Everywhere you look, there are all sorts of print documents trying to share information with people.
There are all sorts of print and digital documents around us each day - travel brochures, digital magazines, newspapers, posters, and more - and each of these documents was carefully and thoughtfully crafted to be engaging, informative, and attractive. However, print and digital documents aren't just limited to newspapers, magazines, brochures, and the like - there are CD inserts, product labels, DVD covers, and many other items you might be tasked with designing. Chances are, you're here because you're interested in creating some sort of print or digital document yourself, and you want to make sure it looks its best.
When assembling a publication, whatever it may be, we'll be focusing on three things: type, images, and composition. With type, we're thinking about the words we're including in our layout - text is the most common method of communicating an idea, and chances are your publication will involve at least some text. Making effective typography choices can help make our text have more impact, and grab a viewer's attention. In addition to text, we'll likely have images incorporated into our publication - images are what helps draw a viewer's eye, and can help communicate a message to the viewer. The composition of our page is where we combine our images and text in our layout - and the composition of our page will have an effect on how effectively our message is communicated to our audience. As we compose our page, we'll want to be aware of where we're putting our text and images and how they interact with each other.
Whether this is the first time you've ever entered the world of page layout and design, or you've made a few layouts and have gone through the design process a few times, chances are that you've asked yourself this question: Where do I start? How do I get going with designing this publication? And how do I make it a good-looking and engaging publication? It may seem like a daunting task when getting started, but don't worry! There are three steps that can be taken to get you into the design groove, and will help you out as you get started making a new publication, whether this is your first publication or your tenth:
- Clarify the goal of your publication
- Gather resources that will help in the design process
- Incorporate the eight basic design principles as you lay out your document
We'll go over each of these steps in detail as we progress through the course.