10
things you should know about graphic design
10 "'talk to me"'
One of the most important elements in design is that it must get a message across to an audience. consider the tone of voice to direct you into the style of your design and make sure it's clear.
inform instruct educate humourous serious formal
As a designer it's important to know some basic colour theory. understanding these terms will help you determine what colours to use and what not to use when designing.
primary colour: colours that can't be mixed by any other colour.
secondary colour: colours that are mixed by primary colours.
terchiary colour: colours that are mixed by secondary + primary
complementary colour: colours that shoudn't be used together in design.
9
'colour me bad'
8 'LINE ME UP'
COLUMNS
GRIDS A grid is a 2 dimensional structure made of intersecting horizontal + vertical axes used to structure content. grids serves as a guideline which helps designers organise their content in a aesthetically pleasing way. Columns run vertically down the page to break up large bodies of text that can't fit in a single box WHICH improvES readability. Margins can have a influence on the overall feel of a page. TheY ARE THE edge or border of A PAGE SET UP used to guide the content.
MARGINS
+
semiotics is the understanding of what something symbolises. the sign below is a simple plus sign but the sign, symbol and signifers represent all different things depending on what context it is put into.
SIGN: a add icon. Symbol: a multiplication sign. SIGNifier: possitive, mathmatical, good, mutliply.
7
'SHOW ME A SIGN'
6
'TYPE VS. FONT'
as a designer it's important to know the difference between a typeface and a font. although they seem the same they are completely different.
hello hello typeface: A collection of characters, letters, numbers, symbols, punctuation, which have the same distinct design. like the ‘design’ of a alphabet, the shape of the letters that make up the typestyle.
hello hello font: A font is a complete character set of a single style of particular typeface. -e.g italic, regular and bold.
Legibility and readability are fundamental to successful typographic design. Often the terms are used interchangeably. Yet, there is a difference between them.
LEGIBILITY is concerned with how easy it is to distinguish individual letters. line lengths, point size , leading, spacing and type alignment all contribute to this.
READABILITY refers to the ease with which a reader can scan over paragraphs of type. it's about how the type is placed in order for it to be read clearly.
5 'READ ME'
4 'IN THE MODE'
rgb red, green and blue is a 3 colour process wich works best with screen based and web designs. the colours are also know as additive because when they are mixed they make white. this is because they absorb light.
cmyk cyan, magenta, yellow and key (also known as black) is a 4 colour process. these colours work best with printed designs. the colours are known as subtractive because when they are mixed they make black.
a4
a5
a2 a3
a0 a1
Metric Name
Metric Size
A5 A4 A3 A2 A1 A0
148 x 210 mm 210 x 297 mm 297 x 420 mm 420 x 594 mm 594 x 841 mm 841 x 1189 mm
3
'ARE WE ON THE SAME PAGE'
2
'SIMPLY DIVINE'
divine proportions also know as 'the golden section' is a way you can divide your page equally in a design if you are working by hand.
1
2
.. 1.62 .. 6
x
+
=
if you mesaure the size of you paper and continually divide it by 1.62 and round it up if it's reccuring, you will eventually get an even layout.
"Design is not your job. Design is about people + your personality. the ability to make relationships work is a massive factor in your employability. �"
-Craig Oldham
1
'IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU'