The intention of this research is the theoretical understanding of design in aesthetic terms (in its form) and extra-aesthetic ones (as social practices, analyzing it s legitimation in the social middle). We envision to contribute in the process of a theoretical definition to what s nowadays called graphic design, questioning the boundaries on which it has established its roots. Having realized that the limit of a field is the limit of its effects we intend, having an anthropologic approach, that considers external nature values (historic, social, cultural question, etc.), to verify the influence of the artistic literature (concerning the visual arts), on the theoretical definition of the (graphic) design field. The methodology contemplates an analysis between the recent literature produced by the design field, in Brazil, especially those which support the praxis of graphic design, and the artistic literature, composed by tradition (not entering representative reports of contemporary art). That is, we placed an interlacement between the literary artifacts produced by both fields. We started by the following premise: a great part of the contemporary theories that try to define graphic design, drawing its main attributes, is based on theories that, during the history, deliberated theoretically the visual arts, more precisely the image. The relevance of the results of the research is, mainly, the possibility to help in the contextualization and epistemological definition of design, a field of diverse definitions and, many times, theorized on a low rigorous manner.