The Graphic Design Exercise Book provides a series of challenging design briefs that reignite a designer’s creativity while also imparting new skills. Whatever their age or experience, graphic designers like to be creatively challenged, and may also want to broaden their skill-base in order to break into new and lucrative areas of the design industry. A range of industry insiders share their specialist knowledge by way of briefs that stretch the imagination and encourage the development of new skills across a range of genres, including logos, packaging, branding, identity, promotion, publication design, music graphics, and web design. Organized much like a recipe book, each brief lists the required materials and equipment so that designers can pick and choose. Interviews and in-progress work is included, while a number of fully realized projects illustrate the possible outcomes. The Graphic Design Exercise Book is a must-have addition to
'Truly something that's just a beautiful, slick, and very enjoyable little publication' – CreativeBoom "Graphic Design Play Book features a variety of puzzles and challenges, providing a fun and interactive way for young visual thinkers to engage with the world of graphic design" – Eye Understand how graphic design works and develop your visual sensibility through puzzles and activities! An entertaining and highly original introduction to graphic design, the Graphic Design Play Book uses puzzles and visual challenges to demonstrate how typography, signage, logo design, posters and branding work. Through a series of games and activities, including spot the difference, matching games, drawing and dot–to–dot, readers are introduced to graphic art concepts and techniques in an engaging and interactive way. Further explanation and information is provided by solution pages and a glossary, and a loose–leaf section contains stickers, die–cut templates, and coloured paper to help readers complete the activities. Illustrated with typefaces, poster design and pictograms by distinguished designers including Otl Aicher, Pierre Di Sciullo, Otto Neurath and Gerd Arntz, the book will be enjoyed both by graphic designers, and anyone interested in finding out more about visual communication. An excerpt from the book: How many ways are there of saying 'hello'? Probably a zillion. And there are surely just as many ways of writing it. In CAPITALS, and with an exclamation mark ! Or with a question mark ? Or maybe both ?! As a tiny black word in the middle of a white page; or with large, multi–coloured, dancing letters ; maybe with a simple shape or an image. Being interested in graphic design means looking at and understanding the world around us. And being aware of the multitude of signs that shape our daily life day after day and freight it with meaning – whether it's a stop sign, a cornflakes packet, a psychedelic album cover, a seductive headline on the cover of a magazine, the more subtle typography of a page in a novel, a flashing pharmacy sign or the credits of a sci–fi film. Thinking about this plethora of signs was what led us to conceive this introduction to graphic design as a collection of beacons and benchmarks – as a toolbox for exploring and learning in a simple and intuitive way through play, alone or with others, whether you're a child or an adult. These are experiments, a series of suggestions, with no right or wrong answers. The four sections of this book – typography, posters, signs, identity – are all invitations to dive in, explore and let your eyes and your hands take you on a voyage of discovery! – Sophie Cure and Aurélien Farina
Graphic Design: Learn It, Do It is an introduction to the fundamentals of graphic design and the Adobe Creative Cloud applications used to put these concepts into practice. This book is intended for production-oriented audiences, those interested in the what, why and how of graphic design. The "what" is effective graphic design, a visual solution created using the design principles that stands out in a crowded marketplace. This discussion includes color theory, typography and page layout. Focus on the "why" of design begins with the reasons why we communicate. Attention is paid to the purpose of the visual solution and to its audiences. The conversation highlights output options (print vs. onscreen) and their related file properties. The "how" of design addresses the stages of production and use of Adobe Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and InDesign CC to translate an idea into a visual solution. Following an overview of each application and its uses, step-by-step exercises are provided to foster familiarity with each application’s workspace and its tools. These exercises provide opportunities to implement the design principles and to produce examples of work for a design portfolio. Key Features: Content based on over a decade’s worth of experience teaching graphic design Contemporary examples and online references Guided exercises for working in the Adobe Creative Cloud applications, Photoshop CC, Illustrator CC and InDesign CC Accompanying exercise files and supporting materials available for download from the book’s companion website Discussion questions and activities included at the end of chapters to expand the presented topics
Complete coverage of basic design principles illustrated by student examples Design for Communication offers a unique approach to mastering the basic design principles, conceptual problem-solving methods, and critical-thinking skills that distinguish graphic designers from desktop technicians. This book presents forty-two basic to advanced graphic design and typography assignments collaboratively written by college educators to teach the fundamental processes, concepts, and techniques through hands-on applications. Each assignment is illustrated with actual student solutions, and each includes a process narrative and an educator's critical analysis revealing the reasoning behind the creative strategies employed by each individual student solution. Assignments are organized from basic to advanced within six sections: * The elements and principles of design * Typography as image * Creative word play * Word and image * Grid and visual hierarchy * Visual advocacy Design for Communication is a highly visual resource of instruction, information, ideas, and inspiration for students and professionals.
DIVDrawing is the backbone of art and design; with all of the tantalizing wonders of the digital world, the best designers, illustrators and artists know that it’s good to step back occasionally and hit the refresh button on your hand and mind. Playing with Sketches is a hands-on, fun approach to exploring drawing principles. Beginning with an introduction to the philosophy of learning through the process of play, this book brings you through a series of basic warm-up exercises that can be combined with later projects. Then you’ll move quickly on to more challenging and engaging exercises, including word games, dimensional shapes, and inventive sketchbooks and letterforms, eventually creating a “toolkit� of ideas and skills developed through the process of play. This book features creative, adaptable ideas, and numerous examples of designers and artists responses to each exercise, giving you a peek into their way of thinking and seeing. /divDIVWith over 25 contributors, from high-profile designers, illustrators and artists to talented graduate students, you see work that will walk you step-by-step through a process or inspire by example. The book provides meaningful outcomes for your practice, including building an image archive, being exposed to new ways to use media and tools, inspiring you to break the rules, to collaborate, and much more!/div
Learning by doing is the best way to get to grips with new ideas, and graphic design is no different. Weaving together creative strategies and design principles with step-by-step Adobe software guidance, this unique book helps you to immediately put into practice the concepts as you're learning them so they become second nature. Covering all the introductory topics a designer needs to know – from working with colour and layout, to editing images and designing apps – this fully updated edition of the hugely popular Graphic Design Essentials includes plenty of hands-on instruction and real-life examples to give you a thorough grounding in the fundamentals. This new edition includes: - Coverage of Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop and InDesign - Examples of designs from the UK, US, Canada, Europe, Hong Kong, China, the Middle East and Australia - Smaller supporting activities alongside major project exercises - New design formats, including apps and infographics - Downloadable resources to use within the software instruction
Self-paced, self-guided instruction is all well and good, but at the end of the day, most people could use a little feedback--especially when they're ready to build a design portfolio and hit the job market. Not to worry, this book provides actual instructor feedback along with the self-paced, individualized instruction in Photoshop and Illustrator that designers need. Written by the faculty of New York-based, accredited online design school Sessions.edu, the book uses the school's trademark project-based curriculum to teach essential design concepts with Photoshop and Illustrator. After a brief intro to the world of graphic design, Sessions instructors provide quick "refresher course" chapters on the two programs. Then, armed with Photoshop and Illustrator basics, readers tackle a series of projects that stretch their imagination and creative muscles involving logo design, magazine layouts, illustrations, poster design, digital imaging, book cover design, packaging design, and more. Best of all, readers are encouraged to post their work for expert feedback from Session.edu faculty on "Studio Sessions," the custom Web site created for this book.
Introduces students to the various aspects of the graphic design. This title provides a fresh introduction to the key elements of the discipline and looks at the following topics: design thinking, format, layout, grids, typography, colour, image and print and finish.
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.
Have you ever struggled to complete a design project on time? Or felt that having a tight deadline stifled your capacity for maximum creativity? If so, then this book is for you. Within these pages, you'll find 80 creative challenges that will help you achieve a breadth of stronger design solutions, in various media, within any set time period. Exercises range from creating a typeface in an hour to designing a paper robot in an afternoon to designing web pages and other interactive experiences. Each exercise includes compelling visual solutions from other designers and background stories to help you increase your capacity to innovate. Creative Workshop also includes useful brainstorming techniques and wisdom from some of today's top designers. By road-testing these techniques as you attempt each challenge, you'll find new and more effective ways to solve tough design problems and bring your solutions to vibrant life.
