Page 35 - Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals

Graphic Design 23
message must be crafted in positive terms that are anchored to a realistic environment (Tanyel, Stuart,
& Griffin, 2013). Knowing this information before the concept development begins is vital to crafting a
message that will generate the response your client needs. Critiquing and analysis allow you to evaluate
the effectiveness of the design approach as it develops through the stages of an iterative process.

In order to design visual materials that communicate effectively, designers must understand and work
with the syntax of visual language. Meaning is expressed not only through content but through form as
well, and will include both intellectual and emotional messages in varying degrees.

Developing Concepts into Design Solutions

Designers are responsible for the development of the creative concepts that express the message. A
concept is an idea that supports and reinforces communication of key messages by presenting them
in interesting, unique, and memorable ways on both intellectual and emotional levels. A good concept
provides a framework for design decisions at every stage of development and for every design piece in a
brand or ad campaign. An early example of this is the witty and playful ‘think small’ Volkswagen Beetle
(VW) advertising campaign of the 1960s. By amplifying the smallness of its car in a ‘big’ car culture,
VW was able to create a unique niche in the car market and a strong bond between the VW bug and its
audience (see Figure 2.1).

Figure 2.1 Volkswagen Beetle

When you implement solutions, you put concepts into a form that communicates effectively and
appropriately. In communication design, form should follow and support function. This means that what
you are saying determines how you say it and in turn how it is delivered to your audience. Design is
an iterative process that builds the content and its details through critiquing the work as it develops.
Critiquing regularly keeps the project on point creatively and compositionally. Critiquing and analysis
allow you to evaluate the effectiveness of the whole design in relation to the concept and problem. The
number of iterations depends on the skill of the designer in developing the content and composition as
well as properly evaluating its components in critique. In addition, all of this must occur in the context
of understanding the technologies of design and production.

As you begin to build and realize your concepts by developing the content, the elements, and the layouts,
you must apply compositional and organizational principles that make sense for the content and support
the core concept. Compositional principles are based on psychological principles that describe how
human beings process visual information. Designers apply these principles in order to transmit meaning