understanding of the state of graphic design in libraries. The majority of the respondents reported that there were no formal guidelines, design committees or approval processes at their libraries. While some librarians were aware of and used graphic design best practices, many respondents were unsure of what constituted a best practice in graphic design. The paper was exploratory and the respondents cannot be said to be representative of all librarians and, therefore, generalizations to all librarians are not possible.