Design is about problem solving Or creating solutions… DESIGN without problem solving is called decorating.

Graphic Design – Visual information management - Using the tools of layout, typography and illustration - Design leads the viewer’s eye through the page. Two Purposes of Graphic Design 1- Attract an audience. 2- Provide a strong Visual Hierarchy for messages.

Visual Hierarchy - where important elements are emphasized and content is organized logically.

Readers see the page - First as large masses of shape and color with foreground elements contrasted against the background Second the readers sees information, first from graphics - Finally the reader parses the “harder” medium of text, to read individual words and phrases.

There are no absolute laws of perfect proportion, but the Greeks tried: The Golden Section of Mean. Most design is not based on any mathematical system, but with a trained eye, an open mind, and an innate sense of form and organization. Proportion The golden mean - An ancient fine arts formula that mathematically defines a rectangle of specific proportions. This rectangle, called the golden rectangle is believed to frame objects in pleasing proportions. (rule of thirds)

Symmetry -In design requires a central axis with equal balance or weight on each side – not necessarily a perfect mirror image. -Based on the sensibility of ancient and medieval architecture and manuscripts, symmetry remains a popular choice for layout.

Asymmetry Near the end of the last century, many artists in the West were struck by the beauty and elegance of the newly discovered Japanese design sensibility. Asian Traditions were built on asymmetry. The trick for designers is to create a sense of balance without relying on the even distribution of weight found in symmetry. -It’s like a walking tightrope: the threat of falling is what makes asymmetry more exciting than symmetry. (Tension)

Which square contains the most tension?

Which square contains the most tension?

Which square contains the most tension?

Which square contains the most tension?

Look for a sense of stability, the right and wrong way to do anything, the amount of air that enables the work to breathe, the most satisfactory way of combining elements.

CONTRAST (visual contrast) Helps to make a design visually engaging. Can be the prime organizing factor for a design’s information. Can direct the viewer where to look first in a design and what to notice second. (Creating Order)

Modulated use of scale, shape, value, color, and texture to create contrast is a fundamental feature in a successful design.

contrast in SCALE

shape CONTRAST

Impact Through Form Pushing compositions and layouts to extremes

Value Contrast The relative lightness and darkness on a page Elements with the strongest value contrast (black and white are the extremes of contrast – shades of grey fall along the range of contrast between black and white) will become more dominant on the page than elements with lesser value contrast. A designer can utilize value to lend visual dominance to certain elements, which then works to create a useful informational hierarchy within a design.

Contrast through color – Three terms used to speak about color while one may use their eyes to identify successful color design decisions. Hue - what color is it? Value - The lightness or darkness of any color. Chroma (Intensity or Saturation) - The “purity” of brightness of a color. Dark Values , Lowered Chroma Hue Variation Lighter Values of the same hue