Graphic Design
The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional disciplines which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
Common uses of graphic design include magazines, advertisements, product packaging and web design. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.
Applications
From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums
to reference manuals, graphic design enhances transfer of knowledge.
Readability is enhanced by improving the visual presentation
of text.
Design can also aid in selling a product or idea through effective visual communication. It is applied to products and elements of company identity like logos, colors, and text. Together these are defined as branding. See advertising. Branding has increasingly become important in the range of services offered by many graphic designers, alongside corporate identity, and the terms are often used interchangeably.
Textbooks are designed to present subjects such as geography, science, and math. These publications have layouts which illustrate theories and diagrams. A common example of graphics in use to educate is diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design is also applied to layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more readily understandable.
Graphic design is applied in the entertainment industry in decoration, scenery, and visual story telling. Other examples of design for entertainment purposes include novels, comic books, opening credits and closing credits in film, and programs and props on stage.
From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and thoughtful compositions of visual information - known as information design. Newspapers, magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use graphic design to inform and entertain. With the advent of the web, information designers with experience in interactive tools such as Adobe Flash are increasingly being used to illustrate the background to news stories.
Skills
A graphic design project may involve the stylization and presentation
of existing text and either preexisting imagery or images developed
by the graphic designer. For example, a newspaper story begins
with the journalists and photojournalists and then becomes
the graphic designer's job to organize the page into a reasonable
layout and determine if any other graphic elements should be
required. In a magazine article or advertisement, often the
graphic designer or art director will commission photographers
or illustrators to create original pieces just to be incorporated
into the design layout. Contemporary design practice has been
extended to the modern computer, for example in the use of
WYSIWYG user interfaces, often referred to as interactive design,
or multimedia design.
Visual arts
Before any graphic elements may be applied to a design, the
graphic elements must be originated by means of visual art
skills. These graphics are often (but not always) developed
by a graphic designer. Visual arts include works which are
primarily visual in nature using anything from traditional
media, to photography or computer generated art. Graphic design
principles may be applied to each graphic art element individually
as well as to the final composition.
Typography
Typography is the art, craft and techniques of type design,
modifying type glyphs, and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters)
are created and modified using a variety of illustration techniques.
The arrangement of type is the selection of typefaces, point
size, line length, leading (line spacing) and letter spacing.
Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers,
graphic artists, art directors, and clerical workers. Until
the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation. Digitization
opened up typography to new generations of visual designers
and lay users.
Page layout
Page layout is the part of graphic design that deals in the
arrangement and style treatment of elements (content) on a
page. Beginning from early illuminated pages in hand-copied
books of the Middle Ages and proceeding down to intricate modern
magazine and catalog layouts, proper page design has long been
a consideration in printed material. With print media, elements
usually consist of type (text), images (pictures), and occasionally
place-holder graphics for elements that are not printed with
ink such as die/laser cutting, foil stamping or blind embossing.
Interface design
Graphic designers are often involved in interface design, such
as web design and software design when end user interactivity
is a design consideration of the layout or interface. Combining
visual communication skills with the interactive communication
skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers
often work with software developers and web developers to create
both the look and feel of a web site or software application
and enhance the interactive experience of the user or web site
visitor.
Reference: This information was compiled on Wikipedia and is presented largely unedited and without bias.
