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Graphic
design
Graphic
design is a form of <communicationin which visual information
is used to convey a message. Unlike fine art, it is normally used for
commercial purposes, to convey a specific and persuasive message to a large
audience. Graphic design often incorporates typography, page layout, image development, and branding,
but it is not limited to these elements.
Like many forms
of communication, graphic design often refers to both the process by which the
communication is created, and the final form that it takes. For example:
·
Print
Design – magazine & newspaper layout, posters, corporate
logo/letterhead/business card design, book & album cover design,
package/label design.
·
Interactive/Motion
Design – Web page layout, Web animation, film/video title design, software
interface design.
As a process, graphic design is complex and multi-faceted.
Principles and elements of design
Main article: Design
principles and elements
Design elements are the basic tools in every design discipline. The elements (including shape, format, <texture,
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According to the
classic theory of design, or graphic design, visual design, art, the
visual excitement of a work of design is a result of how the composition of the design elements create mood, style, message, and a
look.
See also <Aesthetics
There is
research and planning that is needed for most design work:
·
the design process, which encompasses the step-by-step and often
complex path that a designer takes toward a design solution through research,
exploration, re-evaluation, and revision of a design problem. This process
starts with the client and ends with the finished design product.
·
use of a grid to help improve or speed up the layout of images and
text. Like the steel internal frame of building, the grid helps the 2D designer
place information on paper or screen in a way that improves the design visually
and its usability.
·
impact and use of technology for design solutions.
Graphic designers are usually first to adopt and incorporate new technology in
solutions or concepts when possible. This experimentation is not always to the
benefit of the design or the user.
The classic
theory of design continues to be the first one introduced to starting students
and amateurs, with details such as the number of principles varying from book
to book and instructor to instructor. However, the classic theory of design is
limited in scope as it only considers the decorative aspects of design. More
comprehensive theories and treatments include or emphasize aspects of
Design is art
with a purpose. As a designer you must be able to design a solution for someone
else's needs. Graphic design refers mostly to the creation of printed material
(brochures, posters, etc.), logos, or other documents. A true artist develops
things mostly for their own purpose, but artists can also do design work.
There is much
debate about the degree of overlap between art and graphic design. Some argue
that the two disciplines are distinct – graphic design being a purely commercial
and client driven profession, whilst art is created for its own sake. Others
argue that the two are intrinsically entwined and that design is merely a
branch of art. These people will argue that many artists are also commercially
driven and have, historically and up to the present day, even created art on a
commission basis. The argument could also be put forward that graphic design
can be created on a non-profit basis.
The paintings in
the caves of Lascaux around 14,000 BC and the birth of
written language in the third or fourth millennium BC are both significant
milestones in the history of graphic design and other fields which hold roots
to graphic design.
The Book of Kells is a very beautiful and very
early example of graphic design in a form that would be acceptable even today.
The Book is a lavishly illustrated hand-written copy of the Christian Bible created by Celtic
monks in the ninth century AD.
Graphic design,
after Gutenberg saw a gradual evolution rather than any significant change, in
the late 19th century
when, especially in the United Kingdom,
an effort was made to create a firm division between the
From 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 and helped pioneer the
separation of design from production and from fine art. The work of the
Kelmscott Press is characterized by its decadence and 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 Art Nouveau and is indirectly responsible
for developments in early twentieth century graphic design in general.
Piet Mondrian, born in 1872, was a painter
whose work was influential in modern graphic design. Although he was not a
graphic designer his use of grids inspired the basic
structure of the modern advertising layout known also as the grid system, used
commonly today by graphic designers.
Famous .
.
Modern design of
the early 20th century,
much like the fine art of the same period, was a reaction
against the decadence of typography and design of the late 19th century. The
hallmark of early modern typography is the
In the 1920s,
Soviet Constructivism (art)
applied 'intellectual production' in different spheres of production. The
movement saw individualistic art as useless in revolutionary The term graphic
design was coined by 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. Tschichold, Bauhaus typographers such as
The following
years saw graphic design in the modern style gain widespread acceptance and
application. A booming post-World War II American economy established a greater
need for graphic design, mainly advertising and packaging. The emigration of
the German Frutiger; 1960s.
The reaction to
the increasing severity of graphic design was slow but inexorable. The origins
of postmodern typography can be traced back as far as the humanist movement of
the 1950s. Notable among this group is Hermann Zapf who designed two typefaces
that remain ubiquitous — Palatino (<1952).
By blurring the line between serif and sans-serif typefaces and re-introducing
organic lines into typography these designs did more to ratify modernism than
they did to rebel.
An important point
was reached in graphic design with the publishing of the First
things first 1964 Manifesto which was a call to a more radical form
of graphic design and criticized the ideas of value-free design. This was
massively influential on a generation of new graphic designers and contributed
to the founding of publications such as Emigre magazine.
title sequences which feature new and
innovative methods of production and startling graphic design to attempt to
tell some of the story in the first few minutes. He may be best known his work
for Otto Preminger's The Man with
the Golden Arm (1955).
1970s.
An example of computer-based graphic design. In the mid Illustrator and Aldus Pagemaker introduced
a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and 3D image creation
that had previously been unachievable. Computer graphic design enabled
designers to instantly see the effects of layout or typography changes without
using any ink in the process. Early on April Greiman recognized the vast potential
of this new medium and quickly established herself as a pioneer of digital
design. She was first known for her 1986 layout in the
magazine Design Quarterly.
Common graphic
design software applications include Adobe InDesign,
Computers are
now considered to be an indispensable tool used in the graphic design industry,
and they are generally in the industry seen as more effective than the
traditional methods. However, a few designers continue to use manual and
traditional tools, such as Milton Glaser. Wikibooks has more about this subject: