graphic design

Expectation Setting

Organize contents into related parcels of information

Craft the typography to make it comfortably readable

Your Noble Purpose

Integrate images with typography to achieve a unified form that builds a communication much bigger than its parts

Your Noble Purpose

Graphic Design Guidelines

Before you begin your design:

• Determine your purpose for making a design

• Identify your target audience

Keep in mind:There’s no one right way to create a good design.

Elements of Design

Line

• Organize information

• Highlight or stress words

• Connect pieces of information

• Outline a photo or set it off from other elements

• Create a grid

• Create a chart or graph.

• Create a pattern or rhythm by drawing many

• Direct the reader’s eye or create a sense of motion

• Suggest an emotion

Elements of Design

Shape

Geometric

Natural

Abstracted

Nonobjective

Elements of Design

Space

• Give the eye a visual rest• Create ties between elements• Highlight an element• Make a layout easy to follow• Make type as legible as possible

UNITYThe way layout, design style,

typeface and color work together to communicate the same content.

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

• create order • organize page elements • group items • create visual connections

Similarity

Proximity

Continuation

Alignment

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

CONTRAST

Using italicized or bold text to create emphasis is a sample of contrast.

Contrast of line, shape, size, tone and texture.

Successful pages will have vertical and horizontal elements, dominant and secondary elements (heads, boxes, lines, etc).

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

BALANCE

An effective design balances the visual weights on a page.

Symmetrical Assymetrical

Symmetrical

Symmetrical

Asymmetrical

Asymmetrical

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

PROPORTIONTwo-thirds –The most visually

alive are is the first one-third of a page (optical center).

It is important to have one dominant element on a page.

CONTROLIdentify the

center of visual impact a.k.a. the focal point.

center of visual impact

PRINCIPLES OF DESIGN

SIMPLICITYCrystal clear simplicity is

harder to achieve than a crowded, busy design.

If you can remove an element without losing the meaning, it is not needed.

Initial Sketch Focus your attention on a few key points

Final LayoutThe artwork is complete. Now ask, is the message clear? Do the important points stand out? Is there a balance between words and illustrations? Is there spatial balance? Is the pathway through the poster clear?

Balance TypographyEye Movement Simplicity

SUGGESTED WORK FLOW