GRAPHIC DESIGN for NON-GRAPHIC DESIGNERS PRESENTED BY Mary Nell Shaw and Charles Creel ~ Graphic Arts Specialists Alabama Department of Education

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

Before You Begin to Design Consider these five things before you begin to design: TARGET AUDIENCE CONTENT IMAGE AREA COLOR PRINTING

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 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.

Good Graphic Design Utilizes: Simplicity Emphasis White Space

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 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. Contrast - Balance - Alignment - Repetition - Flow

Emphasis The most important element on the page should be the most prominent Emphasis Techniques: Make it the biggest Make it the boldest Placing the element in a shape that is different from others on the page Making it full intensity when everything else is faded Adding a border around the element Changing its color so it is different Surrounding the element with lots of white space Tilting it at an angle when other elements are horizontal

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 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.

Photographs Resolution - low vs. high Size - too big or too small 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? 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

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:

Top 12 Graphic Design Don’ts Use low resolution photos for print Use too many different fonts in one design Use every color in the rainbow just because you can Put a box around everything Center everything on the page Forget to check for widows and orphans LO-RES (web) = 72 dpi HI-RES (print) = 300 dpi 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.

Top 12 Graphic Design Don’ts Forget white space is your friend – avoid “gray pages” Use fonts that are too small – 5, 6, 7 point Use double spaces after punctuation Underline or use all caps instead of italicizing Justify type – creates too many hyphens and “rivers” Rely on the computer for everything – it is only a tool 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.

Right and wrong do not exist in graphic design Right and wrong do not exist in graphic design. There is only effective and non-effective communication.