Visual arts, which includes things like photography and illustration. Typography, which is the art or process of setting, arranging, and designing type. And page layout, which refers to the arrangement of visual elements on a printed page. All three of these skills have been used for hundreds of years. In fact, graphic design dates back probably a lot further than you even think. The first use of visual communication to convey ideas was done through cave paintings as far back as 15,000 B.C. While they didn't actually call it graphic design back then, it still had the same basic idea.