Graphic Design

What Is Graphic Design?
Graphic design is an art of visualizing ideas. Many types of visual communication like news letters, logo design, brochures, posters etc are the result of graphic design. It uses typography and various skills to bring ideas in a graphical form.

Since old times, people want to deliver their ideas and concepts in the form of graphics so that the information is aligned and has clarity. Printers and artists are used for this purpose. Later, the term ‘graphic design’ was coined for the profession of bringing the structural form for information which is used for effective communication.

Basic Types:
There are four forms of graphic design which is used to identify and impose the concepts and ideas to the world. They are as follows;

Image based graphic design:
In this type, images are used to represent the meaning of the information. Images not only convey things but also help to understand the mood of the situation in a better way. They can be paintings, photographs, pictures which are rendered graphically etc but should be relevant to the information. People can understand things and respond immediately if the message is conveyed through images.

Type based graphic design:
Some graphic designers rely on words rather than images. For image based graphic design, typography and calligraphy is used to attract and arrest the readers to certain posters. A simple page containing some text with no alignment and clarity can be converted into an attractive graphic design by changing type size, font, dividing the page into two columns, increasing space width, using different forms of calligraphy etc. This job is effectively done by the graphic designer.

Image and type based design:
Designers use another method to communicate with the people. This method contains both images and text which are used to explore the ideas of the service providers. It is the job of the graphic designer to maintain a perfect balance between the text and images. The Graphic designer acts as an interface between the providers and the public. They collect information from the providers, understand their requirements and design the graphics sot at it is easily understood and grasped by the people.

Symbols and logotype:
Symbols are the ideal and concrete form of information which compresses the ideas and helps in better understanding of the people. The logos, sometimes combined with symbols, represent the functionalities of the specific industry. The graphic designer should have a better idea about the company before designing a logo for it.

Principles To Be Followed:
There are certain principles to be followed when involving in graphic design. They are as follows;

• While creating graphic design in web, file size is the important consideration. 30 seconds are appropriate for page download time.
  
• Certain systems show the images darker than designing part. Hence the system should be considered before design.
  
• Images should be in the RGB color mode not in the index color mode. This prevents the loss of data or colors.
  
• While creating images, use colors which are applicable to the browser. Use of other colors will lead to unexpected results.
  
• Thumbnails allow the user to provide an option in choosing the pictures. Since thumbnails can be easily loaded, it should be attached with the images.
  
• While referencing the image, height and width tags are necessary so that the pages can be reloaded fast.
  
• While using photo shop to design images, the image should be saved in psd format rather than jpeg format. This helps to apply any changes in the future.

Owing to its variety of usage, Graphic design is used in the field of advertisement, administration, journals, web applications, education etc.