- Define graphic design through its communication purpose.
- Distinguish design principles that organize compositions and guide attention.
- Choose color systems and describe fundamental color qualities and harmonies.
- Recognize typography concepts that support readable and legible language.
- Differentiate print, digital-product, digital, and brand design.
- Apply a structured workflow and select tools suited to specific design work.
Graphic Design Foundations and History
Communication purpose is presented as the feature that distinguishes design from art. Graphic design can also organize complex information for comprehensible delivery.
- The historical route of visual communication is traced to prehistoric cave painting around 38,000 BC.
- Around 3,000 BCE, the Sumerians created the first written languages to record trading and inventories; these early languages used icons for whole words and concepts rather than phonetic sounds.
- Johannes Gutenberg's 15th-century movable type and printing press enabled lengthy books to be produced for mass communication.
- After the 1950s, as the world began embracing the digital era, computers, Photoshop, and the Internet helped create web design, interactive design, UI, UX, and digital product design.
What purpose is part of the definition of graphic design, and what can graphic design do with complex information?
Graphic design creates visual content for a communication purpose and can organize complex information for comprehensible delivery.
Principles of Design
Design principles aim to deliver a message in an organized and functional way. Every element placed on a page carries visual weight.
| Principle | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Symmetrical balance | The right and left sides have the same visual weight. |
| Asymmetrical balance | The two sides use different elements while maintaining equal visual weight. |
| Unity | Harmony produced by all the elements in a design. |
| Contrast | Differences between design elements used to create visual hierarchy. |
| Repetition | The recurrence of one element throughout a design. |
| Pattern | The repetition of more than one design element. |
| Movement | The path a viewer's eyes take through a composition. |
| Variety | Visual interest intended to keep viewers or users engaged. |
A design repeats several design elements. Which principle describes that recurrence, and how would the answer change if only one element recurred?
Repeating several elements is pattern. If only one element recurred throughout the design, it would be repetition.
Color Theory and Color Systems
Color theory organizes colors on a color wheel. The wheel consists of the primary colors red, yellow, and blue; mixing the primary colors produces the secondary colors purple, green, and orange.
| Mode | Use |
|---|---|
| RGB | Red, green, and blue; the mode for digital output that uses light to display color. |
| CMYK | Cyan, magenta, yellow, and black; the mode to use for a physical design. |
- Saturation is the intensity or purity of a color.
- Value describes how light or dark a color is.
- A complementary harmony pairs two colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel.
Which color mode fits digital output that uses light, and which mode fits a physical design?
RGB fits digital output that uses light, while CMYK fits a physical design.
Typography, Type Classification, and Typesetting
- A serif is a small foot at the end of a stroke on a letter or character.
- An ascender is the part of a lowercase letter that extends above the x-height.
- A descender is the part of a lowercase letter that extends below the baseline.
- A ligature is a special character combining two individual characters.
Sans-serif typefaces do not have serifs. A variable font file can contain styles that vary in weight, width, style, and size.
Readability concerns how fonts and words are arranged on a page so written content flows in an easy-to-read manner. As a rule of thumb for line length or column width, a line should contain between 45 and 70 characters.
A body-copy layout uses a display font and lines longer than 70 characters. Identify the two cautions that apply.
Display fonts are not suitable for body copy. In addition, the rule of thumb for line length is between 45 and 70 characters.
Design Disciplines and Brand Design
| Discipline | Focus |
|---|---|
| Print design | Its final form is intended to be printed. |
| Digital product | In product design, it is a software application, website, or platform. |
| UX | Researching the user's experience. |
| UI | Systematic work that makes elements look and feel cohesive. |
| Digital design | Often displayed on a digital device; it can involve movement through animation, modeling, or interactive pages. |
The top priority of poster design is to expose key information.
- In the speaker's personal process, begin with a client interview about the owner's background, preferences, brand personality, and target market.
- The speaker recommends presenting one or two brand concepts so there is time to focus on their quality.
For work centered on researching a user's experience, which discipline applies? For systematic work that makes interface elements look and feel cohesive, which discipline applies?
UX applies to researching the user's experience. UI applies to systematic work that makes elements look and feel cohesive.
Design Workflow, Tools, and Technology
- Start with a brief containing the project's details, purpose, and goals.
- Use research during brainstorming to approach the design problem from multiple angles and produce multiple solutions.
- By the end of brainstorming, narrow the solutions to no more than three concepts, preferably two or one.
- Prepare rough sketches or layouts for presentation to the client or team.
- After client feedback, incorporate it, polish the details, present the final product, and deliver the necessary digital files.
| Tool | Supported work |
|---|---|
| Adobe InDesign | Publishing magazines, books, and other multi-page documents. |
| Adobe Illustrator | Vector-based designs, illustrations, and logo designs. |
| Figma | Creating prototypes, but not building apps or websites. |
The Internet has enabled information to be reached and spread at a faster rate.
Which tool is suited to a multi-page book, and which tool is suited to a vector-based logo design?
Adobe InDesign is suited to the multi-page book, and Adobe Illustrator is suited to the vector-based logo design.
Common misconceptions
Watch out: Graphic design is defined without reference to communication purpose.
Instead: Graphic design is the creation of visual content for a communication purpose, and communication purpose is presented as the feature that distinguishes design from art.
Watch out: Asymmetrical balance requires unequal visual weight on the two sides.
Instead: Asymmetrical balance uses different elements on the two sides while maintaining equal visual weight.
Watch out: A brightly displayed CMYK color will retain the same appearance when printed.
Instead: Even when the on-screen document is configured as CMYK, a color shown brightly on screen will appear slightly washed out when printed.
Watch out: Figma can build apps and websites.
Instead: Figma can create prototypes but cannot build apps or websites.
Lesson recap
- Graphic design creates visual content for a communication purpose and can organize complex information for comprehensible delivery.
- Design principles aim to deliver messages in organized and functional ways; individual principles describe visual weight, harmony, hierarchy, recurrence, eye paths, and visual interest.
- RGB is the color mode for digital output that uses light, while CMYK is the mode for a physical design.
- Typography strategically arranges type to make written language readable, legible, and appealing.
- Print design ends in printed form, UX researches user experience, UI supports systematic cohesiveness, and digital design is often displayed on a digital device.
- The workflow moves from a project brief through brainstorming and rough layouts to feedback, refinement, final presentation, and delivery.
- Communicating with clarity is the priority of graphic-design work.