Visual Web Design 1: Graphic Design Fundamentals and Concepts Colors, Text, Page Design, and Layouts

• Washington D.C.: Monday, May 14

Tammy Liran Guy
Full-Day Training Course

Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas and messages. Designers create, choose, and organize elements such as typography, images, colors, and even white space around them to communicate these messages effectively. An interface that is both engaging and easy to follow and navigate through is one that will gain brand trust, successfully convey a message, and/or contribute to revenue growth.

This session will help you think more like a designer, develop your design sense, train your eye, and bridge some natural gaps caused by bringing various professions together for successful web site design.

What You’ll Learn

• Understanding design concepts such as typography, balance, visual path, color, design processes, and most common terms used.
• Make the connection between visual design, communication, and usability. Evaluate each site design in terms of its functionality and target audience.
• Develop ability to critique design and identify what works and what doesn’t, and how to fix it.

Course Outline

• Intro - What is Graphic Design
• Brainstorming and creative thinking
  • What is brainstorming
  • What is brainstorming used for
  • Benefits of brainstorming
  • Traditional and Advanced techniques
• Concept development
  • How to simplify ideas
  • Creating clear visual messages
• Typography
  • Evolution of type
  • Anatomy of type
  • Using type as a design element
  • Type styles and how to recognize them
  • How we read
• Balance and weight
  • Spatial relationships
  • Symmetry and asymmetry
  • Weight of elements
• Grids and layouts
  • What is a grid
  • History and evolution
  • Creative layouts using grids
• Color theory
  • The power of color
  • The psychology and theory of color
  • Color, contrast and dimension
• Space
  • Figure and ground
  • Positive and negative space
  • Creating depth
• Consistency
• Visual path
• Most Common terms used
• Web Design critique - how to talk the talk

Format

This full-day tutorial includes lectures, exercises, and discussion.

Course Materials

Copies of all presentation slides

Who Should Attend?

Non-designers (marketing, programmers, business analysts and web architects) who wish to acquire basic design skills and understand how to communicate with visual design professionals.

See Also:

A companion seminar, Visual Web Design 2: Putting Graphics Elements Together to Form a Whole, goes beyond the individual Graphic Design principles to cover the visual needs of the total user experience.

Instructor

Tammy Liran Guy is a graphic designer working primarily on diffusing user experience problems by applying design theory and usability best practices in a rapidly changing Web environment. She previously worked as the Creative Director at LivePerson, Inc., which humanizes the online experience by providing a real-time chat platform and provides an online community and marketplace where individuals can chat live with experts in a broad range of categories. Prior to LivePerson, Tammy was the Graphic Design Group Manager at the Hertz Corporation, where she art-directed all aspects of graphical application development for all of Hertz’s customer facing websites, including hertz.com. Liran Guy holds a BS in Art with concentration on Computer Graphic Design from Northeastern University and a Masters of Package Design from Pratt Institute. Her Master thesis titled Internet Packaging: Rethinking Package Design for the World Wide Web examined current issues with package presentation on the Internet and suggested new guidelines for package design in order to optimize web display.