Fundamentals of Graphic DesignPart I

Elements of

Graphic Design

Elements of Graphic Design

0Line0Shape0Color0Value0Texture0Format

Exercise0Questions: Where did you draw your first line-

at the top or at the bottom? 0Where did you draw your second line?0Were they on angles?0How long were the lines?0How thick were the lines?0Did the lines touch?0Did the lines bend or curve, or were they

straight?

El Paso Chile Co. Margarita Mix Package Design, Design Firm: Louise Fili Ltd, New York, NYIllustrator: James Grashow

Line0 Is a mark by a tool as it is drawn across a surface.

(Moving a dot or point, open path)

0Line type: line type or attributes refer to the way it moves from its beginning to its end. (straight, curving, or angular.)

0Directions: describes a line’s relationship to the page. Horizontal lines move across the page, east or west or west to east, north to south or south to north. Diagonal lines look slanted in comparison to the edges of the page.

0Line quality: refers to how a line is drawn. A line may be bold, smooth, broken, thick or thin, regular or changing. All these adjectives, as well as many others, describe a line’s visual quality.

Line Type, Directions, Line Quality

0ALL THREE OF THESE CATEGORIES APPLIED WHEN YOU Were ASKED TO DRAW TWO LINES ON THE PAGE. Ex: you many have drawn a thin, angular line that moved in a diagonal direction, or you may have drawn a smooth, curving line that moved in a horizontal direction.

DESCRIBE YOUR LINES USING THE VOCABULAR TO YOUR NEIGHBOR.

Lab #1: Exploring Lines

0Click here for directions

Shape

0Shape is the general outline of any object. It can also be defined as a closed form or closed pathways to depict shapes on a 2D surface: Line can be used to describe a flat shape, like a pyramid or a cube.

0A shape can be open or filled with color, tone or texture.

0How a shape is drawn gives it a quality: a shape may be curving or angular, regular or changing, flat or volumetric, and so on.

0We can translate a 3D forms of the real world into representational 2D shapes on a page by describing their particular edges using lines.

0Create non-representational shapes with lines

Others way to create shape

Color or Collage

Color

0Three categories of color0Hue: the name of a color0Value: the range of lightness or

darkness0Saturation: the brightness for dullness

of a color

Primary colors

0Painting: Red Blue yellow0Computer: Red Green Blue (RGB)0Printing: Yellow Magenta Cyan key

(black)

Painting

0These colors are made from pigment

Computer

0Primary colors are: green, red, blue

0Made by mixing light, which acts different than pigment

0Mix red + green= yellow, red + blue=magenta, green + blue= cyan

Why?Color on computers is made by mixing light. White light is produced by mixing the three primary colors together: these primaries are also called the additive primaries because when “added” together they create white light. You can millions of colors on a computer

Printing0What color ink cartages to you put

in your printer?0 Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, CMYK…

K????0The "K" in CMYK stands for key

since in four-color printing cyan, magenta, and yellow printing plates are carefully keyed or aligned with the key of the black key plate. Using all four-color process

0The black is added to increase contrast.

Lab II: Colors in the computer world

0 You are going to create a color wheel in Adobe Photoshop using shapes.

Color in advertisement:

The advertising world revolves around the principle of attraction. Whatever the product, in the end, the advertisement should attract the consumer. How do ads manage to attract attention?0One of the first things you notice about any

advertisement is the colors. In ads that don’t have a multimedia advantage (like ads in the newspaper or on a billboard), the colors and design are the only things holding the ad together.

It’s essential to use colors to project an image of the product—is it a warm, family oriented-thing?

0Is it a bright, colorful kiddy thing?

0 Is it a cool teen thing?

0Red is an extremely powerful color.0 symbolizes energy, power, vitality and vigor. 0Red is an attractive color to nearly everyone—it’s the

first color babies can see, the most popular color among children, and generally liked by adults as well.

0Since it has the ability to physically affect humans by increasing the breathing and pulse rate, it can be used for anything exciting.

power of products0 red in the motor industry

0 red is speed, red is the beat, red is the groove

0 In addition, red is used to arouse adult men and women. Therefore, it’s used in beauty products like nail polish, lipstick and perfume.

0Red’s ability to stimulate the appetite makes it an excellent tool in food products as well. Sometimes red is used to symbolize fast-acting pills.

0Since red is associated with the more passionate emotions (both love and hate!) it’s the only color that can really portray any vigorous reaction—you can’t use green, blue or purple for those red hearts or that red-faced dog in cartoons. Thus, overall, red is a pretty useful advertising color

Green

0Green is the nature color. In today’s world, green has a very strong association with the get-green fad and environment movements.

0green portrays health and nature more than ever. Along with this, green has the nurturing and tranquil effect, as it happens to be the easiest color for the eye to see. Green is synonymous with harmony, and is a very, very utile color in advertising.

0green also stands for the right thing. In some contexts, green is like the green traffic light signaling go; so that’s another way ads can manipulate green.

0On the other hand, green is also associated with money and financial power—think about the US dollars—meaning that sometimes it can be used to depict fast-earning schemes and investment plans

Blue0Blue is probably the universal favorite. As a cool

shade, it not only promotes serenity and clarity, it also denotes intellect and precision.

0Blue has a lot of significance in formality and elegance, especially in its deeper shades. You might have noticed the many ads using blue luxury cars, navy-blue suits and rich blue office rooms.

0Since it increases the concentration ability, blue can also be used to highlight the effectiveness of a product in terms of its smooth running. The cold side of blue is used to show refreshing cool drinks and icy cold mountain water.

0 It’s also associated with purity and clarity, which is why window cleaners, mineral water, and glasses are all given blue tints. Blue is also associated with masculinity and can be used accordingly.

0Although it is a versatile color, blue loses out on food products as it suppresses the appetite. Therefore, it is unwise to use blue in the field of food products.

Yellow0Yellow is a two-faced advertising

color. Although it is the most eye-catching color, yellow can be fatiguing to the eye and overbearing to the mind.

0Yellow is a happy, energetic color, that sometimes symbolizes rejuvenation; hence the use of the color yellow in beauty products. But somehow, the color remains distasteful to men, maybe because of its conventional “cheap” connotation.

0Yellow is also used to show the scrumptious attraction of buttery food products, the sunshiny cheerfulness of toys and such, and the happy child atmospheres in general. People tend to associate yellow to sunshine and happiness, so towards that effect, it remains a good advertising color tool.