LESSON 1: Introduction to Creative and Graphic Design

Creative Design is the process of creating seamless integration of images, photos and text applying
them in all aspects of design.
Illustrator – creating images and rendered drawings
Photoshop - enhancing and modifying photos
Software in Creative Design:
Graphics and Photo Editing

 design to edit, optimize, modify and organize photos from all sources.
 Adobe Photoshop and Corel Photopaint
Vector Line Art

 geared for image and graphic creation and illustration (Adobe Illustrator and Corel, Draw)
Desktop Publishing/Layout

 design to manipulate page geometry for all objects (Adobe Pagemaker and InDesign, Microsoft
Publisher)
Portable Document (PDF)

 fixed layout document that represents a flat image of a file independent of the program,
software and hardware. (Adobe Acrobat)
The Basics
Graphic File Formats

 a method to organize and standardize the handling and storage of photographic, graphic and
other image data.
Resolution

 quality and sharpness and clarity of an image

Image Sizes

 determined by the number of pixels and the depth of color of each pixel
 More number of rows and columns, the higher the resolution and the memory
Colors

 8-bit pixel color can store 256 colors

 24-bit pixel can store 16 million colors known as true color
Image File Compression

 process of reducing the memory storage of an image to decrease picture size

 Lossy file size is smaller, some image deterioration become noticeable; pixelized; artifacting
 Lossless image quality is not diminished even when you resize the image
Image File Formats
Vector Graphics

 Preferred format for those who desire quality prints and display of images
Raster

 Common Formats that we will encounter in most digital image files

 JPEG Files lossy image format: generally accepted format
Sources of Photos
Personal and Professional Photos

 Photos taken by amateur and professional photographers using digital camera

Scanned Images

 Images are transferred from printed photos to graphics that we wanted to store in our computer
memory with the use of scanner
Stock Photo Library

 Several photographs and created images are available for sale; can be used without payment
of additional fees
Composition Techniques
Composition

 Putting together elements of painting, photography, graphic design and other artwprk with
coscious effort in arranging the parts
Rule of Thirds

 A composition technique when an image is imagined to be divided into three parts horizontally
and vertically and creating nine equal squares on the image.
Rule of Odds

 A composition technique derived from findings that by placing an odd number of elements in a
composition the viewer should find it pleasurable
Rule of Simplicity
 Can be achieved by limiting distracting elements in a composition so that the user can focus on
primary subject
 Simplicity is beauty
Graphic Design

 Is a part of your daily life

 Is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas
Types of Graphic Design:
Image-based design

 Designers develop images to represent the ideas their clients want to communicate.
Type-based design

 Designers rely on words to convey a message

Image and Type design

 Designers often combine images and typography to communicate a client’s message to the
audience
Symbols, logos and logotype
Symbols are an abstract representation of a particular idea or identity.
Logotypes a symbol composed of type only
Logo a symbol that may be a combination of image and type
Design Process
Briefing stage that is usually the initial conversation or consultation between the client and the designer
Design stage is the most time-consuming area and requires a lot of trial and error as well as a lot of
back-and-forth communications between designer and client.
Artwork the designer prepares the artwork files and provides “proof” of what the final project will look
like
Production once the artwork has passed final approval from the client, it is said to be ready.

Lesson 2: GRAPHIC DESIGN PROCESS

Design

 means an artifact, entity or an image

 denotes activity of making such artifacts or bringing such entities or images into existence
Design Process

 Involves creative thinking, imagination and visualization.

 A multi-stage processes.
6 outline of design process (Stages):
Stage 1 Design Brief

 Identification of Design Problem – design problem or an issue is normally given by the client
 Research Positioning the Design Project – once the initial design problem is formulated, a
designer conducts a thorough research
 Requirement Analysis – supposed to conduct initial survey of the target audience
 Finalisation of the Brief – designer now reflects upon the initial brief and if necessary makes the
required changes.
Stage 2 Creative Processes

 Preparation and Observation – always observant

 Exploration and Ideation- creating lists of relevant words
 Preparing Thumbnails or documenting ideas – always keep track
 Analysis and Selection – critically analyse
Stage 3 Planning and Execution

 Concept Generation – overall visual theme are decided

 Assets Creation and Collection – create materials to execute design
 Visual Design – most important fact about design is its visual composition, whether it’s a print
media or the new media.
Stage 4 Prototype or Dummy called preparing an ‘artwork’ for the design.
Stage 5 Implementation The designer forwards the artwork to a commercial printer and then the printer
gets a printed copy or a ‘proof’
Stage 6 Report prepare a design specification document.
Stage 7 Review and Assessment a review is conducted by the designer or by a third party agency.

Lesson 3: Design Basics: Points, Lines, and Planes; Gestalt, Shape, Balance, Rhythm, Unity;
Color
Design Basics: Points, Lines and Planes
Points

 Are those fundamental marks that artists and designers make

 A simple dot or tiny drop of ink or paint that calls the viewer’s attention to a position on the page
or canvas
 Can most commonly be thought of as a dot
Positive Space

 Is the area or part of a composition that the subject occupies

Negative Space

 The area around the positive space

 Is the space between objects or the parts of an object
Locus

 A particular position, point, or place; the effective or perceived location of something abstract
Lines

 One of the most basic visual elements of design

 Can be used as crucial elements of design
 Can be used to add structure to a composition, to frame information and to divide information
 Can be used to add hierarchy and emphasis
 Can be used to build and represent information in infographics
 Can be straight, curve, thick, thin, solid and dashed
 Is an infinite series of points
 Is the connection between two points
 Can be a positive mark or the space between two or more positive shapes
Planes

 Or shapes are defined by the line at their edges

 Artist use planes to realistically render, places, objects and people to abstractly define space
and forms.
Gestalt: Shape, Balance, Rhythm, Unity
Gestalt theory

 as a branch of psychology originated in Germany in the 1920s

 Gestalt theories as a way to create a reliable foundation for the spatial organization of graphic
information
Gestalt PRINCIPLE
Closure the mind supplies the missing pieces in a composition if there are enough of the significant
features visible.
Symmetry the quality of being made up of exactly similar parts facing each other or around an axis.
Symmetrical designs are balanced and easily understood by a viewer while Asymmetrical designs can
be awkward.
Figure-ground

 ground a fundamental concept in design, it refers to the contrast between black and white,
foreground and background, dark and light and equilibrium.
 Can be used to describe a wide variety of complex images and compositions
 Most common and easily be understood principle
 Figure the positive space that are defined by a spatial relationship which occurs between all the
other parts of a field
 Ground the background, field, white space or negative space with carries the figure or positive
elements
Continuation human will find lines or contours and continue them beyond their ending points
Similarity this can be applied to typefaces, colors, text, and headline styles.
Proximity
Elements/Principles of Design: visual tools to use to communicate a message.
Elements of Design: visual tools to use to communicate a message.
Lines the distance between two points. Look closely at the great variety of lines, straight, curved, thick,
thin, solid and not-solid.
Shapes squares (and rectangles), triangles, and circles are the three basic shapes.
Size how big or small is it? Look at mass or visual weight of graphic and text elements.
Balance

 is the distribution of the visual weight of objects, colors, texture and space
 expressed as a sense of equilibrium
Pattern

 Is the repeating of an object or symbol all over the work of art

 It is visual element that repeat in predictable manner
Movement

 Is the path the viewer’s eye takes through the work of art, often focal area
 The use of lines, color, and repetition to create the illusion of motion
Emphasis

 Is the part of the design that catches the viewer’s attention

 To express with particular stress or force
Repetition

 Works with pattern to make the work of art seem active.

 Is a reminder that every project should have a consistent look and feel
Proportion

 It is the feeling of unity created when all parts relate well with each other
 Is a principle that describes the size, location or amount of one element to another.
Rhythm

 Is created when one or more elements of design are used repeatedly to create a feeling of
organized movement.
 Is how the eye moves across a graphic design
 Good rhythm helps maintain the reader’s interest
Variety

 Is the use of several elements of design to hold the viewer’s attention and to guide the viewer’s
eye through and around the work of art
Unity

 Is the feeling of harmony between all parts of the work of art, which creates a sense of
completeness
Contrast

 Simply means that one item is different from another.

Proximity

 Is all about using visual space to show relationships in your content.

 It is the closeness and distance that can be used to group related items and separate unrelated
items
 It is closeness of an object that can be used to group related items together
Hierarchy

 A visual technique that can help the viewer navigate your work.
Alignment

 Is something you deal with all the time, even if you don’t realize it.

Lesson 4: COLORS
Color

 plays a vital role in design and everyday life

 it can draw your eye to an image
Additive Color

 is color we experience in the natural world- it is the color made from the light og the sun
 RGB
 Monitors, screens, driven by light
Subtractive Color

 the color we experience when working with paints, inks or other pigments.
 CYMYK
 Print, ink, Desktop publishing
Color Theory so how do we know which colors look good together and which one’s don’t
Color Wheel to illustrate time-tested color combinations
Secondary Colors are created by combining two primary colors.
Hue is the easiest one; it’s basically just another word for color.
Saturation refers to intensity- in other words, whether the color appears more subtle or more vibrant.
Value has to do with how dark or light the color is, ranging from black and white
Color Harmony actually tried-and-true formulas based on something
Monochromatic the easiest formula for harmony because it only uses one color or hue.
Analogous color scheme uses colors that are next to each other on the wheel
Complementary colors are opposite each other on the wheel
Split-complementary color scheme uses the colors on either side on the complement
Triadic color scheme uses three colors that are evenly spaced, forming a perfect triangle on the wheel
Tetradic color scheme form a rectangle on the wheel, using not one but two complementary color
pairs
Primary colours make up the basis for the color wheel. (Red, Yellow and Blue)
Secondary colours are made by mixing equal portions of the primary colors. (Green, orange and
purple)
Tertiary colours are made by mixing a primary colour with a neighbouring secondary colour
Monochromatic colours are shades and tints of the same colour. It is typically balanced and easy on
the eye
Analogous colours are balanced but are typically more interesting as the colours have more contrast
Complimentary colours have high contrast, which produce vibrant exciting colour schemes
Triadic tertiary colours typically produce vibrant effects
Red

 Bold, passion, strength, energy, love, vitality, danger

 Loss of temper, agitation, anger
Orange

 Perceived as vitality, energy and fun

 Most visible color, used in safety

Yellow

 Perceived as sunshine, hope, positivity and etc

 Cowardice. May represent caution, sickness and jealousy
Green

 Freshness, growth, renewal, environment

Blue

 Reliable, conservative, dependable

Purple
  Royalty, nobility

Gray

 Cool, neutral, balanced color, formal

Black

 Power, fear, mystery strength

White

 Purity, innocence
Lesson 5: Typography Design
Brief History of Typography

 An art form that has been around for hundred years

 Symbols were used to represent an object, like hieroglyphics
 These symbols are called pictographs
 Ideographs are symbols that represent an idea
 Phoenician are merchants who developed an alphabet as a way to record business
transaction. They were also the first to use a symbol to represent a spoken sound
 Aleph and Beth- first two letters
 Aleph means ox while Beth means house
 Greek alphabet – an example of the modern Greek alphabet. It was the first alphabetic script
to have distinct letters for vowels and consonants
 800 BC – Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet
 Romans adopted the Greek alphabet later on
 Trajan – the world’s first typeface
 Blackletter Style – was used by scribes who hand lettered books. Also, Gutenberg first
typeface
 Johannes Gutenberg – revolutionized the printing process by using movable type
 38,000 BC – humans were using cave paintings
 Neanderthals – have been the ones engaging in the earliest roots of typography
 Mesopotamians and Egyptians – developed pictograms
Typography

 Style and appearance of printed matter; art of procedure of arranging type

 Means by which a written idea is given a visual form. Most influential elements.
 Creates relationships between types of information
 Is the strategic arrangement of type in order to make written language readable and visually
appealing.
 (“form” + “writing” in Greek) is the art and technique of designing, modifying, and arranging type
 a craft that involves typesetters, compositers, etc.
 an essential element to graphic design—it expresses feelings, conveys meanings
 the study of type and how to use it to aid in the communication of specific message.
Typography 2 main purposes:

 promote legibility, help communicate the messaging

Font

 is a collection of characters
  vary by type sizes and styles
 a single weight or style within a typeface family
Typeface

 is a family of graphic characters

 a set of fonts. A font family
Typefaces inherent characteristics:

 Roman – the roman cut of of a typeface

 Italic – a drawn typeface based around an angled axis
 Condensed – types are narrower
 Extended – types are wider versions of the roman type
 Boldface – wider stroke

Serif

 Decorative strokes added to the end of a letters

 Improve readability by leading the eye
 Best suited for body text
 Short line at the end of characters
Sans Serif

 Doesn’t have decorative strokes

 Used for footnoted and headlines
 Letters have a simpler design
Typography Concepts:

 Font sizing
 Leading – is the space between lines of text
 Kerning – refers to the space between specific characters (any two letters in a line)
 Tracking – space between characters across a line of text. Also, the overall space between
characters