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Design Terminology
Design Terminology
A collection of key terms and definitions used by Creative Professionals. Learn more about them from Yes I’m a Designer courses!
contiguous
canvas noise
blend DPS lorem responsive
design
ipsum
mode Masthead
margin
master rule of histogram
page thirds smart head
entry
pdf sharpening
resample point object
baseline stock hue
Gutter Bleed shift photo
jpeg FPO
process
mood body color
copy spread contrast pixel orphan
slug board drop mask
rulers shadow cmyk ppi contour
layers
pixel sans
GIF serif
feather font kern selection
Psd text
wrap alias artboard
rasterize spot
hsb mock- color invert lossy
leading
up adjust-
pantone ment hierarchy
color
texture
stroke line
tracking
negative swatch
RGB trace
PNG gray-
layout
guide space composition
scale
thumbnail
gradient balance
alpha
vector dominance
half wire
frame vibrance
tone
rhythm
DTP value tiff emboss
cmyk emphasis bezier scale saturation
curve
CMS
soft
unity
shape proportion CROP proof
style widow
trim filter action
guide mark vector opacity
greeking
mask brigthness
grid
Composition In the visual arts usually white, or none at all development of digital libraries and Font In typography, a set of all
– in particular painting, graphic catalogues. characters in a typeface.
design, photography and sculpture Contrast A principle of art, contrast
– composition is the placement or refers to the arrangement of opposite Drop shadow A commonly used visual FPO For Position Only is to indicate
arrangement of visual elements or elements (light vs. dark colors, rough effect consisting of drawing that looks that the image (as seen) has only been
ingredients in a work of art, as distinct vs. smooth textures, large vs. small like the shadow of an object, giving the added to the design to indicate its
from the subject of a work. It can also shapes, etc.) in a piece so as to create impression that the object is raised position on the layout and thus is not
be thought of as the organization of visual interest, excitement and drama. above the objects behind it. indicative of the appearance of the
the elements of art according to the The colors white and black provide the final printed image.
greatest degree of contrast. DTP Desktop publishing is the creation
principles of art. of documents using page layout skills GIF GIF images display up to 256
Complementary colors
Compression There are two types of also highly contrast on a personal computer. colors. GIF images generally have very
image file compression algorithms: with one another. An small file sizes and are the most widely
Emboss Embossing an image, gives it used graphic format on the web. The
lossless and lossy. Lossless artist can employ a three dimensional (3-D) quality. The
compression algorithms reduce file size contrast as a tool, low quality resulting from compression
3-D effect is created with highlights makes them unsuitable for
while preserving a perfect copy of the to direct the viewer’s and shadows on the edges of the
original uncompressed image. Lossy attention to a particular professional printing.
image. Also see at Bevel.
compression algorithms on the other point of interest within the Gradient Allows the
hand allow for variable compression piece. Emphasis Something that is singled out user to fill an object/
that trades image quality for file size. or made more prominent has emphasis. image with a smooth
Crop One basic way to modify images An element of a design that dominates
Contiguous is a term used in Adobe is to crop them — remove some part transition of colors.
or becomes the center of interest has
Photoshop for a couple of tools of the image. Cropping changes the emphasis. Grayscale Grayscale
(like the Magic Wand). It means appearance of images in order to images contains black, white and 254
neighbouring, adjacent or connected. better fit the layout, make a statement, Entry point Point or points on the shades of gray.
If this option is checked then the or improve the overall appearance of layout where the reader can start
Magic Wand will only sample from the design. reading. The designer has to help Greeking In computing, a means of
neighbouring areas with similar colours readability by adding entry points. speeding up the display redraw rate of
and will stop at the edges. When turned Dominance Dominance is created by a computer monitor by representing
off the selection can spread freely. contrasting size, positioning, color, Feather Feathering is a technique text characters below a certain size as
style, or shape. The focal point should used to smooth or blur the edges of a gray lines, boxes, or illegible dummy
Contour/silhouette The image of a dominate the design with scale and feature. type.
person, object or scene represented as contrast without sacrificing the unity
a solid shape of a single colour, usually of the whole. Filter A filter is applied to Grid An underlying structure
black, its edges matching the outline of images or art works to easily of columns, rows, margins,
the subject. The interior of a silhouette DPS Digital Publishing includes the create special effects or to and lines, that dictate
is featureless, and the whole is typically digital publication of e-books, EPUBs, achieve a look that would be the way information is
presented on a light background, Digital Magazines (also sometimes too difficult to create manually. organized on a page.
known as electronic articles), and the
Guide Guides help you position images Head The top of a book, page, or transparent. They allow the user to to provide allowances for trimming,
or elements precisely. Guides appear column. In typography, the term head assemble, organize and re-edit their binding, and other post-press
as nonprinting lines that float over is also an abbreviation for the term artwork with ease. operations.
the image. You can move and remove heading.
guides. You can also lock them so that Layout Master plan or blueprint of a Master page A master is like a
you don’t move them by accident. HSB Hue, Saturation and Brightness is printed or published work (such as background that you can quickly
a color model used to desrcibe colors an advertisement, book, magazine, apply to many pages. Objects on a
Gutter In typography, the term refers with three values. newspaper, or website) that lays master appear on all pages with that
to the space between columns of type, out the arrangement of its different master applied. Changes you make to
usually determined by the number and Hue The primary value of a color and graphic elements (such as body copy, a master are automatically applied to
width of columns and the overall width how the color red, green, blue, purple, colors, headlines, illustrations, scale). associated pages. Masters commonly
of the area to be filled. etc. is perceived through the eye. It establishes the overall appearance, contain repeating logos, page numbers,
relative importance, and relationships headers, and footers.
Halftone Any image--such as a Invert Changing the colors of an image
between the graphic elements to
photograph--that exists as a series or a layer mask to the opposite colors Masthead In newspaper and
achieve a smooth flow of information
of small dots of varying size and on the color wheel. magazine publishing, the listing of
(message) and eye movement for
color density, which serve to maximum effectiveness or impact. the publication’s staff, management,
JPEG A common compression method
simulate the appearance of Often alternative layouts (called address, etc., commonly printed toward
that shrinks a file’s storage size
continuous gradations roughs) are prepared to explore the beginning of the publication.
by discarding non-important
of tone. Halftones picture detail. Excessive jpeg different arrangements before the
are necessary in Mock-up Mock-ups are used by
compression can cause poor final layout is made for printing or designers mainly to acquire feedback
the reproduction image quality. production.
of photographic from users about designs and design
images; most Leading (pronounced “led-ding”) In ideas early in the design process. Mock-
Kerning In typography, the
printing presses typography, an alternate and more ups are very early prototypes.
reduction of letterspacing
cannot print between certain character popularly used term for line spacing. Mood board A mood board is a type
continuous tones, so combinations in order to of collage that may consist of images,
photographic images Line The visual path that enables the
reduce the space between them, text, and samples of objects in a
must first be converted to a eye to move within the design.
performed for aesthetic reasons. composition of the choice of the mood
series of dots in order to be effectively Lorem Ipsum Used as placeholder board creator. Designers and others use
printed. Layers Layers are like sheets of
text because it approximates a typical mood boards to develop their design
stacked acetate. You can see through
Hierarchy A good design contains distribution of characters in English. concepts and to communicate to other
transparent areas of a layer to the
elements that lead the reader members of the design team.
layers below. You move a layer to Margin Any deliberately unprinted
through each element in order of its position the content on the layer, like space on a page, especially surrounding Negative space The space not occupied
significance. The type and images sliding a sheet of acetate in a stack. a block of text. Margins are used by the text or images. Negative or
should be expressed starting from You can also change the opacity of not only to aid in the aesthetics and white space has the same importance
most important to the least. a layer to make content partially the readability of a page, but also as the text and images on the layout.
Without proper use of negative colors match without direct contact PPI Pixels Per Inch. A measurement of Resolution The resolution of an image
space the design will look messy and with one another. the resolution of a scanned image. is an important factor in determining
crowded. the attainable output quality. The
PDF Portable Document Format (PDF) Process color The printing of “full higher the resolution of an image, the
Noise Image noise is random (not is a file format used to represent color” images utilizing a photographic less pixilated it will be.
present in the object imaged) variation documents in a manner independent color separation process in which each
of brightness or color information in of application software, hardware, of three primary colors (cyan, magenta, Responsive design Responsive web
images, and is usually an aspect of and operating systems. Each PDF file and yellow, plus black) are separated design (RWD) is a web design approach
electronic noise. It can be produced by encapsulates a complete description of from the original art and given their aimed at crafting sites to provide
the sensor and circuitry of a scanner or a fixed-layout flat document, including own printing plate. an optimal viewing experience—easy
digital camera. the text, fonts, graphics, and other reading and navigation with a minimum
information needed to display it. Proportion Proportion refers to the of resizing, panning, and scrolling—
Opacity A layer’s overall opacity relative size and scale of the various across a wide range of devices (from
determines to what degree it obscures Pixel The smallest picture element elements in a design. The issue is the desktop computer monitors to mobile
or reveals the layer beneath it. A (used to display an image on a relationship between objects, or parts, phones).
layer with 1% opacity appears nearly computer), that can be independently of a whole.
transparent, whereas one with 100% assigned a color. RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is the model
opacity appears completely opaque. PSD Photoshop document, the default used to project color on a computer
Pixel mask Pixel masks determine file extension of the proprietary file monitor. By mixing these three colors,
Orphan A paragraph-opening line that opacity values based on a raster image format of Photoshop. a large percentage of the visible color
appears by itself at the bottom of a with grayscale values that correspond spectrum can be represented.
page/column. pixel for pixel to the original layer. Rasterize Rasterisation (or
This makes them ideal for masking rasterization) is the task of taking an Rhythm Rhythm in design is also called
A word, part of a word, or very short complex photographic imagery (e.g. the image described in a vector graphics repetition. Rhythm allows your designs
line that appears by itself at the end hair on a model or leaves on a tree). format (shapes) and converting it into a to develop an internal consistency that
of a paragraph. Orphans result in too Pixel masks allow 100 shades of gray, raster image (pixels or dots). makes it easier for your customers to
much white space between paragraphs which correspond directly to opacity understand. Once the brain recognizes
or at the bottom of a page. Resample Resampling is changing
percentages. the pattern in the rhythm it can relax
the amount of image data
and understand the whole design.
Pantone The Pantone Color Matching PNG Portable Network Graphics as you change either the
System is largely a format. PNG (usually pronounced pixel dimensions or the Rule of thirds The rule of thirds
standardized color “ping”), is used for lossless resolution of an image. states that an image is most
reproduction system. compression. The PNG format When you downsample pleasing when its subjects or
By standardizing displays images without jagged (decrease the number regions are composed along
the colors, different edges while keeping file sizes of pixels), information is imaginary lines which divide the
manufacturers in relatively small, making them deleted from the image. image into thirds — both vertically
different locations can popular on the web. PNG files are When you resample up and horizontally. It is a powerful
all refer to the Pantone however generally larger than GIF (increase the number of pixels, compositional technique for making
system to make sure files. PNG supports transparency. or upsample), new pixels are added. designs more interesting and dynamic.
Rulers Rulers help you position images Shape Areas defined by edges within Soft proof Soft proofing is simply a a royalty-free basis and can be used
or elements precisely. When visible, the design, whether geometric or mechanism that allows you to view and reused for commercial design
rulers appear along the top and left organic. on your computer monitor what your purposes.
side of the active window. Markers in print will look like when it is on paper.
the ruler display the pointer’s position Sharpening An image enhancement A specific paper. That paper and ink Stroke A Stroke is basically the outline
when you move it. technique in which the contrast combination has been defined by the of an element. You could also call it a
between specific pixels is enhanced. profile that you or someone else has “Border.” Stroke is not limited to only
Sans Serif In typography, a sans-serif, made for your printer / paper and ink shapes, but can also be used on line
sans serif, gothic, san serif or simply Scale is relative. A graphic element can segments.
combination. To get an accurate soft
sans typeface is one that does not have appear larger or smaller depending on
proof your monitor has to be calibrated. Style guide A style guide or style
the small projecting features called the size, placement, and color of the
“serifs” at the end of strokes. The term elements around it. When elements are Spot color Refers to a method of manual is a set of standards for the
comes from the French word sans, all the same size, the design feels flat. specifying and printing colors in which writing and design of documents,
meaning “without”. Sans-serif fonts Contrast in size can create a sense of each color is printed with its own ink. either for general use or for a specific
tend to have less line width variation tension as well as a feeling of depth In contrast, process color printing publication, organization or field.
than serif fonts. In print, sans-serif and movement. uses four inks (cyan, magenta, yellow, The implementation of a style guide
fonts are used for headlines rather and black) to produce all other colors. provides uniformity in style and
Slug Slugs hold printing information, formatting within a document and
than for body text. Spot color printing is effective when
customized color bar information, across multiple documents.
the printed matter contains only
Saturation Saturation is the overall or displays other instructions and
one to three different colors, but it Swatch A sample of a specific color,
intensity of the color, any color descriptions for other information in
becomes prohibitively expensive for either printed or stored digitally, used
that appears dull is referred to as the document. Objects (including text
more colors. There are a number of to describe a particular printing ink
desaturated. frames) positioned in the slug area are
color specification systems for or combination of printing ink
printed but will disappear when the
specifying spot colors, but colors.
Selection Selection refers to an document is trimmed to its final page
Pantone is the most widely
area of an image that is selected size.
used. Text wrap Text wrap is the
(isolated) so it can be edited
while the rest of the image is Smart object Smart Objects spatial relationship that
Spread A spread is the exists amongst graphics
protected. are layers that contain
joining of two facing and blocks of text (or
image data from raster
pages that are created amongst two blocks of
Serif In typography, or vector images,
to work as a unit in a text). Usually a text wrap
a serif is a small line such as Photoshop or
double-sided document. is rectangular in shape.
trailing from the edges of Illustrator files. Smart
letters and symbols, such Objects preserve an Stock photo Stock photos However, a text wrap may also
as when handwriting is image’s source content (stock photography) are be arbitrary or irregular in shape.
separated into distinct units with all its original professional photographs of common
for a typewriter or typsetter. characteristics, enabling Texture Surface qualities which
places, landmarks, nature, events or translate into tactile illusions.
A typeface with serifs is called a you to perform nondestructive people that are bought and sold on
serif typeface. editing to the layer.