David Dabner - Graphic Design School: The Principles and Practice of Graphic Design

Seventh edition

David Dabner Sandra Stewart Abbie Vickress

A QUARTO BOOK

Copyright 2020 Quarto Publishing plc

Published by John Wiley & Sons Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

ISBN: 978-1-119-64711-9, 978-1-119-64728-7 (ebk.), 978-1-119-64726-3 (ebk.)

QUAR.GRS7 / 333342

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Senior editor: Claire Waite Brown
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Publisher: Samantha Warrington

This book is written with the intent of providing an introduction to the underlying principles of good graphic design, whether it is printbased, digital, or environmental. The content has been constructed to mirror, in part, how the subject is taught in college design programs, and the visuals, which are a mixture of student projects and professional design work, have been carefully chosen to illuminate specific teaching points. Many of the sections contain stepbystep exercises and assignments, offer practical advice, and point toward further resources.

The first part of the book, Principles, supports the idea that a thorough understanding of design principles should support the process of creating design works in response to specific briefs and problems, while allowing room for selfauthored experimentation and visual freedom. As you are introduced to the basics of research, typography, color, photography, and composition, you will learn to become visually aware and able to articulate these design principles in your future works. You will also come to understand that these principles cross disciplines and are the vocabulary of visual literacy.

In the second part of the book, Practice, you will be introduced to invaluable practical skills that are important support systems to the skill sets of research and creative process that you will have read about in Part One. They do not replace them, but serve as methods and practices for developing critical problemsolving skills, and learning to manage complex projects. Designers need the whole range of skills to be truly successful, and expertise will come with continued study and practice in both areas. Unless you learn the practical skills and technology of design production, including how to manage images, create digital files for specific media, and design, build, and structure a website, you will be unable to bring your brilliant concepts to life.

None of these visual skills can be viewed in isolation from the context in which design happens and its larger role in society and the world. Designers are visual communicators, often giving visual voice to new and provocative ideas. They create images that can inform, persuade, and entertain millions of people. This comes with great responsibility, and it is necessary to be aware of the role of design in shaping the world we live in, and changes in the discipline that transcend trends or the latest software. While any kind of comprehensive account of these topics stands outside the scope of this book, becoming visually literate and technically skilled should go hand in hand with an understanding of such issues as global audiences, communication theories, systems theory, sustainable issues in design, and the changing role of technology.

Finally, design education is a lifelong experience that can bring great personal satisfaction and reward. Technologies, styles, and demands change rapidly in this industry and, as a result, graphic design is a subject to be taken on with independence and an expectation of lifelong learning and commitment. With this book as a gateway, a new way of seeing the world may lead you to a career path that will be a constant source of surprise and delight.

The first part of this book is concerned with design principles, the building blocks that connect the basics of all good design. Every discipline has its own set of rules, methods, technical requirements, and specialized technologies. Each one is rooted in the interactions of its history, theory, and practice, but unlike learning law or biology, the language of design is visual. It involves the need for a highly developed awareness of visual relationships, proportion, the perceptions of visual principles, and of the modern world and its complex events and practices. A good designer can filter this information and create relevant, engaging, visually eloquent design that responds to multiple problems, needs, and contexts. While a design student needs to develop the research, conceptdevelopment, compositional, and organizational skills associated with design, he or she also needs to be engaged with the world, and interested, aware, and sensitive to the changing contexts in which design plays a part.