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Graphic Design Rules 365 Essential Design Dos and Don Ts Peter Dawson Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
Graphic Design Rules 365 Essential Design Dos and Don Ts Peter Dawson Online Ebook Texxtbook Full Chapter PDF
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Graphic Design Rules
Revised Edition
Foreword
Colour
Index
Credits
Thou shall have a foreword
Hi. I’m a design school dropout. I lasted all of four
weeks in typography class.
A few years ago I decided to go back to school. I wasn’t happy as a
graphic designer; maybe I wasn’t happy as a person. Who can say?
But like any self-conscious middle-class fauxhemian with a New
Yorker subscription, I had convinced myself that a graduate degree
would fix me right up. But those things are pricey, so I thought I’d
test the waters first, and enrolled in a night class at Art Center
College of Design, where I had studied years before. Unfortunately,
by the time I set out on this experiment, almost all the fancy classes
were full. No 3D model making with the laser lathe for me. The one
class that still had an open slot was Basics of Typography.
With this being the trial balloon for my return to life at the academic
retreat and resort, I was looking forward to rediscovering the
fundamentals with the excitement of a novice and the work ethic of
a semi-seasoned pro. Instead of rushing through assignments in fear
at the last possible minute, trying to guess what would please my
teacher, I’d approach each task with leisurely reflection and joy. This
wouldn’t be client work. It’d be my little treat to myself each week.
It’d be the way I had always dreamed school should be.
Of course, none of that came to pass. I wasn’t taking time off from
work. I just added this to my giant to-do list in the hopes that it
would somehow keep paying gigs at bay. Which it didn’t. So I
rushed, and I fudged, and instead of learning to see old things with
new eyes, I used the same tricks on my new teacher that I was
using on my commercial work, too. It was just one more thing I had
to get out the door.
That wasn’t what made me quit after four weeks, though. I could’ve
done it. I could’ve pulled through, even though the whole exercise
had become somewhat pointless by now. Yes, I was going through
the motions, but I was technically a student again, and maybe I’d
meet somebody cute on campus. Not a trivial benefit.
But what was the real problem anyway? Was it just the hectic pace?
I was used to that. Was it that I had to submit to the critiques from
teachers or my fellow students? Nah. That didn’t bother me. It was
all very good-natured stuff, and I was better for hearing it. No, what
did me in was listening to the teacher giving feedback to the
younger students.
‘Just leave them alone!’, I thought. ‘Yes, I agree that this isn’t the
proper way of doing it. But maybe they’re on to something!
Something new! And fantastic! What would happen if we just let
them run with it?’
In the end, I learned first hand that the old saw is right: no matter if
you want to follow the rules or you want to break them, you have to
know them first and know them well. And that is, of course, the
point of all this.
And it’s a good thing that all of it is happening in book form, too,
because I have to admit that there are at least fourteen things here
that I’ve been doing wrong for years. Would I have ever dared to
ask anybody about it? Hell no. Because that’s the other thing about
school. And life. You don’t want to look stupid. This book will help
with that. A lot.
Stefan G. Bucher
Type and Typography
001
Thou shall not use
…ironically
Commentary Did I just say you shouldn’t use Comic Sans? Well, I
was only kidding. One of the great things about typefaces that
become vilified due to inappropriate application or overuse is they
gain a platform from which they can be used to portray irony,
sarcasm, satire, dry wittedness, and so on. If you’ve got a dispiriting
message that you want to make light of, for instance ‘Turning 46
next week and really happy about it – party on!’, Comic Sans might
just be the typeface of choice. The problem here is, unless everyone
you’re inviting to your birthday bash is a graphic designer, they won’t
get it. Using type ironically can be very effective and indeed great
fun, but only if the irony isn’t wasted. Therefore, think carefully
before you decide to use Comic Sans, or Child’s Play, or Dot Matrix,
or Bullets Dingbats, or any other novelty typeface for any project
that requires anyone to work out why you chose the typeface in the
first place. If the joke isn’t immediately transparent, you should
probably have gone for Times New Roman instead. Ha ha – do you
get it? No? TS
003
Thou shall accept that Times New Roman has its uses
Commentary Life is full of regrets and errors. Why did I say yes to
that last cocktail? Perhaps the adoption of 12 children was overkill?
Trendy typography is one of the most egregious of these errors.
Curlz may seem ‘wacky’ and ‘fun’, but it will ruin your life. As
designers, we have the pressure of remaining aware of shifts in
popular culture. Understanding what is trendy is part of the job. The
obvious reason for choosing classic over trendy typefaces is that the
trendy fonts will soon be out of style. Classic fonts have survived the
test of time. Consider your haircut in high school. Is that school
photo one that you use as your headshot for publications? No. Each
of us, at one point, has fallen into a trendy and tragic hairstyle.
Trendy type is the same. Template Gothic was groundbreaking in
1990. Four years later, all of these projects were dismissed as, ‘So
1990’. These projects now sit unseen in designers’ flat files, like a
high school senior photo, hidden from public view. SA
009
Thou shall accept that legibility and readability are
more important than typographic styling
Commentary System fonts are made for civilians. These are basic
choices provided so everyone can exchange Word docments easily,
and so a child can make a sign for their bedroom door. Some system
fonts, such as Times Roman and Helvetica, are beautiful typefaces.
Times Roman was designed for The Times in 1932, and Helvetica
was designed in 1957. They are legible, clear, and refined.
Unfortunately, they are also everywhere. And anything that is
everywhere becomes background noise or wallpaper that we do not
see. Telephone poles are a good example. They are everywhere, but
we don’t see them. Now there are exceptions. Arial and Georgia are
system fonts that are good choices for websites. They are poor
choices for printed materials, or instances where you need a
distinctive voice. ‘But Verdana is perfectly fine’, you may say. And
yes, it is. But so is raw concrete. I’d rather choose another surface
for my house. It is important to have a broad knowledge of
typefaces. Recognising a refined cut of Univers as opposed to
system Verdana is what separates a good designer from those
designing telephone directory ads. SA
015
Thou shall mix typeface choices to create typographic
texture
"Tytön takia tekisi hän vaikka mitä", jatkoi tunteellinen äiti. "On
oikein liikuttavaa nähdä miten hän huolehtii hänestä."
"Ota sinä kaikki ravintolat tältä puolelta katua, minä otan toiselta
puolelta", sanoi kokki. "Ja jos noin surkealta näytät, tulet tekemään
hyvät kaupat."
"Pitkä, komea, kaunis mies", sanoi Henry, "ja tällä miehellä ovat
nyt hänen vaatteensa."
"Juotte varmaankin?"
"En."
"Syökää tuo leipä tai kutsun poliisin ja annan vangita teidät", sanoi
toinen ääntänsä korottaen. "Taidatte ollakin joku petturi. Missä on
lupakirjanne?"
"Täältä emme häntä löydä, kokki", sanoi Sam, kun osakeyhtiö taas
sovinnossa istui kannella ja katseli harvoja pimeän tultua ilmeneviä
valopilkkuja kaupungissa.
Oli kaunis ja kirkas päivä, kun hän seuraavana aamuna heräsi pää
kipeänä ja mielessä selvä tuntumus siitä millaiseen kurjuuteen
ihmisluonto-raukka maailmassa voi vaipua. Kaupungin kirkonkellon
taukoamaton räminä ja kahden virsikirja kainalossa sivutse kulkevan
tytön näkeminen selvittivät hänelle päivän olevan sunnuntain.
"Miten pitkälle?"
Sam murisi.
"Olisipa se hyvä meille, jos joku sen tekisi", sanoi kokki. "Silloinhan
voisimme rauhassa tarkastaa Piggotin lahtea." Samassa luki hän
Samin silmistä pahan aikomuksen. "Ei, ei", sanoi hän kiireesti.
"Hän oli ahne; toivoi yksin saavansa koko summan", sanoi Sam
jyrkästi.
"Piggotin lahti."