The Elements of Graphics: Image Sources, Quality, Editing, and Compression

Vocabulary flashcards based on lecture notes about graphic design elements, image sources, quality, editing, and compression techniques.

Line

Continuous marks that vary in thickness, direction, and length, helping to define shapes, suggest movement, and guide the viewer’s eye.

Shapes

Flat, enclosed areas created by lines or color contrast; can be geometric (structured) or organic (fluid and natural).

Color

Adds life and emotion to graphics, made up of hue, saturation, and value.

Texture

The surface feel or appearance of an object, visually represented to appear rough, smooth, soft, or hard.

Space

The area within, around, or between design elements; positive space contains main elements, while negative space surrounds them for balance.

Form

Transforms shapes into three-dimensional visuals by adding depth and perspective.

Value

The range of light to dark in any visual, helping to create contrast, highlight elements, and add depth.

Image Sources

The origin or location where an image is found or retrieved, including physical objects and digital files.

Public Domain Images

Images free to use by anyone for any purpose without permission or payment.

Commercial Clipart

Images sold for commercial use, often licensed as royalty-free.

Pirated Images

Images used without proper permission or license.

Quality (in design)

The overall excellence of a design, considering functionality, usability, aesthetics, and achievement of its intended purpose.

Editing (in graphics)

The process of altering and enhancing images or graphic elements to achieve a desired visual outcome.

Cropping

Removes unwanted areas of an image and adjusts image dimensions.

Color Correction

Balances brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue in an image.

Retouching

Removes blemishes, dust, or unwanted objects from an image.

Layering

Combines multiple images or elements to create complex compositions.

Filters & Effects

Adds stylization such as vintage, blur, shadows, or glow to an image.

Text & Graphics Overlay

Adds captions, labels, logos, or icons to an image.

Clipping & Masking

Isolates objects for better control or background changes.

Format Optimization

Prepares images for print, web, or multimedia, balancing compatibility, quality, and file size.

Image Compression

Reduces the file size of an image for easier storage, sharing, and loading.

Lossy Compression

Permanently removes some image data to achieve a smaller file size, potentially reducing quality.

Lossless Compression

Reduces file size without losing any original data, allowing perfect reconstruction upon decompression.

JPEG

A common lossy format excellent for photographs and images with complex colors.

WebP

A modern format developed by Google that can offer better compression and quality than JPEG.

HEIF

High Efficiency Image Format, can provide better compression than JPEG but has varying browser support.

PNG

Supports transparency and is excellent for graphics, logos, and images with sharp lines and text; a lossless format.

GIF

Supports animation and transparency, limited to 256 colors; best for simple graphics and animations.

TIFF

A high-quality lossless format often used for professional printing and archiving; results in large file sizes.