Graphic Design
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Graphic Design Rune Pettersson Institute for Infology Information Design–Graphic Design Yin and yang, or yin-yang, is a concept used in Chinese philoso- phy to describe how seemingly opposite forces are intercon- nected and interdependent, and how they give rise to each other. Many natural dualities, such as life and death, light and dark, are thought of as physical manifestations of the concept. Yin and yang can also be thought of as complementary forces interacting to form a dynamic system in which the whole is greater than the parts. In information design, theory and practice is an example where the whole is greater than the parts. ID book series 1. Information Design–Message Design 2. Information Design–Theories 3. Information Design–Text Design 4. Information Design–Image Design 5. Information Design–Graphic Design 6. Information Design–Cognition 7. Information Design–Predecessors & Pioneers 8. Information Design–It Depends 9. Information Design–Basic ID-concepts ISBN 978-91-85334-29-2 © Rune Pettersson Sweden, Tullinge 2019 2 Preface Information design is a multi-dimensional, multi-disciplinary, and worldwide consideration with influences from areas such as design disciplines, communication disciplines, information dis- ciplines, language disciplines, cognitive disciplines, art and aes- thetic disciplines, business and law, as well as media production technologies. In this book the focus is on graphic design. The practice of graphic design is as old as recorded history. The purpose of work with graphic design is to find a suitable presentation for the con- tent with respect to the receiver, the subject matter, the medium, and the financial situation. Within a given area, such as a page in a book, a poster, a label, a computer screen, or a projected image the designer may alter the design of headings, margins, orna- ments, pictures, space, symbols, and text. Graphic design is used as an important “tool” in the other four parts of message design. The most fundamental design technique is reduction. In graphic design the main objective is to provide functional, aesthetic, and organised structure to all kinds of information sets. Since my retirement I have edited and revised sections of my earlier books, conference papers and reports about information design, message design, visual communication and visual liter- acy. Previous editions of this book were published in 2011, 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Tullinge, Sweden Rune Pettersson, Ph.D. Retired Professor of Information Design 3 Contents Preface 3 Contents 4 Organized structure 7 Graphic design 7 Purpose for graphic design 7 Graphic design objectives 10 Graphic design processes 11 History of graphic design 15 Step by step 15 Modern graphic design 17 Research-based design 20 Aesthetic principles 23 Aesthetic proportion principle 23 Fine art 24 Information aesthetics 27 Harmony principle 31 Dichotomy 32 Harmony in typography 33 Harmony in colour 34 Aesthetic theories 35 Beauty theories 35 Philosophy of art 36 Philosophy of beauty 40 Aesthetics and usability 42 Colour theories 45 Colour wheels 46 Colour systems 47 Colour for information 51 Functional principles 52 Providing clarity 52 Legibility of text 53 Legibility of pictures 55 Legibility of layout 56 Legibility of symbols 56 Legibility of numerical values 56 Legibility of maps 57 4 Legibility of colour 57 Providing emphasis 59 Emphasis in text 59 Emphasis in layout 60 Providing unity 63 Typography 66 Type 66 Design of characters 67 Typefaces 68 Size of type 74 Stylistic variation of type 80 Typeface personalities 82 Typography and language 86 Selection of typefaces 87 Some common typefaces 90 Paper and ink 96 Cost effective typography 96 Projected typography 99 OH and PP 99 Slides 103 Screen typography 104 Visual displays 104 User interface design 108 The message on the screen 112 Computer print-outs 121 Layout 122 Paper size 122 Page composition 124 Page size 125 Text-face 126 The classic model for page design 127 The golden canon 128 Margins 130 Grid systems 134 Oppositions 136 Text layout 137 Justified or unjustified text? 138 Line length 141 Interline distance 146 Space 149 5 Headings 153 Paragraphs 155 Tables 159 Captions 166 Quotations 167 Lists 168 Layout of text and pictures 171 Different layouts 171 Balance in design 174 The picture area index 179 Graphic symbols 183 Use of graphic symbols 183 Groups of graphic symbols 184 Visual terms 185 Objectives 186 Interpretation of meaning 186 Warnings 189 Traffic signs 190 Project “crossing road signs” 191 Message and symbol 195 Design of graphic symbols 199 Information graphics 205 Goals and objectives 205 Infographics 207 Media 209 Infographics in education 210 Graphics with a cause 211 News graphics 212 USA TODAY 213 Time for production 214 Everyday graphics 215 Instructing 217 Informing 217 Tempting to buy 220 Text, pictures, and background 222 References 226 Appendix: Main concepts 255 6 Organized structure Although we may not think about it very often, the practice of graphic design is as old as recorded history. We see the results of graphic design every day in books, magazines, packages, papers, posters, symbols, and many other products. Graphic design A generally accepted view is that graphic design may be described as the art and craft of bringing a functional, an aesthetic, and an organized structure to different kinds of texts and illustrations. Graphic design is a process (verb) as well as a result (noun) of that process. Traditional graphic design is a kind of “all purpose- design” used in the production of various media. Modern visual graphic design has its roots in the functional and rational aes- thetics that evolved in traditional graphic design over the centu- ries for print media, and are now used in industrial design, as well as in architecture. Purpose for graphic design The purpose of work with graphic design is to find a suitable presentation of the message content with respect to the intended receivers, selected medium, and the economic situation. A well- designed book appears as a “unified whole.” Here all design ele- ments serve to enhance the content of the message. Melin (1999, 2011) found that it is more likely that a “graph- ically complex” text will be read than a “plain” text. And it also takes less time to read a graphically complex text than a plain text. Readers often react in a positive way to texts with good ty- pography and good illustrations. The overall visual look shapes users’ perceptions of consistency and user satisfaction in brows- ing tasks (Ozok & Salvendy, 2000). Within a given area, such as a page in a book, a computer screen, or a projected image, we may alter the presentation of text (headings, running texts, captions, lists), pictures, tables, 7 and the background (margins, ornaments, page numbers, spaces). When text and graphics are organised and grouped to- gether into meaningful semantic clusters, this makes it easier for readers to chunk the content (Kahn, Tan & Beaton, 1990). Visual grouping of text enables readers to get a sense of the overall structure (Tullis, 1997), and help readers to remember the con- tent/message in the text (Niemela & Saarinen, 2000). How the content is grouped may influence the readers’ first impressions of the content (Lindgaard et al., 2006). Readers will better re- member the content and make fewer errors. Careful integration of words and pictures engage people more effectively than words or pictures alone (Sadoski & Paivio, 2001). Producers of information and learning materials can facili- tate communication, and also the learning processes of the read- ers. Complicated language, in both texts and pictures, will impair the understanding of the message. Active voice, clarity, compre- hensibility, consistency, legibility, precision, readability, reading value, simplicity, and structure are the key concepts in infor- mation design. Meaningful units will help people process and re- member the information better. Hiebert (1998) saw graphic de- sign as interface design (p. 9): In the largest sense, all graphic design serves as an interface. It is the filter that facilitates communication between users and products, places, processes, information, and services. This interface may have the purpose of description or per- suasion. It may be in a process of one-way presentation or two-way discourse (interactive). It has a functional rather than a decorative purpose. The role of graphic design is functional. Unnecessary elements that are not important for the processing and understanding of the information should be removed. According to Bull (1999) there are many debates as to what the role of a designer is. Terms like “Visual Communicator” and “Information Architect” have arose. Many of these debates have grown out of many designers’ 8 misuse of available technology and modern computers. Bull con- cluded (p. 54): In our fast-paced, drive-thru oriented society, the graphic de- sign community often suffers from the public perception of what I have coined the ‘Kinko’s Mentality’. This is where an- yone with a computer is legitimized as a designer and solu- tions to your problem can be given form based on a solution to another problem. And of course, it all perpetuates the idea of the designer as just someone who just dresses things up. The study of rational, functional aesthetics, as well as effective and efficient layouts for all media makes graphic design interest- ing for information design scholars. Graphic design is a tool with which we can manipulate the raw materials–words in different typefaces, sizes, styles, empty spaces, illustrations, colour, paper and ink, and the final number of pages–to achieve the best pos- sible communications between people in each case. Waller (1980) provided a list of codifying rules for graphic language and functions of the typographic organization of text in a book. Wal- ler discussed two main categories (I) Rhetorical functions, and (II) Access functions (p.