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Graphic Design Notes

 

January 24 2018 Lecture Notes:

Vector vs Raster:

  • How is this car connected to video game technology.

  • This car was a blueprint. A designer can use this as a blueprint to make it life sized.

  • Bezier Curves/ NURBS.

What is Raster?

  • Image or images created with pixels.

  • Can be a photograph or a video.

  • Can be in different digital formats such as jpg, png, gif psd, tiff, mov, wmv, mp4.

Features of Raster:

  • Image file format standard for photography and video

  • Are resolution dependent

  • More pixels = Higher resolution

  • Can be reduced in size but doesn’t scale up in size without reducing image detail/quality.

Raster aka Bitmap:

  • Comprised of pixels and each pixel has a color value. More pixels/color = larger file size.

 

What is Vector?

  • Vector is a mathematically based methods for creating line data

  • Popularized by Pierre Bezier to help with the automobile manufacturing techniques for Renault.

Features of Vector:

  • Vector files are scalable without losing image quality

  • Because they are math based, vector files are smaller in file size generally

  • Vector files aren’t internet browser friendly, require the proper software for display such as Adobe Flash.

Vector Graphics

  • Vector graphics can be stored in different formats, Al, PDF,WMF, FCL

  • Font data is stored as vector

  • Resolution independent

 

Recap

Vector vs Bitmap

  • Vector is scalable, bitmap loses quality when scaled up

  • Bitmap is best for photographs and video

  • Fonts are stored as vector to ensure image quality at any size

 

 

Graphic Design Notes Part 2

 

Graphic File Formats

Understanding Format Choice and Image Compression

  • All computer documents, or files, are packaged in different formats

  • The format is determined often by the files origin, such as a software program like photoshop or device such as a digital camera

  • Graphic files such as a photo, video or artwork can be reduced in file size by using image compression

Lossy vs Lossless

  • Graphic image formats fall under 2 categories of compression, lossy or lossless

  • w/ lossy, image data is lost or  reduced for smaller file sizes but can cause poor image quality. Can result in showing “compression artifacts”

  • Lossless retains image data for higher quality, but larger file sizes

 

Graphic Formats

  • TIF,JPG, and GIF are the 3 most common formats for common activities such as printing, scanning and displaying images over the internet

  • PNG is a common web format, is high quality and can contain an alpha (transparency) channel

  • Each format has its own advantages and disadvantages
     

File Format:TIF

  • Stands for tagged image format

  • Common format for desktop publishing print, photo and graphic design

  • Is a LOSSLESS file format. It retains imager data for max image quality

  • Can result in larger files, not fit for display over internet, is niort browser compatible

File Format: JPG

  • Stands for Joint photographers Expert Group

  • Created for digital photography and works best for photo content

  • Is a LOSSY format

  • Can reduce an image file by 10:1 without showing significant compression artifacts

  • The level of compression is adjustable

 

File Format: GIF

  • Stands for Graphics Interchange Format

  • Is best for graphics or images that have flat color or even tone, such as a cartoon

  • Reduces image size by indexing color from 3 channels to 1

  • Is adjustable by changing color bit levels from 1 to 8

  • Contains no DPI (Dots Per Inch) data for printing. Not a proper format for print

 

Know Your Pixels

  • TIF and JPG are the best for images with pixels that blend in color; these are called “contiguous pixels”

  • GIF is the best for images with flat even tone, or “non-contiguous pixels”

 

 

Graphic Design Notes: Design The Principles and Elements

 

What is Graphic Design

  • Design elements are the basic units of a visual image.

  • The principles of design govern the relationships of the elements used and organize the organization as a whole.

  • All imagery, art, design and photography alike are composed of elements that can be broken down and analyzed. This goes for web design as well.

 

What are the Elements and Principles

  • Design and art elements are the basic unit s of a visual image

  • The principles of design and art govern the relationships of the elements used and organize the composition as a whole

  • All imagery, art, design and photography alike, are composed of elements that can be broken down and analysed by its visual components and the principles that guide them.

 

Design Elements

  • Space

  • Line

  • Color

  • Shape

  • Texture

  • Value

  • Balance

 

Design Principles

  • Unity

  • Variety

  • Repetition

  • Harmony

  • Proximity

  • Proportion

  • Functionality

  • Emphasis

 

Unity creates a sense of order, a consistency in siz4e and shape.

Proximity can create a sense of unity, it can also show a lack of unity.

Form and Functionality: Don't make something unless it is both necessary and useful.


 

 

Graphic Design Notes: Color Theory

Primary

  • Pigment generated colors are derived from these primary colors: red, yellow, and blue.

  • Light generated colors are derived from these primary colors: red, green, and blue.

Secondary and Tertiary.

  • Secondary: Mixing primary colors creates other colors. For example: blue + yellow = Green, blue + red= violet

  • Tertiary and Beyond: A secondary color wheel can expand to tertiary and beyond.

  • Dark colors recedes, Light color advances

  • Subtractive Color: Pigment generated model

  • Additive Color: Light generated model

Color Mixing

  • RGB: Red, Green, Blue Light Generated Model

  • RGY: Red, Green, Yellow Pigment Generated Model

  • CMYK: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, Black Print Process Model

Color Modes

  • MONOCHROME: Tints, shades and tones of a single hue

  • GRAYSCALE: Black and White only

  • WEB SAFE RGB: Hexadecimal compatible

Color Modification

  • TINTS: Add white to a pure hue

  • SHADES: Add black to a pure hue

  • TONES: Add grey to a pure hue



 

 

Color intensity changes in relation to its surrounding color

Cultural and Psychological Color Associations

  • Color associations are generated from cultural and contemporary sources and may not be universally recognizable

  • 73% of purchasing decisions are now made in-store.

  • Catching the shoppers eye and conveying information effectively are critical to successful sales.

Why Color Matters

  • Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%

Color Affects: Appetite

  • Blue is a rare occurrence in nature.

  • We have no appetite response to blue food.

Color Affects: The mind

  • Pink is tranquilizing color that drains your energy

  • Used in prisons, holding cells, opposing team locker rooms

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