basics of design

Tuesday, Jan 22, 2PM, we met to discuss the basics of design, graphic design in particular.

Sliderocket and SLideshare

Here is the handout with sources and outlines. Pls feel welcome to contribute with your sources and ideas.

Design Basics


–          What is design and how to we approach it

what is graphic design
The process and art of combining text and graphics and communicating an effective message in the design of logos, graphics, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual communication is the formal, short definition of graphic design. Today’s graphic designers often use desktop publishing software and techniques to achieve their goals.

–          Why is it important to consider it

–          How do we enact it

Hands-on exercise: create well-designed PowerPoint.

–          Keep it simple
Your slides should have plenty of white space, or negative space. Do not feel compelled to fill empty areas on your slide with your logo or other unnecessary graphics or text boxes that do not contribute to better understanding. The less clutter you have on your slide, the more powerful your visual message will become.

–          Limit bullet points and text
The best slides may have no text at all.

–          Limit transitions and builds (animation)

–          Use high quality graphics

–          Have a visual theme but avoid using PowerPoint templates

–          Use color well
You do not need to be an expert in color theory, but it’s good for business professionals to know at least a bit on the subject. Colors can be divided into two general categories: cool (such as blue and green) and warm (such as orange and red). Cool colors work best for backgrounds, as they appear to recede away from us into the background. Warm colors generally work best for objects in the foreground (such as text) because they appear to be coming at us.

-          Choose your fonts well
Fonts communicate subtle messages in and of themselves, which is why you should choose fonts deliberately. Use the same font set throughout your entire slide presentation and use no more than two complementary fonts (e.g., Arial and Arial Bold). Make sure you know the difference between a serif font (e.g., Times New Roman) and a sans-serif font (e.g., Helvetica or Arial).
Serif fonts were designed to be used in documents filled with lots of text. They’re said to be easier to read at small point sizes, but for onscreen presentations, the serifs tend to get lost due to the relatively low resolution of projectors. Sans- serif fonts are generally best for PowerPoint presentations, but try to avoid the ubiquitous Helvetica.

-          Spend time in the slider sorter
According to the Segmentation Principle of multimedia learning theory, people comprehend better when information is presented in small chunks or segments. By getting out of the Slide view and into the Slide Sorter view, you can see how the logical flow of your presentation is progressing. In this view, you may decide to break up one slide into, say, two or three slides so that your presentation has a more natural and logical flow or process.

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  1. Pingback: basics of design: new handout | InforMedia Services (IMS)

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