Udemy - Design Theory For Beginners

1. Color Theory

1.1 Color Theory in Design

Color is the property of what we see when we interact with light and other objects. When light hits an
object, it is either absorbed or reflected back into our eyes. Light travels in waves, and when different
wavelengths reach the cone of our eyes we see the color or the reflected wavelengths of an object.

The biggest source of light in our system is the Sun. The sun emits pure white light. White light actually is
a combination of all the wavelengths.
First one expresses well the feeling. The second one, not so much.
1.2 Seeing the World through Color
Some common terms used to described the properties of color: Lightness, Hue, Value, Contrast, Tint,
Brightness, Saturation, Shades, Tones.

Hue: What we call a color. No values added to it. Color in its purest form. The first properties in HSV or
HSL.

Saturation: The intensity of a color. The more saturated, the closer the color is to its purest form. The
more desaturated, the more the tones of gray.

Value (Would be the same as Brightness in the HSB model): Describes the lightness or darkness of a
color. Uses more or less whites, blacks or gray in your color. When white is added to a color, to make it
lighter, it said to be a tint. On the other hand, when you add black you get a shade. When you add gray,
you have different tones of that color.

Tonal range is the range of grays from black to white.

Brightness is how much light an object is actually emitting. While lightness defines how light or dark the
value is compared to other like objects. Lightness and darkness refers to how high or low the values of
high or low brightness are.

Contrast: The differences in hues. Saturations, and values.

Contrast in Hue.

Contrast in Saturation.

Contrast in Value.
Example of high contrast (elements stand out).

Low contrast (make the element blend more).

Low Contrast Vs High Contrast

Turn your image into a grayscale image to see the contrast.

Low contrast might be good to blend elements in the background for stylistic choice. But The
information and message has to be clear, and thus high contrasting, just like the image below.
 1.3 Color Mixing and Systems

RGB Model – Lights of these three colors can be mixed together to create all the variations of color.

Additive Color – Colors of light combine to create the full color spectrum. Great for anything that uses
light, such as computer monitors, smartphones, and so on.

CMYK – Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Key/Black Pigment (Subtractive Color System) – Full Spectrum of all
colors by mixing it.

1.4 Color for Digital and Print Media

Resolution is the number of pixels in the x and y dimensions of a display. More pixels, more quality, but
more space or larger file size. Not suitable for web design, for example. PPI – Pixels Per Inch.

For web the usual pixels/inch or resolution is 72. Keep in mind the file size. That can always be changed.

Bit Depth: Amount of colors that can be stored in any given image. 2n, n equals bit. 8 to 16 bit is enough
for web. Print 16 is okay. And 32 for big prints.

1.5 Color Selection and Methods

Use color picker or eyedropper. Each color has a hexadecimal code and helps selecting color for web
design.

See Adobe Color CC.

Color palette – assorted of color swatches.

Color Pantone System.

Multitones – Individual Color Channels.

In Photoshop: Image > Mode > Grayscale / Duotone > Select Inks
Gradient: A blend of colors and/or different patterns.

In Photoshop > Layers Panel > Add Adjustment Layer: Gradient Map.
1.6 Color Harmonies and Meanings
Example of Vegetables: Green, Red, Oranges, Yellow. Associated with food or hunger.
Some colors and their meanings.
Knowing and combining colors can make up and relate a great message.
Warm Colors.

Cool Colors.

Warm Vs Cool

Color Harmonies, as an example above and below.

Color Harmony.
 1.7 Create a Mood Board with Canva

Color palette generator. Upload image and copy the hexadecimal code, and save from Canva.

See Adobe Color CC to do the same process.

1.8 Selecting Color for a New Design

Feeling or the motion that you want to associate with your image.
Good contrast. Good harmony. Good mood. Easy to read. Colors from the real world.
 2. Typography Theory

2.1 Typography in Design

Sets the mood in design.

Example of a LOUD type.

Soft
Sense of Urgency.

Typography is the art or technique of displaying words or text in a readable, digestible and appealing
way.
Typefaces: Group of fonts that share similar style or characteristics. We usually confuse typeface with
font. Fonts makes a typeface or type family. Each font can be breakdown further and represents a
collection of glyphs.

The classifications include Serif, Sans Serif, Script and so on.

Serifs are easier to read. They present this little tail at the end.

Sans Serif means without the little tail. More modern looking.

They make great headlines due the simplicity of the lines.

Script fonts – Beautiful curves. Harder fonts to use.
Decorative – Similar to type.
2.2 The Anatomy of Typography
There are many other terms to define the character anatomy. See at Adobe Glossary of Typography
Terms.
- Must Know Terms
Leading – Space Between Phrases or Sentences.

Larger leading gives more space to breath. Cleaner.

Different Font Types for a Design
 2.3 Type Styles – Serif Fonts

Times New Roman, Didot, Garamond, Baskerville.

- History of Serif Fonts

Old Style, Transitional and Didone/Modern, Slab Serif.

Old Styles was used in the old days. Good to read in printed form. Not a large in difference in contrast in
thickness in the lines. Not Examples of Old Styles: Garamond, Berkeley, Minion, Palantino.

Transitional (Between the Old Style and the Modern): contrast in the thickness is more dramatic. More
ball terminals compared to the Old Style (rounded ends). Times New Roman is an example of an
transitional Serif Font.

Didone/Modern was the next step. More dramatic contrast thickness and thinness, enables you to put
more space between characters, making it even more so dramatic. An example is Bodoni (default in
Canva and other design programs). Highly stylized, commonly found in high fashion brands. Example:
Vogue and CBS. Good for high end clients, and dramatic poster headlines.

Slab Serif: Initially designed to draw attention on poster headlines. Very thick lines, chunky and bold.
Make sure to take notice. Good for grab attention. An example is Rockwell (although a little outdated
now days). A good Slab Serif font to used today is Archer and Archer Pro.
Examples of Didone/Modern Serif Fonts.
Slab Serif Example – Convening a political or important message.

2.4 Type Styles – Sans-Serif Fonts

French for without serifs. In the past 20 years, Sans Serif are more commonly used than the Serif Fonts.
More modern and slick appearance. But they may sometimes lack the modern and elegance needed in
some particular situations. They appeared much more later with the arrival of computers. Computers
needed a more simple font, due to the low resolution, the details in Serif Fonts would be lost in the
computers displays.
Good for big bold headlines. They are not so great in large blocks of text, making the reader and the
message confusing or lost, especially in printed paper.
The example below shows that Sans Serif for longer texts, especially on printed media, is not so good.
But for more specific chunks of text, Sans Serif fonts can work, just like the example below.

A great example is Helvetica. This is an example that works well with tight spacing between the
characters. Futura is a geometric style of Sans Serif. An example is the Calvin Klein Logo, 2001: a space
odyssey, and even Google Logo (with some tweaks). Dolce and Gabbana uses Futura Demi Bold. Adidas
uses the Avant Garde Gothic.
 2.5 Kerning and Spacing

Font Weight. Bold or light. Bold highlights, call to actions. While light are soft and modern. Good for
controversial. Both cannot not bet smaller than 8 pt.
The impact of spacing on a piece of design. Creates the tone.
 Wide, is more high end in the example below.

For long texts, large spacing can be overwhelming to use.

Sense of urgency in the design below. Note the blurriness added to the extremities.

Do not use wide spacing and lower caps. It destroys the strong type.
- Kerning
 - Leading

Wide spacing expands the blocks of text, making it more part of the design. Tight space makes the block
of text make feel more together and read more as one unit. A good rule of thumb is to use tighter
spacing in a short two or three lines or headlines. And do not use wide spacing between two or three
sentences, because it makes the second and third lines feel disconnected.
 Good.

Not so good.
 - Alignment

Left alignment and strong balance. More stable and grounded with longer text. Left alignment is good.

An example of center alignment weakens the design.

But with shorter words and phrases, center alignment gains much more power.

Take care using right alignment. Use it to balance designs. Not so much for long texts.
Some uses of breaking the alignment.

Texts do not need to go in straight lines.

Example of something trendy: text behind objects.
 2.6 Type Hierarchy

Follow strong type hierarchy (order of importance).

Usually the headline is the most important piece. Bigger, bolder, maybe even a different color.

Subtitle - bit larger, also stands a little bit out.

Body Copy – Smallest text size (not in bold).

Call to Action – Usually towards the end, but it has the most important job. To call the viewer action.
Example: Buy this product, limit sale, visit this site and so on. This also needs to be in bold, maybe offset,
or in another color.
Other examples.
Example of bad design with a lot of information cramming into a small space.

KISS Rule: Keep It Super Simple or Keep It Simple Stupid. – Combining sentences, or one call to action.

Use photos instead of type to show actions or intentions or emotions/mood.

Anything to keep it simpler to digest the most important information first.

- Layout and Balance in Design
Breakdown of this flyer above:

- Strong and compelling headline with Sans Serif with a little spacing to add a little breathing
room. Note the white or light color against a dark or black background to create a good contrast
(This Winter).
- A complementary headline or subline: smaller in green color to connect with the green below
and maintain a consistent color scheme (See The New You).
- A Powerful Photo of a woman. Dramatic photo with a little green filter on it. Not larger than the
headline so it provides a nice balance for the layout.
- Divided Information Below: Most important parts of the texts highlighted in green.
- Obvious Call to Action: Maintains the contrast with the color scheme and it stretches a little to
maintain some breathing room.

Breakdown of the example of flyer below on the left side:

- Urbana as the main name and headline of the flyer. Attracts immediate attention. Nice and
simple Sans Serif Font.
- Below more of a subtitle. A little smaller than the title, similar type family, a little bolder.
- A dividing yellow line to break the types. Sometimes a little graphic element can help to divided
multiple boxes of text.
- Date and time: a little lighter. Although important, selling the name and what the workshop
actually is, it’s more important in this case.
 Breakdown of the back of the flyer or the right sided one:

- At the top there is not really a headline, since we already sold the idea on the front side of the
flyer, that’s why the types are a little smaller. The subline is also emphasized, but also a little
smaller for the same reason.
- The body copy is naturally lighter and repeats the main information and the location.
- The Call to Action is probably the boldest type used in the flyer. The yellow is highlighted or
framed by the all the other white type used in the body copy.

Breakdown for the flyer below. See the comments in the page for the full breakdown of the flyer.
- Another case of good hierarchy. Notice the big and bold Sans Serif in the middle for the
headline. Notice that it is only two lines and the space between the two lines is a little bit
tighter. That means it read as one nice coherent line.
- The subline or subheading is also really good. Smaller but also in bold. The font though it’s
different because it might been overwhelming to the viewer to use the same type for the
headline and the subheading. The bold weight still makes the subheading stand out from the
body copy of text.
- The body copy has this lighter weight and pairs very well with all the other types above it.
- The website at the bottom would be your call to action. It is a little bit bigger than the body
copy, and it is in all caps and it has some spacing added between the characters to add some
breathing room. It also helps to spread it across the page and anchor it with the rest of the text.
- Notice that all the text is also center aligned, including the logo above, to give a certain
consistency and balance for this piece of design.

See the following image below. The comments of the breakdown are on the next page.
 - The most important information is the “Available Flavors”. This headline prepares you for what
you are going to read. Nice and bold Sans Serif Font. The Gaps between the two lines are
somewhat tighter, reading as one unit.
- There is quite some information but is well breakdown in different categories. The title are also
bolded for each one of these pieces of information, to help with the balance, consistency and to
help breakdown each one of these pieces of information. All the characters are in caps. The
body text also display consistency by maintaining a lighter weight, and also keeping lower caps
in the text.
- The photo on the right also balances well with the text on the left.

2.7 Font Pairing

Critical to find balance between different font choices. The objective is to find nice harmony between
type choices. Serif seems to go well with Sans Serif fonts. Similar fonts with slight differences does not
blend so well because it makes you wonder what is making this confusing similar and different styles no
match. See the example below.
With headlines you can be more playful and flexible. Watch out for body copy to not overwhelm the
viewer with to many font pairings. Keep a fonts to 2 to 3 per design.
2.8 Font Pairing Practice

- Practice: Short Headlines

2.9 Font Pairing Practice 2

- Font Practice: Long Headlines

2.10 Font Pairing 3

- Practice Different Styles

 3 Photography Theory

3.1 Photography in Design

Express emotions through color, composition, subject matter and so on. Examples of photos used to
make an image stand out or to be used as a subtle background like the examples below.

They can also help with the branding of an overall person or a company.
Sometimes a photograph is the only component of a well-advertised marketing plan.

3.2 Basics of Photgraphy

- The camera gathers light into the camera case and record the image into a light sensitive media.
- A shutter controls how much light enters a camera while it is being recorded.
- By adjusting the aperture, ISO, shutter speed, and so on you can get a variety of different
photographs
- Exposure refers to how much light (or “darkness”) is captured by the camera’s sensor.

- The aperture setting tells the camera how much light can pass through the camera’s lens. Shows
a f stop number. As it decreases, the opening increases, allowing in more light. This also
correlates to the depth of the image, which is how your main subject is in focus compared to
other subjects. As the f stop increase you get a shallower depth of field.
- The Shutter controls how long your camera’s shutter will remain opened or closed. Longer the
shutter speed, the more light is allowed into the camera. Higher, more exposure, equals more
light allow to enter, while lower, less exposure and less light.

- ISO determines how sensitive the camera is to light. More sensitive ISO captures more light,
while a less sensitive ISO will capture less light. Higher ISO number also introduces more noise to
the picture.
The major component of getting a photo is how much light is entering a camera.

3.3 Composition and Layout

Use a basic single focus image. Example, when the subject is placed in the middle of the shot, with
nothing else going on.
A lot of visual weight and less visual weight in the examples below.

This weight can be emphasizes with the placing of the subject in the photo.

An example of a single subject pushed to the side makes a photo or designed feel unbalanced.

A solution is to either add another subject or move your subject.

Remember the rule of thirds.
Not only good photo, but also the right subject of matter. The subject just reiterates what the design is
going to say or wants to say.
 3.4 Typography and Photography

First off, to select the write type for your design, you need to know what will be written or what Is the
message for your design. You will typically get directions by a client/director, or you may have more
freedom to do what you want.
Keep in mind the message, mood, branding of the piece. A poster for a music festival is going to look
vert different from a business card.

Examples below: Loud and bold burger. A calm mood. Appealing to the common crowd. Or trying to
grab someone’s attention.
Keep in mind the information. How much information is going to be presented. Choose one, two or (up
to) three different fonts. Too many different font choices can look cultured.

If there is only one sentence or two, one or two fonts should be suffice.
When there is more text, you should be more careful with your text choices, like the styling or size.

Keep in mind the brand or feel you want to convey, or the client. Do the research about the client your
doing the work for.

Think who is going to see your design, where it will be displayed. That means, for example, if it going to
be displayed in billboard, you will need to appeal to a more general audience. Or maybe the design will
only be used inside the company itself.

Select a few fonts, make some different models, make your final decision or make it up to the client to
make their final choice.

Keep in mind the principles of typography and photography to make a beautiful design.
 3.5 Color Theory in Photography

Colors speak to your audience, and make up the message you are trying to convey. If you want to
display a bright and colorful, and hence happy message, see the example below. More saturated colors
are an obvious choice for in this case.
An example of a more serious tone – darker and more dull tones.
Match the colors of your photos with your design, or vice-versa to maintain cohesiveness. The mind
connects the colors and the design, and concludes that this design elements go together.

Random colors make the design feel disjointed or out of place.

Slightly different colors, but still good color harmonies (two complementary colors below).

Keep in mind the contrast between your photo and your design elements. A good example is black and
white photos.
Another tip is to use a transparent color layer over your photo.

A color gradient overlay is also a nice touch.

You can even adjust the blurriness of the photo to provide more contrast.
All the concepts.

3.6 Where to Find Images

Make sure to see the licensing on the stock photos websites.

e.g. Pixabay, Pexels, Unsplash (Good ofr vertical images), Wikimedia Commons.

4 Layout Theory

4.1 Layout and Design

How you will experience the organization of your design. Often gives a first impression on the viewer.
Makes the viewer want to explore a little more for a few additional seconds. As a job of communicating
a large chunk of information to the viewer, your job is to organize in a digestible way. You can prioritize
certain parts of the layout by simply prioritizing some parts of the layout or moving to certain positions.

For example, if you are selling a product, you want to prioritize the position of the photo or the photo
itself.

If you want to make a strong impression on the message, maybe prioritize the call to action in the
design, without photos, may make the message more clear.
A bad example of layout below.
Entice and lead the viewer in our design in a planned order. See the example below.

First, we want the photo to be the first thing the viewer sees. Next, the band name. The concert date is
also import, otherwise there is no point in reading this flyer. Right after the date, there is key
information of where to buy the tickets (call to action).

Layout can communicate emotions, just like the other topics studies and discussed previously.

In the example below we see the blue areas highlighted equal spacing on the margins, and perfect
alignment as well as consistency,
- Whitespace: The space between elements. A large amount of whitespace gives this feeling of
openness, and an expressing feeling of calm. Whitespace that is tight can spark emotions of
anxiety, and trigger anger or urgency.
Look at the graphic again. With enough whitespace this design has a chance to breath.

- Margins: some designs fails because there is not enough breathing room in the margins or outer
edges. See example below.
Keep the text or important elements between a well defined area. See the example below. Not only for
it to be printed properly, but to make it feel clean and professional.

- Design Composition: The balance of the design is very important to maintain this emotional
responses.
If the balance is off, it may not evoke the desired response. For example, the design below. There is no
balance.

A little more balance between elements.

Look at the poster design below. There are far too many elements. Far too many photos that grabs the
attention of the viewer multiple times, making him a little confused.
A few tweaks to make the design a little better. Clear, simple, with a focal point, clear message.
 - Focal Point: maintain one and clear focal point in your design.

Too many focal points. Where to draw your eyes?

 4.2 Effective Layout

Look at design below. All the things that are wrong, to start: No focal point, a lot of information. Zero
room. Font choices all over the place. Join Us and the For An July are competing with each other. Maybe
combining them and making it smaller. Social icons are bad. Dividing bar is unnecessary. No type
hierarchy. Too many starts competing with other layout elements.

The Redo:
Courses in order. Type hierarchy: Courses in bigger size, smaller for the course name, and the
description even smaller font size. Dividing lines between the three courses and between the courses
names and their respective descriptions. The lines are not too thick or too wide to not take away from
the texts elements from the elements around them.

Combing the two original headlines into one. The headline now becomes the main focal point of the
design. Note the contrast between the types themselves in the headline. Script font follow by a Sans
Serif, and a Serif font.

The contact, website and the social media icons are in one line, making the call to action more clear and
simple.
4.3 Grids and Blocking
- Golden Ratio
Less important stuff in the outside of the spriral.
4.4 Design Themes
Consistency.
4.5 Editorial Spread Design
UX Design

See the video and review it.

5 Logo Design and Branding

5.1 The Characteristics of Strong Logo Design

(See the other videos. Too specific and complex to write everything or every single detail down).

Logo design is the main state of graphic design. The heart of the brand. Logo – group of text, colors,
symbols, words that try to describe the essence of a company.

The logo feel must match the company beliefs, mission, ideas, target audience and style.
Strong Logo Design have the following characteristics: balance between symbols, type and elements.
Note that does not mean that all logos need type or all logos need symbol.
They are recognizable using only part of the logo design.

They do not depend on color to be effective.

They word well on a wide variety of applications. Still be recognizable, no matter size, distance.
They can stand the test of time. Get the input and feedback from leadership of the company. They avoid
popular trends (example the transition from Web 2.0 glossy/gradient to Flat Design).

Choose a clean and understate look.

They use negative space to their advantage (Optional).

They are liked by the company’s target audience.

People can read the logo. Watch out with script fonts!

They are as unique as the company.

5.2 Clever Logo Inspirations