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Graphic Design

Here’s a thought experiment: Imagine something. Anything. Ok, are

you done? You don’t have to describe what you imagined but answer
this: How did you imagine it? More likely than not, you saw a picture
or a scene in your head. That’s human nature. Humans are very visual
creatures. We rely heavily on visual images to understand the world
around us.

In this chapter, you will learn how to use ICT to create images for
whatever purpose you choose. In this chapter, you will learn about
graphics design.

In simple terms, graphics design is a form of visual communication

that uses words and images to express an idea or send a message.
Graphic design is used for various purposes. Take the following
examples:

Figure 1.0: Safety and direction

Traffic signs are a common example of graphic design. As a rule,

traffic and safety signs need to have simple designs that are easy to
understand. They also use bright colors such as yellow and red to catch
people’s attention

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Figure 2.0: Branding and advertising

Effective graphics design can make ideas stick to people’s minds. For
example, Coca-Cola’s simple red and white logo is easily one of the
most popular designs in history. Graphics design is widely used in
commerce to promote products.

Figure 3.0: Public relations

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON was a motivational poster created by

the British government to raise the morale of the population duting
World War 2. Its striking color and well-balanced typography sent a
clear message of courage and perseverance.

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Digital Image
Before we start creating some graphics, first we have to learn how
digital imaging works. A digital image is simply the digital version of
a two-dimentional image. A digital image can either be a vector or a
raster.

Vector vs Raster

Figure 4.0 Vector vs Raster

Vector
A vector image file contains points, lines, and shapes. A vector image
retains its quality even if you zoom in on it. An example of vector
image is the fonts that you use in your word processor apps. Notice
how the text remains smooth and readable no matter how big or small
you make them.

Raster
A raster image is composed of a grid of dots called pixels. Each pixel
can have a different color. Therefore, groups of pixels can appear to
form an image. Most of the pictures that you see in the Internet are
raster images.

For a more detailed explanation, check out this Youtube video:

https://youtu.be/-Fs2t6P5AjY

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Lossy vs Lossless

Our next topic will be image formats but we can’t understand those
without knowing the difference between lossy and lossless
compression. Compression is the method of reducing the file’s size or
the number of bits that it is composed of. Lossless compression retains
all the original data in the file while lossy compression removes some
of the data to make the file smaller.

Think of it like packing a pile of clothes into a bag. Lossless

compression is like squeezing all the clothes into the bag until they all
fit while lossy compression is very much like removing some items of
clothing from the pile so that the rest can fit into the bag.

Image File Formats

By now, you might have already noticed that some digital images have
“.jpg” at the end of their file names. Some have “.png” and so on.
These are file formats. A file format is a standard way in which digital
information is written and stored in a computer. All digital files have
formats and different formats are good for different uses. Here are the
most common formats of digital images and what they are best
suitable for:

JPG or JPEG
JPEG stands Joint Photographic Experts Group, the organization that
created it. JPEG uses lossy format. JPEG can be greatly compressed,
which makes it ideal for online use. JPEG is commonly used in
websites, and digital cameras.

GIF
You may have already heard of the debate about the pronounciation of
GIF. Some say gif as in “gift” while some say jif as in “Jill”. We’re not
gonna settle that debate here so please, pick a side and start arguing.

Anyway, GIF stands for Graphics Interchange Format. It uses lossless

compression and supports 256 colors. It is ideal for images with sharp
Open source- edges and few colors such as letters and logos. GIF also supports basic
something people can animation.
modify and share, because
the design is publicly PNG
accessible. Short for Portable Network Graphics, PNG was created as an open-
source alternative to GIF. Like GIF, PNG also uses lossless

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compression. However, unlike GIF, which recognizes only 256 colors,

PNG supports 16 million colors.

GIMP
Time to do some actual graphics design. For this lesson, we will be
using GIMP. Short for GNU Image Manipulation Program, GIMP is
open-source, which means anyone can download and use it for free.

First, some background information. GIMP has been around for 20

years now. It was first released in 1996 under the name General Image
Manipulation Program. Eventually, the word general was replaced by
GNU. Without going into much detail, GNU is the operating system in
which GIMP was first associated with.

To be perfectly honest, GIMP is quite complicated. It’s probably the

most complicated app that you will use this semester and there’s no
way we can discuss everything in just one chapter. But don’t worry
because you don’t have to learn everything about GIMP in order to use
it effectively. Think of it like a car. You don’t need to be a highly
trained professionl to drive one. You just need the basic skills. The rest
of it, you will learn along the way.

Download and Installation

Downloading and installing GIMP is pretty straightforward. First, go

to their official website at gimp.org. One of the first things that you
will see is the download link for the latest version. Just click it to start
your download. Once you’ve downloaded the installer file, open it and
follow the instructions to instll GIMP.

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The User Manual

As meantioned earlier, GIMP is quite complex and we won’t be able

to discuss every detail in this chapter. Fortunately, there’s a free user
manual, which can be accessed from the GIMP website. Simply click
the Docs tab then click the link for the English user manual.

For the rest of this chapter, we will only be discussing the bare basics
of GIMP. However, further information about every item that we will
discuss can be found in the user manual.

Creating a Document

To create a new document, click File then New. In the window that
will open, you can set the size of the image. Click the px dropdown
button to select what unit of measurement you want to use. You can
choose from pixels (px), inches, millimeters, centimeters, etc. Click
OK once you’re done choosing.

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Basic Concepts:

Here are some of the most important concepts that you need to be
familiar with.

Images
In GIMP terms, an image is a single file like a JPG or a PNG. In the
GIMP app, a single window display corresponds to one image

Layers
An image can be composed of one or several layers. Basically, a layer
in itself is an image with transparent areas. Layers are stacked on top
of each other to form an image. An image or a GIMP file can have one
or several layers. We’ll discuss this further later in this lesson

Resolution
By now, you’re already familiar with pixels. Resolution is the ratio
between the size of the image in pixels and its physical size when
printed on paper. The more pixles there are in an image, the better the
quality of the image is. The most common unit of measurement for
resolution is pixels per inch or ppi.

Selections
When using GIMP, you will want to isolate some parts of an image so
that your actions will only apply to that part and not to the rest of the
image. This part is called a selection. In GIMP, moving dashed lines,
which are sometimes called “marching ants”, marks a selection. There
are several ways to make a selection, which will be discussed later.

Undoing
You can undo an action or go back to the state of the image before the
action is done. This is useful when you make mistakes. For example, if

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you accidentally erased a part of an image, you can simply undo the
erase action and start over. GIMP keeps track of your actions or your
history. This feature will allow you to undo several actions at once.

Main Windows

Before we proceed, you may want to know that GIMP has 2 modes.
The first one is the multi-window mode, which is usually the default
mode. Frankly speaking, multi-window mode is needlessly
complicated. You may want to switch to the other mode which is the
single-window mode by clicking Windows (top part of the screen)
then Single-Window Mode.

Now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about the main windows in the
GIMP app. There are five main windows that are composed of dozens
of different functions. Again, we won’t be discussing everything in
detail. More detailed information can be found in the user manual.
(http://docs.gimp.org/2.8/en/gimp-concepts-main-windows.html)

Some of these windows can be moved. As a beginner, it is advisable to

not move any of these windows to avoid confusion.

1. Main Toolbox
The main toolbox contains several icons. Each icon represents
a tool. At the bottom of the main toolbox, you will see the
foreground and background colors.

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2. Tool Options
Below the main toolbox is the Tool Options. Here, you will see
the options for the tool that is currently selected. In the
example below, Tool Options shows the options for the brush
tool.

3. Image Window
In the middle of the screen, you will see the image window.
This is the window that displays the image that you are
currently working on. It is possible to open several image
windows at once but you can only work on one image window
at a time.

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4. The Layers, Channels, Paths, Undo History dock

This window is in the upper right part of the screen. Layers,
Channels, Paths, and Undo History can be accessed through
tabs in this window.

5. Brushes/Patterns/Gradients
Another tabbed window, this one can be found it the lower
right part of the screen. Each tab manages brushes, patterns,
and gradients, respectively.

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Exercise: Birthday Party Invitation

In this exercise, we will learn to make a simple invitation for a kid’s

birthday party. The methods that we will be using here can also be
applied in creating other kids of graphics like posters, tarpaulins, and
flyers.

Step 1. Create a new image.

Because this image will be printed, we need to make sure to use a
good resolution. Click Template and select 1024x768. Click the arrow
beside Advanced Options and type 300 in the resolution. Finally, click
OK.

Step 2. Change the background color

a. Select a forground color at the bottom of the main toolbox.
b. Select the Bucket Fill Tool (the bucket icon)
c. Click anywhere in the image window to apply the color to the
background layer.

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3. Add pictures
In this case we will be using a birthday cake clipart that we found
online and a picture of the birthday celebrant.

a. Drag and drop the clipart to the image window. This will create
a separate layer for the picture.
b. Use the Scale tool (shortcut: shift+T) to resize the image
c. Use the Move tool (shortcut: M) to move the picture

4. Add Text
To make sure that the colors in our design match, simply copy colors
from other parts of the image and use them as font colors.
a. Select the color picker tool (shortcut: O) and click on the color
that you want to copy. This will set the copied color as the
foreground color.
b. Right click anywhere in the image then click layer, New Layer,
and then OK. This will add a new blank layer.
c. Select the Text tool (letter A icon) then click and drag in the
image. Type your text and use the tool options to customize the
font syle, color, size, etc.
You can repeat this step several times to add different text styles.

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5. Save your work

a. Click File then Save (or use shortcut Ctrl+S). Type a name for
your image then click Save. This will save a GIMP file for
your image with the extension xcf. Use this file if you want to
edit your image.

b. To save your project in an image file format, click File then

Export (Ctrl+E). Click the arrow beside Select File Type and
choose a format. By default, the export format is png. Which
will do just fine. Click Export.
c. Finally, go to the folder where you exported the image and
open it.
d.

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Tips:

Now that we’re done with the technical stuff, here are some tips that
you can follow:
1. Consider the viewer.
Remember that graphic design is a form of communication so
always consider if your work will capture your intended
viewers’s attention and if the message that you want to convey
will be clearly understood. When choosing between what you
like and what the viewers will like, always choose the what
your viewers will like.

2. Learn from other people.

If you encounter a problem or if you want to learn a new trick
in GIMP, just google it. More often than not, you will find a
how-to guide, a forum thread, or an instructional video about
the topic.

3. Take advantage of free stuff.

The Internet is full of free graphic design resources like stock
photos, color palettes, fonts, etc. Just be careful not to
plagiarize or break copyright laws.

4. Keep it simple.
If your design has too many elements, the viewers may get
confused and lose interest. So keep your design simple. Do not
use more than two fonts. Choose matching colors. Focus on
one element and make the other elements match it.

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