CHAPTER 1: PRINCIPLES OF GRAPHIC DESIGN

I. DESIGN THEORIES AND PRINCIPLES

- Graphic design : the art of visual communication through text, images, and
symbols
- 3 aspects: layout, color (tone, mood), typography
- Things to keep in mind
o Know your audiences and goal of the piece
o Must communicate
o Order and clarity make information easy to understand
o Build intuition (practice!!!)
- Key rules and concepts of design
o Balance (visual weighing of objects on a field): symmetrical, asymmetrical,
radial
o Proximity : grouping and shaping objects together; putting line next to
lines,
o Alignment : keeping objects in line to another; putting order on things;
giving exact same space for each shapes
o Contrast: creating distinction by highlighting differences
o White space: the art of nothing; give a breathing room to your work
- Keep it simple:
o Avoid an overwhelming amount of colors and objects
o What am I representing? How am I representing it?
o Winnow away superfluous information and details
-
II. DIGITAL WORKFLOW
- Software suites: adobe (for industry standard design); Ms. office ( simple stuff)
o Adobe Id: layout for prints and presentations booklets posters and
slideshows; print sized things
o Ai : vector graphics and illustrations; maps, logos, charts, graphs, and
architectural drawings
o Ps : manipulating photos; good for renderings, mock ups or
enhancing/altering images
o Ms. PPT : popular layout programs
- Color handling: keep it consistent!
o CMYK (cyan, magenta, yellow, black): print projects
o RGB (Red green blue : on-screen media
- Types of works:
o Vector (SVG): indefinitely scalable and is commonly used in logos and
architectural drawings; consisting points and paths that have a
proportional relationships
 o Raster (PNG): is pixel based; used primarily in photograph; consisting may
pixels
- Image resolution:
o 270dpi for print 72dpi for screen
o
 CHAPTER 2: BEGINNING GRAPHIC DESIGN
I. COLORS
- Color theory: primary + secondary + tertiary = color wheels
- Hue; another word for color
- Saturation; intensity; subtle or vibrant
- Value; dark or light white - * - black
- Formula
o Monochromatic: 1 hue, play w saturation and value; guaranteed to match
o Analogues (3); use colors next to each other; like blue green or red
oranges
o Complementary: opposite e/o on the wheel; add variety like lighter,
darker, or desaturated tones.
o Split complementary: uses either sides on the complement
o Triadic: three evenly space colors; tend to be striking
o Tetradic: color schemes; uses 2 complementary color pairs usually made
for 1 color to dominate and 3 others as accents
- Dos & Don’ts
o Use contrasts!
o Readability is important! Must be legible, engaging, easy on the eyes. Use
neutral colors to make others stand out?
-
II. TYPOGRAPHY
- Style or appearance of text; the art of working with text
- Types
o Serif, has classic looks, traditional projects, common in print publications
o Sans Serif, more clean and modern, easier to read on screens,
o DISPLAY ; Script Black Letter all caps Fancy
 Decorative, good when the amount is small, for titles header,
graphic-heavy designs
- Font that better not used: comic sans, curlz, papyrus, hobo, jokerman, kirsten
ITC, brush script
- LESS IS MORE, use one or two, but with variations
- Important terms
o Hierarchy: used to guide the reader’s eye to whatever more important. It
shows where to begin and next. Using diff level to emphasize; larger,
bolder, or different in some way. Keep it simple though!
o Leading; space between line of texts, line spacing. Goals: make your
design comfortable to read
o Tracking, overall space between characters, characters spacing. Adjusted
to create artistic effect or fix font spacing
 o Kerning; space between specific characters
-
- Combining?
III. IMAGES
- Getting the images: buy stock pictures
- People naturally drawn to authentic images; distinct but believable photos,
graphics that tell a story
- Best images are somewhat open ended, they set tone to projects but leave room
for interpretation. Use imagery that related to your work but more subtle and
relatable, high quality (sharp, clear, no distortion)
- Avoid images that lack context, too literal in meaning
- Images Format
o Raster: made up of thousands, millions or more pixels
o Vector: rendered using a special form of geometry
-
IV. LAYOUT AND COMPOSITION
- Gives work structure and make it easier to navigate, from the margin on the side
to the content in between.
- 5 basic principles of composition
1. Proximity; using visual space to show relationship between context; group
that aren’t related should be separated
2. White Space; negative space, help define and separate different sections;
gives contents room to breathe
3. Alignment; be consistent,
4. Contrast; to catch the reader eyes, create emphasize, or call attention to
something important. Use colors, adjust size, shape, visual weight of an
object
5. Repetition; to get consistent look and feel
-
V. BRANDING AND IDENTITY
- Branding is what other people think about you, your company, or products
- Visual identity
o Main components; logo, color choices, images, typography
o Preview of your brand
o Each part of your design is a clue that tells the viewer what they can
expect
o
- Benefits of having a consistent visual style
o
-
VI.