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Graphic design is the process of
communicating
visually using text and images to present information.
Graphic
design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts,
including
typography,
visual
arts and
page
layout. Like other forms of
design, graphic
design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication
is created and the products (designs) which are generated.
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Graphic design history
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| The story of graphic design spans the history of humankind from
the caves of
Lascaux to the dazzling neons of
Ginza.
In both this lengthy history and in the relatively recent
explosion of
visual communication in the 20th and 21st centuries, there
is sometimes a blurring distinction and over-lapping of
advertising art, graphic design and
fine art. After all, they share many of the same elements,
theories, principles, practices and
languages, and sometimes the same benefactor or client. In
advertising art the ultimate objective is the sale of goods
and services. In graphic design, "the essence is to give order
to information, form to ideas, expression and feeling to
artifacts that document human experience."[2]
The paintings in the caves of
Lascaux around 14,000 BC and the birth of written language
in the third or fourth millennium BC are both significant
milestones in the history of graphic design and other fields
which hold roots to graphic design.
The
Book of Kells is an early example of graphic design. It is a
lavishly decorated hand-written copy of the Gospels of the
Christian Bible created by
Celtic
monks
around 800AD.
From
1891 to
1896
William Morris' Kelmscott Press published books that are
some of the most significant of the graphic design products of
the
Arts and Crafts movement, and made a very lucrative business
of creating books of great stylistic refinement and selling them
to the wealthy for a premium. Morris proved that a market
existed for works of graphic design in their own right and
helped pioneer the separation of design from production and from
fine art. The work of the Kelmscott Press is characterized by
its obsession with historical styles. This historicism was,
however, important as it amounted to the first significant
reaction to the stale state of nineteenth-century graphic
design. Morris' work, along with the rest of the
Private Presss movement, directly influenced
Art Nouveau and is indirectly responsible for developments
in early twentieth century graphic design in general. |
Page
from the
Book of
Kells:
Folio
114v,
Decorated
text.
Tunc
dicit
illis
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| The signage in the
London Underground is a classic[citation
needed] of the modern era
and used a font designed by Edward Johnston in
1916. In the
1920s, Soviet
Constructivism (art) applied 'intellectual
production' in different spheres of production.
The movement saw individualistic art as useless
in revolutionary Russia and thus moved towards
creating objects for utilitary purposes. They
designed buildings, theater sets, posters,
fabrics, clothing, furniture, logos, menus, etc.[citation
needed]Jan
Tschichold codified the principles of modern
typography in his
1928 book, New Typography. He later
repudiated the philosophy he espoused in this
book as being fascistic, but it remained very
influential.[citation
needed] Tschichold,
Bauhaus typographers such as
Herbert Bayer and
Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, and
El Lissitzky are the fathers of graphic
design[citation
needed] as we know it
today. They pioneered production techniques and
stylistic devices used throughout the twentieth
century. The following years saw graphic design
in the modern style gain widespread acceptance
and application.[citation
needed] A booming
post-World War II American economy established a
greater need for graphic design, mainly
advertising and packaging. The emigration of the
German
Bauhaus school of design to Chicago in 1937
brought a "mass-produced" minimalism to America;
sparking a wild fire of "modern" architecture
and design. Notable names in mid-century modern
design include
Adrian Frutiger, designer of the
typefaces
Univers and
Frutiger;
Paul Rand, who, from the late 1930s until
his death in 1996, took the principles of the
Bauhaus and applied them to popular advertising
and logo design, helping to create a uniquely
American approach to European minimalism while
becoming one of the principal pioneers of the
subset of graphic design known as
corporate identity; and
Josef Müller-Brockmann, who designed posters
in a severe yet accessible manner typical of the
1950s and
1960s.
An important point was reached in graphic
design with the publishing of the
First things first 1964 Manifesto[citation
needed] which was a call to
a more radical form of graphic design and
criticized the ideas of value-free and purely
commercial design. This was massively
influential[citation
needed] on a generation of
new graphic designers[citation
needed] and contributed to
the founding of publications such as
Emigre magazine.[citation
needed]
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Graphic design is used whenever
visual intricacy and
creativity are applied to
the presentation of
text and
imagery. Contemporary design
practice has been extended to
the modern computer, in
particular
WYSIWYG user interfaces,
often referred to as
interactive design, or
multimedia design.
Anywhere there is a need to
communicate visually, there
is potential enhancement of
communications through graphic
design. Here are a few examples:
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The
cover
of
Never
Mind
the
Bollocks
designed
by
Jamie
Reid
- a
classic
piece
of
'anti-design'
postmodern
graphics
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From road signs to technical schematics, from interoffice
memos to reference manuals, graphic design enhances transfer
of knowledge. Readability is enhanced
by improving the visual presentation of text. Intricate and
clever pictures are used when words cannot suffice. |
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Graphic designs have a unique ability to sell a product or idea
through effective visual communications. It is applied to
products as well as elements of company identity like
logos,
colors and text, together defined as
branding. See
advertising. Branding has increasingly become important
in the range of services offered by many graphic designers,
alongside
corporate identity and the terms are often used
interchangeably.
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Graphics are used in textbooks for subjects such as
geography, science and math to illustrate theories and
diagrams. A common example of graphics in use to educate is
diagrams of human anatomy. Graphic design is also applied to
layout and formatting of educational material to make the
information more accessible and more readily understandable. |
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From decoration, to scenery, to visual story
telling, graphic design is applied to
entertainment. From cover to cover in novels
and comic books, from
opening credits to
closing credits in film, from programs to
props on stage, graphic design helps set the
theme and the intended mood. |
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From scientific journals to news reporting, the presentation
of opinion and facts is often improved with graphics and
thoughtful compositions of visual information. Newspapers,
magazines, blogs, television and film documentaries may use
graphic design to inform and entertain. |
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Graphic designers have long been involved in
web design. Combining visual communication
skills with the interactive communication skills
of user interaction and online branding, graphic
designers often work with web developers to
create both the
look and feel of a web site and enhance the
online experience of web site visitors. |
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The primary tool for graphic
design is the creative mind.
Critical, observational,
quantitative and analytic
thinking are required for
designing page layout and
rendering. If the executor
is merely following a sketch,
script or instructions (as may
be supplied by an
art director) they are not
usually considered the author.
The eye and the hand are often
augmented with the use of
external
traditional or
digital image editing tools.
The selection of the appropriate
one to the communication problem
at hand is also a key skill in
graphic design work, and a
defining factor of the rendering
style. |
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In the mid
1980s, the arrival of
desktop publishing and the
introduction of
graphic art software
applications introduced a
generation of designers to
computer image manipulation and
3D image creation that had
previously been laborious.
Computer graphic design enabled
designers to instantly see the
effects of layout or typographic
changes without using any ink in
the process, and to simulate the
effects of traditional media
without requiring a lot of
space. Traditional tools such as
pencils or
markers are often used to
develop graphic design ideas,
even when computers are used for
finalization. |
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Computers are generally
considered to be an
indispensable tool used in the
graphic design industry.
Computers and
software applications are
generally seen, by
creative professionals, as
more effective production
tools than traditional
methods. However, some designers
continue to use manual and
traditional tools for
production, such as
Milton Glaser. |
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There is some debate whether
computers enhance the creative
process of graphic design.[3]
Rapid production from the
computer allows many designers
to explore multiple ideas
quickly with more detail than
what could be achieved by
traditional hand-rendering or
paste-up on paper, moving
the designer through the
creative process more quickly.[4]
However, being faced with
limitless choices does not help
isolate the best design solution
and can lead to designers
endlessly iterating without a
clear design outcome. |
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New ideas can come by way of
experimenting with tools and
methods, be they traditional or
digital. Some designers explore
ideas using pencil and paper to
avoid creating within the limits
of whatever
computer fonts,
clipart,
stock photos, or rendering
filters (e.g.
Kai's Power Tools) are
available on any particular
configuration. Others use many
different mark-making tools and
resources from computers to
sticks and mud as a means of
inspiring creativity.
One of the
key features of graphic design
is it involves selecting the
appropriate image making tools
out of it's ability to generate
meaning rather than preference.[5]
Some graphic design ideas are
created entirely in the mind,
before approaching any external
media.
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A graphic designer may also
use
sketches to explore multiple
or complex ideas quickly[6]
without the potential
distractions of technical
difficulties from software
malfunctions or software
learning[citation
needed].
Hand rendered
comps are often used to get
approval of a graphic design idea before investing time to
produce finished visuals on a computer or in paste-up if
rejected. |
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The same
thumbnail sketches or rough
drafts on paper may be used to
rapidly refine and produce the
idea on the computer in a hybrid
process. This hybrid process is
especially useful in
logo design[7]
where a software
learning curve may detract
from a creative thought process.
The
traditional-design/computer-production
hybrid process may be used for
freeing ones creativity in
page layout or
image development as well[citation
needed].
Traditional graphic designers
may employ computer-savvy
production artists to
produce their ideas from
sketches, without needing to
learn the computer skills
themselves.
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