Andy Project

Poster Person

Assignment One

Color

Color isn't essential in a design. Black and white can be effective as well, but it is a good element to have to give a certain effect to your piece.

Value: How light or dark a color is.

Use it to increase/decrease contrast, create movement, order, to lead the eye

Has to power the override the effects of value. Will change the focus in a black and white design.

The way we see color is different from how we mix paint. The visible spectrum of light breaks down to RGB. red green blue.

With RGB color, colors are added together on top of black to make various other colors.

Used on Electronics

CMYK color

cyan, magenta, yellow and key (black)

It masks the white. Subtractive because inks subtract brightness from the white

Spot color, Pantone, ect...

Color is Hue

Color added with black or white

Shades/ Tints/ Saturation

Black+Color=Shade

White+Color=Tint

Saturation is the amount of the Hue

Types of Combinations

Analogous, Complementary, Double Complementary, Split-Complementary Triad, Triad, Monochromatic

Monochromatic

Shades and tints of a single hue

Analogous

Two or more adjacent colors

Triad

Three colors

Texture

The visual or tactile surface characteristics of a piece.
Can come from the paper you use or the use of photographic images of specific surfaces.

Visual Texture The texture that appears form design elements
Layers of text, photography, illustration, and fine art

Tactile Texture The ACTUAL texture that you can feel
The paper that you use (heavy, light, smooth, rough)
Heavier can seem more professional while newsprint can seem cheap

Mass

Shape

"A shape is defined as an area that stands out from the space next to or around it due to a defined or implied boundary, or because of differences of value, color, or texture."

Mechanical/Geometric shapes
the kind that can be made with a ruler or compass. Think of things like hexagons or squares and triangles
Convey: Order, Control, Uniformity

Natural shapes
Shapes that are drawn by hand and cant be copied with a ruler or stencils

Lines

Variety of lines.
Basic element of design.
Use lines to: organize, texturize, guide the eye, provide movement, make a statement, convey universal meanings
From point A to point B gives the line its distinctive character and appearance.
Example

Example 2

Example 3

Elements and Principles of Graphic Design

Elements

Lines

There are many types of lines. Straight, curvy, thick, thin, dotted, obscure.

Basically, anything can be a line and a line can be anything.

As to Graphic Design, It's what creates the image/logo/feeling/whatever

Shape

Shape in Graphic Design is blocks of either positive or negative space. Whatever you do or don't fill in on your screen.

Mass

Each piece in a design has its own mass/space. 

A certain element of a design may take more mass than others.

Texture 

Texture can also be a number of things. It just needs to give the viewer some sort of feeling to whatever is drawn. So drawing hair, the texture on that needs to look like it feels like hair.

Rough, smooth, soft, hard, grainy, ect.

Color

Color can give feeling to a piece, even if it is in black and white.

Cool colors, warm colors, complementary, neutral, analogous, tertiary, primary, secondary, dark, light.

All of these can convey emotions if put in a certain area.

Principles

Balance
Balance is similar to the symmetry of the piece. Does only one side have anything? Or is it split down the middle?
Proximity
Proximity is how everything relates to each other in space.
Alignment 
How you chose to place design in your piece 
Repetition
Having repeating patterns in your design is a good thing. Creates a unity within it. Consistency.
Contrast
Contrast helps make certain parts stand out. There needs to be a variety in the colors.
White Space
Or negative space is what makes the desired objects pop. But too much of it makes the project look incomplete. 

Welcome!

Graphics class blog. Enjoy.