630/13

Original:
1998

GRAPHIC DESIGN
(Year 11 and Year 12 Art and Art & Design)

Art Studio Support Document

 GRAPHICS

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 1

 Graphic Design

This document is part of a series of documents developed to assist teachers with the delivery of a range
of studio areas.

The materials presented are adapted for use in Art and Art & Design from documents developed by the
Education Department for Unit Curriculum.

The Curriculum Council would like to acknowledge the following:

Revision of document:
Jodine McBride

Art Work:
Celeste Rossi

for their input into developing this document for use in the postcompulsory Art and Art & Design
subjects.

Special thanks to Robin Pascoe, Senior Curriculum Officer at the Education Department for facilitating
use of the materials and members of the Art syllabus committee for assistance in developing the
documents.

It is hoped that teachers will find the information on the particular studio area and associated briefs of
use in the delivery of both Art and Art & Design.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 2

WHAT IS GRAPHIC DESIGN
Graphic design is one of the studio components in the Year 11 and 12 TEE course that students may
undertake. Graphic design is a unique opportunity for students to use a diverse range of media along
with technology and design skills to visually communicate their ideas. Graphic design explains,
promotes, initiates, directs'. teaches, persuade, specifies, informs, guides and instructs.

Students studying Graphic design need to understand and learn the disciplines associated with the
graphic field. They need to draw upon their experience in the real and visual world. Students should
be encouraged to look at what is occurring in the industry and learn associated skills and techniques
that will help develop their skills in this area. While the encouragement of technology is highly
recommended students should endeavour to use hand skills and drawing techniques to develop and
produce a high degree of their work. Students should be given the opportunity to produce work in a
two and three-dimensional format.

Graphic design pertains to an image of picture whereas design is a process. Images and pictures
involve knowledge, logic, analysis and deduction. This combination of artists and scientist, left
hemisphere and right, occurs when we are senders of visual messages. Graphic design allows students
to creatively problem solve through intuition, knowledge, experimentation, working through
arrangements, projects and processes which lead to associations, appreciation and further
developments.

Students need to be aware of our design world that is how design criteria have shaped the environment
and culture. Graphic design is a conscious and intuitive process which relates decision making to
materials, technology, function, form, style, aesthetics, economics, environment, all to satisfy a
specified visual need.

The visual language of graphic design is used to communicate a body of information or an idea. The
success of a graphic design piece is how effectively the viewer experiences that body of information or
idea. Graphic design is not a form of self-expression; it is a visual translation of a message. It is an
idea made visible and indelible, making the connection between the eye and the mind, sight and
insight.

Historically graphic design has only emerged as a distinct discipline in its own right over the last sixty
years or so. This newly acquired independence from traditional arts and their constraints came about
primarily as a result of the Industrial Revolution. Commerce and industry created a competitive market
environment that generated the need for communication to capture consumer needs and wants.

Graphic designers draw together elements of art and craft, commerce and industry. William Morris
founded a firm whose products challenged the quality of mass-produced goods. His firm produced fine
quality fabrics, furniture, stained glass and books which married art and craftsmanship with quality
execution. While William Morris challenged mass production and the standards it implied, the
Bauhaus School taught the integration of beauty and utility. Walter Gropius expressed it as: 'Our
object was to eliminate the drawbacks of the machine without sacrificing any one of its real
advantages... our ambition was to rouse the creative artist from his other worldliness and to reintegrate
him into a workaday world of realities and, at the same time, to broaden and humanise the rigid, almost
exclusively material mind of the business man.

Along with the growth of commerce, industry and technology, populations grew and concentrated,
creating distinct visual problems. While commerce and industry pose many of the visual problems
solved by graphic designers, society also poses visual problems in areas such as education, culture,
public spaces and social services.

On an idealistic level, graphic designers are not scribes translating the verbal or written into visual
language, they will add to the message a credibility which is achieved because the medium is
predominantly understood and used as the source of information upon which a decision is made.
Graphic designers generate ideas and tactics to influence decisions. This makes the difference between
propaganda and graphic design, one of ethics. In this way, graphic designers support or reject bodies

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 3

of information which affect our visual environment which in turn reflect our society and what it
supports, believes in or rejects.

As individuals we are subjected to between fifteen hundred and two thousand visual messages per day.
Consider that a department store carries around three hundred thousand different articles. We are
exposed to a greater number of visual messages than at any previous era in time. Imagery has
overtaken the written word in the communication of messages and ideas to the point where eighty per
cent of all information is acquired visually. To illustrate this, U.S. News and World predicts that by the
year 2000 two-thirds of the adult population in the USA will be functionally illiterate. One hundred
and fifty million people will not be able to understand or comprehend the written word. No longer are
graphic devices used in multi-language situations, but in non-language situations. Our reliance on
visual rather than written content is no longer a trend, it is a reality.

Pictorial representations preceded words giving rise to a visual language that is maintained and
extended. This visual language, so predominant in our environment, creates a visual literacy, which
largely determines the types of images used by graphic designers to communicate their message. The
role of the graphic designer is to communicate effectively in an already saturated visual world.

The visual environment as with any environment can be polluted. The largest contributing factor to
visual pollution is graphics that are poorly designed and executed.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 4

WORDS ASSOCIATED WITH GRAPHIC DESIGN
Areas of graphic design as part of the design spectrum have no distinct boundaries. While an area of
graphic design can be as unique as the problem, there are many accepted and commonly applied
systems of visual communication that consistently provide a graphic designer with an appropriate
image area and format to work with.

The main areas of graphic design are:

Symbols
Signage
Packaging
Posters
Books, catalogues, brochures

Other formats vary in degree but not in kind. These include:

Stationery
Point-of-sale-material
Wrapping
Calendars
Maps
Newspapers
Reports
Periodicals
Stamps and currency
Record, cassette and CD covers
New and composite formats may prove appropriate in the delivery of visual messages. For example, a
long sheet of paper, concertina folded, can be leafed through like a book or expanded to be a poster.
Solutions to a problem may be provided from other areas of design such as industrial design. For
example, a container may be designed not only for visual impact but its shape must accommodate
utility, production, economics and ecology.

Dunlop

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 5

While most graphic designers work in the print medium, complex mediums demand specialisation
which further expand areas of graphic design. These include:

Advertising

Television graphics

Cinema graphics

Other areas while involving graphic design concepts belong to other sections of the design spectrum.

These include:

Stage and film sets

Cartography

Textile design

Exhibition design

Display and shopfitting

Ceramic graphics

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 6

Elements of Graphic Design
Elements of graphic design are as varied at those found in the fine arts. In the main they are:

Line
Shape
Tone
Texture
Type
Colour

Combinations of these produce:

pattern, repetition,
contrast, harmony, balance.

These visually express:

rhythm, proportion, volume,
movement, tension,
pattern, space, scale, aesthetics,
composition, structure.

These culminate in:

illustration, fine art, typography,
photography, diagrams, charts,
plans, maps, format, layout.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 7

 Perception
Perceptive observation
Diagrammatic and pictorial description
Analysis of function
Analysis of elements
Analysis of composition
Making judgements

Through perception of our visual world, students learn about the history of graphic design and to
describe, analyse, interpret, and evaluate. They learn to make aesthetic judgements and express them.
Regardless of whether or not students continue with graphic design, the skills acquired through
appreciation have a wide application in life.

Mechanism can be introduced where personal judgements, personal opinions are arrived at only after
the process of observation, analysis, and description has taken place.

Drawing
Basic shapes
Basic perspective
one point two point three point

Size
Overlapping
Form
Shading
Contour
Gesture
Geometry
Emphasis
Record
Investigation
Experiment

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Symbols
Symbols are logos, trademarks, monograms,
identity, signs, seals, badges, codes.
SOURCES OF
In our visual language, symbols are visual clichs. Our world and our mind uses INFORMATION
analogies and metaphors to comprehend, and symbols 'de us with visual shorthand.
The Corporate
If a picture says a thousand words, then a symbol is a 'Thing regarded by general
consent as naturally typifying or representing or recalling (especially an idea or Wally Olins
quality) by possession of analogous qualities or by association in fact or thought'.
OXFORD DICTIONARY Design Council
1978
The history of the symbol refers us back to the origins of written communication.
Pictograms preceded and survived the development of the written language. Corporate
Numerals and letters themselves are symbols representing quantity and sounds. Identity
Wally Olins
The major function of symbols is to make complex concepts immediately accessible Thames and
and understandable. Symbols, by their very nature, can quickly identify, represent 1989
and characterise a group of people, such as families, clubs or corporations. A
symbol is designed to reflect the distinct and ideal personality of a group. There is Symbol Signs
no need for words to describe what a group stands for when graphic designers AIGA
design, produce and manage a visual concept that serves as a silent but influential Visual
ambassador for a group. Communication
History House
When a symbol is introduced it may have little immediate representation or recall
capabilities but like a sponge soaks up meaning by association and reflects the Letter Heads
desired messages, imparted by a group, both explicitly and implicitly.
Graphic
This is particularly relevant for geometric or abstract symbols as well as for old and
well known symbols such as the visual clichs, the anchor and the lion, which World
enforce immediate association by way of exaggerated messages. Trademark
And logo types
Typographic symbols called logo types are also part of graphic identities. Coca
Cola, IBM and Levis are examples of typographic logos, which share the same (annual)
characteristics as symbols and how they work perceptionally.
Introduction to
Symbols that direct, inform, orientate and warn, convey the intended message Communication
effectively and efficiently. Logo-optics, icons and pictograms are some of the Studies
names given to those symbols that make up international signage systems, John Fiske
pharmaceutical and identification systems. Through education and use these symbol
systems have made it easier for graphic designers to solve problems by providing Symbols of
visual cues for action or procedures. Australia

For the graphic designer, three main factors determine a symbol and its Mimmo
effectiveness:

Shape

Representation

Context

The shape of the symbol determines the practicability of the graphic mark, which still has to be
instantly recognisable even when reproduced in a small size and in one colour. This faithful
reproduction of a symbol in a variety of applications is the cornerstone of most corporate identity
programs.

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Since each of us is unique and groups have their own distinctive identity, symbols need to be unique.
While symbols may represent similar qualities and ideas, the final shape must distinguish one group
from another.

In all cases, a shape can be described and translated and therefore responded to. A pictorial or
illustrative symbol tells a story; an abstract or geometric symbol communicates a dynamic impression.
Graphic designers assess the graphic mark in relation to what it represents by general consent.

The application of symbols into the visual environment requires careful management to ensure it
communicates the qualities it was designed for. From the use of a symbol on a letterhead to the
association with a sports event, the symbol's significance is affected.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 10

Signage

Directs, informs, orientates.

The purpose of signage is to provide orientation and direction. With increasing travel and traffic,
signage for pedestrian and vehicular traffic is required to give people information. The integration of
colour, form, symbols and typography, meeting criteria of legibility that is set by factors of distance,
fighting, height and size impart information.

Most signage incorporates symbols as an element in the design. A range of symbols form universal
signage systems to accommodate people of all cultures. Consistency and education are keys to the
effectiveness of most signage programs, however, this is particularly true for safety signage.

Graphic designers involved in the signage area must consider:

! Location

! Safety of people who come into direct contact with signage

! Seasonal aspects that may change legibility

! Construction and erection

! Durability and maintenance

! Economy

As part of the immediate environment, signage needs to be considered as performing an aesthetic

function. It is notable that signage is less vandalised when it is accepted, appreciated and respected by
a community.

GRAPHI CS

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 11

Packaging
Labels

How would you recognise a fireman if it were not for his uniform? Packaging is visual identification
to achieve recognition. Packaging evolved from two considerations:

1. The object packaged had real value.

2. Transportation and display.

Every product, through graphic design, has an identity that establishes the product's desirability,
function and value for the customer/user. Confirming what is inside, together with establishing a link
between producer and consumer, forms the basis of a packaging brief. Since a major consideration of
packaging involves discerning one package from another, mass target and producers who assimilate
packaging into needs and preferences of consumers address niche markets.

Further considerations for graphic designers involved in the packaging area include:

1. Legibility.
2. Construction. While some packaging needs to facilitate easy unpacking, other packaging needs to
provide security to guard against or eliminate tampering, contamination or leakage.
3. Economy.
4. Ecology ( economy and ecology derive from the word 'eco' meaning house).
5. With mobility of both people and products, directions and instructions need to communicate
effectively. Colours and symbols in the form of pictograms are employed to direct, warn and
instruct. Pharmaceutical and chemical products need special attention since their misuse is still a
frequent cause of death.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 12

Posters
Advertising, notices, leaflets, declarations, bulletins, billboard

The poster is perhaps one of the most well-known and understood of the graphic design areas. It distils
elements of graphic design into a potent form of communication.

The influence of the Japanese prints introduced the unity of pictorial and typographic elements. With
the introduction of lithographic reproduction techniques, in the 1850s, the poster became a popular
form of communication. Artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Picasso, Matisse, Forain, amongst others,
promoted the poster as art for the people.

The information on posters needs to be communicated quickly if a body of information is to be

experienced by pedestrian traffic or, in the case of billboards, by vehicular traffic. To assist in the
communication, graphic designers divide information into levels of importance and relate that to the
environment of the poster and the viewer. If, for example, a public space enables a poster to be viewed
only for a second, the primary visual element must attract attention and create interest.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 13

Drawing
Line, shape, tone, texture, pattern, colour, repetition, contrast, form density, harmony, balance, rhythm,
proportion, volume, movement, tension, space, pattern, scale, aesthetics are all employed by drawing.

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 'Learning to draw is really a matter of learning to see - to see correctly - and that means a good deal
more than merely looking with the eye.'
KIMON NICOLAIDES

'Your eyes are telling you lies.'

HOWARD RILEY

Drawing is more about a process of 'seeing' than the making of marks. If we wish to draw something
we must 'see' it, we must process visual information differently to understand it. Teachers need to
increase students' skills in drawing to enable them to understand the basic elements of graphic design
and to communicate visually.

As Matisse so aptly described the process: 'When I eat a tomato I look at it the same way anyone else
would. But when I paint a tomato, I see it differently'.

The fundamentals of representation, serve equally whether drawing a landscape or designing a poster.
However a landscape will intensify or change one's perception of reality, which is a primary function
of art, and the poster will convey to an audience a body of information, which is a primary function of
graphic design.

Teachers need to communicate the difference between the two 'drawings'. Students need a basal level
of drawing skills not for drawings as an end product, but as part of the design process. The mastery of
the basics is a requirement for all graphic designers. We visualise or illustrate our thinking and ideas
through drawings. Communication through drawings provides the elementary vehicle for graphic
design.

Emphasis is placed on understanding each other's message, so our thinking can be shared. The drawn
elements in a finished graphic piece are considered as illustration or diagrammatic and like
photography are often crafted through different techniques or brought in from another source. The
situation of I can draw/I can't draw is circumnavigated by this emphasis.

Further to the 'can't' draw issue is the following excerpt from a curriculum framework R-12 - Education
Department of South Australia.

'Some writers on the stages of development have equated adolescence with a stage of artistic
repression, which is characterised by the child's rejection of making art, but this is now believed to
occur only if children are not given adequate and sympathetic training at this crucial time.
Adolescents who have been guided past this stage are then also ready to develop awareness of formal
qualities, learn historical and technical knowledge, and develop practical, critical and evaluative
skills. If given sequential and consistent experience, all children are capable of producing works of
individuality and of talking and writing about their work and the work of others.'

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Typography
Typography is the element of words, copy, or text

Typography deals with controlling and distributing type and space to maximise the reader's
understanding of a text.

Aspects of typography are:

Typestyle

Type hierarchy

Space

There are hundreds of existing typestyles and more are being developed. From script to block, from
condensed to extended, each has their own feel. The setting of words in different typestyles is used by
designers to determine a feeling that supports communication. For example the word dog can be
written as:

DOG DOG DOG Dog DOG

We can visualise the character of the dog, even associate a breed, from the way the word dog is set.

Type is meant to be read. The graphic designer should anticipate the reader and ensure that the type
will be tailored and arranged in a type face and size to suit. Sometimes, however, material is intended
to be noticed, typography is therefore designed to survive inattention, especially in highly competitive
environments.

Type is divided into two groups Serif and Sans Serif. Serif are type faces with a serif whereas sans
means without.

Aa Aa
Serif Sans Serif

Nearly all typefaces have a family of bold, medium, light and italic forms; further variations may
include condensed and extended forms. Through the use of families of type as well as the introduction
of other faces, hierarchy can be established. For example, a headline in bold capitals or phrases in
large italics give emphasis.

The graphic designer needs to analyse a body of text and allocate levels of importance. Traditionally
the larger the body of information, the more points of entry is required to engage the reader. Magazine
design, through highlighting with size, space, and typestyle, can deliver information as primary,
secondary and tertiary text. The structures are placed to engage a reader whether the reader is flicking
through, browsing or reading.

Second to typeface is space. Space between letters is kerning, between lines is line spacing. Space
around text is used to maximise legibility. The body of the text can be centred, ranged left, ranged
right or justified (ranged both left and right).

The subtleties of typography are such that there are degree courses devoted to the subject. For students
of graphic design in lower secondary schools, a working knowledge of typography should include:

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 16

 Type styles

The effect of type styles

Spacing

GRAPHI CS

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 17

Layout
Layout is composition, format, structure, and grids

An arrangement of elements within a field or image area is a layout. Composition expresses rhythm,
proportion, movement, tension, organisation, and aesthetics.

The graphic designer working through the design process together with a format determines which
elements are to be composed.

Elements include:

Shapes
Space
Illustration
Fine Art
Photography
Typography
Diagrams
Charts
Plans
Maps
Colour
Line
Texture

Singularly or in combinations, the above elements are positioned and sized according to the purpose of
the piece. The variations are numerous and hours of work can go into establishing the layout. With
practice, many arrangements can be done mentally, many variations can be visualised before a design
is committed to paper.

For example, a headline is placed and sized to impart its message from a distance, thus the message is
placed in such a way as to maximise the visual impact. In most cases composition is based on
traditional arrangements to meet the requirements of function and aesthetics. The understanding of the
rules, which determine traditional arrangements, together with experimentation, leads to a successful
layout.

The rules of traditional arrangements involve the use of a grid. A grid is physically drawn in a field
and then the various elements are placed within the grid.

Once the elements have been arranged, the visual format is apparent even though the guidelines have
been removed. The application of the grid system arranges, and at the same time relates, all elements
such as text and illustration from the front cover of a book to the back.

This consistency reflects a clarity and simplicity, which engages the reader. What elicits excitement,
surprise and provides compelling graphic design, more often than not, is found in the elements
themselves such as illustration, photography and colours.

Once established, the maintenance of a grid may involve the editing of text or writing the text to fit a
grid. Graphic designers direct photography and illustration to fit a layout, as well as to fit the brief.

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Working drawings in graphic design are call roughs, visuals, scamps or thumbnails. Thumbnails are
small drawings of a possible layout.

Thumbnails
These note the basic composition that forms the basis of a layout. Students should be encouraged to
use working drawings before producing highly refined visuals. Like ideas, working drawings should
number more than one. Sketches in fine art, or drafts in writing are numerous. Even Pablo Picasso did
up to twenty sketches for one piece. The most effective way to do layouts is by trying variations; keep
a copy of each variation as a guide to the next one; or as confirmation that one particular layout is the
most appropriate solution.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 19

CoIour
light, pigment, sensation, information

The focusing muscles of the eye move about 100 000 times a day. To give the leg muscles the same
exercise would involve walking 80 km (50 miles) a day. The retina inside the eye covers about 650
mm2 (1 sq in) and contains 137 million light-sensitive cells: 130 million rod cells for black-and-white
vision; and 7 million cone cells for colour vision.

Physically, light is a band of electromagnetic radiation. Each colour has a different wavelength and
frequency. There are 9 000 000 colours (LOVIBOND), however, our optics perceive colour as a blend
of red, blue, green and yellow, similar to the printing of any colour image which is made up of four
colours: magenta, cyan (blue), black and yellow.

Colours, like symbols can provide similes, analogies and metaphors. For instance, green in traffic
lights signifies go, red translates as stop, whereas red in many living things means danger, such as the
back of a red-back spider.

Broad categories of colour are:

Warm
Cool
Light
Dark
Vivid
Dull

Colour has three characteristics:

Hue
Lightness
Saturation

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 20

Computer Graphics
Computer graphics is a term to describe the images generated by a computer. Computer-generated
images have found their way into pieces of graphic design because of their specific textures, sensations,
lines and colour. In the sixties, Romance comics had the same effect with their specific colours, lines
and textures originating from screens which enabled shades of colours to be introduced without having
to introduce new colours, thus decreasing cost and time.

In the main, computers in graphic design aid in the production or implementation phase of the design
process. In graphic design most initial ideas are still being done using pencil and paper.

'Computers - Why should I get one? I've got one in my head.'

FUKUDA,1989

Once ideas have been generated, the computer may be used as a tool to produce graphic design pieces.
Currently, the use of computers predominates in the area of typography. Using popular typefaces the
designer can change size, leading and layout instantly. Characters can be manipulated letter by letter or
large sections of text can be altered, edited or added to.

Overall, the technology available in the areas of typography, picture reproduction and manipulation,
and printing removes much of the labour involved; however, like public transport, computers are
valuable only when you know where you want to go.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 21

Books
Brochures, reports

The book is unique as a prolific format communicating a large body of information. Pages divide
information into double-page spreads, isolating information but still relating it to the whole. From
spread to spread a visual rhythm that is sympathetic to both the reader and the subject matter is directed
and controlled by the graphic designer. The book cover or jacket becomes both a label and a poster for
the book.

Organising information both down and across pages makes book design challenging. Magazines is
perhaps the most exciting of the graphic design areas.

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 22

WORKING STAGES IN GRAPHIC DESIGN
When a graphic designer starts a brief for a client there are a number of processes involved in the
development of a design.
Brainstorming/Research
Thumbnails
Rough Visual
Colour Rough Visual
Comprehensive
Colour Comprehensive
Finished art work.

BRAINSTORMING RESEARCH
At this stage the designer finds out exactly what the clients requirements are. They extensively
research old and new ideas about the purpose and function of the product. They may interview, read
and look at other products or companies that are similar. A good designer will find out about the image
the client wants to project. They collect and scribble out ideas about the product and images associated
with the product and the client. In general they become familiar with the who, what and why of the
graphic design function.

THUMBNAILS
Once all the preparation has occurred ideas begin by generating small anecdotal type sketches, this is
called visual investigation. Thumbnails are small quick sketches of an image or object drawn using a
variety of angles and ideas. Thumbnails help you to make decisions about your images and ideas.
These are normally completed in a black and white medium so has not to confuse the basis of a good
design by enhancing it with colour. Several small sketches are made on one or several pages outlining
and showing ideas visually. These ideas should show variety in layout, design, design elements and
principles. Set time limits on these sketches so as not to block creative thinking.

ROUGH/COLOUR ROUGH VISUAL

The designer explores one or two ideas further, looking at the strengths and weakness of various design
ideas. Making slight changes to layout, lettering, white space, fonts etc... At first the designer will
normally do this black and white. Use a rough to test out different compositions, tonal effects and
techniques. Notations about media, lettering and layout can occur at this working stage. Once the
designer has a fair idea of what they want colour experiments start by trying our a variety of colours
and media. This is when the processes start to come together and the work can take on characteristic of
what it may look like at the comprehensive stage.

COMPREHENSIVE/COLOUR COMPREHENSIVE
Comprehensive layout is the most complete detailed sketch, generally made on illustration board or
tissue. The layout clearly shows style, size and techniques to be used in the final printed piece. The
comprehensive is drawn to appear like the finished piece.

FINISHED ART WORK

This is when all the hard work comes together to produce the final product. The finished art work is
ready for the printers and manufacturing. Applications to products can occur at this stage e.g.; logo on
a business card, label on a food product, illustrations in a book, layouts for a pamphlet etc...

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 23

IDEAS FOR STUDENT PROGRAMS
The brief is the purpose, the problem and the criteria to be met

The design brief takes the form of a written statement, which states the problem to be solved by the
designer.

The designer carries out research to understand the problem and identifies the various factors related to
the problem. This active involvement creates familiarity and is the first step in solving the problem.

Possible Questions
Do I understand the brief.?

Can I imagine how the brief has evolved?

What other information can I relate to the brief?

What factors are unique to it?

To whom is it going?

Can I imagine myself as the audience, viewer/user?

What research is appropriate?

Economic consideration?

Ecological consideration?

Deadlines?

Criteria for evaluation?

Social considerations?

Physical/ergonomic factors?

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 24

Initial Ideas

Generation, investigation of ideas is the most exciting part of the design process. It can take the form
of brainstorming. A group of people brainstorming can ignite individual ideas. Brainstorming was an
exploration technique first suggested by Alex Osborn in 1938 and is defined in Webster's dictionary as:
'Practicing a conference technique by which a group attempts to find a solution for a specific problem
by amassing all the ideas spontaneously contributed by its members'.

A 'problem-solving' team working together could include the following guidelines:

1. Incentive: The investment of time and effort in thinking must be worthwhile for all involved.
Workability is impaired if it is not established at the outset.

2. Time: Choose a future time for creative thought. This allows everyone to think about the
problem alone before collaborating.

3. Structure: The fun of bouncing ideas back and forth should be informal. Ideas should be noted.
here should be no destructive arguing at this stage-creativity and criticisms are incompatible.

Often the wilder the ideas or more off-beat, the better. Impractical suggestions may trigger
practical ideas.

4. Quantity: The greater the number of ideas, the better. Ideas also help to define the initial aspects
of the problem.

5. Think Alone: After the benefit of initial ideas, individual thinking can result in more, better and
newer ideas. Throughout this phase it is appropriate to consider that most ideas are not private,
or self-generated.

Other forms of generating ideas include:

! written lists, which can help students to refer to the initial brief and to expand it with
further associations.

! putting yourself in the position. Familiarity with the brief enables aspects of the problem
and possible solutions to become apparent.

'It would seem apparent that there is no one creative process and there may well be as many creative
processes as there are creative people.'

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 25

 Possible Questions
What imagery?

What feel or flavour?

What words? How many words?

What format is appropriate?

What production is involved?

What aesthetic considerations are there?

What is the traditional of the solution in

relationship to the problem?

This phase of the design process involves:

Visualisation

Imagination

Experimentation

Trial and error

Structures

Priorities

Curriculum Council - Graphic Design 26

Development and Making

H. HERBERT Fox

The creation of an ideas list allows ideas to be accepted or rejected after careful evaluation and
examination. Comparisons are made between solutions; some solutions are modified or combined or
enlarged. Communication skills are important here. The ability to verbalise and visualise the possible
solutions will be the same as those used to rationalise the chosen design to a client.

Once the possible solutions have been paired down, they may need further development to include the
more physical and practical aspects. Visualisation is used to solve these issues. Teachers need to
develop students' skills in the production of a model of the intended design. The visual should
communicate effectively what the solution is to facilitate the next stage.

Possible Questions
How is the idea to be presented to the audience?
How is the idea to be presented to the client?
How can the ideas be improved?
Can the ideas be simplified?
Can the ideas be more economical?
Environmental issues?
Can the graphic design piece be more aesthetic?
Is the graphic design piece imaginative?
How can I visualise those elements effectively?
How many solutions should be developed?

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 IDEAS FOR GRAPHICS
THEMES AND VARIATIONS
There are thousands of ideas and of producing a brief for your class. Some of these ideas will
inspire you to think a little more. Often starting with a theme may help you to think of ideas that
can he used for a graphic purpose.

The environment you live Children

Local tourist destinations Book illustration
School community Alphabet illustration
Local businesses Posters and friezes
Sporting groups Cartoon layout

Still-life Landscapes
Bookcovers Calendars
Stamps Bookbinders
Poster design Decorative boxes and packaging
Logo design Metro signs and graffiti
Packaging Symbols

Newspapers People
Social comment Fashion
Desktop publishing and layout Advertising an event e.g. Olympics
Advertising Famous people
Special edition pages Images of people in action
New money currency

Music Art and Design

CD covers Exhibition advertising
Packaging Equipment promotion and packaging
Poster design Labels and logos
T-shirts Art history promotion
Concert advertising

Fantasy and illusion The Natural World

Animation and comic Books/illustration
Book illustration Borders and patterns
Business promotion Zoo promotion
Lettering styles Stamps

Use more abstract titles to develop ideas and get the students thinking of images and ways to use
them graphically e.g.;

Some-one is knocking at my door Four seasons in one

Flowers in the spring Birth, life and the bit after that??
Da Vinci can fly Hiding in the jungle
In the groove a sixties revolution Stop I want to get of the train
Retrospectively speaking The news today
Is that your face? A world of symbols
Now I know my ABC Superman kills Andy Warhol

Implementation
Here the design needs to be produced, to accommodate the manufacture or printing of the graphic piece.
Teachers need to develop in students a working knowledge of both 'finished art' and production

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processes. Designers must understand production, technical aspects and processes and these must be
assessed during the development and making stage. Some aspects which should be considered are:

Building or commissioning some elements

Possible questions

Typesetting requirements

Artwork requirements

Paper or stock specification

Printing Requirements

Deadlines

Quantity

The technology, process and complexity of the implementation stage for graphic designers are immense.
Designers should have an intimate knowledge of the capabilities of each area and the limitations they
pose, however, they may never be required to operate a six-colour printing press or computer typeset
whole documents. In response to the involved and complex area of implementation, expertise is brought
in from the ancillary service industries and staff of the graphic design industry. This need is
compounded when graphic designers work on more than one project at a time, which is the rule rather
than the exception. These associated occupations include:

Copywriters
Illustrators
Finished Artists
Computer typesetters
Studio managers
Photographers
Photographic retouchers
Print managers
Scanning and negative preparation
Paper merchants
Printers
Print finishers

Teachers of graphic design in secondary schools should assess to what depth and complexities of the
implementation stage students should be exposed. For example, in the area of typography the basic
specification of size of type can include the following units of measurement

Points
Didot Points
Anglo-American Points

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 Ciceros
Pica
Pies
Ems
Millimetres
It is clear that while the above refer to the heritage of type, the most appropriate and effective method for
students is specification of type in millimetres.

Because of the rapid changes in technology and procedures in the implementation stage, excessive
specialisation should be avoided in favour of a broad understanding and knowledge.

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Decision
The answer
The nature of graphic design demands a constant state of flux. A piece of communication relies on
many factors and issues; its effectiveness is determined by the composite elements working together.

The combinations and permutations of delivering a concept provide many possible solutions.
Compromises or trade-offs are made to navigate through points or factors necessary in answering a brief.
Teachers must guide students not only in the development of ideas and designs, but also in the letting go
of some ideas and designs if ultimately they do not meet with the criteria of the brief. The
temperamental or anguished artist 'thing' is often due to a view point that ideas are self-generated, or
designs are personal, or simply we get too close to a problem or solution. The objectivity of a teacher
will enable a student to have an overview. The teacher may refer back to the initial brief, perhaps
pointing out some factors which undermine the intentions. By using simple logic and looking at cause
and effect, many students will understand what decisions are valid.

Can't see the wood for the trees

Objectivity is often lost when working on one thing for a long period of time. We get too close, or get
wrapped up in things to the point where we simply can not see the wood for the trees. Teachers can
create objectivity by allocating time constraints. Through a program, teachers may introduce more than
one type of learning experience into a unit.

On one hand, the vision of a designer enables work to be successful amidst: 'It can't be done'. On the
other hand, listening to others when offering interpretations of the work can enhance a solution. The
graphic designer needs to understand that the client is right. The commissioning and acceptance of
graphic design is the domain of the client. Allowing the client to be right may introduce us to ideas or
methods not known to us. The nuances of these skills are as important as the nuances of determining
space in a layout.

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 STUDENT BRIEF
GRAPHICS
THEME: Yanchep National Park

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Stamps

Produce a series of three stamps using the park as the theme. Your work should reflect an area within
the parklands and focus on interpreting the area using design elements and layout skills in unique
manner. Each of the stamps is to be a development of the theme you have selected. Try to use the
media that suits your needs. Experiment with layout and design skills. The stamps must include the cost
of the stamp, Australia, Yanchep somewhere on the border and perforated edges. Look to other stamp
series for layout clues. Each stamp is to be A4 in size presented on an A3 mounting board.

VISUAL INQUIRY
! Go on the Yanchep drawing excursion. Draw selected images and scenes.
! Take photographs for reference. Work in a variety of drawing media exploring what effects each
can create when drawing from the environment.
! Select a special area of focus and do several analytical drawings.
! When back in the classroom, develop and explore your drawings further. Develop
experimentations using colour.
! Explore compositions and develop ideas for studio work.
! Look at painting styles and techniques used by graphic artists and designers. Develop layout studies
in conjunction with your own ideas and techniques. Experiment with lettering techniques, you may
use the computer to help you with lettering.

STUDIO
! Draw out selected three images.
! Experiment with compositional layouts and lettering effects.
! Explore final colour selections using appropriate -media and style.
! Draw out design and paint images.
! Add lettering on selected mount format.
! Frame work and present for final presentation.

APPRECIATION
! Look at the work of twentieth century painters and graphic designers.
! Look at stamps and how artists have created images for various themes.
! Look at how various designers and painters have used design elements to create a sense of place in
the their images.
! Experiment with and develop techniques that you particularly like.
! Refer to the work of at least one artist in your developmental work and in your studio work.

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