Design for Communication: Conceptual Graphic Design Basics

Foundations and Definitions of Graphic Design

  • Ubiquity of Graphic Design

    • Graphic design is the most ubiquitous of all art forms, present everywhere in daily life: homes, restaurants, streets, highways, movies, theaters, and retail shops.

    • Design is absorbed so deeply into human experience that its constant influence—prompting, cajoling, disturbing, and exciting—often goes unrecognized.

  • Historical Definition vs. Contemporary Definition

    • Traditional Definition:

      • Graphic Design: The promotion of goods and services.

      • Advertising: The selling of goods and services.

    • Modern Shift (Global Branding):

      • The boundaries between promoting and selling have blurred completely through global branding, defined as the promotion of lifestyle through the selling of a particular product or service. Promotion and selling have joined forces.

    • Contemporary Definition:

      • Graphic design is the "art" of communication used to inform, educate, influence, persuade, and provide a visual experience.

      • It combines art and technology to communicate vital messages and serves as a fundamental cultural force.

  • Insights on Design and Reality

    • Rick Poynor: Designers are engaged in nothing less than the manufacture of contemporary reality. Design touches nearly every valued experience at home, at leisure, in the city, or at the mall.

Role and Methodologies of the Graphic Designer

  • Core Responsibilities

    • A graphic designer conceives, plans, and executes a design that communicates a direct message to a specific audience.

    • Design (Definition): The planned arrangement of visual elements organized and prioritized into a cohesive whole that becomes the visual message.

    • Designers operate within business, industry, cultural, and educational sectors.

  • Media Formats and Mass Production

    • Graphic design work is mass-produced across print, film, and electronic media.

    • Examples of Media Forms: Books, magazines, newspapers, advertisements, corporate identity, packaging, posters, CDs, multimedia, Web sites, billboards, television graphics, film graphics, environmental signage, transportation signage, maps, charts, and information design.

  • Fundamental Method

    • Designers develop images to represent ideas that clients need to communicate.

    • This is accomplished by unifying images (photographs, film, video, art, or illustration) and words (typography) into a single form that responds to the content and delivers a clear message.

Visual Language and Foundational Training

  • Foundation Requirements

    • Learning graphic design does not begin with computer graphics software.

    • Prerequisites require foundation courses in basic design principles (two-dimensional and three-dimensional) alongside observational or life drawing.

    • Drawing develops basic visual language vocabularies necessary for effective visual communication.

  • Insights on Visual Language

    • Gyorgy Kepes: Visual language conveys facts and ideas in a wider and deeper range than almost any other communication medium, reinforcing static verbal concepts with the sensory vitality of dynamic imagery.

  • Elements and Principles of Visual Language

    • Elements: Line, shape, texture, value, color, composition, volume, mass, space.

    • Combinations: These elements integrate to establish balance, unity, proportion, rhythm, and sequence.

  • Content vs. Form

    • Content: The subject matter or information to be communicated to the viewer (what is being said).

    • Form: The purely visual aspect (how it is chosen to be said).

    • The relationship between content and form is negotiated during the initial stage of the design process.

The Five Steps of the Design Process

  • Overview and Objectives

    • Design Process (Definition): The sequence of steps taken prior to arriving at a finished design solution.

    • Professional Context: Begins with clarifying client objectives (content), moves through analytical clarification, and finishes with visualization (form).

    • Academic Context: Begins with an assignment's introduction. Success requires clear problem definition and objective setting.

    • Objective (Definition): The desired result or goal of a course of action. In design, it is projecting a message to a specific audience to obtain a desired response.

    • John Bowers: Design activity is framed as a problem or series of problems, where "problem" signifies a challenge and an opportunity to create a successful, meaningful outcome.

    • Mark Oldach Caution: Relying on other designers' work for inspiration can lead to an inappropriate pursuit of style and trend, undermining the substance and purpose of design.

  • Step 1: Define the Problem and Establish Your Objectives

    • Key questions to answer: What is the message? Who is it for? What format best expresses the message? What are the budget constraints?

    • Requires effective listening skills and asking pertinent questions.

  • Step 2: Do the Research

    • Investigate the subject thoroughly. Search for parallels across other fields, subjects, historical time periods, and industries.

    • Identify key words to define objectives.

    • Use personal experiences and memories as sources of inspiration.

    • Maintain a sketchbook to write ideas, make rough sketches, and paste collected materials.

  • Step 3: Develop Your Ideas by Brainstorming

    • Brainstorming (Definition): An idea-generating process grounded in free association using a written record of verbalized ideas to reveal directions toward a solution.

    • Word Lists: Writing word lists is faster and more time-efficient than drawing. List everything related without censorship or judgment. Utilize dictionaries and thesauruses.

    • Verbal Diagramming / Thought Mapping: Place a central key word in the middle of a paper and branch outward in all directions. Use guiding questions: Why? When? Who? How? What?

    • Mind Mapping Content Domains & Associations:

      • History/Origins: Bayeux Tapestry, Eight-Deer Tiger's Claw, invention of printing, Rodolphe Töpffer (father of comics), Yellow Kid (newspaper strip).

      • Formats/Media: Comic books, graphic novels, picture books, magazines, newspapers, newsstands, bookstores, online comics, interactive comics, web (www), TV, movies, animation, billboards, posters, propaganda, international signage, directions.

      • Genres & Themes: Humor, relief, escapism, fun, entertainment, imagination, art form, comedy, drama, sci-fi, Flash Gordon, superheroes (Stan Lee), fantasy, sorcery, horror, crime, romance, anti-establishment, underground, pornographic, erotica, sexual, social issues, religion, values, morals, biography (Maus), historical events, war.

      • Audience/Market: Target market, male, female, young, old, children (fairy tales, Cinderella, Mickey Mouse), teens, adults, corporations, retail businesses, advertising (increase sales, sell products, fast food, apparel, toys).

      • Global Formats: Universal language, manga, anime, international signage.

    • Incubation: If mental blocks occur, divert to another task to allow the mind to process and synthesize gathered information.

    • Thumbnail Sketches: Small, rough sketches of preliminary design ideas. Generate as many as possible to move past the most obvious initial ideas.

  • Step 4: Analyze Your Ideas in Terms of the Project Objectives

    • Ken Hiebert: A good process keeps the mind alert, layers material, prepares for intuitive action, and prevents jumping to premature conclusions.

    • Layouts: Full-size sketches detailing placement of type, images, and color. Select at least three thumbnails to build into layouts using markers/drawing pads or computers. Save all layouts to document the process.

    • Critiques: Class presentations where solutions are analyzed to increase visual and conceptual impact. Presenters should articulate their core idea in one coherent sentence. Multiple solutions are required to expose the strongest concepts. Students must take non-edited notes on all feedback.

  • Step 5: Implement the Final

    • Review critique notes, combine or expand the most promising layout, and create a comprehensive.

    • Comprehensive / Comp (Definition): A detailed, polished representation of a finished design shown to a client for final approval prior to print production.

Design Philosophy and Educational Objectives

  • Misconceptions in Design

    • Design does not begin by turning on a computer; computers enhance existing concepts but cannot create them. Design is not mere styling.

    • Looking through design annuals or magazines often leads to unoriginal influence or plagiarism rather than true inspiration.

  • Nature of Creative Solutions and Good Ideas

    • Kit Hinrichs: A creative solution appears obvious yet completely unexpected once seen. It is understood intuitively and immediately without needing explanation.

    • Characteristics of a Good Idea: Requires little thought to understand, stimulates viewer thinking, communicates instantly, and does not require explanation.

  • Educational Purpose

    • Graphic design education is project-based ("learning by doing") to prepare students for professional practice.

    • Suzanne West: Designers require a coherent, inclusive foundation of guidelines to simplify and direct design decisions.

The Elements of Design

  • Concept and Format

    • Concept: A well-developed thought; the primary idea on which a message is based (synonymous with idea).

    • Format: The surface or substrate on which design elements are placed (2-D, 3-D, or 4-D).

  • Fundamental Design Elements

    • Line: Length as a mark connecting any two points. Lines organize, direct, separate, express emotion, create rhythm, or divide elements using a rule (a line that explicitly separates elements).

    • Shape: External outline of a form having height and width. Fundamental shapes: circle, square, and triangle.

    • Texture: Look and feel of a surface. Visual texture in 2-D adds richness and dimension; also refers to pattern.

    • Space: Distance between shapes and forms; operationalized as white space or negative space (active empty areas void of visual elements).

    • Size: Scale of an object relative to other objects. Scale requires a reference point to discern relative size and meaning.

    • Value: Relative lightness or darkness of an area or object. Adds visual depth and, when combined with color, creates mood.

The Principles of Design

  • Core Structural Principles

    • Balance: Equal distribution of elements.

      • Symmetrical Balance: Elements arranged equally on both sides (static/stable motion).

      • Asymmetrical Balance: Deliberate imbalance (dynamic movement and variety).

    • Emphasis: Highlights the most important element based on the message.

      • Focal Point: The element that attracts attention first.

      • Methods: Make elements bigger, bolder, brighter, use contrasting colors, or surround with white space.

    • Rhythm: Pattern created by repeating elements to guide the viewer's gaze.

      • Sequence: The viewing order of elements that determines flow in multipage publications.

    • Unity: Achieved when all elements relate, creating completeness.

      • Gestalt Theory: Psychological process where the viewer unites disparate elements into a whole greater than the sum of its parts.

      • Grouping: Elements placed close together visually appear as a group.

      • Figure/Ground: Identifying an object (figure) as distinct from its background (ground), reliant on contrast.

    • Contrast: Stresses visual differences in size, shape, and color to direct attention and enhance message perception.

  • Concluding Perspectives on Graphic Design

    • Kenneth Hiebert: Education synthesizes visual form, syntax, and meaning within boundaries of time, format, classroom dynamics, and teacher guidance.

    • Phillippe Apeloig: Graphic design is the intersection of art and communication. It is the art of visualizing ideas, activating space, and intuiting proportion through meticulous detail. Good design prompts unconscious meditation on potent word/image combinations and is always memorable.