All graphic designers are artists, but not all artists are graphic designers. It is a distinction that matters enormously for anyone hiring creative talent — and for any designer trying to understand the full scope of their practice.
The artist operates from pure expression. The brief, if there is one, is internal. The graphic designer operates from constraint. The brief is external. The audience is primary. The work succeeds not when it expresses the designer's vision but when it communicates the client's message effectively to a defined audience.
The best graphic designers are artists in the deepest sense — they bring genuine aesthetic intelligence to every decision. But they wear that artistic capability in the context of a commercial and communicative discipline. Understanding the difference is not a hierarchy. It is a job description. And hiring managers who confuse the two tend to hire the wrong person for the wrong role, then wonder why the work does not perform.