According to the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA), graphic design is defined as “the art and practice of planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content.” In other terms, graphic design communicates certain ideas or messages in a visual way. These visuals can be as simple as a business logo, or as complex as page layouts on a website.
In this section you will learn how to use graphic design platforms in order to begin making graphics. There is a lot to keep in mind when we start. Color theory and typography are a huge part of graphic design. Understanding how to make your own graphics is very important to employers or clients who are looking for something specific to their business.
With graphic design we make 2 types of graphics: raster and vector:
Raster (or bitmap) graphics are generally what you think about when thinking of images. Raster images are compiled using pixels, or tiny dots, containing unique color and tonal information that come together to create the image. Since raster images are pixel based, they are resolution dependent. The number of pixels that make up an image as well as how many of those pixels are displayed per inch, both determine the quality of an image. As you may have guessed, the more pixels in the image and the higher the resolution is, the higher quality the image will be. For example, if we scale a raster image to enlarge it, without changing resolution, it will lose quality and look blurry or pixilated. This is because we are stretching the pixels over a larger area, thus making them look less sharp. This is a common problem but can be remedied by using raster image editing programs such as Photoshop to change resolution and properly scale images. Common Raster Image Types: JPG, TIFF, GIF, PNG, BMP
Vector graphics instead of trying to keep track of the millions of tiny pixels in a raster image, vector images keep track of points and the equations for the lines that connect them. Generally speaking, vector images are made up of paths or line art that can infinitely scalable because they work based on algorithms rather than pixels. One of the greatest things about vector images is that you can re-size them infinitely larger or smaller, and they will still print out just as clearly, with no increase (or decrease) in file size.
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