Graphic Design Fundamentals: Getting Started

Lesson Info

Fundamentals are Forever

We're bringing it all together, we've just brought it all together in terms of sort of the range of practice areas and sort of kinds of media and image because the fundamentals are forever no matter how complex or simple the project, no matter how seasoned a designer you are or how much of a newbie, you're always coming back to the same principles, the same ideas over and over again in the same way that a wheel is shaped a particular way because it does something, the principles that we have been talking about work a particular way, they affect our perception in a particular way and our minds in particular ways and we can never ignore them. So, just some thoughts to live by, and this is a little bit of a recap, we really talked about to kind of understand what it is that designers do and always remember why you're designing, you're not designing for you, you're designing for other people, you're solving a problem, you're trying to make the world a better place, you're trying to connect...

people, you're trying to elevate our lives as humans. We talked about so the evolution of the profession and I think it's important no matter what area you're working in is that part of your expertise comes from knowing the history of your discipline. So, you want to know why it is that designers think a certain way about certain kinds of things, where did that come from and what is it, you know what knowledge are we building upon as we move forward, and of course history is a great source not only of inspiration, but also for problem solving because chances are in the last four to five hundred years somebody has encountered a similar kind of a problem and they've done it already and you can learn from that. The next is to choose and use your tools wisely as that is to understand what you have available to you. What's in the toolbox, there's so many options, and you know people run to certain go-to's. I want a really clean photograph of this, I want an icon for that. It should look this way, explore. You'll have imagery of so many different kinds, whether it's abstract or pictorial, color is a rich and powerful part of the communication medium that you really want to get in touch with. Typography is a very very dynamic component of designing and layout is the thing that pulls all those things together into a place, so you want to investigate those really carefully, and that actually is what we'll be covering tomorrow form an image color, typography, and layout segment by segment throughout the day. So, it will be really diving into each of those sort of tool areas in tremendous detail. And last is to follow a rich and thorough process is don't jump to conclusions, don't preconceive, don't try to see the end result in advance, is allow the process of discovery to take you to where that communication needs to go and to let it live in the best way possible. Now, your turn.

You don’t need to be a trained pro to make great designs. In this class, Timothy Samara will explain the fundamentals of graphic design and help you get started. You’ll learn about:

The skills essential for graphic design
Which tools designers use
How to manage the creative process

Timothy will demonstrate a design project from start to finish and provide a thorough introduction to the design principles professionals rely on everyday. You’ll learn the basics of:

• Space and form
• Color theory
• Typography
• Layout and composition

Lessons