
While visual design is specifically focused on the look and feel, visual communication is somewhat less concerned with aesthetics, in favor of the communication aspect of the discipline. Visual communication as a term often encompasses much more than just digital design and is focused on the communication of a message visually.

Though they’re not quite the same thing, visual design is sometimes used interchangeably with the term visual communication. Does the finished product look good? That is the question visual designers aim to answer. It focuses on the aesthetics of a website or any other type of digital design. Visual design was born out of a mixture of graphic design and user interface (UI) design. While there are plenty of similarities between visual designers and graphic designers, there are also stark differences between them.

On the surface visual design and graphic design sound like the same thing and are sometimes used as interchangeable terms, particularly outside the design industry.
