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BecomeNumberOne has created thousands of logo's,
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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. Below
are a few examples.
Administration
From road
signs to technical schematics, from interoffice memorandums
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.
Advertising
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. 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.
Education
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.
Entertainment
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.
Journalism
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.
Web
Graphic
designers are often 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.
In the job
field, many companies look for someone who can do both
graphic design and the web application development involved
in web design, including programming. There is a great deal
of debate in the professional design community about whether
this trend is positive, or if graphic designers are being
over-tasked with unrelated skills and disciplines. A
collaborative web-design team may split the tasks between
graphic designers and software engineers.
Tools
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.
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.
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.
There is some
debate whether computers enhance the creative process of
graphic design. 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. 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.
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 that it makes a tool out of
appropriate image selection in order to convey meaning. Some
graphic design ideas are created entirely in the mind,
before approaching any external media.
A graphic
designer may also use sketches to explore multiple or
complex ideas quickly without the potential distractions of
technical difficulties from software malfunctions or
software learning. 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. 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 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. 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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