Blog # 09: Technical and Creative_ Industry Knowledge

Acquiring knowledge about graphic design and the design industry becomes essential to reach desired goals.

So I initially tried to gain knowledge about almost all types of graphic design.

There are 9 fundamental types of graphic design, they a

1. Visual identity graphic design

A brand is a relationship between a business or organization and its audience. Visual identity graphic designers create assets like logos, typography and image libraries that represent a brand's personality. Graphic designers must possess a general knowledge of all types of graphic design in order to create design elements that are suitable across all visual media(Mila Jones Cann, 2018).

"Examples of Visual identity graphic design:

• Logo

• Typography

• Colour Palette

• Imagery

• Uniqueness

• Physical assets "(Darstaru, 2021).

2. Marketing & advertising graphic design

"The task of generating adverts and other marketing collateral falls to graphic designers. It is one of the most significant categories of graphic design. You will create a brand's visual identity as a graphic designer by creating logos or website designs. Additionally, you might work on broad artistic initiatives like the murals that can be found all over cities. Depending on the type of employment that most interests you, you can specialise in digital media.

You can find yourself creating conventional print advertisements with a new twist: perhaps one image has a cinematic feel, while another depends more on colour selections. Both would still make use of the proper fonts, allowing readers to focus their attention exactly where it is needed"(Pepper, 2022)

"Examples of Marketing & advertising graphic design:

• Postcards and flyers

• Magazine and newspaper ads

• Posters, banners and billboards

• Infographics

• Brochures (print and digital)

• Vehicle wraps

• Signage and trade show displays

• Email marketing templates

• PowerPoint presentations

• Menus

• Social media ads, banners and graphics

• Banner and retargeting ads

• Images for websites and blogs"(Mila Jones Cann, 2018)

3. User interface graphic design

"The goal of user interface (UI) graphic design is to make a website or app as simple and straightforward for users to use as possible. Together with UX designers, UI designers make sure the final product is both aesthetically pleasing and simple to use."

Examples of user interface graphic design

• Web page design

• Theme design (WordPress, Shopify, etc.)

• Game interfaces

• App design

4. Publication graphic design

"With the advancement in technology, digital media has taken over overprinting. On average, people spend about five hours looking at screens every day–with everything from newspapers to ebooks available at our fingertips!

Thankfully, publishing is one of the types of graphic design that is gaining more popularity because it offers insight into how graphic designers work. Their magic can be seen easily online or absorbed as pulp magazines when printed for convenient reading later.

It is all about laying out easily digestible and visually appealing information. This could involve designing a magazine, laying out a book, or creating an infographic."(Pepper, 2022)

Examples of publication graphic design

• Books

• Newspapers

• Newsletters

• Directories

• Annual reports

• Magazines

• Catalogs"(Mila Jones Cann, 2018).

5. Packaging graphic design

"Packaging graphic design is all about creating eye-catching and informative packaging for products. This could involve anything from designing packaging for a new food product to laying out the labels for a line of beauty products.

Package designers should always stay up-to-date with the latest trends and competitions. They have to work on a broad spectrum of projects to specialize in different types of industries depending on what’s needed for their company’s success. The goal is not just to create innovative designs but ones that stand out from others. Thus, you need an excellent understanding of printing processes alongside skills when it comes time to make these print-ready files available at any given moment during the production process."(Pepper, 2022)

"Examples of graphic packaging design

● Food packaging

● Beauty product packaging

● Retail product packaging"(Pepper, 2022)

6. Motion graphic design

"Motion graphic design is all about creating engaging and visually appealing video content. This could involve anything from designing the opening sequence for a TV show to creating an animated explainer video for a website.

You can think of motion graphics as an elevated version of old PowerPoint object animations and transitions, but they’re applicable for all your digital marketing content. They offer a way to breathe life into the material by applying them across different types, such as 2D vector files or 3D models; this will make you stand out among other online ads in terms of creativity."(Pepper, 2022)

"Examples of motion graphic design

• Title sequences and end credits

• Advertisements

• Animated logos

• Trailers

• Presentations

• Promotional videos

• Tutorial videos

• Websites

• Apps

• Video games

• Banners

• GIFs"(Mila Jones Cann, 2018)

7. Environmental graphic design

"Environmental graphic design is all about creating cohesive and visually appealing branding for physical spaces. Graphic designers are also responsible for creating an aesthetically pleasing environment where people can work or play.

A critical aspect of this job is wayfinding systems, such as signs that tell you what floor your office resides on and where all the bathrooms are located within a building, so visitors don’t get lost"(Pepper, 2022).

Examples of environmental graphic design

• Signage

• Wall murals

• Museum exhibitions

• Office branding

• Public transportation navigation

• Retail store interiors

• Stadium branding

• Event and conference spaces"(Mila Jones Cann, 2018)

8. Art and Illustration

"Graphic designers often use art and illustration to add visual interest to their designs. Illustrations are original graphical images that explain a concept or tell a story. Vector graphics, traditional drawings, and freehand digital illustrations can be considered illustrative material – but photographs cannot!

3D renderings sometimes get labeled as such, while animations might fall into this category if they’re made with computer software instead of hand-drawn animation footage like Disney movies used to do back in the classic days." (Pepper, 2022)

Examples of art and illustration for graphic design

• T-shirt design

• Graphic patterns for textiles

• Motion graphics

• Stock images

• Graphic novels

• Video games

• Websites

• Comic books

• Album art

• Book covers

• Picture books

• Infographics

• Technical illustration

• Concept art"(Mila Jones Cann, 2018)

9. Photography & Image Editing

"Graphic designers often use photography and image editing to add visual interest to their designs. This could involve anything from selecting photos for a brochure to retouching them.

Examples of photography and image editing:

● Selecting photos

● Retouching images

● Cropping images

● Resizing images"(Pepper, 2022).

Now let's come to my focus area motion graphics, which I specifically focus on television channel branding.

Motion Graphics ( Broadcast Design)

“broadcast design.” What does that mean? Well, broadcast design is really just motion graphics, animation, and the like that is done for television.

With the way we consume media rapidly changing, television now means television, streaming services, and sites like YouTube. But anytime you are working on graphics for something that looks like a TV show or a network spot, then you are talking about broadcast design.

Figure 1. Broadcast Industry( Foyjullah, 2022)

Broadcast Design Terms

1. Bumps

So, back to that drug thing. What is a bump? Hint, not a drug thing.

Bumps, also called bumpers, are the little segments in shows that come between the show and the commercial break. One of the most common types of bump is the 5-second logo animation that pops up reminding you what show you are watching as you go to or come back from a commercial.

Bumps are not required and not every show will use them, but if you are working on a package for a show and you are asked to create one, now you know. You’re welcome.

2. Snipe

Here’s another one that sounds way worse than it is. A snipe if not violent, although you might have a violent reaction to a snipe depending on how annoying it is.

A snipe is a graphic that pops on screen during programming to let you know about something else you should be aware of. Imagine you are watching a very suspenseful episode of Game Of Thrones and down in the corner you suddenly see a call out for new episodes of “Ballers” coming in the fall. That’s a snipe. Snipes usually live in a corner space where they won’t take up too much space, but they have to be a bit dynamic so they still catch the viewer’s eye. They generally contain information like programming dates and the like. And they can be, but maybe not always, annoying.

3. Mortise

Mortise is one of those words that could probably just be replaced with an easier word like “frame.” Because a mortice is a frame.

In carpentry terms, a mortise is basically a hole cut in wood, so it makes sense that a mortise in broadcast design is a hole for video.

A mortise is basically a frame you make to put video in instead of having it be full screen. It could be a contained frame or it could be graphics that overlay a portion of the video.

4. Lower Third

This is one that may be familiar to lots of designers and editors from other projects, but they are quite common in broadcast design.

Lower thirds, not to be confused with snipes, are graphics that generally sit in the “lower third” portion of the screen and contain important information like a speaker’s name, location, and other tidbits of information.

The important thing to remember with lower thirds is to keep them from interfering with the action on screen. You should also be aware of title safe when creating lower thirds. More on that next.

Here’s a good example of an entire show package with lower thirds highlighted 05 seconds in.

5. Title Safe

The terms title safe and action safe aren’t thrown around as much anymore with modern televisions, but they are still useful to be aware of, especially if someone asks you about it.

Older televisions wouldn’t commonly show everything that was in the video. The edges of the screen would get cut off. You can almost think of it as margins and bleed in print.

The title safe area is the part of the screen that is considered to be safe for titles because all TVs will show that area.

There is another area between the title safe area and the edge called action safe. This area is considered to be fine for some graphics and “action”, but because some TVs might cut it off, they should remain in title safe.

Although modern HD TVs will show all or most of the screen, it’s still a good idea to utilize title safe just so your text has some breathing room from the edge of the frame.

6. Credit Bed

Here’s one more that may be a little more known by some of you, but it’s still important. The credit bed is something we’ve all seen on television a million times. It’s the layout and design for the credits at the end of the show.

Sometimes a credit bed will be designed almost like a lower third that doesn’t interfere with what’s on-screen. Other times, a credit bed will have a custom full-screen design. Either way, basically every show produced will have some sort of credit bed, so you better know what it is"(7 Broadcast Design Terms You Should Know, 2019).

7. Idents

"A short form of identifier ident is a short promotional video of a channel or a network with a logo and its name. Its duration can lie between 10 to 30 seconds and is mainly created for brand awareness. It is ubiquitous for Youtube channels and is getting started in plain text with animation and 3D for added creativity.

8. Stings

Stings are similar to idents where the logo of the program is displayed at the end of a program, event, or video to remind the viewers of what they were watching. A logo usually stings last 5-10 seconds. During the T20 cricket match, each team's logo is displayed at the end of their player stats or their teams' cricket score statistics" (Broadcast Design Terms Your Graphic Designer Should Know, 2022)

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Figure lists:

Figure 1. Broadcast Industry( Foyjullah, 2022)

Reference:

Mila Jones Cann. (2018, June 4). The 8 types of graphic design. 99designs; 99designs. https://99designs.co.uk/blog/tips/types-of-graphic-design/

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Darstaru, A. (2021, July 15). Branding 101: Everything You Need to Know About Visual Identity. Creatopy Blog; Creatopy Blog. https://www.creatopy.com/blog/visual-identity/

7 Broadcast Design Terms You Should Know. (2019, September 3). Motion Array. https://motionarray.com/learn/motion-design/broadcast-design-terms/

Broadcast Design Terms Your Graphic Designer Should Know. (2022.)Www.linkedin.com. , from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/broadcast-design-terms-your-graphic-designer-should-know-ed-clemente?trk=public_profile_article_view

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‌Pepper, T. (2022). 9 Types of Graphic Design to Create Impactful Content. Www.peppercontent.io. https://www.peppercontent.io/blog/9-types-of-graphic-design-to-create-impactful-content/

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