An Introduction To Graphic Design
An Introduction To Graphic Design
An Introduction To Graphic Design
Graphic design is almost everywhere. Crammed into our homes, all over our cities and dotted around the countryside, its images, letters, colours and shapes are consciously put together to perform all sorts of functions. Its roles range from directing travellers to the right check-in desk at an airport, to organising the layout and style of a magazine so that it catches that travellers eye and makes them buy it to read on the plane. Graphic design on the ticket they buy for the car park may advertise other products or services. The carton of juice they take for the flight has information organised so its appealing and understandable. The safety instructions aboard the plane are designed so they are clear and accessible, even to people who dont speak English. Graphic design art is also emblazoned across the hull and tail wing of the aircraft itself. In short, graphic design is visual communication. It employs lots of different techniques and modes, but is very seldom purely decorative: graphic design has a job to do and graphic designers are in the employ of their clients. The graphic designer may be briefed to create a piece of work which catches a customers eye in a busy supermarket, or they may be required to herald the formation of a new business. Their client may want their work to impart cultural knowledge at a museum or help foreign tourists find their way to the bus station. Or graphic designers could be employed for something as run of the mill as creating a new look for the company stationery. Using an array of visual elements including type, colour, shape, photography, illustration, painting, digital imagery and so on graphic designers work with their clients to deliver the required message in the most effective way.
century, while others point to the work of commercial artists in the 19th century or illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages. And although most graphic design is undertaken as a commercial service, visual art is sometimes included in its definition. The discipline, already wide and varied, is also changing and expanding. Traditionally concerned with print, graphic design now includes other media, notably design for digital screens, as well as being a vital component in other specialist disciplines such as branding, packaging and information design. Well look at these in more detail later when examining the different ways graphic design can help businesses. And to put the ideas into reality, we will also turn to some specific examples of how graphic design has helped various organizations achieve their objectives. But to start with, here is a small selection of designs to offer a feel for the many and varied areas in which graphic designers work. They span a wide range of industries, media, styles and objectives. In this set we have album artwork, the editorial design for a newspaper, a magazine layout, a corporate logo, road signage, a visual identity for an awards scheme, a transport map, packaging for bread, brochures for an arts centre, a poster and title sequences for a film and a mobile phone application. All draw on the skills of graphic designers and all meet commercial or functional, as well as aesthetic, needs.
Oftentimes, white spaces are overlooked. It is even known as a negative space which refers to the open space between design elements. These are the spaces not occupied with text, images or other visual elements. But it doesnt mean that negative spaces are all white in color. If we go back to the description, it refers to a SPACE regardless if it is white or not.
1.Active White Space: Space intentionally left blank for a better structure and layout. It also gives emphasis to the content area. It leads a reader from one element to another. 2.Passive White Space: Empty space around the outside of the page or blank areas inside the content which is the by product of the layout process.
Most people would consider white space as merely a waste of printing materials which makes them opt to have a full-colored page thinking that printing with begative spaces will just squander their money. But if we try to consider the Gestalt Principle which discusses the way humans interpret the visual stimulus, we have the so called parsimony which means less is better. This means that the human eye would prefer to look at things which are not crowded and heavy to the eyes. The use of white space paves the way to a better understanding, clearer communication of ideas and effective graphic designs. Let us consider some advantages of using white spaces in designing.
6.Improves Readability.
We can observe that books and other printed materials always have white spaces in order to allow the reader to read and understand the text well. The same is true with online reading and designing. A research shows that more white spaces give more reading comprehension.According to the research entitled Reading Online Text: A Comparison of Four White Space Layouts,the use of more white space between each lines in a writeup is more favorable to readers. It reccomends for designers to be aware of the influence of white space in reading performance. See Research
10.Acts as a Separator.
It separates unrelated elements in the design.Take for example the magazine layout below. It uses white space thus separating the images from each other and giving emphasis to the pictures.It also separates the images from the black background used by the artist.