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 Design1
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 Design2
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 Design3
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 Design4
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 Design5
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
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.

10. Good Graphic Design Utilizes:
Simplicity
Emphasis
White Space

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
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

12. 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

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
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.

14. 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

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
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.

17. 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.

18. 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.