Chapter 1: Before You Begin to Design

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Chapter 1 Before You Begin to Design
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What to know before you begin

• Purpose
• Audience
• Format
• Design principles

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Purpose

• Most Important What is your intent? What do you
  want to say?

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Example of No Purpose

• Memo to Design Team
• Subject 2 emails that are coming
• I am sending you 2 separate emails for our
  projects. I will send the first one first and
  the second one will come later.
• Sant, Tom. 2008. The Language of Success. AMACOM
  New York, p. 79.

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Purpose

• Most Important What is your intent? What do you
  want to say?
• Purpose shapes
• Message
• Content
• Layout
• Visual elements

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Audience

• Demographics age, gender, education, marital
  status, number of children
• Put yourself in their shoes

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Design Format

• Whats the best
• Medium
• Size and shape
• Consider function of the design
• Consider style and tone

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Cruel Pies The Inhumanity of Technical
Illustrations
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Examples of Print Design Formats

• Memos, emails, newsletters, brochures, magazines,
  post cards
• Posters, banners, signs, flyers
• CD, DVD, instructional video
• Reports, manuals
• Souvenirs, bumper sticker, t-shirts
• Ads (newspaper, television, radio, billboard)

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Adding the Text (Copy)

• Step 1 Develop your message?
• Step 2 Determine your hook?
• Step 3 Outline/organize
• Step 4 Write
• Step 5 Edit/revise

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Focus

• Element to which an eye looks first in a visual
  composition.
• Most effective when surrounded by white space (or
  negative space)
• Usually created by use of display type for titles
  and headings
• Images can provide focus also

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Balance

• Achieved by the way elements are distributed on a
  page

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Balance
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Visual Weight

• Impact an element has on an eye
• Controlled by size and number, density, and
  anomaly.

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Directional Flow

• The direction the eye moves as it perceives a
  design.
• Images should face text on a page, directing the
  eye to the text.

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Text Direction Placement

• We read from top to bottom left to right thus
  the eye tends to scan a page in the same way in
  a Z pattern.
• Z
• Pages should be designed in this pattern with
  landmarks for the eye to follow
• The lower right corner is the spot where the eye
  ends after a quick glance so include important
  info here.

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Visual Identity

• Nonverbal image closely associated with a company
  or organization.
• Visual identity is a unified set of design
  elements that appear in all materials the
  organization produces.

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Visual Identity Examples
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Visual Identity Examples
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Visual Identity Examples
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Visual Identity Examples
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Unity/Alignment

• The overall look that holds the composition
  together visually.
• The placement of text and graphics so they line
  up on the page.

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What do these lines mean?
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Unity/Alignment
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Repetition vs. Anomaly

• Repeating elements helps retention and cohesion.
• Anomalies look different from a group of other
  elements, and makes this element stand out.
• Example

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Design Process

• Brainstorming
• Plan
• Initial sketch (thumbnail) or prototype
• Rough draft
• Revise/Refine
• Final draft
• Edit/Approval
• Publish and distribute