Week 3: Graphic Design
Graphic design is the art of using visual content and communication to convey messages to an audience, often through advertisements, posters, magazines, packages for products and many other forms. I believed this would be the perfect follow-up to the article I wrote on copywriting last week: as copywriting uses text and written communication to portray a message to consumers, I thought it would be interesting to see how this could be done using a visual format as well, hence making graphic design my focus for this week.
Resources
Adobe is often a fan favourite amongst designers, from Photoshop and InDesign to Express and Illustrator, and I have come across many designers who have recommended Adobe Illustrator as the best software for graphic design. These apps require some kind of payment or subscription to use, so for those who are looking to design for free first, there are other applications such as Affinity Designer, Lunacy and Figma (which was the one I used) that let you try out for free, at least to begin with.
Hierarchy?
Hierarchy influences the order in which a reader or consumer views the design, and several techniques can be applied by the designer to determine which aspects of the design they would like to place greater emphasis on. Some of the key factors here include size, shape, colour (hue, saturation and value) and space. Size and shape are fairly self-explanatory, whereby increasing the size of certain images, text or patterns means they stand out to the viewer more. In addition, changing the shape of one object whilst keeping the rest the same means that the object becomes unique and different and the reader can notice that at first glance. Space can be utilised to the point where you can emphasise one portion of your design over another by allocating more of the canvas towards it and giving it more white space around it compared to the rest of your design. This leaves one final component which is colour, and there are three key parts that determine the colour you use in your design.
Saturation and value become particularly useful in monochromatic designs (designs that use a single colour), as these two factors mean you can use a range of textures even though the hue colour remains constant, producing some interesting and fascinating patterns in the process.
Alignment
Alignment ensures that your graphics and text are in line and consistent with each other with respect to the edges of your canvas. Essentially the purpose of this is to make sure your design appears more orderly, organised and looking more professional. As humans, we are drawn to things that appear more structured and harmonic rather than chaotic and disturbed, and alignment is one of the major principles that ensure your design achieves this desired effect when it comes to marketing your good or service, so consumers are more inclined to follow your desired message.
Alignment can be arranged both vertically and horizontally. Horizontal alignment can be achieved by aligning your design to the left, centre or right, as evidenced in the images below. Left alignments perhaps appear the most natural, since the majority of us read in a language that is read from left to right, so a left alignment would make the most sense. However, playing around with different alignments and exploring each different style can help any designer decide which one looks the most appealing.
In the example above, I designed a sample holiday package for a trip to the three cities in the UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi and Sharjah, captioned with information taken from each of their visiting pages which I have linked here), and played around with alignments to explore what the advert might look like from different perspectives.
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As for vertical alignment, you can align designs from the top or from the bottom. One example we can compare is the logos for Nike and Adidas. Nike puts its text (the company name) on top of its image (its signature tick) as opposed to Adidas which puts its text underneath its trademark three stripes. Once again, experimenting and exploring your illustrator app will help you decide what combination of alignments you believe works best. Even though the alignment is focused on structure, there is enough room for you to explore your creativity.
Typography
We have mentioned earlier in this article about using text in your design, so it’s imperative that designers examine typography (the art of organising your letters and text to make it more legible but to also strike the correct tone, messages and emotions to communicate to your audience. Typography encompasses numerous aspects, from the font you choose, to the contrast between the heading and main body, to the actual content you write. Many of us have, at some point in time, explored different headings, font styles and sizes of text when writing content, even if it’s not been in the context of design (e.g. I used to explore all of these on Microsoft Word when writing cool articles and posters back at primary school). Something which I certainly wasn’t aware of back then was all the different font styles (or ‘typefaces’), and how each one evokes different characteristics and messages to the reader.
There are a few major categories of ‘typefaces’ within the design: serif, san serif, display and script. You can typically find and distinguish these different typefaces when you search them up and see ‘serif’ or ‘script’ next to some of the fonts.
Each of these typefaces has a different meaning attached to them:
·?????Serif: serifs are characterised by little ‘flicks’ and lines at the end of letters, often conveying formality, tradition, trust and something more classic.
·?????San serif: ‘san’ is the Latin word for ‘without’ so san serif means the font comes without any flicks/lines at the end of its letters; this font makes your text appear more modern and sleek, which is why you often see san serif fonts as the default for texting on messaging apps.
·?????Display: sometimes called a ‘decorative’ font, this makes the text more casual and unique, so would be of great use for advertising an exciting, relaxing holiday for example. Display fonts are not often used for the main body, but more so for headings so that it is not overused and the main body is easier and more straightforward to follow.
·?????Script: script fonts are more formal than display fonts to portray something that is elegant and traditional, which is why you often see script fonts used for wedding invitations. I was intrigued to find that part of the influence of script fonts is from calligraphy as this is another skill that I have shortlisted to learn this year and discuss in my newsletter later down the line.
Symmetries
Symmetry, like alignment, is another tool designers can use to influence the structure and harmony of their content. Whether you keep your design symmetrical (to illustrate balance and stability) or asymmetrical (so that certain aspects of your design are given more emphasis and attention than others), this decision plays a pivotal role in how your audience perceives the message you wish to convey. Even within symmetry, there is more than one type to consider. Even though we commonly think of bilateral symmetry (where a central axis divides our canvas and reflects one side of the axis symmetrically to the other), there are other types that can be useful in different contexts. For example, creating a design suited for nature might encourage you to consider crystallographic symmetry where a shape is repeated multiple times to form a sequence or pattern (you can find this in plants, fences, kitchen tiles, honeycombs, etc.). Certain patterns in houses, as well as sea animals, exhibit radial symmetry where everything focuses on a central point. One of the first examples that came to mind for radial symmetry was the Nazar amulet, where many concentric circles all lead towards the black dot at the centre.