1. GRAPHIC DESIGN for
NON-GRAPHIC DESIGNERS
PRESENTED BY
Mary Nell Shaw and Charles Creel ~ Graphic Arts Specialists
Alabama Department of Education
2. What is Graphic Design?
The process and art of combining text and graphics to
communicate an effective message in the design of logos,
graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any
other type of visual communication.
3. Before You Begin to Design
1
• TARGET AUDIENCE
– Decide Who Your Audience is. The more you know about
your audience, the better equipped you are to attract their
attention and communicate your message. Knowing who the
audience is will help you determine the best format in which
to communicate with them.
4. Before You Begin to Design
2
• CONTENT
– What do you want to convey? It helps to know exactly what
words you want to use (or have to use) on the page to
convey your message, because the amount of words and
the message will affect how you design your layout.
Be ready to edit or cut text.
5. Before You Begin to Design
3
• IMAGE AREA
– Consider the size, shape, and function of your layout.
– Draw a mock-up showing where artwork, photos, etc should
be placed relative to copy.
6. Before You Begin to Design
4
• COLOR
– Spot color vs. process
– Use color for emphasis
– Computer-screen color is not
necessarily printed color
– Paper color affects ink color
– PMS - Pantone Matching System
7. Before You Begin to Design
5
• PRINTING
– What printing processes to use.
– Communicate with your printer
– Make sure materials are available
– Spell out everything – leave
nothing to “guesswork.”
– Provide a hard copy.
8. Before You Begin to Design
• Consider these five things before you begin to design:
– TARGET AUDIENCE
– CONTENT
– IMAGE AREA
– COLOR
– PRINTING
9. Say What?
bleed typeface serif bi-fold
pica font san serif tri-fold
widow leading rag saddle stitch
orphan kerning justified RGB
PDF PMS CMYK
11. Simplicity
• KISS
– Have a good reason for everything you add,
and take away anything that you don’t need
– Keep headlines and lead paragraphs short
• Have a purpose for everything - when in doubt, leave it out
• Stick to three or fewer fonts in a layout
• Contrast - Balance - Alignment - Repetition - Flow
12. Emphasis
• The most important element on the page should be the
most prominent
• Emphasis Techniques:
• Make it the biggest • Adding a border around the element
• Make it the boldest • Changing its color so it is different
• Placing the element in a shape that is • Surrounding the element with lots of
different from others on the page white space
• Making it full intensity when • Tilting it at an angle when other
everything else is faded elements are horizontal
13. White Space
• Allows the eye to “rest”
• Makes type easier and faster to read
• Resist the urge to fill entire space
with words, pictures, charts and
graphics
• Avoid “gray” pages
• White space creates emphasis
14. Photographs
• Resolution - low vs. high
– ppi (display) and dpi (printer)
• Size - too big or too small
• Cropping – when and how
• Photo-editing programs (Paint)
• Formats – jpg, gif, tiff
• Vector images – what are they?
15. Logos
• Less is more
– Convey the idea as simply as
possible. Few words and colors.
– Create logos in a vector
program – not Paint,
PowerPoint or Publisher.
– Here are some examples:
16. Top 12 Graphic Design Don’ts
1. Use low resolution photos for print
2. Use too many different fonts in one design
3. Use every color in the rainbow just because you can
4. Put a box around everything LO-RES (web) = 72 dpi
5. Center everything on the page HI-RES (print) = 300 dpi
6. Forget to check for widows and orphans
17. Top 12 Graphic Design Don’ts
7. Forget white space is your friend – avoid “gray pages”
8. Use fonts that are too small – 5, 6, 7 point
9. Use double spaces after punctuation
10.Underline or use all caps instead of italicizing
11. Justify type – creates too many hyphens and “rivers”
12. Rely on the computer for everything – it is only a tool
18. Right and wrong do not exist in
graphic design. There is only effective
and non-effective communication.
Notes de l'éditeur
Widows . Sentences beginning new paragraphs placed at the bottom of a column or page. When a new paragraph begins, keep at least two--preferably three--lines together. Orphans . Sentence fragments or portions of hyphenated words isolated at the top of a new column or page.
Contrast The principle of contrast states that visual elements on a page should look distinctly different from one another. It is used to add visual variety to layouts and keep everything on the page from looking alike. Balance The principle of balance is concerned with the distribution of visual elements on a page in order to achieve a pleasing and clear layout Alignment is the visual connection among words, graphics, images, shapes, and lines on a page when their edges or axes line up with each other. Repetition The principle that states repeating lines, shapes, images, colors, textures, and other visual elements within a page helps establish a unified cohesive design. Flow The visual and verbal path of movement that a viewer’s eye follows through a page or sequence of pages. Effective use can control the way the viewer’s eye scans through the design.
White space makes pages more attractive and easier to read by providing a resting space for the reader's eyes and creating empty/filled contrast with the text on the page. Gray pages Gray pages are the result of too much type, not enough white space and a lack of typographic contrast between each element of page architecture. Readers should be able to glance at a page and easily identify headlines, subheads, body copy and captions. Emphasis. The principle of design that states that the most important element on the pages should be the most prominent, the second most important element should be the second most prominent, and so on.
PPI (pixels per inch) is the number of pixels displayed in an image. A digital image is composed of samples that your screen displays in pixels. The PPI is the display resolution not the image resolution. DPI (dots per inch) is a measure of the resolution of a printer. It properly refers to the dots of ink or toner used by an imagesetter, laser printer, or other printing device to print your text and graphics. In general, the more dots, the better and sharper the image. DPI is printer resolution . LPI (lines per inch) refers to the way printers reproduce images, simulating continuous tone images by printing lines of halftone spots. The number of lines per inch is the LPI, sometimes also called line frequency. You can think of LPI as the halftone resolution . how a picture looks on the screen can be quite different than how it prints
Widows and orphans Widows . Sentences beginning new paragraphs placed at the bottom of a column or page. When a new paragraph begins, keep at least two--preferably three--lines together. Orphans . Sentence fragments or portions of hyphenated words isolated at the top of a new column or page.
Justified type does not offer enough opportunities for words to be properly spaced. As a result, lines containing a few long words are characterized by huge gaps between words and lines containing several short words exhibit extremely tight word spacing. Narrow columns of justified text are also characterized by excessive hyphenation.