Synopsis of An Introduction to the Basics of Graphic Design

“An Introduction to the Basics of Graphic Design” is an article that sets the foundation for the ideas of graphic design. In the article, the author spoke of and explained each of the different design elements that graphic designers typically use when they are creating their works. These elements are typography, shape, color, texture, and white space. Other than each of these elements, the author speaks about different graphic design tools and what each tool does. The author gives suggestions for paid tools such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign, as well as free tools such as GIMP. The author finishes the article by giving an example of the use of graphic design in our daily lives and how we typically encounter graphic design works every day.

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Synopsis of Graphic Design Basics

“Graphic Design Basics” is an article that expanded more on the topics from “An Introduction to the Basics of Graphic Design.” In this article, we are presented with the elements of graphic design. Some of these principles were mentioned and explained in the previous article, but there were many elements that were exclusive to this article. These elements were line, value, size, balance, alignment, repetition, proximity, contrast, and space. Each of these elements, and the ones mentioned in the previous article, were explained in detail. To help with the explanation, visual aids were given. Outside of the explanations of these basic elements of graphic design, the article did not speak much more.

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Reflection on the Articles

After reading both articles, I discovered that I was familiar with some of the principles. Last semester, I took CSCI 380. In this course, we spoke about visual design principles. Some of these principles were what we learned about. Specifically, we learned about repetition, proximity, shape, white space, color, and contrast. Since I had a foundation on these design principles, learning more about these principles, in a different light, makes them resonate with me. It made this easier to understand the other elements, especially since many of them seemed to overlap with each other.

Taking these graphic design principles mentioned in the two articles, the principle of color and how you see it used in many different places in the marketing world stuck out to me. The major example that came to my head with color is in the food industry. Many of the top fast-food companies tend to use similar colors such as yellow and red in their branding and logos. From previous reading, I learned that red typically triggers the stimulation of hunger or appetite in a person, while yellow typically triggers happiness. When combining these, since they cause two separate moods or emotions that fit together, fast food companies are capitalizing on their profits. Seeing this in the fast-food industry validates that big food companies are making sure they follow graphic design principles.

After reading these articles, a few questions came to mind about the principles of graphic design. One of the questions is rather simple: “What other graphic design principles are there, or are there others?” I plan to delve into this one. The answer will simply be found by doing research. Another question that I had was: “Do certain graphic design principles impact certain people more than others?” This was an interesting thought that I had that I really want to know. I plan on doing research on this topic. I also think a good way for me to figure this out is by asking people in-person questions about visuals to see if certain principles tend to stick out to them more than others.

Overall, these two articles were rather interesting. I am excited to see what we are going to learn during this class.