ref - design skills

8/14/2019 REF - Design Skills

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The Basics of Design

Layout & Typography


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Aims & Objectives

To introduce and demonstrate the key principles of

design.

To develop understanding of terminology to help withthe analysis of graphic designs.

To research graphic designs and graphic designers.

To discuss how to put the principles of design intoaction.


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Principles of Design

The four things you need to know before

starting:

Audience- who you want to hear your

message

Formatof the page or design

Constraints- time, budget, format

Principles- of basic design


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The most iconic, well-known and attractive designsare startlingly simple. Take these logos, forinstance:

SPECIAL SKILL:

TYPOGRAPHY

SPECIAL SKILL:

SEDUCTIVECONNOTATION

SPECIAL SKILL:

ADAPTABILITY

SPECIAL SKILL:

CONCEPT

(DYNAMISM)


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The six key principles of design are:

Emphasiskeeping your main message clear, both in terms ofthe layout and the typography.

Contrastvisually stressing the difference between the differentelements on the page.

Balancegrouping information in a logical way, leaving a clearand pleasing effect and using space appropriately.

Alignmentdrawing connections with different elements e.g.graphics, images, shapes and lines.

Repetitionwhere all the elements meet, they need to unifyand feed into the main message.

Flowhow the design leads the eye, starting with the simplestpoint that Western readers tend to read from left to right.


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Terminology

The following is some of the most important

terminology that you will come across in design. Try

to use both the principles and these terms when

analysing and creating your designs:

Visual Hierarchysplitting information into primary,

secondary and tertiary message.

Focal pointthe part of the page that is most emphasised.

AccentAny other points than the focal point that influence

the key message, too much of which can cloud it.


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Terminology

Thumbnaila quick, exploratory sketch that act as the

visual proof of a thinking process. Thumbnails that you quite

like become Roughs before choosing your favourite and

polishing it up as a Comp (comprehensive).

Body Copythe small type that carries most of the

information in a design.

Dead Space / White Spacespace that represents an

unwieldy gap vs. space that contributes to the aesthetic flow.

Serif/ San Serifa serif is the parts of letters that stick out

and are often flowing type whereas sans serif is without

serifs and usually look more blocky.

Leftfieldnot expected or prepared for (often have an

unclear purpose; seen as quite quirky)


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EmphasisKeeping your main message clear, both in terms of the layout and the

typography.

1. What are the primary, secondary and

tertiary focal points?

2. Special effects


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typography.

3. In pairs or groups, discuss how to improve the

following designs


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typography.

Use colours to keep the text in

order e.g.flashes in yellow.


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typography.

Consider mode of address andpositioning in photography toreach out to your audience.


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typography.

Adjust size (proportion) andreduce the variation of colours tomake create a visual hierarchy.

Too big.

Better.


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ContrastVisually stressing the difference between the different elements on the page.

1. What two changes to this page have

had the most effect from a design

point of view?

2. If you were to attempt to create a

two-word logo purely in MS Word,

what might you do to help it stand

out?


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3. How can you improve the contrast between elements

in this menu?

4. How has the contrast improved here?


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Kickers tend to contain less text

but are usually larger; look for

patterns.


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Using boxes and stroke

outlines to bring out written

elements.


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BalanceGrouping information in a logical way, leaving a clear and pleasing effect and

using space appropriately.

1. Without re-sizing anything, how might you create a

greater sense of balance with this flyer by re-

arrangement?


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Balance

2. Dont just fill up the page. Use the

space wisely. How might you re-size

and re-style this flyer?

3. See how this image complements itself

on each side.

Grouping information in a logical way, leaving a clear and pleasing effect and



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Balance

Follow the eye line and make

use of nose room.




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Balance

According to the style / feature photo,use a traditional menu strip or as ablock.




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Balance

Choose fonts that complement thehouse style and each other whilstkeeping the emphasis in the order




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AlignmentDrawing connections with different elements e.g.graphics, images, shapes and

lines.

1. Load up InDesign as shown. Why is it set up like this?

2. How might you re-position the text and graphics to

greater effect with this poster?


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lines.

3. Here are some different alignment effects.

Click me
http://www.yearbooks.biz/?event=FAQ.Detail&faq=289


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lines.

Use the purple lines in InDesign (orimaginary borders) as well as thecolumns


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lines.

Use lines and graphics to separateitems and introduce colour /graphic cohesion.

Take note of the eye-catchingplacement of the headlines

and leading text / anchoragehere.


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RepetitionWhere all the elements meet, they need to unify and feed into the main

message.

1. How might you make better use of the egg symbol for

these pages?

R i i


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message.

2. How do these font changes work? Are they effective?

R i i


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message.

3. What has

improved

here and

what couldbe better?

R titi


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message.

Use themes e.g.connotations of

language, graphic features,

anchorage, lexical fields etc.

R titi


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message.

Re-using graphic features and

smaller versions of the

masthead.

Fl


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FlowHow the design leads the eye.

1. What technique is this known as in Photoshop?

2. Why doesnt this work?

Fl


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3. Explain why the text

has been grouped in

this way and what

contributes to the flow.

Fl


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The visual hierarchy can be made

clear through sizing, positioning or

alignment

Fl


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Merging parts of a photo in

the masthead / headline can

highlight areas or create an

association i.e.it links them.


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Inspiration

Graphic design is a huge and expanding field that growsalongside the power of the web and commercial business.There is therefore lots of inspiration to find. Begin bypicking one of the following designers and researching their

work. Whichever you choose, try to identify some of theirmost celebrated designs and what styles, principles ortechniques they appear to excel with:

David Carson

Paul Rand

Alan Fletcher

Katherine McCoy

Saul Bass

Neville Brody

Giambattista Bodoni

Chip Kidd

Milton Glaser

Adrain Fruitger


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Inspiration

For further inspiration, try the following links:

25 Graphic Designers to follow

46 Greatest Logos of All Time

10 Great Infographics

12 Documentaries every graphic designer should see

Brilliant words of advice from 14 Great GraphicDesigners

And, for a dose of reality:

The 25 Worst Things About Being A Graphic DesignerToday
http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/20-awesome-graphic-designers-follow-behance-1012941http://www.wellsdrew.com/blog/greatest-logos-of-all-time/http://trendland.com/10-great-infographics-for-graphic-designers/http://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/07/09/12-documentaries-every-graphic-designer-should-see/http://www.fastcodesign.com/1672461/brilliant-words-of-advice-from-14-great-graphic-designershttp://www.fastcodesign.com/1672461/brilliant-words-of-advice-from-14-great-graphic-designershttp://www.buzzfeed.com/agh/the-25-worst-things-about-being-a-graphic-designer-todayhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/agh/the-25-worst-things-about-being-a-graphic-designer-todayhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/agh/the-25-worst-things-about-being-a-graphic-designer-todayhttp://www.buzzfeed.com/agh/the-25-worst-things-about-being-a-graphic-designer-todayhttp://www.fastcodesign.com/1672461/brilliant-words-of-advice-from-14-great-graphic-designershttp://www.fastcodesign.com/1672461/brilliant-words-of-advice-from-14-great-graphic-designershttp://99designs.com/designer-blog/2013/07/09/12-documentaries-every-graphic-designer-should-see/http://trendland.com/10-great-infographics-for-graphic-designers/http://trendland.com/10-great-infographics-for-graphic-designers/http://www.wellsdrew.com/blog/greatest-logos-of-all-time/http://www.creativebloq.com/graphic-design/20-awesome-graphic-designers-follow-behance-1012941


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Aims & Objectives

To introduce and demonstrate the key principles of

design.

To develop understanding of terminology to help withthe analysis of graphic designs.

To research graphic designs and graphic designers.

To discuss how to put the principles of design intoaction.

ref - design skills

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