Graphic Design Lesson - Ideas and Techniques 6

GRAPHIC DESIGN LESSON
Creative Ideas and Techniques - 6

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

question symbol
Example 6

NOT EVERY IDEA WORKS

A visual curiosity is a must for any designer. You must try to understand the possibilities that exist in any image you use. In the design above, the natural interlocking qualities of our question mark have been explored to create an interesting image but no obvious conclusion has been reached. Not every idea you develop leads to a solution but each adds to your general knowlege of design and becomes part of the bank of ideas that you may draw upon for future projects.

GOOD DESIGN IS OFTEN A NATURAL SOLUTION

Rotating an image round a point provides a natural solution to the design for a CD in a computer quiz game.

LOOK AT A PROBLEM FROM ALL SIDES

By examining a problem from different points of view we can find the most natural path to a solution.

THE ANSWER DEPENDS ON THE QUESTION

Designers must ask themselves searching questions about what they are trying to do. Intelligent questions give you informed answers - "It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question", Eugene Ionesco.

THINK OUTSIDE THE BOX

This 'punched' image suggests another approach to developing ideas: 'think outside the box'. It just needs a little typographic help to improve the dialogue between the visual to the verbal.

TEXT IS A CREATIVE TOOL

The text in this design is broken up into sections to link the visual and verbal communication of the image. Although, in Western society, we read from left to right and top to bottom, you can take the odd liberty with typography for graphic design purposes:

'think' forms the missing curve from the question mark and together they emphasise that part of the idea.

'outside' is placed physically outside the box to stress its meaning.

'the box' takes its natural position inside the box, but on a smaller scale. This helps with the order in which we read the message as we tend to read the larger words first.

COLOR AS A COMPOSITIONAL TOOL

Red and white are used in a counterchange that unites the image and its typography. Red strengthens the link between 'think' and 'outside' to ensure that they are read first while 'the box', in a contrasting white, completes the statement.