UNIVERSIDA AUTÓNOMA DE

TAMAULIPAS
FACULTAD DE ARQUITECTURA,
DISEÑO Y URBANISMO
ORDINARIO

Inglés
técnico
BEATRIZ A.
RODRIGUEZ
A2163710376
Unit 2 DISCOVERING THE BASICS
To be a Graphic Designer you need to know the Fundamental Graphic Design
elements that every design project has on it.
The line is one of the basic elements of Graphic Design, a line is used to connect
two or more points, but Graphic design is usually used to divide the space and to
focus the eye on a specific location. There can be different types of Lines, fat, thin,
wavy, and any form you can imagine to connect two points, and every type of line
has a different feeling.
Color is one of the most important elements of graphic design and the most obvious,
in design we can use color for everything as it can be applied to the background,
lines, shapes, or other graphic elements in the composition.
Color in graphic design is very important as every single color generates different
emotions and it’s used to transmit these emotions through the full composition and
have an effect on your mind.
The shape is also one of the most basic elements in Graphic Design. Shapes in
design have two dimensions and are measured by their height and width, and they
are defined by boundaries such as lines, color, or negative space, and in some way,
we can say that all visual elements are shapes.
In graphic design, there are two main types of shapes, Geometric and Organic
shapes.
Geometric shapes in graphic design are the ones that can be drawn by using a ruler
or compass, and geometric shapes produce a feeling of control or order whether
they are simple or complex.
Shapes in design are very important to communicate ideas in a visual way due to
the interaction of these shapes between them. You can easily see an example of this
by looking at street signs and symbols.
Size is also one of the basic elements in graphic design, as usually the bigger
elements catch your attention faster than the smaller ones, and size or scale is used
in graphic design to create more dynamic design projects and to focus the eye on
certain elements of the design.
You can use scale and size in shapes, lines, typography, or other design elements
to give more variety to your composition and avoid boring designs. If you want to
learn more about the size and other graphic design principles you can check my post
about graphic design principles.
Graphic design projects are visually based and you can’t touch them physically
(unless you have designed packaging) it’s important to transmit the look and feel of
the elements through the eye, and that is why we use textures in Graphic Design.
The texture is a physical quality of a surface, and we can mimic the texture feeling
in design in illustrations or by images representing the surface we want to transmit.
Space is a vital graphic element and many times is underestimate and many rookies’
graphic designers have “horror vacui” and avoid completely blank space. Space is
the area around the graphic elements in a design project, and it can be used to give
the eye a rest and focus on other graphic elements in the compositions, or it can be
used as other graphic elements by using negative space and create hidden shapes
as you can see on the FedEx Logo Design.
Unit 3 DRAWING
Drawing, the art or technique of producing images on a surface, usually paper, by
means of marks, usually of ink, graphite, chalk, charcoal, or crayon.
Drawing as formal artistic creation might be defined as the primarily linear rendition
of objects in the visible world, as well as of concepts, thoughts, attitudes, emotions,
and fantasies given visual form, of symbols and even of abstract forms. This
definition, however, applies to all graphic arts and techniques that are characterized
by an emphasis on form or shape rather than mass and colour, as in painting.
Drawing as such differs from graphic printing processes in that a direct relationship
exists between production and result. Drawing, in short, is the end product of a
successive effort applied directly to the carrier. Whereas a drawing may form the
basis for reproduction or copying, it is nonetheless unique by its very nature.
Surface
One can draw on practically anything that has a plane surface (it does not have to
be level)—for example, papyrus and parchment, cloth, wood, metals, ceramics,
stone, and even walls, glass, and sand. (With some of these, to be sure, another
dimension is introduced through indentations that give the visual effect of lines.) Ever
since the 15th century, however, paper has been by far the most popular ground.
Granulated and softer drawing tools, such as charcoal, chalk, and graphite are not
as dependent on a particular type of paper; but, because of their slight adhesiveness,
they often require a stronger bond with the foundation as well as some form of
surface protection.
Tools and techniques
Such varied tools as slate pencils, charcoal, metal styli, and chalks may be used for
drawing as well as all writing utensils, including pens, pencils, and brushes. Indeed,
even chisels and diamonds are used for drawing, not to mention saws, drills, and
fire.
Charcoal. In every hearth or fireplace, partially consumed pieces of wood remain
that can be used as a convenient tool for drawing. Evidence of charcoal sketches for
mural, panel, and even miniature paintings can still occasionally be seen under the
pigment.
Chalks. The chalks, which resemble charcoal pencils in outward appearance, are an
equally important drawing medium.
Metalpoints have been used for writing and delineation ever since the scriptoria of
antiquity. It required little imagination to employ them also in drawing. The most
frequently used material was soft lead, which on a smooth surface comes out pale
gray, not very strong in colour, and easily erasable but very suitable for preliminary
sketches. Aside from lead, tin and copper were also used, as well as sundry lead-
and-pewter alloys.
Graphite point. Toward the end of the 16th century, a new drawing medium was
introduced and soon completely displaced metalpoint in sketching and preliminary
drawing: the graphite point.
Colored crayons, in circulation since the late 19th century, offer all the possibilities
of black graphite points; and, in combinations, they attain a stronger colour value
than chalks because they do not merge with one another. Every line preserves its
original and characteristic colour, a form of independence that Gustav Klimt and
Picasso exploited to the full.
Brush, pen, and dyestuffs. Of the many possibilities of transferring liquid dyestuffs
onto a plane, two have become particularly significant for art drawing: brush and
pen. To be sure, finger painting, as found in prehistoric cave paintings, has
occasionally been practiced since the late Renaissance and increasingly so in more
recent times. For drawing as such, however, the method is irrelevant.
Mechanical devices
Mechanical aids are far less important for art drawing than for any other art form.
Many drafts people reject them altogether as unartistic and inimical to the creative
aspect of drawing.
Apart from the crucial importance that mechanical aids have had and continue to
have for all kinds of construction diagrams, plans, and other applied drawings, some
mechanical aids have been used in varying but significant measure for artistic
drawings.
Unit 4 APPLIED ARTS
Art is the expression of human creativity through various mediums, most of which
are visual. The applied arts are a subsection of arts that include both design and
decoration alongside practical objects in order to make them aesthetically pleasing.
One of the criticisms of fine art is that it is not a particularly useful expression of
human creativity. Yes, paintings are pretty to look at, and sculptures add personality
to a room, but they serve no greater purpose beyond that. Instead, they are mere
decorative instruments.
However, while that criticism may be valid for paintings and sketches, not art can be
generalized under this stereotype.
Applied art definition
Applied art is defined as artistic designs made for utilitarian objects in everyday use.
Works of fine art are often defined as high arts because they serve no purpose other
than providing aesthetic or intellectual stimulus to people who view it and are
designed to increase the aesthetic appeal of the room, they are put in.
In contrast to fine art, applied arts make functional objects more aesthetically
pleasing. That means that these objects are designed so that the results are useful
and aesthetically enjoyable at the same time.
Because of this fusion between creativity and function, applied art embraces an
enormous range of products and items, ranging from doorknobs, tables, airports,
railway station, concert hall walls and roof, a fountain pen, a walking stick, a siren,
an alarm clock or a computer mouse. The applied arts overlap with decorative arts,
and the modern form of applied art is now typically called design.
In European academic traditions, fine art is made primarily for aesthetics or creative
expression, distinguishing it from decorative art or applied art, which also has to
serve some practical function, such as pottery or most metalwork. In the aesthetic
theories developed in the Italian Renaissance, the highest art was that which allowed
the full expression and display of the artist's imagination, unrestricted by any of the
practical considerations involved in, say, making and decorating a teapot. It was also
considered important that making the artwork did not involve dividing the work
between different individuals with specialized skills, as might be necessary with a
piece of furniture, for example. Even within the fine arts, there was a hierarchy of
genres based on the amount of creative imagination required, with history painting
placed higher than still life.
Unit 5 PHOTOGRAPHY
Photography
The word Photography literally means ‘drawing with light’, which derives from the
Greek photo, meaning light and graph, meaning to draw. Photography is the process
of recording an image – a photograph – on light sensitive film or, in the case of digital
photography, via a digital electronic or magnetic memory.
The photograph is evident in nearly every aspect of modern life. As a form of
communication and documentation, photographs are present in newspapers,
magazines, advertisements, posters, television, the Internet, passports, ID cards,
archives, security and Surveillance Systems, forensics and medicine. Photography
also plays an important role in domestic and recreational activities. Most
photographs produced today take the form of Snapshots documenting activities such
as holidays and celebrations. With the prevalence of digital cameras and mobile
phone cameras, these activities are also documented for display on photo-sharing
websites and photo-based Social Networking Sites. Despite the prevalence of
photography in many aspects of modern life, only a small minority of photographs
are considered to be art and tend to be displayed in museums and galleries in
formats similar to painting.
Photo editing is the act of image enhancement and manipulation. This process is
usually done with a digital photo editing software. Photo editing can involve basic
tweaks like when you crop and resize images or adjust saturation. It also includes
advanced techniques like swapping faces or photo retouching to get rid of distracting
elements or unwanted objects.
Some image editing techniques are done manually, while others are conducted
through automated photo editing tools and software. Most edits to digital
photography involve someone or a few photo editing programs. Some edits are even
done offline on actual photographs, posters, or other printed collateral without any
image editing software.
Simple photo editing techniques include:
• Straighten
• Crop
• Resize
• Sharpen
• Noise reduction
• White balance
• Contrast
• Exposure
• Lens Correction
• Color adjustment
• Background removal
• Clipping paths
• Portrait corrections
• Drop and reflection shadow
• Special effects
• Adjusting text and visuals
• Photo stitching
• Photo masking and Layers
Typography
Many designs include some kind of copy on them, which means typography is
another basic element of graphic design that you need to understand. It can be a
challenge to get the balance between setting the tone with a stylized font and using
something that everyone can digest.
It’s good to remember that no matter which font you choose, you’ll be able to
customize it by:
Adjusting the space between the lines of text (the leading).
Condensing or expanding the gap between characters (the tracking), but this tends
to be used for capital letters only.
Change the spacing between specific characters (the kerning), but this is often
reserved just for headers in display fonts.
Unit 6 WEB DESING
Web design has come a long way since the first site was published in 1991. With
over one billion live websites on the internet today, it’s no surprise that this industry
is here to stay. Wix is home to thousands of website design professionals,
enthusiasts, and designers who are empowering the industry to reach new heights.
So, if you’re here to learn more about the world of web design, you’ve come to the
right place.
Web design is the art of planning and arranging content on a website so that it can
be shared and accessed online with the world. A combination of aesthetic and
functional elements, web design is a type of digital design that determines the look
of a website—such as its colors, fonts, graphics and user interface (see our guide
on website design best practices).
Web design is often a collaborative process that combines knowledge and tools from
related industries, ranging from web design statistics to SEO optimization and UX.
Web designers will often bring together professionals from these areas who can
optimize performance and focus on the larger process and outcome.
Web design uses many of the same key visual elements as all types of design such
as:
Layout: This is the way the graphics, ads and text are arranged. In the web world, a
key goal is to help the view find the information they seek at a glance. This includes
maintaining the balance, consistency and integrity of the design.
Colour. The choice of colors depends on the purpose and clientele; it could be simple
black-and white to multi-colored design, conveying the personality of a person or the
brand of an organization, using web-safe colors.
Graphics: Graphics can include logos, photos, clipart or icons, all of which enhance
the web design. For user friendliness, these need to be placed appropriately, working
with the colour and content of the web page, while not making it to congested or slow
to load.
Fonts: The use of various fonts can enhance a website design. Most web browsers
can only read a select number of fonts, known as “web-safe fonts”, so your designer
will generally work within this widely accepted group.
Content: Content and design can work together to enhance the message of the site
through visuals and text. Written text should always be relevant and useful, so as
not to confuse the reader and to give them what they want so they will remain on the
site. Content should be optimized for search engines and be of a suitable length,
incorporating relevant keywords.
Website functionality essentially refers to how your website works; everything from
its speed and ease of use, to what specific actions can be performed on it.
At the risk of dating myself, when I think about how speedy and efficient websites
function today—compared to the ‘90s (I can hear AOL’s dial up signal in the
background), I’m reminded that we’ve come a long way. Given the advancements
across the industry of web design, it’s in our best interest to utilize the modern tools
available to guarantee our websites perform well, and are easy to use.
A single web design can consist of multiple pages and items to be viewed or used
by the visitor. Website navigation is what lets visitors find the webpages they need
after they arrive at your site.
Adding a navigation menu to your design is the best way to provide smooth
navigation for visitors. A website’s menu links to multiple items on your site and
serves the user by helping them navigate between different pages and sections.