GRAPHIC DESIGN LESSON
Creative Ideas and Techniques - 3

HOW TO DEVELOP CREATIVE IDEAS FOR GRAPHIC DESIGNS LESSON PLAN A graphic design is a creative arrangement of image and type that communicates a visual concept with a clarity and economy of means. There are tried and trusted techniques that you can use to increase your creativity in the search for a solution to any graphic design. In this lesson we use the symbols below to demonstrate a range of composition techniques that will help you to develop ideas for graphic designs. Click on the symbols below to see how each is developed into a creative idea for a graphic. Once you have studied these examples you can find some other symbols in our Graphic Design Resources that you may use to create your own graphic designs.
Graphic Design Lesson		Image Resources	Evaluating Your Designs
Designing a Logo		History of Logos	The Art of Typography

Graphic Design Techniques

Example 3

ONE IMAGE CAN HAVE TWO MEANINGS

The globe icon is an obvious image to use for ideas concerning social or environmental issues. In this logo for a humanitarian organisation named 'One', it is used as a visual and verbal pun representing both the world and the letter 'O'. The image of the world expresses our common humanity while the script font 'Staccato 222' emphasises the human touch.

DISTORTING THE IMAGE

Experiment by changing parts of your image to generate ideas. In this global warming logo, the outline of the world has been distorted into a radiating sunburst and the colour adapted to suggest glowing heat. A sympathetic font called 'Wolfgang Caps' is used to echo the jagged edge of the sunburst.

SEQUENTIAL IMAGES TELL A STORY

Sometimes ideas need more than one image to tell their story. The information you get from the second image can create a timeline that suggests a 'before and after' effect.

THE VISUAL AND THE VERBAL

The balance between the visual and the verbal is often crucial to the success of a graphic design. The visual relationship of the two images is echoed in the verbal rhyme of the title. A careful choice of words for a title helps the balance of the composition and amplifies the communication of the idea. A good thesaurus helps you with an appropriate word choice and every graphic designer should own one.

VARIATIONS ON THE THEME

Do not stick with the first idea you find. Push yourself to try again and be sure you that you have exhausted all the possibilities before you settle on a solution.