Bob Dylan poster by Milton Glaser The current official Google logo by Ruth Kedar
1 Graphic design can be defined as the art and profession of selecting and arranging
, such as types, images, symbols, and colours, to convey a message to a recipient. Sometimes graphic design is called visual communications, a term that emphasizes its function of
, e.g. the design of a book, advertisement, logo or web site, to information.
An important part of the designer’s task is to combine
and
elements into an ordered and effective whole. Graphic design is therefore a
discipline – writers produce words and photographers and illustrators create images that the designer incorporates into a complete visual communication.
2 Common uses of graphic design include:
identity (logos and branding)
web sites
publications (magazines, newspapers, and books)
advertisements and
product packaging
A product package, for example, might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and colour which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.
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3 The evolution of graphic design as a practice and profession has been closely bound to technological innovations, societal needs and the visual imagination of its practitioners. Graphic design has been practiced in various forms throughout history.
4 Strong examples of graphic design date back to manuscripts in ancient China, Egypt and Greece. As printing and book production developed in the 15 th century, advances in graphic design developed alongside it over subsequent centuries, with compositors or typesetters often designing pages in addition to setting the type.
5 In the late 19 th century graphic design emerged as a distinct profession in the West, in part because of the job specialization process that occurred there, and in part because of the new technologies and commercial possibilities brought about by the Industrial Revolution. New production methods led to the separation of the design of a
(e.g. a poster) from its actual production. Increasingly, over the course of the late 19 th and the early 20 th centuries, advertising agencies, book publishers and magazines hired art directors who organized all visual elements of the communication and brought them into a harmonious whole, creating an expression appropriate to the content. In 1922 typographer William A. Dwiggins coined the term
‘graphic design’ to identify this emerging field.
6 Throughout the 20 th century the technology available to designers continued to advance rapidly as did the artistic and commercial possibilities for design. The profession expanded enormously and graphic designers created, among other things,
and
. By the turn of the 21 st century graphic design had become a global profession, as advanced technology and industry spread throughout the world.
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7 In the 21 st century graphic design is ubiquitous. It is a major component of our complex print and electronic information systems. It permeates contemporary society, delivering
,
,
and
. The relentless advance of technology has changed dramatically the way graphic designs are created and distributed to a mass audience.
However, the fundamental role of the graphic designer — giving expressive form and clarity of content to communicative messages — remains the same.
8 From
to
from
to
, graphic design enhances the 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
and
Together these are defined as branding. Branding has become increasingly important in the range of services offered by many graphic designers, alongside corporate identity. Graphic designers will often form part of a team working on corporate identity and branding projects. Other members of that team can include marketing professionals, communications consultants and commercial writers.
9 Graphic design is applied in the entertainment industry in decoration, scenery, and visual story telling. Other examples of design for entertainment purposes include
and
and
in film. This could also include artwork used for T-shirts and other items screen-printed for sale.
10 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
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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.
11 A graphic design project may involve the stylization and presentation of existing text and either pre-existing
or images developed by the graphic designer. For example, a newspaper story begins with the journalists and photojournalists, and then it becomes the graphic designer's job to organize the page into a reasonable layout and determine if any other graphic elements should be required.
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.
12 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
and
Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic artists and art directors. Until the Digital Age, typography was a specialized occupation.
13 The page layout aspect of graphic design deals with the arrangement of elements (content) on a page, such as image placement and text layout and style. Beginning from early illuminated pages in hand-copied books of the Middle Ages and proceeding down to intricate modern magazine and catalogue layouts, structured page design has long been a consideration in printed material. With print media, elements usually consist of
(text),
(pictures), and occasionally
for elements that are not printed with ink such as die/laser cutting, foil stamping or blind embossing.
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14 Since the advent of the World Wide Web and computer software development, many graphic designers have become involved in interface design. This has included 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. An important aspect of interface design is icon design, the process of designing a graphic symbol that represents a program, a function, data or a collection of data on a computer system.
visual communication - communication through visual aid, described as the conveyance of ideas and information in forms that can be read or looked upon. composition - the way that something is formed from separate parts or people art director - someone who is in charge of the overall visual appearance and how it communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. He/she makes decisions about visual elements used, what artistic style to use and when to use motion. readability - the ease in which text can be read and understood. There are various factors to measure readability, such as "speed of perception," "perceptibility at a distance," "perceptibility in peripheral vision,"
"visibility» etc. screen-printing - a method of printing in which ink is forced through a cloth net onto paper
(page) layout - the way in which the words and pictures on a page are arranged glyph - an element of writing; an individual mark on a written medium that contributes to the meaning of what is written. For example, in most languages written in any variety of the Latin alphabet, the dot on a lower-case "i" is not a glyph because it does not convey any distinction, and an “I” in which the dot has been accidentally omitted is still likely to be read as an "i". In Turkish however, it is a glyph, because that language has two distinct versions of the letter "i", with and without a dot. In general, diacritic is a glyph.
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blind embossing - an embossed image that is not stamped over a printed image, not foil stamped, and the resulting raised image is the same colour as the paper foil stamping - the application of pigment or metallic foil, often gold or silver to paper where a heated die is stamped onto the foil, making it adhere to the surface leaving the design of the die on the paper. die cutting - a manufacturing process used to generate large numbers of the same shape from a material such as wood, plastic, metal, or fabric interface - the space where interaction between humans and machines occurs. The goal of interaction between a human and a machine at the user interface is effective operation and control of the machine and feedback from the machine, which helps the operator in making operational decisions. Examples of this broad concept of user interfaces include the interactive aspects of computer operating systems, hand tools etc.
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1.
Answer the following questions. a) Why is graphic design also referred to as ‘visual communications’? b) Which are the segments of everyday life where graphic designers can offer their services? c) Why could graphic design evolve over time and become a distinct profession? d) Which benefits of the 20 th and 21 st century enabled graphic design to expand rapidly? e) Graphic design is almost always talked about in the context of art and entertainment industry. It is often forgotten that it is very valuable in the transfer of knowledge and information. Which uses are we talking about? f) What is information design? g) What is the range of activity of a graphic designer working for a newspaper publisher? h) What is typography and what does it include? i) What is page layout concerned with? j) When did interface design develop as a further graphic discipline? Why is it indispensable nowadays?
2. Find the information in the text and fill it in the gaps so as to complete the statements below. a) An important part of the designer’s task is to combine visual and verbal elements into
_______________________________________________________________________________________. b) In the late 19 th century graphic design emerged as a distinct profession in the West because
_______________________________________________________________________________________. c) An important aspect of interface design is icon design, the process of
_______________________________________________________________________________________.
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1.
Here are some simple definitions of the words that appear in the text.
Find the words they refer to and fill the missing letters in the gaps. b) c)
2.
3.
a) c _ _ _ _ y (v.) to communicate ideas or feelings indirectly b) _ o_ _ _ b _ _ _ _ _ v_ (adj.) involving people or groups working together to produce something c) _ n _ _ _ p _ r _ t e (v.) to add or include something as a part of something else d) f _ _ t _ _ e (n.) an important part or aspect of something; quality, property e) _ u _ _ _ q _ _ _ t (adj.) happening or coming after something else f) c _ i _ (v.) to use a word or phrase that no one has used before g) u _ _ q _ _ _ o _ s (adj.) present everywhere h) p _ _ m _ _ t _ (v.) to affect something so that you can feel or see its influence clearly in every i) j) part of that thing
_ _ l _n _ l _ s s (adj.) which cannot be stopped e _ h _ _ c e (v.) to improve something, or to make it more attractive or more valuable
Study the terminology under the text. Try to translate the terms into Croatian.
What is the difference between “package” and “packaging”? Check in the dictionary to confirm.
(par. 2 and 8)
4.
‘Readability’ refers to the quality of being easily read and understood. It mustn’t be mistaken for
‘legibility’, although they are similar on a certain level. What is the difference? Find also the corresponding Croatian terms. (par. 8)
5.
Paraphrase (= express differently) the following sentences by replacing the underlined words with synonyms or an explanation. You can fully change the structure of the sentence as long as you maintain their original meaning. Use your own vocabulary but also the words mentioned in the text. a) As printing and book production developed in the 15 th century, advances in graphic design developed alongside it over subsequent centuries, with compositors or typesetters often designing pages in addition to setting the type.
Design can also aid in selling a product or idea through effective visual communication.
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.
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6.
Search the text for the synonyms of the following words. a) progress (par. 4) b) emerge (par. 5) c) arrival, appearance (par. 10 and 14) d) decide (par. 11)
7.
Search the text for the antonyms of the following words. a) sender (par. 1) b) vanish, disappear (par. 5) c) decrease, minimize (par. 8 and 14) d) old, old-fashioned, preceding (par. 7)
8.
Translate the following sentences into Croatian.
The evolution of graphic design as a practice and profession has been closely bound to technological innovations, societal needs and the visual imagination of its practitioners.
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.
9.
The text delivers some concepts related to the general knowledge. What do they refer to? a) manuscripts (par. 4) b) Industrial Revolution (par. 5) c) brand/branding d) corporate identity e) WYSIWYG user interfaces
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