we were asked, as a reaction and evaluation of what weve learned in design principles sessions, to consider and come up with a list of 10 things we, as designers, think people should/need to know about graphic design.
i began by going through all the topics we had studied and what they entailed and from this created my list of 10 things you need to know.
1. typography - anatomy, composition, form.
Typography (from the Greek words τύπος (typos) = form and γραφή (graphe) = writing) is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading (line spacing), adjusting the spaces between groups of letters (tracking) and adjusting the space between pairs of letters (kerning). Type design is a closely related craft, which some consider distinct and others a part of typography; most typographers do not design typefaces, and some type designers do not consider themselves typographers.[2][3] In modern times, typography has been put into motion—in film, television and online broadcasts—to add emotion to mass communication.
2. colour theory - colour wheel, contrasts, uses.
Color or colour (see spelling differences) is the visual perceptual property corresponding in humans to the categories called red, blue, yellow, green and others. Color derives from the spectrum of light (distribution of light power versus wavelength) interacting in the eye with the spectral sensitivities of the light receptors. Color categories and physical specifications of color are also associated with objects, materials, light sources, etc., based on their physical properties such as light absorption, reflection, or emission spectra. By defining a color space, colors can be identified numerically by their coordinates.
3. print - cmyk, print processes, inks/paints.
Printing is a process for reproducing text and images, typically with ink on paper using a printing press. It is often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an essential part of publishing and transaction printing.
The earliest form of printing was woodblock printing, with existing examples from China dating to before 220 A.D.[1] and Egypt to the fourth century. Later developments in printing include the movable type, first developed by Bi Sheng in China,[2] and the printing press, a more efficient printing process for western languages with their more limited alphabets, developed by Johannes Gutenberg in the fifteenth century.
4. screen - rgb, dpi, resolution.
A monitor or a display is an electronic visual display for computers. The monitor comprises the display device, circuitry and an enclosure. The display device in modern monitors is typically a thin film transistor liquid crystal display (TFT-LCD) thin panel, while older monitors use a cathode ray tube (CRT) about as deep as the screen size.
5. software - adobe, picasa, gimp, corel.
Computer software, or just software, is any set of machine-readable instructions (most often in the form of a computer program) that directs a computer's processor to perform specific operations. The term is used to contrast with computer hardware, the physical objects (processor and related devices) that carry out the instructions. Hardware and software require each other; neither has any value without the other.
6. grids and layout - fibbonacci, golden sequence, composition.
Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the arrangement and style treatment of elements (content) on a page. A grid is a set of guidelines, able to be seen in the design process and invisible to the end-user/audience, for aligning and repeating elements on a page. A page layout may or may not stay within those guidelines, depending on how much repetition or variety the design style in the series calls for. Grids are meant to be flexible. Using a grid to lay out elements on the page may require just as much or more graphic design skill than that which was required to design the grid.
7. semiotics - sign, symbol, signifier.
Semiotics, also called semiotic studies and including (in the Saussurean tradition) semiology, is the study of signs and sign processes (semiosis), indication, designation, likeness, analogy, metaphor, symbolism, signification, and communication. Semiotics is closely related to the field of linguistics, which, for its part, studies the structure and meaning of language more specifically. However, as different from linguistics, semiotics studies also non-linguistic sign systems. Semiotics is often divided into three branches:
- Semantics: Relation between signs and the things to which they refer; their denotata, or meaning
- Syntactics: Relations among signs in formal structures
- Pragmatics: Relation between signs and the effects they have on the people who use them
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotics
Visual literacy is the ability to interpret, negotiate, and make meaning from information presented in the form of an image, extending the meaning of literacy, which commonly signifies interpretation of a written or printed text. Visual literacy is based on the idea that pictures can be “read” and that meaning can be communicated through a process of reading.
8. audience - target market, cliques, styles.
A target market is a group of customers that the business has decided to aim its marketing efforts and ultimately its merchandise towards.[1] A well-defined target market is the first element to a marketing strategy. The target market and the marketing mix variables of product, place(distribution), promotion and price are the four elements of a marketing mix strategy that determine the success of a product in the marketplace.
9. Binding - processes and methods.
spiral binding - pages are punched with evenly spaced holes right the way down the left margin. a metal or plastic coil is the threaded in a spiral through each hole and secured at the end. spiral binding allows the publication to lie completely flat and pages to be folded over individually.
perfect binding - pages are printed individually and then all stacked together. they are then put into a machine which applies an adhesive to the left hand of the stack to secure them all together. the cover is then attached to the stack with the glued spine meeting the glued stack of pages securing everything together and housing the pages within the cover. the bind is most successful when the grain of the pages runs parallel to the spine.
saddle stitching - works on the basis of multiples of four pages. double spreads are ordered in the desired way and then layered on top of each other in sets of four. the pages are secured together with a needle and thread along the fold line (also known as saddle). this is repeated depending on how many pages there are.
10. research - primary, secondary, reasoning.
Research and experimental development is formal work undertaken systematically to increase the stock of knowledge, including knowledge of humanity, culture and society, and the use of this stock of knowledge to devise new applications (OECD (2002) Frascati Manual: proposed standard practice for surveys on research and experimental development, 6th edition.)[1] It is used to establish or confirm facts, reaffirm the results of previous work, solve new or existing problems, support theorems, or develop new theories. A research project may also be an expansion on past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects, or the project as a whole. The primary purposes of basic research (as opposed to applied research) are documentation, discovery, interpretation, or the research and development of methods and systems for the advancement of human knowledge. Approaches to research depend on epistemologies, which vary considerably both within and between humanities and sciences. There are several forms of research: scientific, humanities, artistic, economic, social, business, practitioner research, etc.
No comments:
Post a Comment