Graphic design usually refers to the design with printing process as the carrier, so it is also called printing design. Forms generally include poster design, frame design of books and magazines, trademark design, etc. With the development of computer network technology, web page design also belongs to graphic design.
with the development of computer technology and the progress of printing technology, graphic design has become more and more abundant in the field of visual perception, which poses unprecedented challenges to today's graphic design and provides a broader development for graphic designers. Technically speaking, graphic designers should not only master traditional design tools, such as brushes, drawing pens and corresponding measurement tools, but also? It is necessary to master modern design tools such as computers and drawing software and related printing technology knowledge, because this very efficient, high-quality and convenient tool will be widely used. Although the development of modern technology makes the design simpler and easier, the creativity and personality of the designer are still the most critical in the design.
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Basic skills of graphic design
Yesterday afternoon, five fresh graduates majoring in computer art design from Beifu-Flesh International College visited the studio. One or two of them may come to the studio for internship in the next three months. The five young people's mentor James (James? Blair? Thompson) I hope they can continue to learn practical knowledge about design in their future work.
Five young people were very interested in the studio. After looking around for a long time, they finally gathered in my office to talk and asked me many questions about design and printing. Among the many questions they raised, what is the basic skill of graphic design is the most difficult for me to answer. After I perfunctory them, I thought about it out of interest and finally felt that I was looking for an answer without laws.
I searched for a big circle from years of broken experience and picked out some lessons, which really need to be solved in basic skills.
First of all, whenever I hire an assistant, no computer obstacle is my first requirement, which must be regarded as a basic skill. ? I have met many designers who think they are proficient in computers, but as soon as I started, I decided that their technology came from word of mouth, and they planted bombs in their work at any time. The confidence of these designers will undoubtedly send their bosses who don't know computers to the road of breaking money. Of course, it is not contradictory that I ask my design assistants not to rely on computers every day. Not relying on it does not mean that you can't understand it. After all, in our work, every process from design to printing needs the help of computers. Looking at this problem today is the same as the reason why painters can't use pens.
Secondly, the lack of printing knowledge hinders the development of many graphic designers. Because they don't understand, many designers think that their design is what it looks like on the computer screen, which is very dangerous. Because of technical reasons, there is still a big gap between it and the actual output effect. Not familiar with the characteristics and defects of printing, many designers constantly make trouble and set obstacles for printing when designing, which is stupid. Graphic designers need to know a lot of printing knowledge, such as the performance of various brands of printing presses, the performance of different specifications of the same model, the performance of different brands of inks, the characteristics of four-color inks and spot-color inks, the performance of different brands, specifications, varieties of paper, special technology, post-processing and binding, etc. These are all issues that designers need to consider for customers when designing. ?
So, if you know the computer and the printing process, can you be called a graphic designer? Maybe not, after all, the above is not directly related to "design". As far as graphic design is concerned, there are many distinctive laws, and I am more interested in these. ?
A, uneven plane
For more than twenty years, I have had many lucky things myself. For example, at the beginning of eating this bowl of rice, I accidentally bought a bunch of "TIME" magazines at the old bookstall, which is always an exciting memory for me. Because at that time, I was confused by the dazzling design, and there was no teacher to follow. This pile of old magazines opened my eyes and made me see the punctuality.
read TIME magazine carefully, all the skills related to graphic design are included, and it is unassuming, gentle and elegant, which provides a lot of room for plagiarism. Much of my understanding of graphic design comes from this pile of old magazines.
"Uneven Plane" is my understanding of the picture effect in graphic design. Many people call it format, composition, structure, sense of form … whatever. I like to keep it simple. After reading a lot of good designs, I feel that designers are pursuing the "uneven" effect intentionally or unintentionally. That is, using various plane elements, on the plane material (such as paper, etc.), we strive to stretch the visual space. The painter Cezanne began to try this theory a hundred years earlier than us, and has reached the extreme. What makes me sigh is that the least commercial and frightening artistic change a hundred years ago has turned into the most commercial graphic art a hundred years later. How interesting. ?
This concept of space includes natural space feeling and contradiction space feeling. With the designer's hobbies, layout requirements, visual impact needs, free choice. Nowadays, there are not many people making a fuss, but the skills (or elements) used by designers are regular, whether they show the feelings of natural space or contradiction space. There are a lot of them put together. For example: making holes; Exaggerated shadow effect; Use images with great authenticity and texture; Contrastive use of physical elements and painting elements; Use the contrast effect between colors; Using the overlapping effect of lines and color bars; Use the superposition effect of words and graphics, words and words; The comparison of the scale relationship between characters and so on. Because of the limitation of space, I don't want to explain it in detail. In the future, we can compare the example works with the theoretical texts at a glance. ?
B. Music in color
Color is the soul of graphic works. If you want to use it well, you must know something about paper and ink. The combination of different papers and different inks will produce absolutely different effects. But the difference between us and the painter is that there are only four tubes of pigment in the hands of graphic designers, but it can reconcile all the colors we can perceive by relying on the density characteristics of dots. This is really a magical invention. As the original nation of printing technology, we thank the Germans. ? By using the cooperation between dot and paper (white), we can make ink appear more uniform, bright and clean. But this is only a technical matter, and designers should rely more on spirituality in the use of color in design work.
I often hope that designers and friends around me can learn some music. This is not a mystery. It is really simple and straightforward to analyze colors with the theory of music. This is my discovery.
a.? First of all, people who know music know that there is no fixed sound on musical instruments, and the position of the note "Dao" changes with the mode. Different modes convey different feelings and are suitable for different instruments and voices. This is the same as the reason why we use color. The tone and mood of the whole picture are conveyed through the warmth and coldness of the picture color. But since childhood, the relationship between cold and warm colors in our minds has been fixed. Red is warmer and blue is colder. Actually, this is a wrong concept. Like notes, color changes with the surrounding environment to change the tonality (cold-warm relationship). Knowing this truth, blue can also be rendered into a warm look by us. ?
Because of the screen, graphic designers are not used to giving literary names to colors, such as magenta, ultramarine and lake blue, and they are replaced by simpler and more direct four numbers. This is very good. It meets the requirements of commercial times or the digital age. It is a mechanical requirement. The understanding of color tonality is the spiritual training for graphic designers.
b.? Secondly, the application of the concept of chord and melody in graphic design
Friends who play musical instruments know another truth. It doesn't matter which sound is good or bad, the notes must be put together to be called music, otherwise it must be noise if you keep pressing it, and when you put it together, it will become the chord "C". This is like the collocation of red, blue and white in color, which is always harmonious. Chords can continue to add new notes, such as adding a "lai", which immediately changes mood and becomes a 7-chord. If "Mi" is replaced by "Mi", it will go to the blues in a very different way, just like in the combination of red, blue and white, purple or orange gives people a completely different visual experience. Chords can always be added with notes, becoming 9 chords, 13 chords ... in color, they are like what we often call high-grade gray.
after understanding this truth, we will understand more directly that colors should be used in groups. The basis of these combinations should be the same as chords C, D, E, F…, and there is a primitive collocation. Designers want to change constantly, so they should change in these combinations. You must put the colors that don't matter together, just like "hair" and "hope" are not next to each other. It doesn't matter between the two, and your picture must be dull; If you must put hostile colors together, it will be ugly. Using the principle of chord to understand color, you will immediately jump out of the misunderstanding of color poverty and find that there are too many colors available in front of you. Reasonable collocation of TINT stretches the visual space of the picture constantly, making the picture not only gorgeous but also thick, which is the function of color chords. ? But can you become music just by having chords? No, music needs melody, and music without melody is not good. Then, what is the melody of a plane work? It is the process of watching a work with our eyes. Whether it is a poster or a brochure, there is a question of what to see first, what to see later, what people need to see most, what to remember and what to remember. These constitute the melody of graphic works, which makes the audience's eyes tense, when to rest, and where to stay at last. This is the most important problem that designers need to think about.
c.? Rhythm
According to my suggestion, my design assistants have been summarizing and recording all kinds of TINT for a long time. From the works of famous artists, from the patterns of various ethnic groups, from natural scenery, and then we use these colors in practical work. For example, the set of colors used in the small folding pages we made for the "Haolunge" pizza shop were found in vegetables and fruits. Because we need a set of colors that make people hungry. But the problem soon came. Many of the color combinations that we summarized in the famous designers' good designs changed after we used them. Why? It really bothered us for a while. ?
At first, we thought there was something wrong with the color recording, and the correct color was not accurate enough. Later, many experiments were unsuccessful, but fortunately, after a long period of confusion, we found out the reason. It turns out that the use of color is the same as the rhythm in music, which needs proportion. Many beautiful TINT also needs reasonable color proportion control. Under certain conditions, the use area of a certain color must be large, and a certain color must be small. Some are just for ventilation, and some are for pressure sinking. I have no confidence to continue looking for rules, which is really changeable. But what is certain is that graphic works must need a kind of rhythm control, and there are many elements to control the rhythm, among which colors, pictures and text arrangement are commonly used. ?
as we said at the beginning of the article, we have been looking for an answer without laws. It is precisely because of the lack of laws that graphic design is interesting and full of challenges? , stimulation. Many opportunities are born in disorder. . com
Graphic design walks out of chaos
Today, one thing is certain, the field of design is expanding, which is a world that needs design. Although the latest statistics show that there are more than 7 formal teaching institutions of design colleges in China, and the number is increasing. The number of students attending school has increased exponentially, which makes the design education, which is short of teachers and quality, even more tired and unable to cope. Moreover, China does not have a theoretical foundation, and the poor understanding and understanding of design has led to the fact that the design education level is poor, and designers have become a ninth-rate generation who have no principles and are only interested in profit. And indirectly cause huge visual pollution to our living space. Who is responsible for our visual space? ! ?
although this paper starts from the concept of grand design, it is more inclined to the direction of graphic design in the process of discussion, summarizing the knowledge structure, skills, design elements, techniques and styles of graphic design, etc. According to my personal understanding and combining with a lot of materials, I will make some simple discussions in order to reveal the basic problems and core spirit of design. Summarizing the problems that the designer plays a universal role, so that designers can understand their own knowledge structure, literacy, principles, professional ethics, responsibilities and so on. ?
in order to avoid dogmatism, please consider the gap between theory and practice as a methodology for understanding and thinking about design, which only has a general guiding role. ?
chapter 1: understanding graphic design?
understanding the definition and concept of design will be the first step to understand design, which will help us to understand the scope of our responsibilities as a quasi-graphic designer. ?
Section 1: Rectification and Classification of Graphic Design?
the word design comes from the English word "design", which includes a wide range of design and buildings: industry, environmental art, decoration, exhibition, clothing, graphic design, etc. However, the current name of graphic design is very difficult in ordinary expressions, because the cross between disciplines is wider and deeper now, and the traditional definition, such as the current name "graphic design? Design) visual communication design, decoration design ..., which may have a lot to do with the characteristics of graphic design, because design is ubiquitous and graphic design is ubiquitous. From the scope, it is related to graphic design. From the function, it is called visual communication, that is, using visual language to convey information and express opinions, while decorative design or decorative art design is recognized as extremely inaccurate. ?
Now, after understanding the scope and connotation of graphic design, let's look at the classification of graphic design, such as image system design, font design, book binding design, line recording design, packaging design, poster/poster design ... It can be said that there are as many designs as there are needs. ?
In addition, commercial design and artistic design obviously exist. ?
section 2: the concept of graphic design?
Design is purposeful planning, and graphic design is one of the forms that these plans will take. In graphic design, you need to use visual elements to spread your ideas and plans, and use words and graphics to convey information to the audience, so that people can understand your ideas and plans through these visual elements. This is the definition of our design. The bottom line of a visual work's survival should depend on whether it has the energy to touch others or not, and whether it successfully conveys the information behind it. In fact, she is more like interpersonal relationships, relying on charm to conquer the object. Does your design have the charm to capture people's hearts? Whether it is love at first sight or natural, you need to be like a gentle gentleman, a rebellious son who is unkempt, or a rigorous scholar. In fact, it is flat