graphics and logo development
Graphic designers work with drawn, painted, photographed, or
computer-generated images (pictures), but they also design the
letterforms that make up various typefaces found in movie
credits and TV ads; in books, magazines, and menus; and even on
computer screens. Designers create, choose, and organize these
elements—typography, images, and the so-called “white space”
around them—to communicate a message.
Graphic design is a part of your daily life. From humble things
like gum wrappers to huge things like billboards to the T-shirt
you’re wearing, graphic design informs, persuades, organizes,
stimulates, locates, identifies, attracts attention and provides
pleasure.
Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and
technology to communicate ideas. The designer works with a
variety of communication tools in order to convey a message from
a client to a particular audience. The main tools are image and
typography.
Image-based design
Designers develop images to represent the ideas their clients
want to communicate. Images can be incredibly powerful and
compelling tools of communication, conveying not only
information but also moods and emotions. People respond to
images instinctively based on their personalities, associations,
and previous experience. For example, you know that a chili
pepper is hot, and this knowledge in combination with the image
creates a visual pun.
In the case of image-based design, the images must carry the
entire message; there are few if any words to help. These images
may be photographic, painted, drawn, or graphically rendered in
many different ways. Image-based design is employed when the
designer determines that, in a particular case, a picture is
indeed worth a thousand words.
Type-based design
In some cases, designers rely on words to convey a message, but
they use words differently from the ways writers do. To
designers, what the words look like is as important as their
meaning. The visual forms, whether typography (communication
designed by means of the printed word) or handmade lettering,
perform many communication functions. They can arrest your
attention on a poster, identify the product name on a package or
a truck, and present running text as the typography in a book
does. Designers are experts at presenting information in a
visual form in print or on film, packaging, or signs.
When you look at an “ordinary” printed page of running text,
what is involved in designing such a seemingly simple page?
Think about what you would do if you were asked to redesign the
page. Would you change the typeface or type size? Would you
divide the text into two narrower columns? What about the
margins and the spacing between the paragraphs and lines? Would
you indent the paragraphs or begin them with decorative
lettering? What other kinds of treatment might you give the page
number? Would you change the boldface terms, perhaps using
italic or underlining? What other changes might you consider,
and how would they affect the way the reader reacts to the
content? Designers evaluate the message and the audience for
type-based design in order to make these kinds of decisions.
Image and type
Designers often combine images and typography to communicate a
client’s message to an audience. They explore the creative
possibilities presented by words (typography) and images
(photography, illustration, and fine art). It is up to the
designer not only to find or create appropriate letterforms and
images but also to establish the best balance between them.
Designers are the link between the client and the audience. On
the one hand, a client is often too close to the message to
understand various ways in which it can be presented. The
audience, on the other hand, is often too broad to have any
direct impact on how a communication is presented. What’s more,
it is usually difficult to make the audience a part of the
creative process. Unlike client and audience, graphic designers
learn how to construct a message and how to present it
successfully. They work with the client to understand the
content and the purpose of the message. They often collaborate
with market researchers and other specialists to understand the
nature of the audience. Once a design concept is chosen, the
designers work with illustrators and photographers as well as
with typesetters and printers or other production specialists to
create the final design product.
Symbols, logos and logotypes
Symbols and logos are special, highly condensed information
forms or identifiers. Symbols are abstract representation of a
particular idea or identity. The CBS “eye” and the active
“television” are symbolic forms, which we learn to recognize as
representing a particular concept or company. Logotypes are
corporate identifications based on a special typographical word
treatment. Some identifiers are hybrid, or combinations of
symbol and logotype. In order to create these identifiers, the
designer must have a clear vision of the corporation or idea to
be represented and of the audience to which the message is
directed.