GRAPHIC DESIGN & ILLUSTRATION SIGNS AND SYMBOLS TYPOGRAPHY AND LAYOUT WORD AND IMAGE: POSTERS AND OTHER ADVERTISEMENTS ILLUSTRATION THE DIGITAL REALM

GOAL-The goal of graphic design is to communicate a specific message to a group of people. The success of the design depends on how well that message is conveyed. The term graphic design describes what artists in this field do. They attend to the visual presentation of information as it is personified in words and /or images. Examples are books, book jackets, newspapers, magazines, advertisements, packaging, websites, CD covers, film credits, corporate logos are many items that must be designed.

There are two things that help to speed up the progress of graphic design: the invention of the printing press in the 15th century and the Industrial Revolution of 18th and 19th centuries.

Signs and Symbols Visual communication is symbolic. Symbols convey information or embody ideas. Symbols embody complex ideas and associations.

yin yang symbol The yin yang symbol, also known as the taiji (or tai chi) diagram, embodies the worldview expressed in ancient Chinese philosophy. The symbol gives visual form to ideas about the dynamic balance of opposites that are believed to makeup the universe and explain existence: male (yang) female (yin), being and nonbeing, light and dark, action and inaction, etc.

The swastika The swastika was first used as a symbol in India and Central Asia, as early as 3000 B.C.E. It takes it name from the Sanskrit word svastika, meaning “good luck” or “good fortune.” It is still used in as a symbol on commercial products in Asia.

In 1974, the U.S. Department of Transportation commissioned the American Institute of Graphic Arts to develop a set of symbols that could communicate essential information across language barriers to international travelers. Designed by Cook & Shanosky Associates

The most pervasive symbols in our visual environment today are logos and trademarks, which are symbols of an organization or product

Paul Rand an American graphic designer designed some of the most important logos and trademarks of our times.

In the 1980’s a group called the Silence= Death Project, the Silence = death logo

Typography and Layout Typography is the arrangement and appearance of letters. With the invention of movable type around 1450, the alphabet drew the attention of designers to create a visually unified alphabet that could be massed produced as typeface, a style of type. Albrecht Durer designed well balanced letterforms constructed each with letter within a square. He paid attention to the balance of thick and thin lines and to the visual weight of the seifs, the short cross lines that finish the principal strokes. They were carved in wood or cast in metal.

Albrecht Durer designed well balanced letterforms constructed each with letter within a square.

Joan Dobkin. Informational leaflet for Amnesty International. 1991

A layout is a designer’s blueprint for an extended work in print such as a book or a magazine. It includes such specifications as the dimensions of the page, the width of the margins, the size and styles of type for text and headings, etc

David Carson a controversial art director created design for Ray Gunn magazine article called “ Morrissey the Loneliest Monk”1994

WORD AND IMAGE: POSTERS AND OTHER ADVERTISEMENTS Among the services offered by early printers in the 15th century was the design and printing of single sheets called broadsides. Henri de Toulouse- Lautrec. La Goulue at the Moulin Rouge Poster, lithograph printed in four colors; 6’2 4/5 x 3’ 9 13/16”

Another example of the growth of graphic designs occurred following the Russian Revolution of 1917, when an art movement named Constructivism called on artists to be actively involved in creating the new society. Constructivists believed that instead of making paintings and sculptures for the elite, artists should apply their skills to designing posters, magazines, theatrical productions, industrial products, and other useful objects. Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg who were trained as sculptors created the film poster ”Nepobedimye (The unvanquished)”1928.

Vladimir and Georgii Stenberg, Poster for Nepobedimye (The Unvanquished ), Offset lithography, 39 3/8" x 28 3/8"

ILLUSTRATION An illustration is an image created to accompany words. One of the most famous illustrators of the 20th century was Norman Rockwell, whose work appeared regularly in the Saturday Evening Post. Gene Greif used collage as a means of creating eye catching image.

Motion and Interactivity With the digital revolution, anew element for designers to work with is interactivity-the possibility of give and take between users and by means of interface. Graphic design can make known information by organizing facts or data in a visually coherent way.

Designed by Cassidy Curtis, Graffiti Archaeology present. makes visible the evolution of graffiti sites over time. Takes isolated facts (individual photographs) Sets them in a structure that reveals that information they contain. Graffiti Archaeology makes visible the evolution of graffiti sites over time as graffiti writers paints on top of each other’s work.

W. Bradford Paley. Text Arc Alice's Adventures in Wonderland A TextArc is a visual represention of a text— the entire text (twice!) on a single page. A funny combination of an index, concordance, and summary; it uses the viewer's eye to help uncover meaning.

An entire text is arranged in an arc, stepping clockwise, starting at 12:00. Lines are drawn around the outside, words around the inside. Words that appear more often are brighter