FIRST THINGS FIRST, the Principles of Graphic Design

Figure 1.

SUMMARY:

There are THREE principles in Graphic Design:

Figure 2.

The DISCIPLINES are generally connected to the advertising and marketing sector of other industries, and are available in many formats of production (Gomez-Palacio & Vit, 2009, p. 23); this is especially used for company logo's or public signage, which manages to become a part of popular culture sometimes leading to iconography as shown in figures 1 and 5. There are exceptions like environmental design, interactive design and packaging which solely focus on the consumers' interaction and navigation with a tangible product. See Figure 2 and 3.

Figure 3.

As said before, many of these practises focus only on garnering consumer attention, this greatly affected the careers, opportunities and ambitions of previous designers, leading to one of their own, Ken Garland, to write and publish his manifesto First Things First. The manifesto's goals were achieved and designers worldwide can now focus on more significant matters to do with society, culture and the environment (p. 48-49).

Figure 4.

LAYOUT is the physical properties of design, one very important element is COLOUR; as it brings attention to the designs and is influential to its audience (Gomez-Palacio & Vit, 2009, p. 23), see Figure 2 for more information.

Figure 5.

Currently in the West, design has devolved and is purely for consumerism; it is entirely anthropocentric (Weaver, 2018, para. 24-25) mainly in 'first world' countries. Many designers have only pinpointed their customers daily problems and used that to improve their products, be it interactive (apps) or household (mops) etc (para. 32).

Figure 6. Africa's Floating Venice.

Environmental and architectural design go hand in hand as they are a major source of environmental destruction. Current innovators are citizens of 'third world' countries- Nigeria is building an 'African Venice', floating homes that still keep the communities bonded (Millar, 2014, para. 4) these have been designed by Kunle Adeyemi (as seen in Fig 6 &7).

Figure 7.

REFLECTION:

I believe that citizens of developing countries have majorly impacted their society more than the first world has; consumerism is engulfing the West and most innovations are created for human needs making more unnecessary items for landfills. The destitute are now producing change in their communities without the motivation of a manifesto like Ken Garland's.

With their vision and incentive in mind; I can apply these into my future projects if I decide to work in the design sector of the creative industries; so that they create positive change in human, animal and environmental aspects.

Word Count: 399

REFERENCES:

Images

Figure 1. Unknown (n.d). Brand vs. Identity vs. Logo [Image]. Retrieved from https://creativemarket.com/blog/designing-a-brand-identity

Figure 2. Unknown (n.d). Graphic Design [Image]. Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/a/rotorua-intermediate.org.nz/graphic-design/careers

Figure 3. WCDS. (n.d). Design Types and Related Disciplines [Image]. Retrieved from https://betterlivingchallenge.co.za/blc-2-showcases-the-value-of-design-led-approach/

Figure 4. Design School, Canva; Stribley, M. (2015). 20 Most Important Design Principles Illustrated [Image]. Retrieved from https://designtaxi.com/news/388239/Graphic-Designers-Cheat-Sheets-That-Simplify-Design-Elements-Print-Terms-More/

Figure 5. visme; Unknown (2017). Visual Brand Assets [Image]. Retrieved from https://visme.co/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/How-to-Stay-on-Brand-and-True-to-Your-Visual-Identity-Visual-Brand-Assets.png

Figure 6. Unknown (n.d). Africa's Venice [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/09/rebel-architects-building-better-world

Figure 7. Unknown (n.d). The Construction of Africa's Venice [Image]. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/09/rebel-architects-building-better-world

Sources

Gomez-Palacio, B., & Vit, A. (2009). Principles of Design. In Graphic Design, Referenced: A Visual Guide to the Language, Applications, and History of Graphic Design (pp. 23-59).

Quayside: Rockport.

Millar, A. (2014, August 9). Rebel architects: building a better world. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/aug/09/rebel-architects-building-better-world

Weaver, J. (2018, August 1). Design Won't Save The World. Medium. Retrieved from https://medium.com/s/user-friendly/design-is-not-going-to-save-the-world-8985870471a5