TGJ Communication Technology
Principles of Graphic Design Overview
Humans rely on their senses to keep them informed about their environment. Perception refers to
the total interpretation of your environment by your senses. Visual Perception is more specific: it
refers to your sense of sight - receiving an image, sending the message to the brain and interpreting
the message with meaning (often in the context of our personal experience.). To be successful in
visual communication one must be educated in the primary elements of visual perception.
Definitions
Communication is the transfer of information such as thoughts and messages;
Technology is the application of scientific discoveries to the production of
goods and services that improve the human environment. This includes
materials, machinery and processes that improve production and solve
technical problems.
Communication Technology is the means by which a message/information is
brought to a targeted audience through a developed medium. This medium
sends a message either through your auditory sense of hearing or visually
- or both.
What it is
Every day hundreds of businesses are talking to you, competing for your
attention on the radio, the television, the internet, in newspapers and
magazines and on billboards. The way they assemble and produce their
messages is what Communication Technology is all about.
Audio vs Visual
The two main senses we use to acquire information are our sense of hearing
(audio) and our sense of vision (visual). These two main categories of medium
are audio and visual:
Impact
© TINGLE 2004
☞
Audio: • radio
☞
Visual:
• television • e-mail
• billboards • newspapers
• voice mail • telephone
• text messaging
• internet
• flyers
• magazines
Take a moment and think about what your life would be like without
communication technology’s products and processes:
“What if there weren’t...”
• ...Telephones, e-mail or text messaging?” You couldn’t quickly get in
touch with them any time and anywhere.
• ...Newspapers, television, internet or magazines?” You wouldn’t be
able to know what’s going on in the world - and often just minutes
after the event.
• ...Radios, CDs, Cassettes, Records, MP3s?” You wouldn’t be able to
listen to music unless it were played live.
➔
Impact (cont’d)
There are many ways Communication Technology impacts our lives - some
are positive and others negative. Here are a few; you can likely think of others:
• Increased Personal Time - you are able to convey a message to someone
faster by using e-mail, telephone or fax instead of writing a letter.
• Increased Efficiency - business employees are able to respond quickly to
customer demands. Where it took days for a customer to get information or
place an order, they can now do business almost instantly through e-mail,
internet or fax technology.
• Increased Ease - it is now much easier for someone to send information to
one or many people using telephone, e-mail, fax and presentation
technologies. Its user-friendly design allows ordinary people to communicate
more effectively.
• Increased ‘Visual Noise’ - businesses are bombarding people with a
constant, steady stream of carefully crafted, persuasive reminders of their
products in the form of advertisements, billboards and commercials.
• Creation of Revenue - businesses profit from using communication
technology to reach more people more cost-effectively. This translates into
more profit. At the same time it supports an industry that affects our daily life
by offering such technological ‘toys’ as video and digital cameras and CD players/MP3 players.
• Decreased Personalization - Many people may prefer to communicate with
others using forms other than face-to-face communication. On the other
hand,
identity is often reduced to log-on identification and passwords.
• Increased Access to Information - Rather than seeking potentially
outdated
information in a library, people can instantly search and retrieve information
any time we want off the internet.
Visual
Communication
Visual Communication is the process by which information is conveyed to
someone through their sight. We are all surrounded by objects that have been
designed by someone to do or communicate something. In each case a
human decided to plan and arrange materials or components to meet a human
need or desire. Design is therefore the process of planning and arranging
physical elements to serve some perceived, intended purpose or need.
Graphic Design
Graphic Design is a form of visual communication: it is the creative planning
and execution of visual communication. Graphic designers are visual
communicators who communicate with you in a way that clarifies the idea, stirs
your interest or catches your eye. They are successful when their message is
memorable enough to get you to act upon it - such as with an effective
advertisement or brochure.
Purpose
All graphic design projects share at least one of the following three main
purposes:
• To sell something to a specific target market;
• To inform the audience/reader;
• To influence your choices and actions.
Graphic Design Principles/2
Many graphic design projects cover more than one of these purposes: a
© TINGLE 2004
Typography
In addition to shapes and images, text is the third design component, and
certainly an equal in terms of visual impact. How the words are presented will
be determined largely by the effective use of typography. Typography is the art
and process of working with and printing type.
Typefaces can be generally divided into two basic styles: Serif and Sans Serif.
Serif fonts, such as Times Roman, have small ‘feet’ and work well in body
copy and to convey an older. more ornate feel. Sans serif fonts like Arial are
more modern-looking, have no serif ‘feet’, and generally are better for bold
headlines and attention-grabbing banners. Within each style are individual
fonts and italic, light, medium, bold, condensed and extended weights.
In addition to size, measured in points, column width and spacing are factors
in legibility. Two measurements are:
• Kerning - the spacing of letters in a line of type
• Leading - the space between the lines of type
Longer lines are harder to read than narrower columns simply because it is
easier for the eye to return to the beginning of the next line. A very short line,
however, would interrupt the flow of reading by forcing the reader to move
down the lines of type faster than they may feel comfortable with.
Size of type is a key component in effective layouts: As readers people are
conditioned to scan text, getting oriented with the largest type first, then
working to more detail in the next smallest size in the subheads, and finally
into the details contained in the body copy or text. Designers who understand
this predisposition know it can work for them. To introduce a design that works
against this habit may cause the reader to feel awkward or disoriented, and a
reader who doesn’t feel comfortable reading will soon turn his/her attention to
something that feels more familiar and comfortable.
Larger type is best used for scanning brief headlines. It is not easier to read
than smaller type (unless the reader is visually impaired) in blocks of copy
because the eye has to focus on everything as a whole. Contrast between
background textures and shades should allow for easy reading, rather than
competing with the detail in the type. On the software programs it is easy to
experiment with different fonts, styles (weights) and colours to see which offers
the best contrast and legibility.
© TINGLE 2004
Graphic Design Principles/4