Editing and Graphics of Communication - Flashcards

Introduction to Communication Graphics and Editing

• Communication is the role of sharing information/messages between entities to enhance mutual understanding.
• Components involved in communication: Message — Channel/Medium — Transverse — Exchange Of Meaning.
• Graphic of communication: a visual representation of information designed to enhance easy understanding.
• In graphics of communication, identify guiding concepts before design.
• Content Of Analyzing Design:
  • Content: What you are communicating.
  • Purpose: What you intend to achieve.
  • The Media: In which media would my design be used? Understand the nature of the media you are designing for.
  • Audience: The people that will see your design.
• Principles of Design: Guidelines to make designs more effective; include ideas, theories, guidelines to consider during design.
• Ethical issues in editing and graphics (mentioned in course outline).

Content Of Analyzing Design

• Content: What you are communicating.
• Purpose: The intended outcome of the message.
• The Media: Understand the nature of the media used for the design.
• Audience: People who will view the design.

Principles of Design

• Balance: Achieved when the weight of elements is equally distributed.
  • Formal balance: Symmetrical, conveys order, strength, dignity, security; used for formal institutions (banks, universities, companies).
  • Informal balance: Asymmetrical but with a sense of equilibrium; allows more creative freedom.
• Emphasis: Also called contrast in some texts; making one element more prominent to foreground it using color, reverse lettering, type faces, type sizes, italics, etc.
• Rhythm: Manages the movement of the eyes; provides sequence; guides viewer through the design.
• Proportion: Relationship between display types (headlines, titles, subtitles) and body types (content). Display types are generally larger; body types carry most content. There should be a reasonable proportion; body content outweighs display content overall.
• Unity: The most important principle; elements must relate to each other; avoid over-laboring; maintain simplicity while enhancing contrast. Unity can coexist with creativity; ensure every element connects to the previous one.

Layout and Design

• Layout and design involve planning, building, and arranging graphic elements to create a visual medium that communicates meaningfully.
• Design aims to prevent ordinary-looking elements; editors and designers are crucial for visuals in newspapers, websites, TV, etc.
• Why Layout and Design matter:
  • Survival: Visuals play an integral role in communication.
  • Competition and dynamism: Design helps attract readers and influence engagement.
  • Keeping up with trends: Subeditors and designers must stay current with new styles.
  • Technology: Advancements in software and processors expand design capabilities.
• Design Elements (three basic elements):
  1. Text: Headlines, captions, storyboarding.
  2. Visual: Photographs, pictorials, illustrations, graphs.
  3. Empty Space.
• Commercial Messages: Not applicable to every media; in newspapers, includes advertorials and commercial news.

Goals of Design and Layout

• Six basic goals editors aim for in design.
  • Order: Organize elements into an efficient order; consistent design policy.
  • Aesthetics: Aesthetic quality follows from orderly design.
  • Balance: Proportional presentation so one side isn’t heavier.
  • Contrast and Unity: Contrast emerges from order; Unity ensures elements work together; avoid clashes like inconsistent fonts.
  • Reading Eye Movement: Readers should experience dynamic progression through photos, headlines, and stories to maintain engagement.
  • (Implicit sixth goal) The combined effect of order, aesthetics, balance, contrast, unity, and controlled eye movement yields a coherent and engaging page.
• Reading Eye Movement: Movement of the reader’s eyes should not be static; photographs and headlines should create a dynamic flow through the page.

The Layout Sheet and Page Makeup

• The Layout Sheet:
  • Calibrated in inches for newspapers.
  • Left-side inches measure one element; right-side inches mark advert insertions.
  • Broadsheets are rare in Nigeria; tabloids are more common.
• Dummies: Sketches of designs using the layout sheet; created on low-quality newsprint; typically produced by the marketing department to indicate advert spaces for the news desk.
  • Ads spaces are indicated on the layout sheet and passed through the newsroom chain to allocate space.
• Forms of Page Makeup:
  • Horizontal Form: Page has a horizontal overall look; driven by the biggest element.
  • Vertical Form: Page has a vertical outlook; biggest element dictates the vertical emphasis.
  • Focus Form: A single element (headline or main photograph) dominates; page lacks focus if absent.
  • Circus Form: Multiple areas attract attention; focus is diffused; content and audience profile influence this form.
  • Modular Page Makeup: Elements form discrete rectangular modules; each element aligns to a rectangular module; deviation from the rectangle breaks modularity.
• Tips For Page Makeup:
  • Mark spaces for headlines, adverts, and other elements before placement; spaces may be outside the sub-editor’s jurisdiction.
  • Place the most important story and photograph on the third of the page; structure subsequent placements by importance.
  • The front page should have a clear focus.
  • If body text is too long, indicate a jump to another page.
  • For inside pages, indicate where the story started when planning continued content.
  • If coloring a tomb story, use the same color alongside related items; use blurbs to promote related stories with page references.
  • Use one typeface for headlines and one for body text on the cover; if using more than two, limit to two and align with house style.
• Planning Inside Page Make-up:
  • Prepare column grids before planning.
  • Coordinate with adjacent pages to ensure design flow.
  • Every inside page should have a lead story and lead photograph.
  • Avoid placing photographs near ads.
  • Ads should be dummyed at the bottom of the page; if placement is constrained, use continuation pages for jumped stories.
  • If allowed, rearrange ads to improve page quality.
  • A photograph with a story should be at the top; the story text should appear underneath.
  • In modular makeup, group all story-related elements (photos, text, captions, headlines, credit lines) within a single rectangular module; if any element leaves the module, it ceases to be modular.
  • A modular page does not guarantee perfection; focus remains essential.

Color in Graphics

• Color is a major element that brings life to design and carries meanings across cultures and religions.
• Reasons for using color:
  • Identify mood and identity; depict religion; part of corporate identity/logo.
  • Green often represents Nigerian land and can indicate maturity or growth.
• Color Gradations and Colour Theory (as presented):
  • Primary colors (as listed in the transcript): green, yellow, magenta, black.
  • These are described as the colors you cannot derive by mixing others in this course context.
  • Secondary colors arise from mixing two or more primaries:
  • Yellow + Blue → Green
  • Yellow + Cyan → Grey
  • Cyan + Magenta → Purple
  • Yellow + Magenta → Orange
  • Intermediate colors (pigments) example: Orange + Red → Red; Orange (and the transcript notes this as a fragment; preserve as stated).
  • Monochromatic colors: shades of a single color.

Elements of Typography and Types

• Elements of Types: Individually, a typeface does not communicate meaning; meaning emerges when grouped and considered from a communication standpoint.
• Typography: The art and science of types; science when meaning is derived from rules, and art when applying skills to create impact without flouting rules.
• A typographer: Someone with knowledge of types and the ability to translate that knowledge into practice.
• A typesetter: Someone or something (machines) that assembles types as prescribed by the typographer; errors occur if a typesetter misses a type or makes mistakes.
• Fonts and Type Faces:
  • A font: A set of one or more characters unified by common features of appearance; a coordinated set of characteristics.
  • A type face: A family of related type designs (e.g., Arial family includes Ariel, Ariel Narrow, Ariel Black, Ariel Rounded MC Bold, Ariel Unicode MS).
  • Each member is different, yet they share a unified visual appearance.
• Newspapers and magazines: Pages are developed with graphical elements (body text, headlines, riders, subheads, color, pictures, illustrations, adverts, etc.).
• Book Publishing: An ancient form of mass communication; books preceded newspapers and magazines; initial manuscripts were handwritten and varied by region; digitalization is transforming book publishing.
• Broadcast Journalism:
  • Radio (audio): Relies less on graphics; visuals are less central for conveying core messages.
  • Visual graphics play a role in programming, scripting, and production; logos, program schedules, bulletins, and advertising elements contribute to broadcast visuals.

Type Measurements

• Type width: How wide individual characters or blocks of text appear; fonts vary in width (condensed, regular, extended).
• Kerning: Adjustment of space between specific letter pairs to achieve visually even spacing; used to fix awkward gaps, especially in headlines or logos.
• Tracking: Overall spacing between letters in a block of text; adjusts entire words/paragraphs.
• Leading: Vertical space between lines of text; measured baseline to baseline; improving readability; too little leads to cramping, too much disrupts flow; often set to about 1.20 \times \text{font size} to 1.50 \times \text{font size}.
• Text Alignment:
  • Left-aligned: Text aligned to left margin; ragged on the right; common for body text.
  • Right-aligned: Text aligned to the right; ragged on the left.
  • Centered: Even margins on both sides; ragged edges on both sides.
  • Justified: Text aligned on both margins by adjusting word spacing; gives a clean, formal look.

Type Size and Measurements (Mathematical notes)

• The most common unit is the point (pt), where
  1\,\text{pt} = \frac{1}{72}\,\text{inch}.
• Type size is measured from the top of the tallest letter (ascender) to the bottom of the lowest (descender).
• Leading and spacing are critical for readability and layout harmony; use LaTeX to express proportional relationships when needed:
  • Leading commonly ranges between 1.20\times\text{font size} and 1.50\times\text{font size}.
  • Kerning, tracking, and letter spacing affect visual balance and legibility.

Summary of Key Concepts (Cross-Sectional)

• The design process in graphics for communication blends content, purpose, media, and audience with established design principles (balance, emphasis, rhythm, proportion, unity).
• Layout decisions (layout sheet, dummies, page makeup) translate concept into distributable pages for print media, with attention to front-page focus, ad placement, and flow across pages.
• Color and typography carry semantic and cultural meanings; consistent typography and color systems contribute to unity and readability.
• Technical typography measurements (type width, kerning, tracking, leading, alignment) are essential to achieve legibility and aesthetic cohesion.

Practical Implications and Real-World Relevance

• In newspapers and magazines, layout planning directly influences reader engagement, advertisement effectiveness, and brand identity.
• The modular page concept supports consistent storytelling by grouping all related elements (photos, captions, headlines, text) into rectangular modules, aiding reader navigation.
• Color usage should reflect cultural meanings and brand identity, while maintaining readability and visual appeal.
• Understanding type measurements helps designers avoid awkward spacing and ensure consistent, accessible typography across sections and platforms.

Ethical and Professional Considerations

• Maintain truthfulness in presentation; misleading layouts or deceptive emphasis undermine credibility.
• Preserve consistency with house style to maintain brand integrity.
• Respect audience diversity by choosing legible type and accessible color contrasts.

Quick Reference Formulas and Key Facts

• Type width variations: condensed, regular, extended (affecting how much text fits in a given space).
• Point size unit:
  1\,\text{pt} = \frac{1}{72}\,\text{inch}.
• Leading commonly set to:
  \text{Leading} \approx [1.20, 1.50] \times \text{font size}.
• Color theory: primary colors listed in the course context include green, yellow, magenta, and black; secondary colors arise from mixing primaries as shown in the examples above.

End of Notes