What is graphic design?
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.
—AIGA
Designers use type, images, symbols, and white space to create messages. They think about visual forms and how those forms are put together to convey meaning.
Graphic designers are the link between the client and the audience: the client is too close to the message to see how else it can be transmitted, and the audience is too broad to have any influence on how the message will be presented. Designers learn how to construct a message and present it successfully.
How Do You Start a Graphic Design Project?
When you start a design project, you can just jump in and start slinging text all over the place, or you can take a moment and plan what you are about to do.
You need a little information before you start
- What do you want to say (the purpose?)
- Who do you want to hear your message (the audience)?
- What is the format (the size, shape, and function of a page)?
You will need this information and a basic knowledge of design principles in order to get started.
Decide What You Want To Say
What exactly do you want to communicate? What is your intent? The answers to this will help determine several visual elements (the individual elements on the page such as lines, type, and images) you need to arrange in your design. It also helps to know how much text you have to work with, and how that text is written. These elements all come together to help you decide how to design and execute your layout (the placement and design of visual elements on a page).
A tip: be sure to get to write down the exact wording you will be working with as soon as possible. This will help your design tremendously by giving you concrete goals.
Decide Who Your Audience Is
The more you know about the people you hope to reach with your message, the better equipped you are to design and create that message. Determine your audience’s demographics (age, gender, education, .etc) to help you target the audience and speak to them in an appropriate way.
In order to speak to your audience in a voice they will identify with, try to put yourself in their shoes. Try to design pages that appeal to them on an instinctual level. If your design has no perceived immediate value or is tedious, your audience won’t be motivated to read it, much less act on it.
Pick a Design Format
Knowing who your audience is will help you pick the best format in which to communicate with them. The format will influence on how you will place elements on the page–meaning it will directly affect the final look and feel of the product.
A List of Design Formats
- business cards, envelopes, letterheads
- posters and banners
- CD booklets, DVD packaging
- software manuals, boxes, disk labels
- annual reports, stock reports, financial statements
- book jackets
- desk calendars, wall calendars
- billboards
- souvenir postcards, bumper stickers
- shopping bags, store signage
- sales flyers
- newspaper adds, web ads
- promotional t-shirts, baseball caps
