Graphic design is the art and process of planning and projecting ideas in the form of visual and textual content. It involves the application of typography, photography, and illustration combined with visual hierarchy and page layout techniques.
The form of graphic design will be first visual and later, if the need arises, it can be physical. The entire content can be made in an instant or over a longer period of time. The target audience of the designed content can be a small number of people or can be for a big crowd. It can be a limited book edition, used in an exhibition or be linked with a digital or physical content of an international news organization. It can be for commercial, educational, or cultural purposes.
Elements of graphic design were seen in the ancient civilizations where heavy emphasis was put on typography. Artists were usually commissioned, those like medieval monks who were bound by religious duty, to create graphic design for mystical, religious, or political purposes.
They had to ink the content on stone, parchment, papyrus, bark, clay, or vellum. The late 19th and early 20th century saw a development of print media. William A Dwiggins, 1922, introduced the term graphic design to describe this emerging field. Throughout the 20th and 21st century, the field has grown and continues to develop with technology. It occupies both static and interactive media.
Graphic design has several different elements to it such as lines, shapes, color, type, and texture. Possibilities of lines in designs are endless – they can be straight, curved, wavy, thick, or thin, lines. Shapes offer a variety of ways to fill spaces in a creative manner and they usually support texts along with balancing a design.
Color is an important element of design. The designer can significantly impact a design and a brand with their color scheme. With type, a message can be transformed from a mere text to a work of art. Several fonts combined with customized alignments, spacing and size can add power to the point you are making. The texture chosen on the graphic design can do a lot to add depth to the content.
Graphic design is utilized in several instances such as company branding or logo. It is also used in the entertainment industry for decoration, enhancement of a scenery, or visual storytelling. A novel, book, comic book, DVD covers and opening and closing credits of a film require the skills of a graphic designer also.
Graphic designing is one of the most creative and artistic jobs in this century, and is very much in demand.
About the Author: Amita Vadlamudi has written many articles related to art. She has previously worked in the Information Technology Field. More information on Ms. Vadlamudi can be found at the following web sites.
