Communicating through Graphic Design
Chapter 1: What is Graphic Design?
1-01: Besides determining the size and color of the letters, what other decisions might this sign’s designer have had to make? (Radio City Music Hall)
Imagine trying to get through a day without seeing a single word or image. Unless you live in a cave in the wilderness, you encounter packaging, advertisements, websites, posters, billboards, textbooks, road signs, and logos from morning to night. You may not notice all of them, but they are there, competing for your attention. And they are all graphic designs.
Graphic design is the process of organizing and composing words and images to create a message. Graphic designers are visual communicators who create these messages to inform or persuade you, to help you categorize and identify things, and to help you make choices. The term "graphic design" was coined in 1922, but it has been part of human communication for centuries, and it is the fastest-growing of all design careers.
KEY TERMS
Graphic Design
Design
Pictographs
Illuminated Manuscripts
Movable Type
Engravings
Camera Obscura
READING LINKS:
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A Brief History
Graphic design is everywhere, and it can be powerful. Graphic designs have influences behavior, improved lives, even started revolutions. Knowing about graphic design can help make you a better artist, a more discriminating consumer, and a more informed observer of the world around you.
In this chapter you will:
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learn about design in nature and in the human environment
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explore a brief history of graphic design
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discover the graphic design process