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 Home > By Career > Animation, Multimedia > Graphic Designing
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Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and
a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form (i.e., printers,
programmers, signmakers, etc.) – undertaken in order to convey a specific message
(or messages) to a targeted audience. The term "graphic design" can also refer to
a number of artistic and professional disciplines that focus on visual communication
and presentation. The field as a whole is also often referred to as Visual Communication
or Communication Design. Various methods are used to create and combine words, symbols,
and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer
may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final
result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the
communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated. Common
uses of graphic design include identity (logos and branding), web sites, publications
(magazines, newspapers, and books), advertisements and product packaging. For example,
a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure
design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one
of the most important features of graphic design, especially when using pre-existing
materials or diverse elements.
History
While Graphic Design as a discipline has a relatively recent history, with the name
'graphic design" first coined by William Addison Dwiggins in 1922, graphic design-like
activities span the history of humankind: from the caves of Lascaux, to Rome's Trajan's
Column to the illuminated manuscripts of the Middle Ages, to the dazzling neons
of Ginza. In both this lengthy history and in the relatively recent explosion of
visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, there is sometimes a blurring
distinction and over-lapping of advertising art, graphic design and fine art.
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Graphic symbols are often
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After all, they share many of the same elements, theories, principles, practices
and languages, and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In advertising art the
ultimate objective is the sale of goods and services. In graphic design, "the essence
is to give order to information, form to ideas, expression and feeling to artifacts
that document human experience."
The advent of printing
During the Tang Dynasty (618–907) between the 4th and 7th century AD, wood blocks
were cut to print on textiles and later to reproduce Buddhist texts. A Buddhist
scripture printed in 868 is the earliest known printed book. Beginning in the 11th
century, longer scrolls and books were produced using movable type printing making
books widely available during the Song dynasty (960–1279).[4] Sometime around 1450,
Johann Gutenberg's printing press made books widely available in Europe. The book
design of Aldus Manutius developed the book structure which would become the foundation
of western publication design. This era of graphic design is called Humanist or
Old Style.
Emergence of the design industry
In late 19th century Europe, especially in the United Kingdom, the movement began
to separate graphic design from fine art.
In 1849, Henry Cole became one of the major forces in design education in Great
Britain, informing the government of the importance of design in his Journal of
Design and Manufactures. He organized the Great Exhibition as a celebration of modern
industrial technology and Victorian design.
From 1891 to 1896, William Morris' Kelmscott Press published books that are some
of the most significant of the graphic design products of the Arts and Crafts movement,
and made a very lucrative business of creating books of great stylistic refinement
and selling them to the wealthy for a premium. Morris proved that a market existed
for works of graphic design in their own right and helped pioneer the separation
of design from production and from fine art. The work of the Kelmscott Press is
characterized by its obsession with historical styles. This historicism was, however,
important as it amounted to the first significant reaction to the stale state of
nineteenth-century graphic design. Morris' work, along with the rest of the Private
Press movement, directly influenced Art Nouveau and is indirectly responsible for
developments in early twentieth century graphic design in general.
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Page from the Book of Kells: Folio 114v,
Decorated text. Tunc dicit illis
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Twentieth century design
A Boeing 747 aircraft with livery designating it as Air Force One. The cyan forms,
the US flag, presidential seal and the Caslon lettering were all designed at different
times and combined by designer Raymond Loewy in this one final design.
The name "Graphic Design" first appeared in print in the 1922 essay "New Kind of
Printing Calls for New Design" by William Addison Dwiggins, an American book designer
in the early 20th century.
Raffe's Graphic Design, published in 1927, is considered to be the first book to
use "Graphic Design" in its title.
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The signage in the London Underground is a classic design example of the modern
era and used a typeface designed by Edward Johnston in 1916.
In the 1920s, Soviet constructivism applied 'intellectual production' in different
spheres of production. The movement saw individualistic art as useless in revolutionary
Russia and thus moved towards creating objects for utilitarian purposes. They designed
buildings, theater sets, posters, fabrics, clothing, furniture, logos, menus, etc.[citation
needed] Jan Tschichold codified the principles of modern typography in his 1928
book, New Typography. He later repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this book
as being fascistic, but it remained very influential.[citation needed] Tschichold,
Bauhaus typographers such as Herbert Bayer and Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and El Lissitzky
have greatly influenced graphic design as we know it today. They pioneered production
techniques[citation needed] and stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth
century. The following years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread
acceptance and application.[10] A booming post-World War II American economy established
a greater need for graphic design, mainly advertising and packaging. The emigration
of the German Bauhaus school of design to Chicago in 1937 brought a "mass-produced"
minimalism to America; sparking a wild fire of "modern" architecture and design.
Notable names in mid-century modern design include Adrian Frutiger, designer of
the typefaces Univers and Frutiger; Paul Rand, who, from the late 1930s until his
death in 1996, took the principles of the Bauhaus and applied them to popular advertising
and logo design, helping to create a uniquely American approach to European minimalism
while becoming one of the principal pioneers of the subset of graphic design known
as corporate identity; and Josef Müller-Brockmann, who designed posters in a severe
yet accessible manner typical of the 1950s and 1970s era.
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The growth of the graphic design industry has grown in parallel with the rise of
consumerism. This has raised some concerns and criticisms, notably from within the
graphic design community with the First Things First manifesto. First launched by
Ken Garland in 1964, it was re-published as the First Things First 2000 manifesto
in 1999 in the magazine Emigre 51[11] stating "We propose a reversal of priorities
in favor of more useful, lasting and democratic forms of communication - a mindshift
away from product marketing and toward the exploration and production of a new kind
of meaning. The scope of debate is shrinking; it must expand. Consumerism is running
uncontested; it must be challenged by other perspectives expressed, in part, through
the visual languages and resources of design." Both editions attracted signatures
from respected design practitioners and thinkers, for example; Rudy VanderLans,
Erik Spiekermann, Ellen Lupton and Rick Poynor. The 2000 manifesto was also notably
published in Adbusters, known for its strong critiques of visual culture.
Applications
From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums to reference
manuals, graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge. Readability is enhanced
by improving the visual presentation of text.
Design can also aid in selling a product or idea through effective visual communication.
It is applied to products and elements of company identity like logos, colors, packaging,
and text. Together these are defined as branding (see also advertising). Branding
has increasingly become important in the range of services offered by many graphic
designers, alongside corporate identity. Whilst the terms are often used interchangeably,
branding is more strictly related to the identifying mark or trade name for a product
or service, whereas corporate identity can have a broader meaning relating to the
structure and ethos of a company, as well as to the company's external image. Graphic
designers will often form part of a team working on corporate identity and branding
projects. Other members of that team can include marketing professionals, communications
consultants and commercial writers.
Textbooks are designed to present subjects such as geography, science, and math.
These publications have layouts which illustrate theories and diagrams. A common
example of graphics in use to educate is diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design
is also applied to layout and formatting of educational material to make the information
more accessible and more readily understandable. Graphic design is applied in the
entertainment industry in decoration, scenery, and visual story telling. Other examples
of design for entertainment purposes include novels, comic books, DVD covers, opening
credits and closing credits in filmmaking, and programs and props on stage. This
could also include artwork used for t-shirts and other items screenprinted for sale.
From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts
is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information
- known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film
documentaries may use graphic design to inform and entertain. With the advent of
the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools such as Adobe
Flash are increasingly being used to illustrate the background to news stories.
Skills
A graphic design project may involve the stylization and presentation of existing
text and either preexisting imagery or images developed by the graphic designer.
For example, a newspaper story begins with the journalists and photojournalists
and then becomes the graphic designer's job to organize the page into a reasonable
layout and determine if any other graphic elements should be required. In a magazine
article or advertisement, often the graphic designer or art director will commission
photographers or illustrators to create original pieces just to be incorporated
into the design layout. Or the designer may utilize stock imagery or photography.
Contemporary design practice has been extended to the modern computer, for example
in the use of WYSIWYG user interfaces, often referred to as interactive design,
or multimedia design.
Visual arts
Before any graphic elements may be applied to a design, the graphic elements must
be originated by means of visual art skills. These graphics are often (but not always)
developed by a graphic designer. Visual arts include works which are primarily visual
in nature using anything from traditional media, to photography or computer generated
art. Graphic design principles may be applied to each graphic art element individually
as well as to the final composition.
Typography
Typography is the art, craft and techniques of type design, modifying type glyphs,
and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters) are created and modified using a variety
of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type is the selection of typefaces,
point size, tracking (the space between all characters used), kerning (the space
between two specific characters), and leading (line spacing).
Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic artists,
art directors, and clerical workers. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized
occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of visual designers
and lay users.
Page layout
The page layout aspect of graphic design deals with the arrangement of elements
(content) on a page, such as image placement, and text layout and style. Beginning
from early illuminated pages in hand-copied books of the Middle Ages and proceeding
down to intricate modern magazine and catalogue layouts, structured page design
has long been a consideration in printed material. With print media, elements usually
consist of type (text), images (pictures), and occasionally place-holder graphics
for elements that are not printed with ink such as die/laser cutting, foil stamping
or blind embossing.
Interface design
Main article: User interface design Since the advent of the World Wide Web and computer
software development, many graphic designers have become involved in interface design.
This has included web design and software design, when end user interactivity is
a design consideration of the layout or interface. Combining visual communication
skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online
branding, graphic designers often work with software developers and web developers
to create both the look and feel of a web site or software application and enhance
the interactive experience of the user or web site visitor. An important aspect
of interface design is icon design.
User experience design
Main article: User experience design Considers how a user interacts with and responds
to an interface, service or product and adjusts it accordingly.
Printmaking
Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing on paper and other materials
or surfaces. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of producing
multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each piece is not a copy but
an original since it is not a reproduction of another work of art and is technically
known as an impression. Painting or drawing, on the other hand, create a unique
original piece of artwork. Prints are created from a single original surface, known
technically as a matrix. Common types of matrices include: plates of metal, usually
copper or zinc for engraving or etching; stone, used for lithography; blocks of
wood for woodcuts, linoleum for linocuts and fabric plates for screen-printing.
But there are many other kinds, discussed below. Works printed from a single plate
create an edition, in modern times usually each signed and numbered to form a limited
edition. Prints may also be published in book form, as artist's books. A single
print could be the product of one or multiple techniques.
Tools
The mind may be the most important graphic design tool. Aside from technology, graphic
design requires judgment and creativity. Critical, observational, quantitative and
analytic thinking are required for design layouts and rendering. If the executor
is merely following a solution (e.g. sketch, script or instructions) provided by
another designer (such as an art director), then the executor is not usually considered
the designer.
The method of presentation (e.g. arrangement, style, medium) may be equally important
to the design. The layout is produced using external traditional or digital image
editing tools. The appropriate development and presentation tools can substantially
change how an audience perceives a project.
In the mid 1980s, the arrival of desktop publishing and graphic art software applications
introduced a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and creation
that had previously been manually executed. Computer graphic design enabled designers
to instantly see the effects of layout or typographic changes, and to simulate the
effects of traditional media without requiring a lot of space. However, traditional
tools such as pencils or markers are useful even when computers are used for finalization;
a designer or art director may hand sketch numerous concepts as part of the creative
process. Some of these sketches may even be shown to a client for early stage approval,
before the designer develops the idea further using a computer and graphic design
software tools.
Computers are considered an indispensable tool in the graphic design industry. Computers
and software applications are generally seen by creative professionals as more effective
production tools than traditional methods. However, some designers continue to use
manual and traditional tools for production, such as Milton Glaser.
New ideas can come by way of experimenting with tools and methods. Some designers
explore ideas using pencil and paper. Others use many different mark-making tools
and resources from computers to sculpture as a means of inspiring creativity. One
of the key features of graphic design is that it makes a tool out of appropriate
image selection in order to possibly convey meaning.
Computers and the creative process
There is some debate whether computers enhance the creative process of graphic design.
Rapid production from the computer allows many designers to explore multiple ideas
quickly with more detail than what could be achieved by traditional hand-rendering
or paste-up on paper, moving the designer through the creative process more quickly.
However, being faced with limitless choices does not help isolate the best design
solution and can lead to endless iterations with no clear design outcome.
A graphic designer may use sketches to explore multiple or complex ideas quickly
without the distractions and complications of software.[citation needed] Hand-rendered
comps are often used to get approval for an idea execution before a design invests
time to produce finished visuals on a computer or in paste-up. The same thumbnail
sketches or rough drafts on paper may be used to rapidly refine and produce the
idea on the computer in a hybrid process. This hybrid process is especially useful
in logo design where a software learning curve may detract from a creative thought
process. The traditional-design/computer-production hybrid process may be used for
freeing one's creativity in page layout or image development as well.[citation needed]
In the early days of computer publishing, many "traditional" graphic designers relied
on computer-savvy production artists to produce their ideas from sketches, without
needing to learn the computer skills themselves. However, this practice has been
increasingly less common since the advent of desktop publishing over 30 years ago.
The use of computers and graphics software is now taught in most graphic design
courses.
Some of the most popular software programs being used for Graphic Design are products
of Adobe Systems Incorporated. They are Adobe Photoshop (a raster-based program
for photo editing), Adobe Illustrator (a vector-based program for drawing), Adobe
InDesign (a page layout program), and Adobe Dreamweaver (for Web page design).
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