What is graphic design
Graphic design is the way in which elements is presented visually. On digital devices, elements is anything that can be displayed on the screen, such as:
- Text
- Photographs and graphics
- Navigation
- Icons
- Forms and buttons
- Advertisements
- Decoration
While function is generally more important than form, the way in which elements are presented and structured can have a significant impact on how well they can be used. It is therefore very closely linked with usability.
Elements of graphic design
Shapes
Shapes are very powerful in conveying purpose. It is immediately obvious which of these four shapes would be used by an action-packed comic, a bank, a children’s game, and an artist.
Colors
Hue
Colors add mood. They can be calm or aggressive, professional or playful, invisible or provocative. Colors are also stereotypical; most banks have blue colors, while most farmers markets have green or yellow.
Value and saturation
Value and saturation adds nuance to a hue. Whether a color is light or dark, and dusty or brilliant, can convey very different feels.
Information hierarchy
Orientation and position convey function. Combined, they create a visual information hierarchy.
It is clear which of these boxes is the site header, the navigation, the contents, and the advertisements. The user can miss important contents if you break these expectations.
Typography
Like shape and color, fonts are very important to the feel of an interface. Generally, sans-serif fonts are best for text on a display, especially small font sizes. Monospaced fonts will appear cold and overly formal, and a difficult to read. Avoid fancy fonts, exception for logos.
The best readability is achieved by using a black, sans-serif font on a light grey or creme background.
Textures
Be careful about using background textures. They can sometimes add value, especially for games, but mostly they just look tacky and make the text more difficult to read.
Graphic design and art
“We are far too conscious of the way bourgeois society tames its rebels. Savouring the poison and calling it entertainment or, “avant-garde”. Thought, art, even spiritual revolt, can be reduced to a commodity. We can only avoid assimilation by writing hermetically. By not making ourselves obvious to every department-store shop assistant. Mystery is frightening.”
Greater Than One: Fear Is the Agent of Violence
Graphic design is at the same time an artistic expression and the antithesis of art. Both design and art are aesthetic. Unlike design, art can be thought-provoking, iconoclastic, demanding of analysis, obscure, illegal, repulsive.
Because graphic design is utilitarian by definition, its aesthetics must exist despite the overall purpose. It must facilitate first. That is not to say that graphic design cannot be artistic in nature, but the designer will have to weigh this with utility.
The website of a major newspaper must capture the attention of its readers. Its purpose is to earn money for its parent company through the sale of advertisements and subscriptions. The contents will be text-heavy and condensed. On the balance between utilitarianism and artistic expression, it will lean heavily towards the former.
This is the home page of the Wall Street Journal on 26 February 2020. The focus is to provide as much information as possible. Artistic expression is largely limited to font faces and sizes.
On the opposite end of the scale, the website of a financially independent art group can ignore commercial viability. They can chose to express themselves in any way they want.
This is a page from subsection of Kraftwerk’s website (requires Flash). When the user moves their cursor over a number, the number is read out as on their track Nummern. The page has no utility.