10 things...

GRAPHIC

D ESIGN

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT GRAPHIC DESIGN

GRAPHIC DESIGN

D as a discipline

“Graphic design is a broad discipline that encompasses many different aspects and elements. It takes ideas, concepts, text and images and presents them in a visually engaging form through print, electronic or other media. A designer achieves this goal through the conscious manipulation of elements;

a design may be philosophical, aesthetic, sensory, emotional or political in nature.�

Gavin Ambrose/Paul Harris

The theories that we apply to graphic design are taken from a study of the general science of signs known as

“Except for the immediate satisfaction of biological needs, man lives in a world not of things but of symbols.�

Von Bertalanffy L.

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Symbolises an apple

A sign for Apple Mac Computers

There are three main areas that form what we understand as semiotics: the signs themselves; the way they are organised into systems and the content in which they appear.

Signifies quality, creativity, lifestyle, independence‌.

Each individual letter is called a character. A standard set of terms is used to describe the constituent parts of a character, often referred to as

Ascender Crossbar

Tittle Terminal Ear

Capital Height

Stem

X-Height Link Bowl Serif

Counter Loop

Baseline Descender

There are four fundamental fonts that designers should know

Roman fonts are standard serif fonts Block fonts are designed to be used on a large scale

Script fonts attempt to reproduce calligraphic forms

Gothic fonts are sans-serif and simple in form

The letters, numbers, and symbols that make up a design of type. A typeface is often part of a type family of co-ordinated designs. The individual typefaces are named after the family and are also specified with a designation, such as italic, bold or condensed.

One weight, width, and style of a typeface.

Before scalable type, there was little distinction between the terms font, face, and family. Font and face still tend to be used interchangeably, although the term face is usually more correct.

A good rule when working with type is to use a

fonts

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Available colour systems are dependent on the medium with which a designer is working. (C)yan(M)agenta(Y)ellow(K)ey/ black is used when printing and (R)ed(G)reen(B)lue is used to generate digital media.

When we mix colours using paint, or through the printing process, we are using the subtractive colour method. Subtractive colour mixing means that one begins with white and ends with black; as one adds colour, the result gets darker and tends to black.

If we are working on a computer, the colours we see on the screen are created with light using the additive colour method.

Additive colour mixing begins with black and ends with white; as more colour is added, the result is lighter and tends to white.

Red, yellow and blue In traditional colour theory (used in paint and pigments), primary colours are the 3 pigment colours that can not be mixed or formed by any combination of other colours.

All other colours are derived from these 3 hues.

Green, orange and violet These are the colours formed by mixing the primary colours.

Yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green & yellow-green These are the colours formed by mixing a primary and a secondary colour. That’s why the hue is a two word name, such as blue-green, red-violet, and yellow-orange.

These are some basic techniques for creating pleasing colour harmonies

The split-complementary colour scheme is a variation of the complementary colour scheme. In addition to the base colour, it uses the two colours adjacent to its complement.

The square colour scheme is similar The rectangle or tetradic colour to the rectangle, but with all four scheme uses four colours arranged colours spaced evenly around the into two complementary pairs. colour wheel.

Analogous colour schemes use colours that are next to each other on the colour wheel.

A triadic colour scheme uses colours that are evenly spaced around the colour wheel.

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Complimentary colours are any two hues positioned exactly opposite each other on the colour wheel.

These pairs on the Basic Color Wheel have a special relationship.

When they are placed next to each other, they make the other appear more intense and brighter. This is a phenomenon in Color Theory called Simultaneous Contrast.

With this in mind, complementary colours are best to avoid using together, particularly when using type as it strains the eye and affects

legibility

The Pantone Colour Matching System is largely a standardized colour reproduction system.

By standardizing the colours, different manufacturers in different locations can all refer to the Pantone system to make sure colours match without direct contact with one another.

Pantone contains everything you need to select, specify and match solid and process colours for accurate solid colour specifying and matching CMYK Guides: Four colour process (cyan, magenta, yellow, black) CMYK Coated CMYK Uncoated

Solid Colour FORMULA GUIDES: One flat colour FORMULA GUIDE Solid Coated FORMULA GUIDE Solid Uncoated

COLOUR BRIDGE Guides: To determine how a PANTONE Colour will appear when reproduced in CMYK or to create optimal display of PANTONE Colours on monitors and Web pages COLOUR BRIDGE Coated COLOUR BRIDGE Uncoated COLOUR BRIDGE速 Supplement Coated COLOUR BRIDGE速 Supplement Uncoated

PANTONE METALLICS Guide METALLICS Coated PREMIUM METALLICS Coated PASTELS & NEONS guide PASTELS & NEONS Coated & Uncoated