Madurai Kamaraj University

(University with Potential for Excellence)

Directorate of Distance Education

B.Sc Visual Communication- IIIrd Year

Multimedia Design –UVIS13

UNIT – I
LESSON 1

Introduction to Multimedia

INTRODUCTION

Multimedia is content that uses a combination of different content

forms such as text, audio, images, animation, video and interactive content.
Multimedia contrasts with media that use only rudimentary computer displays
such as text-only or traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material.

Multimedia can be recorded and played, displayed, dynamic, interacted

with or accessed by information content processing devices, such as computerized
and electronic devices, but can also be part of a live performance. Multimedia
devices are electronic media devices used to store and experience multimedia
content. Multimedia is distinguished from mixed media in fine art; by including
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audio, for example, it has a broader scope. The term "rich media" is synonymous
for interactive multimedia. Hypermedia scales up the amount of media content in
multimedia application.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to understand

 What is Multimedia?
 Elements involved in Multimedia.
 What are the basics of computer designs?
UNIT STRUCTURE
1.1. Definition of Multimedia
1.2. Categorization of Multimedia
1.3. Characteristics of Multimedia
1.4. History of the term Multimedia
1.5. Usage and Applications of Multimedia
1.6. Elements of Multimedia
1.7. Let Us Sum Up
1.8. Unit End Exercises
1.9. Points for Discussion
1.10. Answers to Check your Progress
1.11. Suggested Readings

1.1. Definition of Multimedia

Multimedia can have a many definitions these include: Multimedia means

that computer information can be represented through audio, video, and animation
in addition to traditional media (i.e., text, graphics drawings, images).

A good general definition is: Multimedia is the field concerned with the
computer-controlled integration of text, graphics, drawings, still and moving

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images (Video), animation, audio, and any other media where every type of
information can be represented, stored, transmitted and processed digitally.

A Multimedia Application is an Application which uses a collection of

multiple media sources e.g. text, graphics, images, sound/audio, animation and/or
video.

Hypermedia can be considered as one of the multimedia applications.

1.2. Categorization of Multimedia

Multimedia may be broadly divided into linear and non-linear categories.

Linear active content progresses often without any navigational control for the
viewer such as a cinema presentation. Non-linear uses interactivity to control
progress as with a video game or self-paced computer based
training. Hypermedia is an example of non-linear content.

Multimedia presentations can be live or recorded. A recorded presentation

may allow interactivity via a navigation system. A live multimedia presentation
may allow interactivity via an interaction with the presenter or performer.

1.3. Characteristics of Multimedia

Multimedia presentations may be viewed by person

on stage, projected, transmitted, or played locally with a media player.
A broadcast may be a live or recorded multimedia presentation. Broadcasts and
recordings can be either analog or digital electronic media technology.
Digital online multimedia may be downloaded or streamed. Streaming multimedia
may be live or on-demand.

Multimedia games and simulations may be used in a physical environment

with special effects, with multiple users in an online network, or locally with an
offline computer, game system, or simulator.

The various formats of technological or digital multimedia may be

intended to enhance the users' experience, for example to make it easier and faster

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to convey information. Or in entertainment or art, to transcend everyday
experience.

Enhanced levels of interactivity are made possible by combining multiple

forms of media content. Online multimedia is increasingly becoming object-
oriented and data-driven, enabling applications with collaborative end-user
innovation and personalization on multiple forms of content over time. Examples
of these range from multiple forms of content on Web sites like photo galleries
with both images (pictures) and title (text) user-updated, to simulations whose co-
efficients, events, illustrations, animations or videos are modifiable, allowing the
multimedia "experience" to be altered without reprogramming. In addition to
seeing and hearing, Haptic technology enables virtual objects to be felt. Emerging
technology involving illusions of taste and smell may also enhance the multimedia
experience.

1.4. History of the term Multimedia

The term multimedia was coined by singer and artist Bob Goldstein (later
'Bobb Goldsteinn') to promote the July 1966 opening of his "LightWorks at
L'Oursin" show at Southampton, Long Island[citation needed]. Goldstein was
perhaps aware of an American artist named Dick Higgins, who had two years
previously discussed a new approach to art-making he called "intermedia."

On August 10, 1966, Richard Albarino of Variety borrowed the

terminology, reporting: "Brainchild of songscribe-comic Bob ('Washington
Square') Goldstein, the 'Lightworks' is the latest multi-media music-cum-visuals to
debut as discothèque fare." Two years later, in 1968, the term "multimedia" was
re-appropriated to describe the work of a political consultant, David Sawyer, the
husband of Iris Sawyer—one of Goldstein‘s producers at L‘Oursin.

In the intervening forty years, the word has taken on different meanings. In
the late 1970s, the term referred to presentations consisting of multi-projector

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slide shows timed to an audio track. However, by the 1990s 'multimedia' took on
its current meaning.

In the 1993 first edition of McGraw-Hill‘s Multimedia: Making It Work,

Tay Vaughan declared "Multimedia is any combination of text, graphic art, sound,
animation, and video that is delivered by computer. When you allow the user – the
viewer of the project – to control what and when these elements are delivered, it
is interactive multimedia. When you provide a structure of linked elements
through which the user can navigate, interactive multimedia
becomes hypermedia."

The German language society, Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache, decided

to recognize the word's significance and ubiquitousness in the 1990s by awarding
it the title of 'Word of the Year' in 1995. The institute summed up its rationale by
stating "[Multimedia] has become a central word in the wonderful new media
world"

In common usage, multimedia refers to an electronically delivered

combination of media including video, still images, audio, text in such a way that
can be accessed interactively. Much of the content on the web today falls within
this definition as understood by millions. Some computers which were marketed
in the 1990s were called "multimedia" computers because they incorporated a CD-
ROM drive, which allowed for the delivery of several hundred megabytes of
video, picture, and audio data. That era saw also a boost in the production
of educational multimedia CD-ROMs.

Since media is the plural of medium, the term "multimedia" is used to

describe multiple occurrences of only one form of media such as a collection
of audio CDs. This is why it's important that the word "multimedia" is used
exclusively to describe multiple forms of media and content.

The term "multimedia" is also ambiguous. Static content (such as a paper

book) may be considered multimedia if it contains both pictures and text or may
be considered interactive if the user interacts by turning pages at will. Books may
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also be considered non-linear if the pages are accessed non-sequentially. The term
"video", if not used exclusively to describe motion photography, is ambiguous in
multimedia terminology. Video is often used to describe the file format, delivery
format, or presentation format instead of "footage" which is used to distinguish
motionphotography from "animation" of rendered motion imagery. Multiple forms
of information content are often not considered modern forms of presentation such
as audio or video. Likewise, single forms of information content with single
methods of information processing (e.g. non-interactive audio) are often called
multimedia, perhaps to distinguish static media from active media. In the Fine
arts, for example, Leda Luss Luyken's ModulArt brings two key elements of
musical composition and film into the world of painting: variation of a theme and
movement of and within a picture, making ModulArt an interactive multimedia
form of art. Performing arts may also be considered multimedia considering that
performers and props are multiple forms of both content and media.

The Gesellschaft für deutsche Sprache chose Multimedia as German Word

of the Year 1995.

1.5. Usage and Applications of Multimedia

Multimedia finds its application in various areas including, but not limited
to,advertisements, art, education, entertainment, engineering, medicine,mathemati
cs, business, scientific research and spatial temporal applications. Several
examples are as follows:

Creative industries:

Creative industries use multimedia for a variety of purposes ranging from

fine arts, to entertainment, to commercial art, to journalism, to media and software
services provided for any of the industries listed below. An individual multimedia
designer may cover the spectrum throughout their career. Request for their skills
range from technical, to analytical, to creative.

Commercial uses:

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 Much of the electronic old and new media used by commercial artists and
graphic designers is multimedia. Exciting presentations are used to grab and keep
attention in advertising. Business to business, and interoffice communications are
often developed by creative services firms for advanced multimedia presentations
beyond simple slide shows to sell ideas or liven-up training. Commercial
multimedia developers may be hired to design forgovernmental
services and nonprofit services applications as well.

Entertainment and fine arts:

In addition, multimedia is heavily used in the entertainment industry,

especially to develop special effects in movies and animations(VFX, 3D
animation, etc.). Multimedia games are a popular pastime and are software
programs available either as CD-ROMs or online. Some video games also use
multimedia features. Multimedia applications that allow users to actively
participate instead of just sitting by as passive recipients of information are
called Interactive Multimedia. In the Arts there are multimedia artists, whose
minds are able to blend techniques using different media that in some way
incorporates interaction with the viewer. One of the most relevant could bePeter
Greenaway who is melding Cinema with Opera and all sorts of digital media.
Another approach entails the creation of multimedia that can be displayed in a
traditional fine arts arena, such as an art gallery. Although multimedia display
material may be volatile, the survivability of the content is as strong as any
traditional media. Digital recording material may be just as durable and infinitely
reproducible with perfect copies every time.

Education:

In Education, multimedia is used to produce computer-based

training courses (popularly called CBTs) and reference books like encyclopedia
and almanacs. A CBT lets the user go through a series of presentations, text about
a particular topic, and associated illustrations in various information

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formats. Edutainment is the combination of education with entertainment,
especially multimedia entertainment.

Learning theory in the past decade has expanded dramatically because of

the introduction of multimedia. Several lines of research have evolved
(e.g. Cognitive load, Multimedia learning, and the list goes on). The possibilities
for learning and instruction are nearly endless.

The idea of media convergence is also becoming a major factor in

education, particularly higher education. Defined as separate technologies such as
voice (and telephony features), data (and productivity applications) and video that
now share resources and interact with each other, synergistically creating new
efficiencies, media convergence is rapidly changing the curriculum in universities
all over the world. Likewise, it is changing the availability, or lack thereof, of jobs
requiring this savvy technological skill.

The English education in middle school in China is well invested and

assisted with various equipments. In contrast, the original objective has not been
achieved at the desired effect. The government, schools, families, and students
spend a lot of time working on improving scores, but hardly gain practical skills.
English education today has gone into the vicious circle. Educators need to
consider how to perfect the education system to improve students‘ practical ability
of English. Therefore, an efficient way should be used to make the class vivid.
Multimedia teaching will bring students into a class where they can interact with
the teacher and the subject. Multimedia teaching is more intuitive than old ways;
teachers can simulate situations in real life. In many circumstances teachers do not
have to be there, students will learn by themselves in the class. More importantly,
teachers will have more approaches to stimulating students‘ passion of learning.

Journalism:

Newspaper companies all over are also trying to embrace the new
phenomenon by implementing its practices in their work. While some have been
slow to come around, other major newspapers like The New York Times, USA
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Today and The Washington Post are setting the precedent for the positioning of
the newspaper industry in a globalized world.

News reporting is not limited to traditional media outlets. Freelance

journalists can make use of different new media to produce multimedia pieces for
their news stories. It engages global audiences and tells stories with technology,
which develops new communication techniques for both media producers and
consumers. The Common Language Project, later renamed to The Seattle
Globalist, is an example of this type of multimedia journalism production.

Multimedia reporters who are mobile (usually driving around a community

with cameras, audio and video recorders, and laptop computers) are often referred
to as Mojos, from mobile journalist.

Engineering:

Software engineers may use multimedia in Computer Simulations for

anything from entertainment to training such as military or industrial training.
Multimedia for software interfaces are often done as a collaboration
between creative professionals and software engineers.

Industry:

In the Industrial sector, multimedia is used as a way to help present

information to shareholders, superiors and coworkers. Multimedia is also helpful
for providing employee training, advertising and selling products all over the
world via virtually unlimited web-based technology.

Mathematical and scientific research:

In mathematical and scientific research, multimedia is mainly used for

modeling and simulation. For example, ascientist can look at a molecular model of
a particular substance and manipulate it to arrive at a new substance.
Representative research can be found in journals such as the Journal of
Multimedia.

Medicine:
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 In medicine, doctors can get trained by looking at a virtual surgery or they
can simulate how the human body is affected by diseases spread
by viruses and bacteria and then develop techniques to prevent it. Multimedia
applications such as virtual surgeries also help doctors to get practical training.

Document imaging:

Document imaging is a technique that takes hard copy of an

image/document and converts it into a digital format (for example, scanners).

Disabilities:

Ability Media allows those with disabilities to gain qualifications in the

multimedia field so they can pursue careers that give them access to a wide array
of powerful communication forms.

Miscellaneous:

In Europe, the reference organisation for Multimedia industry is the European

Multimedia Associations Convention(EMMAC).

Structuring information in a multimedia form:

Multimedia represents the convergence of text, pictures, video and sound

into a single form. The power of multimedia and the Internet lies in the way in
which information is linked.

Multimedia and the Internet require a completely new approach to writing.

The style of writing that is appropriate for the 'on-line world' is highly optimized
and designed to be able to be quickly scanned by readers.

A good site must be made with a specific purpose in mind and a site with
good interactivity and new technology can also be useful for attracting visitors.
The site must be attractive and innovative in its design, function in terms of its
purpose, easy to navigate, frequently updated and fast to download.

When users view a page, they can only view one page at a time. As a
result, multimedia users must create a "mental model" of information structure.
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1.6. Elements of Multimedia

If we break the word multimedia into its component parts, we get multi -meaning
more than one, and media-meaning form of communication. Those types of media
include:

Text
Audio

Sound
Static Graphics Images

Animation

Full-Motion Video

Let's look at each of these components in more detail.

Text:
Whether or not they have used a computer ,most people are familiar with text.
Text is the basis for word processing programs and is still the fundamental
information used in many multimedia programs.

In fact, many multimedia applications are based on the conversion of a

book to a computerized form. This conversion gives the user immediate access to
the text and lets him or her display pop-up windows, which give definitions of
certain words. Multimedia applications also enable the user to instantly display
information related to a certain topic that is being viewed. Most powerfully, the
computerized form of a book allows the user to look up information quickly
(without referring to the index or table of contents).

The Windows operating environment gives the user an almost infinite

range of expressing text. As a multimedia programmer, you can choose what font
to display text in, how big (or small) it should be, and what color it should be

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displayed in .By displaying text in more than one format ,the message a
multimedia application is trying to portray can be made more understandable.

One type of application, which many people use every day, is the
Windows Help Engine. This application is a text-based information viewer that
makes accessing information related to a certain topic easy.

Audio Sound:

The integration of audio sound into a multimedia application can provide the user
with information not possible through any other method of communication .Some
types of information can't be conveyed effectively without using sound. It is
nearly impossible, for example, to provide an accurate textual description of the
bear of a heart or the sound of the ocean.

Audio sound can also reinforce the user's understanding of information

presented in another type of media. For example,a narration might describe what
is being seen in an animation clip. This can enhance the understanding of what the
application is all about and lead to better comprehension. Experts in learning have
found that presenting information using more than one sense aids in later retention
of the information. Most importantly, it can also make the information more
interesting to the user.

Audio sound is available in several different formats. Today, maybe the

most common type of audio is red book audio. This is the standard specification
used to refer to consumer audio compact discs. It is an international standard and
is officially known as IEC 908.This specification is called red book audio because
of the color of the cover of the publication that describes its formats. Red book
audio sound can also be used in multimedia applications, and it forms the basis of
the highest quality sound available.

Another audio sound format is the Windows wave file, which can be
played only on PCs running the Windows operating environment. A wave file
contains the actual digital data used to play back the sound as well as a header that

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provides additional information about the resolution and playback rate. Wave files
can store any type of sound that can be recorded by a microphone.

The final type of audio sound that may be used is known as the Musical
Instrument Digital Interface,or MIDI for short. The MIDI format is actually a
specification invented by musical instrument manufacturers. Rather than being a
digitized form of the sound, the MIDI specification is actually a set of messages
that describes what musical note is being played. The MIDI specification cannot
store anything except in the form of musical notes. MIDI music can be created
with a sequencer.

Static Graphics Images:

When you imagine graphics images you probably think of "still" images-that is,
images such as those in a photograph or drawing. There is no movement in these
types of picture. Static graphics images are an important part of multimedia
because humans are visually oriented. As the old Chinese proverb goes,"A picture
is worth a thousand words."Windows is also a visual environment. This makes
displaying graphics images easier than it would be in a DOS-based environment.

Static graphics images have a number of formats and can be created in a

number of different ways. Just as you can see an unlimited number of photographs
or pictures, the types of static graphics images that you can include in a
multimedia application are almost unlimited.

Animation:

Animation refers to moving graphics images. The movement of somebody giving

CPR makes it much easier to learn cardiopulmonary resuscitation, rather than just
viewing a static picture. Just as a static graphics image is a powerful form of
communication, such is the case with animation. Animation is especially useful
for illustrating concepts that involve movement.

Such concepts as playing a guitar or hitting a golf ball are difficult to

illustrate using a single photograph, or even a series of photographs, and even

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more difficult to explain using text. Animation makes it easier to portray these
aspects of your multimedia application.

Full-Motion Video:

Full-motion video, such as the images portrayed in a television, can add even
more to a multimedia application. Although full-motion video may sound like an
ideal way to add a powerful message to a multimedia application, it is nowhere
near the quality you would expect after watching television. Full-motion video is
still in its beginning stages on PCs, and it is limited in resolution and size. Even
with advanced methods of data compression, full-motion video can suck up hard
disk space faster than waterfalls when poured out of a bucket.

Right now, there are two major methods of incorporating full-motion

video into a multimedia application: Microsoft Video for Windows, and Quick
Time for Windows from Apple Computers. Both products come with tools for
getting the video from an external input (a videocassette recorder or a video
camera) and storing it on your hard disk drive.

All of the Above:

You can see that multimedia is by no means just one of the preceding
technologies. Because of what hardware can and cannot do, it is often a trade-off
between a certain number of static graphics images ,audio sound ,full-motion
video and text. As you may guess, textual information takes the least amount of
space to store.

Even if a multimedia machine had unlimited resources, you would still

want to add a combination of these multimedia technologies. For example,
although a picture is worth a thousand words, it would be difficult to portray the
work of William Shakespeare through pictures only. The same goes for audio
sound. You could record the sound of church bells and a narration of the Bible
,but at times you would rather have the Bible in textual format , which would
allow you to search for certain keywords .

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1.7. Let Us Sum Up

1.8. Unit End Exercises

1.9. Points for Discussion
1.10. Answers to Check your Progress
1.11. Suggested Readings

1. Bhatnagar, G., Mehta, S., & Mitra, S. (2004). Art and Design.
Introduction to multimedia systems, 161-169.

2. http://www.newagepublishers.com/samplechapter/001697.pdf

3. http://www.eie.polyu.edu.hk/~enyhchan/mt_intro.pdf

4. http://oer.avu.org/bitstream/handle/123456789/85/Multimedia%20Design
%20and%20Applications.pdf?sequence=3

5. Clark, R.E . and Feldon, D.F. (2005) Five common but questionable
principles of multimedia learning. In R. E. Mayer (Ed.). The
Cambridge Handbook of Multimedia Learning. New York: Cambridge
University Press.

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 UNIT – I
LESSON 2

Hardware and Softwares for Multimedia Production

INTRODUCTION

Computers are now making it possible to combine sound, images and

motion together. In earlier sections, you have read about definitions of multimedia
as propounded by experts. You can now describe the use of multimedia in
educational settings. In this section, we introduce you to the inside story of
multimedia i.e. about the hardware and the software which enable you to get the
end product called Multimedia.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to understand

 Essentiality of Hardware and Editing Software in Multimedia Production

 Different types of softwares and how to choose for a production.
UNIT STRUCTURE
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 2.1 Hardware and Software for Multimedia Production
2.2 Multimedia design software
2.3 Painting and drawing tools
2.4 3-D Modeling tools
2.5 Image editing tools
2.6 Sound editing tools:
2.7 Animation, video and digital movies editing tools:
2.8 Integrated Design Software
2.9 Choosing Multimedia Software
2.10 Let Us Sum Up
2.11 Unit End Exercises
2.12 Points for Discussion
2.13 Answers to Check your Progress
2.14 Suggested Readings
2.1 Hardware and Software for Multimedia Production

Understanding these concepts is very important as it is only the hardware

(the computer), the software (tools for designing multimedia) and yourself (your
conceptual understanding and skills) which will be crucial for multimedia
development. In this section, we will confine ourselves to the Microsoft Windows
platform only. There are other platforms also like Apple Macintosh, Silicon
Graphics, Sun Microsystems and even mainframes. Since Windows-based
systems (or Windows operating systems) have a worldwide presence, availability
and affordability, it becomes an automatic choice for our purpose. In this section
you will learn about the hardware and the software. In fact the software tells the
hardware as to what to do. This section also highlights the software that enables
development of multimedia. You will also learn about some of the ways to choose
the best combination of hardware and software to suit your requirements. An is
the program that is responsible to manage all the other programs in a computer,
once it is loaded into the computer. The other programs are called programs.
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 The developments in the field of hardware and software for multimedia are
such that it is practically impossible to be current in print. The description in this
section is only informative (and does not necessarily claim to be exhaustive) for
enabling you to familiarize with the concepts and capabilities of some of the
software used in developing multimedia.

The operating system determines the distribution of time and order for
multiple application programs running simultaneously. It also manages the sharing
of memory among multiple applications. It communicates with the attached
hardware devices about the condition of operations and any errors that may have
occurred. Linux and Windows 2000 are examples of operating systems while MS-
Word is an example of an application program. In this section we discuss various
terminologies used in computer operations and usage to emphasize their
importance in multimedia development.

Hardware required for Multimedia:

To begin your quest with a multimedia project you must have a decent
computer. A decent computer means you should have adequate hardware.
Hardware interprets your commands into computer activity. As of now, if you are
asked to develop a multimedia project, you would ask for a fast computer with lot
of speed and storage. There are many more things that you need to know like
which component makes a computer fast, what is the device for storage, etc. The
components are thus divided into five categories viz System devices, Memory and
storage devices, Input devices, Output devices, and Communication devices.

System devices:

These are the devices that are the essential components for a computer.
These include microprocessor, motherboard and memory. Microprocessor is
basically the heart of the computer. A is a computer processor on a small
microchip. When you turn your computer on, it is the microprocessor, which
performs some operations. The microprocessor gets the first instruction from the
Basic Input/Output System (BIOS), which is a part of its memory. BIOS actually
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load the operating system into random access memory (RAM). A motherboard is
a device in the computer that contains the computer's basic circuitry and other
components. Motherboard contains computer components like microprocessor,
memory, basic input/output system (BIOS), expansion slots and interconnecting
circuitry. You can add additional components to a motherboard through its
expansion slot.

Memory and Storage devices:

RAM (random access memory), also called primary memory, locates the
operating system, application programs, and data in current use so that the
computer's processor reaches them quickly. RAM is called "random access"
because any storage location can be accessed randomly or directly. RAM is much
faster than the hard disk; the floppy disk and the CD-ROM. RAM can be taken as
short-term memory and the hard disk as the long-term memory of a computer.
However, RAM might get slow when used to its limit. That is why, you need
more memory to work on multimedia. Today's personal computers come with 128
or more of RAM.

Users of graphic applications usually need 128 plus megabytes of memory.

A stores and provides access to large amounts of data on an electro magnetically
charged surface. Today's computers typically come with a hard disk that contains
several billion bytes (gigabytes) of storage. The popular ones currently are 40 GB
and above. Hard disk contains a part called which is responsible for improving the
time it takes to read from or write to a hard disk. The disk cache holds data that
has recently been read. The other type of hardware cache inside your computer is
cache memory. Cache stores something temporarily e.g. Temporary Internet files
are saved in Cache. A (CD) is a small medium that can store data pertaining to
audio, video, text, and other information in digital form. Initially, CDs were read-
only, but newer technology allows users to record as well. (Compact Disc, read-
only memory) can store computer data in the form of text, graphics and sound. To
record data into a CD, you need a . Normally this type of CD is either (CD-R) or

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(CD-RW). For the latter you can use the CD as a floppy disk write, erase and
again write data into the same disk. In the CD-R, once the data recording is
completed, it becomes a CD-ROM and nothing can be deleted.

Input devices:

A is the primary text input device for your computer. It was very popular
when DOS was the popular operating system. After the emergence of Windows,
its role became limited to dealing with text and for some commands only. The
keyboard contains certain standard function keys, such as the escape key, tab,
cursor movement keys, and shift and control keys. A mouse is also a primary
input device but it is not suitable for dealing with text. A is a small device that you
move across a pad in order to point to a place on a display screen and thus execute
a command by clicking it. The mouse is an integral part of any personal computer.
A cable connects the mouse to the computer. Microphone is another input device
that can interpret dictation and also enable us to input sound like the keyboard is
used for text. A records and stores photographic images in digital form that can be
fed to a computer as the impressions are recorded or stored in the camera for later
loading into a computer. The digital cameras are available for still as well as
motion pictures.

Output devices:

A is a device, which on receiving the signal from computer transfers the

information to paper. Earlier the printer was a popular low-cost personal computer
printer; now printers have taken its place. Dot-matrix printer strikes the paper a
line at a time while inkjet sprays ink and laser printer uses a laser beam to attract
ink (also called ). A is a device for display. It is just like a television set and is
measured diagonally from two opposing corners of the picture tube. The standard
monitor size is 14 inches. Very large monitors can measure 21 inches diagonal or
greater. An is an electronic device that increases the power of a signal. Amplifiers
are used in audio equipments. They are also called . Speakers with built-in

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amplifiers have become an integral part of the computers today and are important
for any multimedia project.

Communication devices:

A modulates going out from a computer or other digital device to for a

telephone line and demodulates the analog signal to convert it to a digital signal to
be inputted in a computer. Most new personal computers come with 56 Kbps
modems. Modems help your computer to connect to a network

Additional Hardware:

You are now aware of the basic devices on your computer. However, there
are a few more devices that you should know. Video capture is one of the most
important hardware‘s to be used for multimedia work on a personal computer.
Video-capture results will depend on the performance and capacity of all of the
components of your system working together. from analog devices like video
camera requires a special that converts the analog signals into digital form and
compresses the data. Video-capture card use various components of the computer
to pass frames to the processor and hard disk. For good quality video, a video-
capture card must be able to capture full-screen video at a good rate. For example
for a full-motion video, the card must be capable of capturing about 35 frames per
second at 720 by 480 pixels for digital video and 640 by 480 for analog video. To
determine what settings will produce the best results for your projects, you must
be careful in defining these parameters. A is a device that attaches to the
motherboard to enable the computer to input, process, and deliver sound. The
sound card generates sounds; records sound from analog devices by converting
them to digital mode and reproduce sound for a speaker by reconverting them to
analog mode. is a standard sound card, to the extent that some people use the
name as a generic term. A provides extended capability to a computer in terms of
video. The better the video adapter, the better is the quality of the picture you see.
A high quality video adapter is a must for you while designing your multimedia
project.

21
Configuration of a Multimedia Computer:

A good multimedia system should have a Pentium 1.6 Ghz (or the one
with similar capabilities) onwards processor, at least 256 MB of RAM, 40 GB
onwards hard disk drive, 1.44 MB Floppy drive, 17 inch onwards SVGA monitor,
32MB AGP card, 52 X CD-ROM drive, a 32 bit sound card, high wattage sub-
woofer speakers, 104 PS/2 keyboard, PS/2 mouse and 56K fax data voice modem.
If you wish you can add a CD-recorder, scanner, printer, digital camcorder and a
video-capture card. Remember, there is no set rule to define the exact hardware
combination of a good multimedia computer. The combination is dependent on
the nature and contents of the multimedia project you are dealing with.
Fortunately, there exist hardware tools for performing almost any action; the need
is to use only that hardware, which suits your purpose.

2.2 Multimedia design software

The basic tool set for building a multimedia project can be divided into
five categories: Painting and drawing tools, 3-D Modeling and animation tools,
Image editing tools, Sound editing tools, Animation Video Digital Movie tools.
The software in your multimedia toolkit and your ability to use it will determine
the quality of your multimedia work.

2.3 Painting and drawing tools

Graphic impact of your multimedia presentation is very important in

influencing the students. It is the graphics that would create the first impression of
your multimedia project. These tools are, therefore, very useful in giving you the
desired capability in terms of drawing and painting. Painting and drawing tools
generally come with a graphical user interface with pull down menus for quick
selection. You can create almost all kinds of possible shapes and resize them.
These tools have the capability to color with paint and clip arts. One can use
brushes of different sizes and shapes according to the need. One can use layers to
give different treatment to each element. Most of these tools come with built-in
plug-ins for performing different tasks. Once you are done with the drawing it can
22
be imported or exported in many image formats like .gif, .tif, .jpg, .bmp, etc. We
will give a brief description of good drawing software known as Corel Draw.

With, you can create illustrations from scratch. It has wide-ranging

features to handle text and to create drawing with precision. It can be used to
improve clip art, pictures and photos. It is an ideal tool for any design project like
technical drawings, advertisements, logos, etc. It can be used in creating full-color
illustrations for multifarious drawings and graphics for any designing project. It
has lot of clip arts and high-quality drawings, which can be inserted into your
multimedia project. One can also generate drawing for an animation sequence by
using Corel Draw.

2.4 3-D Modeling tools

Realism means that you depict things in the way they actually are. With
the help of 3-D modeling and animation tools the objects that appear in perception
in your project can look realistic. It has become conventional to use 3-D modeling
in multimedia design. These tools offer features like multiple windows to view
your design in each dimension. They have and menus from where you can drop
shape into your design and combine them to create complex designs. A good 3-D
modeling tool is 3D Studio Max. 3D Studio Max is a tool for making 3D models
and designs that can be converted into 3-dimensional animations. You must have
seen many websites with animated symbols. In fact many of such symbols are
made by using this tool. You can virtually lead your imagination to go wild and
visualize any symbol easily with the help of this tool. It has applications in
creating web pages; designing advertisements; making cartoon films and in
creating multimedia based training programmes. One can give special effects to
the design especially in terms of sound and animation.

2.5 Image editing tools:

While Painting and Drawing tools let you create a drawing from scratch,
Image editing tools are used to edit existing bitmap images and pictures. However,
these tools are similar to painting and drawing tools as they can also create images
23
from scratch. They are capable of converting any image data type file format.
Image editing tools are primarily used for reinventing and recreating the image,
which make them an important tool for designing a multimedia project. We will
introduce two good image processing software here Adobe Photoshop & Paint
Shop Pro.

Adobe Photoshop is a cutting-edge image processing software package

that enables you to create and edit images on computers. is also an exceptional
drawing and painting utility that yields professional-quality effects. With both
these tools you can edit an image in almost any desirable way. One can add
elements in layers; edit text and use effects filter to make the existing image look
even inferior to the edited one. It can mix and manipulate colors at a click of a
button. You can manipulate your images with special effects and techniques.
Images can be imported and exported across programs in any format. These tools
have been used to edit and create images for motion pictures, animations and for
artwork. With the help of these tools, you can master the special effects you've
always wanted.

2.6 Image editing tools

Sound editing tools let you hear sound as well as visualize it. You can
cut/copy and paste sound and edit it with great accuracy. You can integrate sound
into your multimedia project very easily by using sound editing tools. One such
software is Cool Edit.

Cool Edit can be used to record your own music, voice, or any other audio.
It makes you a professional as far as handling of sound is concerned. You can
edit, mix the sound with any other audio and add effects to it. can record from a
CD, keyboard, or any other sound played through your sound card. One good
feature of this software is that it can read and write MP3, which is the hot sound
format in the present times. Once you are done with your sound file, it can help
you in converting the file to any desired format. In other words, there is a

24
similarity in these editing tools--what Photoshop can do to images; can do for
sound.

Sound Forge is another professional quality sound editing tool that is used
in multimedia work.

2.7 Animation, video and digital movies editing tools:

Animations are graphic scenes played back sequentially and rapidly. These
tools adopt an object-oriented approach to animation. These tools enable you to
edit and assemble video clips captured from camera, animations and other
sources. The completed clip with added transition and visual effects could be
played back. Adobe Premiere and Media Shop Pro are two good examples of
these tools.

Adobe Premiere is a powerful tool for professional digital video editing. It

is primarily used to produce broadcast quality movies. It has excellent editing
tools that enable you to work with complete flexibility. This software first
digitizes the sound and video and then allows you to edit them to preserve picture
quality. It can edit video and multimedia movies in AVI as well as MPEG format.
It can create titles and graphics and then add them to your multimedia project. It
uses digital filtering for incorporating special effects. This software has
applications in film editing and movie making.

Media Studio Pro also gives you the most complete set of advanced video
editing tools. It can capture the video from VCR, TV or camcorders. It is capable
of capturing a batch of scenes. It brings all the components of a multimedia
project like video, sound, animation and titles together. One can add effects and
transitions and finally save the video in the desired format. It can retouch videos
by painting directly over any frame in a video sequence. It has an audio editor,
which can remove background noise and add another sound to your video.

For creating animations Macromedia Flash is the industry standard. A file

created in Flash is called a movie. A movie in Flash occupies very less file size,

25
and hence is more popular for the Web. You can also create presentations and 2D
Animations using Flash.

2.8 Integrated Design Software

Multimedia authoring tools are tools which organize and edit your
multimedia project. These tools are required to design the user interface for
presenting the project to the learner. In other words, these tools are used to
assemble various elements to make a single presentation. You can compose
comprehensive videos and animations with these tools. There are four basic type
of authoring tools viz. Page based tools (like Tool book, Visual Basic), Icon based
authoring tools (like Authorware), Time based authoring tools (like Macromedia
Director), and Object Oriented tools (like Media Forge).

Page-based tools organize elements as pages of a book. These tools are

used when the content of the project consists of elements that can be viewed
individually. These tools organize them in a user-defined sequential form.
organize elements as objects. These tools display the flow diagrams of activities
along with branching paths. organize the elements along a time-line. These tools
play back the sequentially organized graphic frames at user-set speed and time.
organize the elements in a hierarchical order as related ―objects‖. These tools
make these objects perform according to properties assigned to them.

We will give here a brief description of two such tools Authorware (Icon
based) and Macromedia Director (Time based).

Macromedia Authorware has a visual interface, which one has to simply

drag and drop icons to create an application. You do not need to be a programmer
to use this software as it has an interactive design. Authorware provides direct
support for graphics and animations made in Flash. Authorware can capture and
integrate animations and video made in different programmes like Flash and
QuickTime. It can integrate sound into your project in order to enhance the effect.
It has an antialiasing feature which smoothes out the edges of text and graphics.
Authorware has built-in templates which give you flexibility and convenience
26
while developing your project. You can learn about basic authoring, editing and
publishing ways with the help of a multimedia tutorial which is built-in with this
software.

Macromedia Director is a multimedia authoring application capable of

producing animations, presentations and movies. It provides a wide range of
possibilities for integrating different multimedia elements. It supports inputs from
programs like Shockwave, Photoshop and Premiere. It has applications in building
professional multimedia presentations. You can also integrate Real Audio and
Real Video in Director Projects. Compatibility of Director with other packages
means that you can use your favorite tools and software to create content for your
project and then bring that content into Director for authoring.

2.9 Choosing Multimedia Software

Multimedia is making a difference by providing ways of delivering

learning materials that are less expensive and more convenient. The key to any
learning process is that it must be relevant and it must keep the learner engaged.
Educational multimedia is no exception. This can be proved after seeing the
growing use of graphics, illustrations, animations and sound in educational
multimedia. It is therefore essential to choose that software which enables you to
execute your project with the minimum possible effort and maximum possible
productivity. Multimedia software have unlimited features. You can choose
among several hundred colors, dozens of fonts, a wide variety of color-
coordinated templates and many other incredible options. Before starting to select
software, one should start with an outline of the project and decide what is
expected from the project. Table-2 gives a ready reckoner for selecting software.
Hardware is the first thing that you should have to begin your quest with a
multimedia project. Hardware is necessary to interpret your commands, queries
and responses into computer activity. You have read about hardware components
viz. system devices, memory and storage devices, input devices, output devices
and communication devices. Fortunately there is an abundance of good hardware

27
answers to almost every problem. These areas are fast getting converged. May be
tomorrow you would be able to see some more innovative steps in this direction
which offers you even better c Similarly in software too, entire suites of integrated
production tools are now available. The need is to use them judiciously to create
good projects. Powerful features are continuously being added to the software that
allows developers to work more smoothly and conveniently between applications.
Emergence of these integration features has resulted in collaboration and unison
of multiple tools. The integration has enabled us to use your graphics from a
previous work and save time on rebuilding it. In short, the options available are
enormous. All that you have to do is to choose the right hardware and software to
complete your multimedia projects.

2.10 Let Us Sum Up

2.11 Unit End Exercises
2.12 Points for Discussion
2.13 Answers to Check your Progress
2.14 Suggested Readings

1. http://basilissachin.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/59330270/321.1%20
Set%20up%20hardware%20and%20software%20to%20run%20mu
ltimedia%20application.pdf

2. http://www.cs.umsl.edu/~sanjiv/cs464/lectures/hw.pdf

3. Bhatnagar, G., Mehta, S., & Mitra, S. (2004). Art and Design.
Introduction to multimedia systems, 161-169.

4. http://eilat.sci.brooklyn.cuny.edu/cis52/userfiles/file/3%20Hardw
are.pdf

5. http://cemca.org.in/ckfinder/userfiles/files/Section3.pdf

28
 UNIT II
Lesson 3

Graphic Design

INTRODUCTION

Graphic design is the process of visual communication, and problem-solving

through the correct use of typography, space, image and color.

The field is considered a subset of visual communication and communication

design, but sometimes the term "graphic design" is used interchangeably with
these due to overlapping skills involved. Graphic designers use various methods to
create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation
of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use a combination
of typography, visual arts, and page layout techniques to produce a final result.
Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the
communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

Common uses of graphic design include identity (logos and branding),

publications (magazines, newspapers and books), print advertisements, posters,
billboards, website graphics and elements, signs and product packaging. For
example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text
and pure design elements such as images, shapes and color which unify the piece.

29
Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially
when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This unit helps the student to

 Get introduced to Computer Graphics

 Learn about the elements of design
 Principles to follow in graphic design.

UNIT STRUCTURE

3.1 Introduction to Graphic Designs and Design Jobs.

3.2 Introduction to Computer Graphics Design

3.3 Design Elements and Principles

3.4 Let us sum up

3.5 Unit end exercises

3.6 Points for discussion

3.7 Answers to check your progress

3.8 Suggested Readings

3.1 Introduction to Graphic Designs and Design Jobs.

Graphic design, also known as communication design, is the art and practice of
planning and projecting ideas and experiences with visual and textual content. The
form of the communication can be physical or virtual, and may include images,
words, or graphic forms. The experience can take place in an instant or over a
long period of time. The work can happen at any scale, from the design of a single
postage stamp to a national postal signage system, or from a company‘s digital
avatar to the sprawling and interlinked digital and physical content of an

30
international newspaper. It can also be for any purpose, whether commercial,
educational, cultural, or political.

Design that‘s meant to be experienced in an instant is the easiest to recognize and

has been around the longest. For over a hundred years, designers have arranged
type, form, and image on posters, advertisements, packages, and other printed
matter, as well as information visualizations and graphics for newspapers and
magazines. Motion graphics are equally predetermined and crafted, but are meant
to be experienced over a fixed time span, such as for the opening credits of a
movie or an online video meant to accompany a newspaper article.

The design of books and magazines also has a long history. Whether physical or
digital, these are objects that are meant to be enjoyed over time, during which the
reader has control over the pace and sequence of the experience. In books, the
content usually comes before the design, while in magazines; the design is a
structure that anticipates written and visual content that hasn‘t yet been created.
Some commercial websites or exhibition catalogues also fit in this category, as do
digital or physical museum displays that show information that doesn‘t change.
All have fixed content, but the user or reader determines their own path through
the material.

Many designers also produce systems that are meant to be experienced over time,
but aren‘t confined to the making of objects. Way finding, which is a form
of environmental graphics, refers to the branding and signage applied throughout
and on buildings. While each sign or symbol in a public or private building is a
work of design, they‘re all part of a larger system within the building. The design
of the system—the relationships between all of those parts—is where the designer
brings value. Similarly, while all of the artifacts of a commercial or
institutional brand, such as a business card, sign, logo, or an advertisement are
individual expressions of design, how those are experienced together and over
time is the design work. No part of it has been created without considering the

31
others, or without thinking through how a target customer will encounter and then
develop a relationship with that brand.

Designers are also responsible for interactive designs where the content is fluid,
sometimes changing minute to minute, as well as interfaces that help users
navigate through complex digital experiences. This work differentiates itself by
adding another element: responding to the actions of the viewer. Editorial design
for web and mobile is the most tangible example of content-driven work in this
area, including publication websites, mobile apps, and blogs. Some design
involves the presentation of streaming information, also known as data
visualization. Other designers work on digital products, which are digital services
or platforms that can be brought to market. Product design for web and mobile is
related to software design. Sometimes different designers work on the user
interface design (UI), which mostly refers to the individual layouts of pages, and
the user experience design (UX), or the total experience of the user as they move
through a website or app.

Type design carries aspects of almost all of these things. While the form of a
single letter has meaning, a typeface, like a brand, is also composed of the
relationships between characters that work together to create meaning. And like
software, typefaces are licensed and can be installed on individual computers.

Depending on the scale of the context in which a designer works, the work may
include one, some, or all of these things in the course of a year. Larger companies,
agencies, teams, or studios may lean towards specialization, while smaller studios
and groups may need to have each individual capable, if not an expert, in multiple
areas.

Design jobs:

Depending on the business context and stage of career, designers can find
themselves with a number of different job titles. Within many publications,
institutions, or agencies, a junior designer will typically rise to a senior designer,
then art director, and then creative director. Depending on the industry served or
32
the medium, the junior designer may be called a graphic designer, UI/UX
designer, visual designer, motion designer, digital designer, web designer,
animator, production artist, or graphic artist. For advice on how to find an entry-
level position, please see How to Find your First Job in this guide.

At the mid-level, the title may be more specific: information designer, interaction
designer, product designer, environmental graphics designer, information
architect, package designer, exhibition designer, experience designer, or content
strategist.

At the executive level, designers occupy positions such as owner/founder,

executive creative director, head of design, or chief creative officer.

Then there are those who work with designers in related positions like production
coordinators, front-end developers, marketing coordinators, project managers,
producers, strategists, and copywriters. There are no centralized definitions or
certifications for these titles, so they‘re constantly evolving, and the more rapidly
changing the industry in which the designer works, the more rapidly titles and
definitions will change. Scale plays a part, too; the more designers on a team or in
a company, the more the number of distinct titles will multiply.

3.2 Introduction to Computer Graphics Design

Graphic design is the process of visual communication, and problem-solving

through the correct use of typography, space, image and color.

The field is considered a subset of visual communication and communication

design, but sometimes the term "graphic design" is used interchangeably with
these due to overlapping skills involved. Graphic designers use various methods to
create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation
of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use a combination
of typography, visual arts, and page layout techniques to produce a final result.
Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the
communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

33
Common uses of graphic design include identity (logos and branding),
publications (magazines, newspapers and books), print advertisements, posters,
billboards, website graphics and elements, signs and product packaging. For
example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text
and pure design elements such as images, shapes and color which unify the piece.
Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design, especially
when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.

Computer graphics are pictures and movies created using computers- usually
referring to image data created by a computer specifically with help from
specialized graphical hardware and software. It is a vast and recent area
in science. The phrase was coined by computer graphics researchers Verne
Hudson and William Fetter of Boeing in 1960. Another name for the field
is computer-generated imagery, or simply CGI.

Important topics in computer graphics include design, sprite, vector graphics, 3D

modeling, shades, GPU design, and computer vision, among others. The overall
methodology depends heavily on the underlying sciences of geometry, optics,
and physics. Computer graphics is responsible for displaying art and image data
effectively and beautifully to the user, and processing image data received from
the physical world. The interaction and understanding of computers and
interpretation of data has been made easier because of computer graphics.
Computer graphic development has had a significant impact on many types of
media and has revolutionized animation, movies, advertising, video games,
and graphic design generally.

The precursor sciences to the development of modern computer graphics were the
advances in electrical engineering, electronics, and television that took place
during the first half of the twentieth century. Screens could display art since
the Lumiere brothers' use of mattes to create special effects for the earliest films
dating from 1895, but such displays were limited and not interactive. The
first cathode ray tube, the Braun tube, was invented in 1897 - it in turn would

34
permit the oscilloscope and the military control panel - the more direct precursors
of the field, as they provided the first two-dimensional electronic displays that
responded to programmatic or user input. Nevertheless, computer graphics
remained relatively unknown as a discipline until the 1950s and the post-World
War II period - during which time, the discipline emerged from a combination of
both pure university and laboratory academic research into more advanced
computers and the United States military's further development of technologies
like radar, advanced aviation, and rocketry developed during the war. New kinds
of displays were needed to process the wealth of information resulting from such
projects, leading to the development of computer graphics as a discipline.

Early projects like the Whirlwind and SAGE Projects introduced the CRT as a
viable display and interaction interface and introduced the light pen as an
input. Douglas T. Ross of the Whirlwind SAGE system performed a personal
experiment in 1954 in which a small program he wrote captured the movement of
his finger and displayed its vector (his traced name) on a display scope. One of the
first interactive video games to feature recognizable, interactive graphics – Tennis
for Two – was created for an oscilloscope by William Higginbotham to entertain
visitors in 1958 at Brookhaven and simulated a tennis match. In 1959,Douglas T.
Ross innovated again while working at MIT on transforming mathematic
statements into computer generated machine tool vectors, and took the
opportunity to create a display scope image of a Disney cartoon character.

Electronics pioneer Hewlett-Packard went public in 1957 after incorporating the

decade prior, and established strong ties with Stanford University through its
founders, who were alumni. This began the decades-long transformation of the
southern San Francisco Bay Areainto the world's leading computer technology
hub - now known as Silicon Valley. The field of computer graphics developed
with the emergence of computer graphics hardware.

Further advances in computing led to greater advancements in interactive

computer graphics. In 1959, the TX-2computer was developed at MIT's Lincoln

35
Laboratory. The TX-2 integrated a number of new man-machine interfaces.
A light pen could be used to draw sketches on the computer using Ivan
Sutherland's revolutionary Sketchpad. Using a light pen, Sketchpad allowed one to
draw simple shapes on the computer screen, save them and even recall them later.
The light pen itself had a small photoelectric cell in its tip. This cell emitted an
electronic pulse whenever it was placed in front of a computer screen and the
screen's electron gun fired directly at it. By simply timing the electronic pulse with
the current location of the electron gun, it was easy to pinpoint exactly where the
pen was on the screen at any given moment. Once that was determined, the
computer could then draw a cursor at that location. Sutherland seemed to find the
perfect solution for many of the graphics problems he faced. Even today, many
standards of computer graphics interfaces got their start with this early Sketchpad
program. One example of this is in drawing constraints. If one wants to draw a
square for example, they do not have to worry about drawing four lines perfectly
to form the edges of the box. One can simply specify that they want to draw a box,
and then specify the location and size of the box. The software will then construct
a perfect box, with the right dimensions and at the right location. Another example
is that Sutherland's software modeled objects - not just a picture of objects. In
other words, with a model of a car, one could change the size of the tires without
affecting the rest of the car. It could stretch the body of car without deforming the
tires.

The phrase ―computer graphics‖ itself was coined in 1960 by William Fetter, a
graphic designer for Boeing. This old quote in many secondary sources comes
complete with the following sentence: (Fetter has said that the terms were actually
given to him by Verne Hudson of the Wichita Division of Boeing.) In 1961
another student at MIT, Steve Russell, created the second video game, Spacewar.
Written for the DEC PDP-1, Spacewar was an instant success and copies started
flowing to other PDP-1 owners and eventually DEC got a copy.[citation
needed] The engineers at DEC used it as a diagnostic program on every new PDP-
1 before shipping it. The sales force picked up on this quickly enough and when
36
installing new units, would run the "world's first video game" for their new
customers. (Higginbotham's Tennis For Two had beaten Spacewar by almost three
years; but it was almost unknown outside of a research or academic setting.)

E. E. Zajac, a scientist at Bell Telephone Laboratory (BTL), created a film called

"Simulation of a two-giro gravity attitude control system" in 1963. In this
computer-generated film, Zajac showed how the attitude of a satellite could be
altered as it orbits the Earth. He created the animation on an IBM 7090 mainframe
computer. Also at BTL, Ken Knowlton, Frank Sinden and Michael Noll started
working in the computer graphics field. Sinden created a film called
Force illustrating Newton's laws of motion in operation. Around the same time,
other scientists were creating computer graphics to illustrate their research.
At Lawrence Radiation Laboratory, Nelson Max created the films Flow of a
Viscous Fluid and Propagation of Shock Waves in a Solid Form. Boeing
Aircraft created a film called Vibration of an Aircraft.

Also sometime in the early 1960s, automobiles would also provide a boost
through the early work of Pierre Bézier at Renault, who used Paul de Casteljau's
curves - now called Bézier curves after Bézier's work in the field - to develop 3d
modeling techniques for Renault car bodies. These curves would form the
foundation for much curve-modeling work in the field, as curves - unlike
polygons - are mathematically complex entities to draw and model well.

Many of the most important early breakthroughs in the transformation of graphics

from utilitarian to realistic occurred at the University of Utah in the 1970s, which
had hired Ivan Sutherland away from MIT. Sutherland's graphics class would
contribute a number of significant pioneers to the field, including a student by the
name of Edwin Catmull - a later founder of Pixar. Because of David C. Evans' and
Sutherland's presence, UU was gaining quite a reputation as the place to be for
computer graphics research so Catmull went there to learn 3D animation. Catmull
had just come from The Boeing Company and had been working on his degree in
physics. Growing up on Disney, Catmull loved animation yet quickly discovered

37
that he did not have the talent for drawing. Now Catmull (along with many others)
saw computers as the natural progression of animation and they wanted to be part
of the revolution. The first animation that Catmull saw was his own. He created an
animation of his hand opening and closing. It became one of his goals to produce
a feature-length motion picture using computer graphics. In the same class, Fred
Parke created an animation of his wife's face.

The 1980s began to see the modernization and commercialization of computer

graphics. As the home computer proliferated, a subject which had previously been
an academics-only discipline was adopted by a much larger audience, and the
number of computer graphics developers increased significantly.

The 1990s' overwhelming note was the emergence of 3D modeling on a mass

scale, and an impressive rise in the quality of CGI generally. Home computers
became able to take on rendering tasks that previously had been limited to
workstations costing thousands of dollars; as 3D modelers became available for
home systems, the popularity of Silicon Graphics workstations declined and
powerful Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh machines
running Autodesk products like Studio or other home rendering software ascended
in importance. By the end of the decade, the GPU would begin its rise to the
prominence it still enjoys today.

The field began to see the first rendered graphics that could truly pass as
photorealistic to the untrained eye (though they could not yet do so with a trained
CGI artist) and 3D graphics became far more popular in gaming, multimedia and
animation. At the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the nineties were created,
in France, the very first computer graphics TV series: La Vie des bêtes by studio
Mac Guff Ligne (1988), Les Fables Géométriques (1989-1991) by studio
Fantôme, and Quarxs, the first HDTV computer graphics series by Maurice
Benayoun and François (studio Z-A production, 1990–1993).

In film, Pixar began its serious commercial rise in this era under Edwin Catmull,
with its first major film release, in 1995 - Toy Story - a critical and commercial

38
success of nine-figure magnitude. The studio to invent the
programmable shadier would go on to have many animated hits, and its work on
pre-rendered video animation is still considered an industry leader and research
trailbreaker.

In videogames, in 1992, Virtual Racing, running on the Sega Model 1 arcade

system board, laid the foundations for fully 3D racing games and popularized real-
time 3D polygonal graphics among a wider audience in the video game
industry. The Sega Model 2 in 1993 and Sega Model 3 in 1996 subsequently
pushed the boundaries of commercial, real-time 3D graphics. Back on the
PC, Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, three of the first massively popular
3D first-person shooter games, were released by id Software to critical and
popular acclaim during this decade using a rendering engine innovated primarily
by John Carmack. The Sony Playstation and Nintendo 64, among other consoles,
sold in the millions and popularized 3D graphics for home gamers. Certain late-
90's first-generation 3D titles became seen as influential in popularizing 3D
graphics among console users, such as platform games Super Mario 64 and The
Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, and early 3D fighting games like Fighter,
Battle, and Tekken.

Technology and algorithms for rendering continued to improve greatly. In 1996,

Krishnamurty and Levoy invented normal - an improvement on Jim Blinn's bump
mapping. 1999 saw Nvidia release the seminal GeForce 256, the first home video
card billed as a graphics processing unit or GPU, which in its own words
contained "integrated transform, lighting, triangle setup/clipping,
and rendering engines". By the end of the decade, computers adopted common
frameworks for graphics processing such as DirectX and OpenGL. Since then,
computer graphics have only become more detailed and realistic, due to more
powerful graphics hardware and 3D modeling software.AMD also became a
leading developer of graphics boards in this decade, creating a "duopoly" in the
field which exists to this day.

39
CGI became ubiquitous in earnest during this era. Video games and CGI cinema
had spread the reach of computer graphics to the mainstream by the late 1990s,
and continued to do so at an accelerated pace in the 2000s. CGI was also
adopted en masse for television advertisements widely in the late 1990s and
2000s, and so became familiar to a massive audience.

The continued rise and increasing sophistication of the graphics processing unit
was crucial to this decade, and 3D rendering capabilities became a standard
feature as 3D-graphics GPUs became considered a necessity for desktop
computer makers to offer. The Nvidia GeForce line of graphics cards dominated
the market in the early decade with occasional significant competing presence
from ATI. As the decade progressed, even low-end machines usually contained a
3D-capable GPU of some kind as Nvidia and AMD both introduced low-priced
chipsets and continued to dominate the market. Shaders which had been
introduced in the 1980s to perform specialized processing on the GPU would by
the end of the decade become supported on most consumer hardware, speeding up
graphics considerably and allowing for greatly improved texture and shading in
computer graphics via the widespread adoption of normal mapping, bump
mapping, and a variety of other techniques allowing the simulation of a great
amount of detail.

Computer graphics used in films and video games gradually began to be realistic
to the point of entering the uncanny valley. CGI movies proliferated, with
traditional animated cartoon films like Ice Age and Madagascar as well as
numerous Pixar offerings like Finding Nemo dominating the box office in this
field. The Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, released in 2001, was the first fully
computer-generated feature film to use photorealistic CGI characters and be fully
made with motion capture. The film was not a box-office success, however. Some
commentators have suggested this may be partly because the lead CGI characters
had facial features which fell into the "uncanny valley". Other animated films
like The Polar Express drew attention at this time as well. Star Wars also

40
resurfaced with its prequel trilogy and the effects continued to set a bar for CGI in
film.

In videogames, the Sony Playstation 2 and 3, the Microsoft Xbox line of consoles,
and offerings from Nintendo such as the GameCube maintained a large following,
as did the Windows PC. Marquee CGI-heavy titles like the series of Grand Theft
Auto, Assassin's Creed, Final Fantasy, Bioshock, Kingdom Hearts, Mirror's
Edge and dozens of others continued to approach photorealism, grow the
videogame industry and impress, until that industry's revenues became
comparable to those of movies. Microsoft made a decision to
expose DirectX more easily to the independent developer world with
the XNA program, but it was not a success. DirectX itself remained a commercial
success, however. OpenGL continued to mature as well, and it
and DirectX improved greatly; the second-generation shader
languages HLSL and GLSL began to be popular in this decade.

In scientific computing, the GPGPU technique to pass large amounts of data

bidirectional between a GPU and CPU was invented; speeding up analysis on
many kinds of bioinformatics and molecular biology experiments. The technique
has also been used for Bitcoin mining and has applications in computer vision.

3.3 Design Elements and Principles

Visual design elements and principles describe fundamental ideas about the
practice of good visual design.

As William Lidwell stated in Universal Principles of Design:

The best designers sometimes disregard the principles of design. When they do so,
however, there is usually some compensating merit attained at the cost of the
violation. Unless you are certain of doing as well, it is best to abide by the
principles.

Design elements:

Color:
41
Color can play a large role in the elements of design with the color wheel being
used as a tool, and color theory providing a body of practical guidance to color
mixing and the visual impacts of specific color combination.

Uses:

Color can aid organization to develop a color strategy and stay consistent with
those colors. It can give emphasis to create a hierarchy to the piece of art. It is
also important to note that color choices in design change meaning within cultural
contexts. For example, white is associated with purity in some cultures while it is
associated with death in others.

Attributes:

 Hue

 Values, tints and shades of colors that are created by adding black to a
color for a shade and white for a tint. Creating a tint or shade of color
reduces the saturation.

 Saturation gives a color brightness or dullness, and by doing this it makes

the color more vibrant than before.

Shape:

 A shape is defined as a two or more dimensional area that stands out from
the space next to or around it due to a defined or implied boundary, or
because of differences of value, color, or texture. All objects are composed
of shapes and all other 'Elements of Design' are shapes in some way.

Categories:

 Mechanical Shapes or Geometric Shapes are the shapes that can be drawn
using a ruler or compass. Mechanical shapes, whether simple or complex,
produce a feeling of control or order.

 Organic Shapes are freehand drawn shapes that are complex and normally
found in nature. Organic shapes produce a natural feel.
42
Texture:

 The tree's visual texture is represented here in this image.

 Meaning the way a surface feels or is perceived to feel. Texture can be

added to attract or repel interest to an element, depending on the
pleasantness of the texture.

Types of texture:

 Tactile texture is the actual three-dimension feel of a surface that can be

touched. Painter can use impasto to build peaks and create texture.

 Visual texture is the illusion of the surfaces peaks and valleys, like the tree
pictured. Any texture shown in a photo is a visual texture, meaning the
paper is smooth no matter how rough the image perceives it to be.

 Most textures have a natural touch but still seem to repeat a motif in some
way. Regularly repeating a motif will result in a texture appearing as a
pattern.

Space:

 In design, space is concerned with the area deep within the moment of
designated design, the design will take place on. For a two-dimensional
design, space concerns creating the illusion of a third dimension on a flat
surface

 Overlap is the effect where objects appear to be on top of each other. This
illusion makes the top element look closer to the observer. There is no way
to determine the depth of the space, only the order of closeness.

 Shading adds gradation marks to make an object of a two-dimensional

surface seem three-dimensional.

 Highlight, Transitional Light, Core of the Shadow, Reflected Light, and

Cast Shadow give an object a three-dimensional look.

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  Linear Perspective is the concept relating to how an object seems smaller
the farther away it gets.

 Atmospheric Perspective is based on how air acts as a filter to change the

appearance of distance objects.

Form:

 Form may be described as any three-dimensional object. Form can be

measured, from top to bottom (height), side to side (width), and from back
to front (depth). Form is also defined by light and dark. It can be defined
by the presence of shadows on surfaces or faces of an object. There are
two types of form, geometric (man-made) and natural (organic form).
Form may be created by the combining of two or more shapes. It may be
enhanced by tone, texture and color. It can be illustrated or constructed.

Principles of design:

 Principles applied to the elements of design that bring them together into
one design. How one applies these principles determines how successful a
design may be.

Unity/harmony:

 According to Alex White, author of The Elements of Graphic Design, to

achieve visual unity is a main goal of graphic design. When all elements
are in agreement, a design is considered unified. No individual part is
viewed as more important than the whole design. A good balance between
unity and variety must be established to avoid a chaotic or a lifeless
design.

Methods:

 Perspective: sense of distance between elements.

 Similarity: ability to seem repeatable with other elements.

 Continuation: the sense of having a line or pattern extend.

44
  Repetition: elements being copied or mimicked numerous times.

 Rhythm: is achieved when recurring position, size, color, and use of a

graphic element has a focal point interruption.

 Altering the basic theme achieves unity and helps keep interest.

Balance:

 It is a state of equalized tension and equilibrium, which may not always be

calm.

Types:

 The top image has symmetrical balance and the bottom image has
asymmetrical balance.

Symmetry:

 Asymmetrical balance produces an informal balance that is attention

attracting and dynamic.

 Radial balance is arranged around a central element. The elements placed

in a radial balance seem to 'radiate' out from a central point in a circular
fashion.

 Overall is a mosaic form of balance which normally arises from too many
elements being put on a page. Due to the lack of hierarchy and contrast,
this form of balance can look noisy but sometimes quiet.

Hierarchy:

 A good design contains elements that lead the reader through each element
in order of its significance. The type and images should be expressed
starting from most important to the least important.

Scale/proportion:

45
  Using the relative size of elements against each other can attract attention
to a focal point. When elements are designed larger than life, scale is being
used to show drama.

Dominance/emphasis:

 Dominance is created by contrasting size, positioning, color, style, or

shape. The focal point should dominate the design with scale and contrast
without sacrificing the unity of the whole.

Similarity and contrast:

 Planning a consistent and similar design is an important aspect of a

designer's work to make their focal point visible. Too much similarity is
boring but without similarity important elements will not exist and an
image without contrast is uneventful so the key is to find the balance
between similarity and contrast.

Similar environment:

 There are several ways to develop a similar environment:

 Build a unique internal organization structure.

 Manipulate shapes of images and text to correlate together.

 Express continuity from page to page in publications. Items to watch

include headers, themes, borders, and spaces.

 Develop a style manual and adhere to it.

Contrasts:

Space

 Filled / Empty

 Near / Far

 2-D / 3-D

46
Position

 Left / Right

 Isolated / Grouped

 Centered / Off-Center

 Top / Bottom

Form

 Simple / Complex

 Beauty / Ugly

 Whole / Broken

Direction

 Stability / Movement

Structure

 Organized / Chaotic

 Mechanical / Hand-Drawn

Size

 Large / Small

 Deep / Shallow

 Fat / Thin

Color

 Grey scale / Color

 Black & White / Color

 Light / Dark

Texture

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  Fine / Coarse

 Smooth / Rough

 Sharp / Dull

Density

 Transparent / Opaque

 Thick / Thin

 Liquid / Solid

Gravity

 Light / Heavy

 Stable / Unstable

Movement is the path the viewer‘s eye takes through the artwork, often to focal
areas. Such movement can be directed along lines edges, shape and color within
the artwork, and move.

3.4 Let us sum up

3.5 Unit end exercises

3.6 Points for discussion

3.7 Answers to check your progress

3.8 Suggested Readings

1. Siebert, L. and Ballard, L. (1992). Making a Good Layout. Cincinnati, OH:

North Light Books.

2. Parker, R. (1998). Looking Good in Print. Scottsdale, AZ: Coriolis

Creative Professionals Press.

3. http://lazarus.elte.hu/cet/publications/13-meissner2.pdf

4. http://aces.nmsu.edu/pubs/guidelines/documents/nondesigners.pdf
48
 5. http://www.ttl.fi/fi/verkkokirjat/documents/graafinenohjeisto.pdf

UNIT II
Lesson 4

Graphic Design Process

INTRODUCTION

Splattering colors and shapes all over the canvas is a painter‘s way to create
whatever comes to mind. A graphic designer is similar to a painter in a way that
they are both creative expressions, yet graphic designers creations tend to be more
strategically driven.

An astute graphic artist follows a series of steps before (s)he can begin the actual
design work. This system, standard procedure, process, series of steps, or
whatever you coin it is a way to ensure that you are delivering exactly what the
client needs. A design for a client has to fit a specific set of requirements, so it's
only natural that the process to figure out what client needs to produce an effective
output is based on a logical flow.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This unit helps the student to

49
  Processes involved in graphic design
 Usage of Typography, colors in graphic design
 Learn about the file formats, format conversion, algorithms.
 What are the Post Script/Encapsulated Postscript files.

UNIT STRUCTURE

4.1 Graphic Design Process

4.2 Typography, colors, dimensions:

4.3 File Formats:

4.4 Let us sum up

4.5 Unit end exercises

4.6 Points for discussion

4.7 Answers to check your progress

4.8 Suggested Readings

4.1 Graphic Design Process

The Benefit of the Graphic Design Process:

When starting a new design project, there are steps of the graphic design process
to follow that will help you to achieve the best results. Rather than jump right into
a graphics software program to try to create a final version, you can save yourself
time and energy by first researching the topic, finalizing your content, starting
with simple sketches and getting several rounds of approval on designs.

Gather Information:

Before you can start a project you of course need to know what your client needs.
Gathering information is the first step of the graphic design process. When

50
approached for a new job, set up a meeting to discuss the scope of the work. Be
sure to gather as much information as possible:

Aside from the product your client needs (such as a logo or a website), ask
questions such as:

Who is the audience?

What is the message?

How many pages is the piece?

What are the dimensions?

Is there a specific budget?

Is there a deadline for completion?

Can the client provide examples of design they like?

Is there an existing corporate brand that needs to be matched?

Take detailed notes, which you can use later for the next step of the design
process.

Create an Outline:

Using the information collected in your meeting you'll be able to develop an

outline of the content and goal of the project, which you can present to your client
for approval before proceeding. For a website, include all of the major sections
and the content for each. Include the dimensions and technical specifications for
print or web work as well. Present this outline to your client, and ask for any
changes.

Once this is finalized, you know you are in agreement on what the piece will
include and can proceed to the next step of the graphic design process.

NOTE: It is at this time that you would provide a proposal to your client as well,
including the cost and timeframe for the work, but here we are focusing on the
design process.

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Harness Your Creativity!

Design should be creative! Before moving on to the design itself (don't worry,
that's next) take some time to think about creative solutions for the project. You
can use the client's examples of favorite work as guidelines for what they like and
don't like, but your goal should be to come up with something new and different
that will separate them from the rest (unless of course they specifically asked to fit
in).

Ways to get the creative juices flowing include:

Brainstorming: Get together with a group and throw out any and all ideas

Visit a museum: Get inspired by the originals

Read a book: Something as small as a color or shape in a graphic design book

could spark a completely original idea

Take a walk: Sometimes its best to get outside and watch the world...you never
know what will spark your imagination

Draw: Even if you're not an "artist," doodle some ideas on a page

Once you have some ideas for the project it's time to start creating a structured
layout.

Sketches and Wireframes:

Before moving into a software program such as Illustrator or InDesign, it is

helpful to create some simple sketches of the layout of a piece. This way, you can
show your client some ideas without spending too much time on design. Find out
if you are headed in the right direction by providing quick sketches of logo
concepts, line drawings of layouts showing where elements will be placed on the
page or even a quick handmade version of a package design.

For web design, wireframes are a great way to start with your page layouts.

Design Multiple Versions:

52
Now that you've done your research, finalized your content and gotten approval
on some sketches you can move on to the actual design phases of the graphic
design process. While you may knock out the final design in one shot, it's usually
a good idea to present your client with at least two versions of a design. You can
agree on how many unique versions are included in a job in your proposal. This
gives the client some options and allows you to combine their favorite elements
from each.

TIP: Be sure to keep even the versions or ideas that you choose NOT to present
and that you might not even like at the time, as you never know when they'll come
in handy.

Revisions:

Be sure to let your client know that you encourage "mixing and matching" the
designs you provide. They may like the background color on one design and the
font choices on another. From their suggestions you can present a second round of
design. Don't be afraid to give your opinion on what looks best...after all, you're
the designer! After this second round, it isn't uncommon to have a couple more
rounds of changes before reaching a final design.

Stick to the Steps:

When following these steps, be sure to finish each one before moving on to the
next. If you conduct solid research, you know you can create an accurate outline.
With an accurate outline, you have the information necessary to sketch out some
ideas. With the approval of these ideas, you can move on to create the actual
design, which once revised, will be your final piece. That's much better than
having a client say "Where's the Logo?" after the work is already done!

4.2 Typography, colors, dimensions:

Typography is the art, craft and techniques of type design, modifying type glyphs,
and arranging type. Type glyphs (characters) are created and modified using a
variety of illustration techniques. The arrangement of type is the selection of

53
typefaces, point size, tracking (the space between all characters used), kerning (the
space between two specific characters), and leading (line spacing).

Typography is performed by typesetters, compositors, typographers, graphic

artists, art directors, and clerical workers. Until the Digital Age, typography was a
specialized occupation. Digitization opened up typography to new generations of
visual designers and lay users.

The page layout aspect of graphic design deals with the arrangement of elements
(content) on a page, such as image placement, and text layout and style. Beginning
from early illuminated pages in hand-copied books of the Middle Ages and
proceeding down to intricate modern magazine and catalogue layouts, structured
page design has long been a consideration in printed material and more recently in
electronic displays such as web pages. Elements usually consist
of type (text), images (pictures), and (with print media) occasionally place-holder
graphics for elements that are not printed with ink such as die/laser cutting, foil
stamping or blind embossing.

Printmaking is the process of making artworks by printing on paper and other

materials or surfaces. Except in the case of monotyping, the process is capable of
producing multiples of the same piece, which is called a print. Each piece is not a
copy but an original since it is not a reproduction of another work of art and is
technically known as an impression. Painting or drawing, on the other hand,
creates a unique original piece of artwork. Prints are created from a single original
surface, known technically as a matrix. Common types of matrices include: plates
of metal, usually copper or zinc for engraving or etching; stone, used for
lithography; blocks of wood for woodcuts, linoleum for linocuts and fabric plates
for screen-printing. But there are many other kinds, discussed below. Works
printed from a single plate create an edition, in modern times usually each signed
and numbered to form a limited edition. Prints may also be published in book
form, as artist's books. A single print could be the product of one or multiple
techniques.

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2D computer graphics are the computer-based generation of digital images—
mostly from models, such as digital image, and by techniques specific to them. 2D
computer graphics are mainly used in applications that were originally developed
upon traditional printing and drawing technologies such as typography. In those
applications, the two-dimensional image is not just a representation of a real-
world object, but an independent artifact with added semantic value; two-
dimensional models are therefore preferred, because they give more direct control
of the image than 3D computer graphics, whose approach is more akin to
photography than to typography.

A large form of digital art being pixel art is created through the use of raster
graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level. Graphics in most
old (or relatively limited) computer and video games, graphing games, and
many mobile phone games are mostly pixel art.

A sprite is a two-dimensional image or animation that is integrated into a larger

scene. Initially including just graphical objects handled separately from the
memory bitmap of a video display, this now includes various manners of
graphical overlays.

Originally, sprites were a method of integrating unrelated bitmaps so that they

appeared to be part of the normal bitmap on a screen, such as creating an animated
character that can be moved on a screen without altering the data defining the
overall screen. Such sprites can be created by either
electronic circuitry or software. In circuitry, a hardware sprite is
a hardware construct that employs custom DMA channels to integrate visual
elements with the main screen in that it super-imposes two discrete video sources.
Software can simulate this through specialized rendering methods.

Vector graphics formats are complementary to raster graphics. Raster graphics is

the representation of images as an array of pixels and is typically used for the
representation of photographic images. Vector graphics consists in encoding
information about shapes and colors that comprise the image, which can allow for

55
more flexibility in rendering. There are instances when working with vector tools
and formats is best practice, and instances when working with raster tools and
formats is best practice. There are times when both formats come together. An
understanding of the advantages and limitations of each technology and the
relationship between them is most likely to result in efficient and effective use of
tools.

3D graphics compared to 2D graphics are graphics that use a three-

dimensional representation of geometric data. For the purpose of performance this
is stored in the computer. This includes images that may be for later display or for
real-time viewing.

Despite these differences, 3D computer graphics rely on similar algorithms as 2D

computer graphics do in the frame and raster graphics (like in 2D) in the final
rendered display. In computer graphics software, the distinction between 2D and
3D is occasionally blurred; 2D applications may use 3D techniques to achieve
effects such as lighting, and primarily 3D may use 2D rendering techniques.

3D computer graphics are the same as 3D models. The model is contained within
the graphical data file, apart from the rendering. However, there are differences
that include the 3D model is the representation of any 3D object. Until visually
displayed a model is not graphic. Due to printing, 3D models are not only
confined to virtual space. 3D rendering is how a model can be displayed. Also can
be used in non-graphical computer simulations and calculations.

In digital imaging, a pixel is a single point in a raster image. Pixels are placed on a
regular 2-dimensional grid, and are often represented using dots or squares. Each
pixel is a sample of an original image, where more samples typically provide a
more accurate representation of the original. The intensity of each pixel is
variable; in color systems, each pixel has typically three components such as red,
green, and blue.

Graphics are visual presentations on a surface, such as a computer screen.

Examples are photographs, drawing, graphics designs, maps, engineering
56
drawings, or other images. Graphics often combine text and illustration. Graphic
design may consist of the deliberate selection, creation, or arrangement of
typography alone, as in a brochure, flier, poster, web site, or book without any
other element. Clarity or effective communication may be the objective,
association with other cultural elements may be sought, or merely, the creation of
a distinctive style.

Primitives are basic units which a graphics system may combine to create more
complex images or models. Examples would be sprites and character maps in 2d
video games, geometric primitives in CAD, or polygons or triangles in 3d
rendering. Primitives may be supported in hardware for efficient rendering, or the
building blocks provided by a graphics application.

4.3 File Formats:

A file format is a standard way that information is encoded for storage in

a computer file. It specifies how bits are used to encode information in a digital
storage medium. File formats may be either proprietary or free and may be either
unpublished or open.

Some file formats are designed for very particular types of data: PNG files, for
example, store bitmapped images using lossless data compression. Other file
formats, however, are designed for storage of several different types of data:
the Ogg format can act as a container for different types of multimedia, including
any combination of audio and video, with or without text (such as subtitles),
and metadata. A text file can contain any stream of characters, including
possible control characters, and is encoded in one of various character encoding
schemes. Some file formats, such as HTML, scalable vector graphics, and
the source code of computer software are text files with defined syntaxes that
allow them to be used for specific purposes.

One popular method used by many operating systems, including Windows, Mac
OS X, CP/M, DOS, VMS, and VM/CMS, is to determine the format of a file
based on the end of its name—the letters following the final period. This portion
57
of the filename is known as the filename extension. For example, HTML
documents are identified by names that end with .html (or .htm), and GIF images
by .gif. In the original FAT file system, file names were limited to an eight-
character identifier and a three-character extension, known as an 8.3 filename.
There are only so many three-letter extensions; so, often any given extension
might be linked to more than one program. Many formats still use three-character
extensions even though modern operating systems and application programs no
longer have this limitation. Since there is no standard list of extensions, more than
one format can use the same extension, which can confuse both the operating
system and users.

One artifact of this approach is that the system can easily be tricked into treating a
file as a different format simply by renaming it—an HTML file can, for instance,
be easily treated as plain text by renaming it from filename.html tofilename.txt.
Although this strategy was useful to expert users who could easily understand and
manipulate this information, it was often confusing to less technical users, who
could accidentally make a file unusable (or "lose" it) by renaming it incorrectly.

This led more recent operating system shells, such as Windows 95 and Mac OS X,
to hide the extension when listing files. This prevents the user from accidentally
changing the file type, and allows expert users to turn this feature off and display
the extensions.

Hiding the extension, however, can create the appearance of two or more identical
filenames in the same folder. For example, a company logo may be needed both
in .eps format (for publishing) and .png format (for web sites). With the
extensions visible, these would appear as the unique filenames
"CompanyLogo.eps" and "CompanyLogo.png". On the other hand, hiding the
extensions would make both appear as "CompanyLogo".

Hiding extensions can also pose a security risk. For example, a malicious user
could create an executable programwith an innocent name such as "Holiday
photo.jpg.exe". The ".exe" would be hidden and a user would see "Holiday

58
photo.jpg", which would appear to be a JPEG image, unable to harm the machine
save for bugs in the application used to view it. However, the operating system
would still see the ".exe" extension and thus run the program, which would then
be able to cause harm to the computer. The same is true with files with only one
extension: as it is not shown to the user, no information about the file can be
deduced without explicitly investigating the file. Extensions can be spoofed. Some
Word macro viruses create a Word file in template format and save it with a .DOC
extension. Since Word generally ignores extensions and looks at the format of the
file these would open as templates, execute, and spread the virus. To further trick
users, it is possible to store an icon inside the program, in which case some
operating systems' icon assignment for the executable file (.exe) would be
overridden with an icon commonly used to represent JPEG images, making the
program look like an image. This issue requires users with extensions hidden to be
vigilant and never let the operating system choose with what program to open a
file not known to be trustworthy (which counteracts the idea of making things
easier for the user). This presents a practical problem for Windows systems where
extension-hiding is turned on by default.

A second way to identify a file format is to use information regarding the format
stored inside the file itself, either information meant for this purpose or binary
strings that happen to always be in specific locations in files of some formats.
Since the easiest place to locate them is at the beginning, such area is usually
called a file header when it is greater than a few bytes, or a magic number if it is
just a few bytes long.

A final way of storing the format of a file is to explicitly store information about
the format in the file system, rather than within the file itself.

This approach keeps the metadata separate from both the main data and the name,
but is also less portable than either file extensions or "magic numbers", since the
format has to be converted from filesystem to filesystem. While this is also true to
an extent with filename extensions — for instance, for compatibility with MS-

59
DOS's three character limit — most forms of storage have a roughly equivalent
definition of a file's data and name, but may have varying or no representation of
further metadata.

JPEG is a commonly used method of lossy compression for digital images,

particularly for those images produced by digital photography. The degree of
compression can be adjusted, allowing a selectable tradeoff between storage size
and image quality. JPEG typically achieves 10:1 compression with little
perceptible loss in image quality.

JPEG compression is used in a number of image file formats. JPEG/Exifis the

most common image format used by digital cameras and other
photographic image capture devices; along with JPEG/JFIF, it is the most
common format for storing and transmitting photographic images on the World
Wide Web. These format variations are often not distinguished, and are simply
called JPEG.

The term "JPEG" is an acronym for the Joint Photographic Experts Group, which
created the standard. The MIME media type for JPEG is image/jpeg, except in
older Internet Explorer versions, which provides a MIME type
of image/pjpeg when uploading JPEG images. JPEG files usually have a filename
extension of .jpg or .jpeg.

JPEG/JFIF supports a maximum image size of 65,535×65,535 pixels, hence up to

4 gigapixels (for an aspect ratio of 1:1).

The Graphics Interchange Format (better known by its acronym GIF is

a bitmap image format that was introduced by CompuServein 1987 and has since
come into widespread usage on the World Wide Web due to its wide support and
portability.

The format supports up to 8 bits per pixel for each image, allowing a single image
to reference its own palette of up to 256 different colors chosen from the 24-
bit RGB color space. It also supports animations and allows a separate palette of

60
up to 256 colors for each frame. These palette limitations make the GIF format
less suitable for reproducing color photographs and other images with continuous
color, but it is well-suited for simpler images such as graphics or logos with solid
areas of color.

GIF images are compressed using the Lempel–Ziv–Welch (LZW)lossless data

compression technique to reduce the file size without degrading the visual quality.
This compression technique was patented in 1985. Controversy over the licensing
agreement between the software holder, Unisys, and CompuServe in 1994 spurred
the development of the Portable Network Graphics (PNG) standard. By 2004 all
the relevant patents had expired.

TIFF is a computer file format for storing raster graphics images, popular among
graphic artists, the publishing industry, and photographers. The TIFF format is
widely supported by image-manipulation applications, by publishing and page
layout applications, and by scanning, faxing, word processing, optical character
recognitionand other applications.

The format was created by Aldus Corporation for use in desktop publishing. It
published the latest version 6.0 in 1992, subsequently updated with an Adobe
Systems copyright after the latter acquired Aldus in 1994. Several Aldus/Adobe
technical notes have been published with minor extensions to the format, and
several specifications have been based on TIFF 6.0, including TIFF/EP (ISO
12234-2), TIFF/IT (ISO 12639),[3][4][5] TIFF-F (RFC 2306) and TIFF-FX (RFC
3949).

Note that zip files or archive files solve the problem of handling metadata. A
utility program collects multiple files together along with metadata about each file
and the folders/directories they came from all within one new file (e.g. a zip file
with extension .zip). The new file is also compressed and possibly encrypted, but
now is transmissible as a single file across operating systems by FTP systems or

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attached to email. At the destination, it must be unzipped by a compatible utility to
be useful, but the problems of transmission are solved this way.

PostScript (PS) is a computer language for creating vector graphics. It is

a dynamically typed, concatenative programming language and was created
at Adobe Systems by John Warnock, Charles Geschke, Doug Brotz, Ed Taft and
Bill Paxton in 1982-4. It is used as a page description language in the electronic
and desktop publishing areas.

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a DSC-conforming PostScriptdocument with

additional restrictions which is intended to be usable as a graphics file format. In
other words, EPS files are more-or-less self-contained, reasonably predictable
PostScript documents that describe an image or drawing and can be placed within
another PostScript document. Simply, an EPS file is a PostScript program, saved
as a single file that includes a low-resolution preview "encapsulated" inside of it,
allowing some programs to display a preview on the screen.

At minimum, an EPS file contains a Bounding Box DSC comment, describing the
rectangle containing the image described by the EPS file. Applications can use
this information to lay out the page, even if they are unable to directly render the
PostScript inside.

EPS, together with DSC's Open Structuring Conventions, form the basis of early
versions of the Adobe Illustrator Artwork file format.

4.4 Let us sum up

4.5 Unit end exercises

4.6 Points for discussion

4.7 Answers to check your progress

4.8 Suggested Readings

1. http://www.designcouncil.org.uk/sites/default/files/asset/document/ElevenLes
sons_Design_Council%20(2).pdf
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 2. Eaton, Marcia Muelder Aesthetics and the good life 1989, Associated
University Press

3. Papanek, Victor ‗Design for the Real World: Making to Measure‘ 1971

4. Ellison, David Ethics and aesthetics in European modernist literature 2001,

Cambridge University Press

5. http://asimetrica.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/design-thinking.pdf

6. http://static.nakedcreativity.co.uk/documents/1-82-detailed-graphic-design-
process.pdf

UNIT - 3

Lesson 5
Computer Graphics for Desktop Publishing

INTRODUCTION

While desktop publishing and graphic design share many similarities, they are not
the same. However, they do have some common capabilities and features, and that
can lead to confusion for those who aren‘t sure exactly what sets each apart from
the other.

Both DTP and graphic design are processes used to bring creative things to life.
DTP centers on creating things that would once have been traditionally published,
including flyers, brochures, books, websites and more from a computer. Graphic
design, on the other hand, is the name given to processes used to create graphics,
from product packaging to website design to social network avatars and more.

Perhaps the best definition of DTP is that it‘s the use of software on a computer,
smartphone or tablet to create projects that can include business cards, book

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covers (and entire books), flyers, brochures, signs and more. It does involve
design, and DTP can be considered a component of graphic design (but GD is
much more than DTP alone). There are numerous tools used in DTP, including
programs like Microsoft Publisher and Word, Apple‘s iWorks suite and dozens of
others. Usually, these tools combine a text editor or word processor with at least
rudimentary tools for creating graphics and designing layouts. Tools range from
those geared for home use to professional-grade software.

GP is more than DTP – while it encompasses DTP, it also touches on many other
things, including full website design, product packaging graphics, form, layout
and design, advertising design and more. A graphic design company can be a
desktop publisher, but desktop publishing companies are not always graphic
designers (GD requires considerably more expertise and experience than DTP
does). Like DTP, there are many different tools used in GD, including programs
like Adobe Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash and too many others to list.

It might help to clarify the differences between DTP and GD if you think about
them in terms of what‘s created. DTP is generally concerned with creating text
material, often combined with graphical elements. Those elements might be
created by the desktop publisher, or by a graphic designer. GD, on the other hand,
is concerned more with the creation of graphical means of conveying information.
A business logo is an excellent example, but it goes far, far beyond that to
typography, color grading, photography, web design and even advertising. In
short, a graphic designer must have more knowledge and experience than a
desktop publisher.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understanding the Concept of Desktop Publishing

 How to process Printing
 How to work in Vector
UNIT STRUCTURE
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 5.1 Introduction to Desktop Publishing
5.2 Printing Process
5.3 Vector and other elements
5.4 Creating Elements
5.5 Let us sum up
5.6 Unit End Exercises
5.7 Points for Discussion
5.8 Answers to Check your Progress
5.9 Suggested Readings

5.1 Introduction to Desktop Publishing

Desktop Publishing characterizes the fabrication of camera-ready page layouts

with the help of a personal computer as well as specific software and periphery
(scanners to import templates, printers/ phototypesetters for high quality editions
from page layouts).

 DTP is word processing as well as graphics and layout.

 DTP enables the creation of high quality technical printed matter such as
artwork from the comfort of each computer users desk

 DTP or more precisely the essential (content) components typography and

layout, this serves for an improved legibility for the reader as well as a
higher acceptance of texts.

 The initial scepticism from the pioneer years, dating back to the first 5-10
years since the introduction on the market of the first DTP systems in
1984, reached its current professionalism of software and hardware
through a broad acceptance, it also yielded the highly professional printing
and type setting industry

65
  A good composition by now is an important factor for all types of texts
and is of great important for all professions that produce texts based on the
effective technical possibilities.

Advantages:

 Simplification of work flows

 One person at one workstation can complete the single steps from text
production up to its fabrication of printable standard texts. This leads to
drastic cost reductions because the complete number of people taking part
is reduced.

 Speed and Flexibility gives one the possibility to make last minute
changes. This advantage is currently being strengthened by the current
trend of ―Printing on Demand‖; here printing high quality final versions
are also transferred to electronically supported ―End-User‖ systems.

 Controllability of the Printing Process: when it comes to foreign-languages

goods, which translators have a lot to do with, typing errors and other
errors can be avoided that could arise due to language and cultural barriers.

Disadvantages:

 DTP provides for intensive training this affects typographic basic

knowledge and a higher necessity for regulation for a professional and
uniform configuration ―corporate identity.‖

 An individual person needs to combine special knowledge from earlier

specialised occupations and carryout the orthography, punctuation, and
hyphenation having sole responsibility. The available aids, especially for
German, for professional use are in most cases insufficiently suited.

DTP Components:

 DTP- System: Scanner

 Computer and Laser printer

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Computer

Hardware: A high-capacity PC with at least 32 MB RAM, 1 GB Hard drive (or

even removable disks/CD-ROM-Drive as a mass storage of templates), 17 ‖
Screen (Display of 2 A4 pages, high resolution graphics)

Software: Word processing: in addition to the new entry in the layout programme,
as well as the completion of texts and exports from effective word-processing
programmes. The most important products are: Microsoft Word, Word Perfect,
Lotus AmiPro, for Apple Macintosh: Claris MacWrite Pro.

Graphic: Creation of vector drawings from objects e.g. CorelDraw, Micrografx

Designer, Visio, MacDraw and numerous others

Diverse: Pixel photos (Bitmaps) from individual points, generated from MS Word
Graphic Editor, MS Paintbrush, Aldus Freehand et.al… Some programmes
(Canvas) have the ability to process both vector graphics and Bitmaps.

Special form: Clipart, that is to say a collection of iconised graphics that are for
example treated as specific file types (catalogued with keywords) in Microsoft.
All types of graphics can be administered with CorelMosaic

Layout: Combination of text (parts) and graphics whereas the presentation does
not comply with individual pages but modelled on mounting surfaces of a graphic
artist, independent of a specific page or paper format a larger working surface is
presented.

Most well known programmes are: Adobe (previously known as Aldus)

PageMaker (Mac, Windows), mainly applicable for the composition of time
consuming printing matters, e.g. notifications, brochures, magazines Ventura
Publisher (Windows), mainly for larger quantities (books) Quarkexpress
(specifically for Mac) increasing approximation and integration of all three
programme categories to all-round-talents – MS Word currently consists of a
graphic editor and to some extent a layout functionality (WordArt) – as well as
CorelDraw that just like PageMaker has orthography and hyphenation functions.

67
However: all three-programme categories act as professional specialists in their
traditional area Other Software (besides competition): presentation programmes
(Ms PowerPoint, HarvardGraphics) as specialists for both electronic and printed
final products: presentation materials (transparencies, slides).

5.2 Printing Process

Printing technique: ―A laser printer is a machine that projects dirt onto paper.‖

Laser printer functions like a photocopier or even a fax machine; the print image
is put together with the electrostatic charging of individual dots. The decisive
factor is the resolution, the fineness of individual points. Today‘s standard is 300
dpi (dots per inch, approx 120 dpi per cm), which equals to almost 8 million dots
per A4 page. Today the doubled number of an affordable resolution of 600 dpi
corresponds to a fourfold figure of dots – 64 million. The procedure in detail: The
electrostatic charging is generated through an electronically controlled laser beam
(that‘s the difference from a photocopier, where the laser or rather a quartz light
ray scans the template.)

Before exposure the page needs to be calculated by a Raster Image Processor

(RIP) or rather it needs to be built up in its dots 300 dpi and leading to 8 million
per A4 page provided that the main memory requirement is at least 1 megabyte in
the laser printer.

During the actual printing process a laser beam is aimed on the dots of a selenium
drum that eventually are to bare colours. This ruins the positive charge of the
drum so that the toner with the negative charges can attach itself to the drum.
Subsequently the toner is transfused on the positively charged paper and fixated
with the help of momentary heating of 200 C.

Other printing procedures: Ink jet printers from a cost perspective can be classed
among matrix printers, a smaller printing volume. This improves the resolution
because while spraying the ink it blends with the paper so that no individual dots
appear. The high-end-products however, especially in the colour printing area for
the compilation of fewer print runs, are also interesting for ―professional‖
68
purposes. Postcript and the network compatible HP DeskJet 1200C/PS that also
has a resolution of 300dpi belong to this category.

Phototypesetters reach an even higher resolution and are used in professional

areas. The norm is 1270dpi, there are however image setters that have up to 2540
dpi. This however simply creates the page layouts (special coated plates). As an
affordable printing technique for average print runs (news papers, job printing) the
affordable offset printing is used, it works like the electrostatic laser printing
procedure with the difference being fat (=colour) and water.

Printer software: the principal of Postcript How are pixels calculated?

The pixels of dot matrix printers as well as conventional laser and ink jet printers
are calculated with the help of the so-called printer driver that is specifically
tailored for the corresponding printer or the series or is geared to the company
standard: this is how the OKI and Brother-Drucker in FASK emulate the HP PCL
(Printer Command Language) from Hewlett-Packard; they are just like these
printers.

However, in the professional DTP area there are more elegant alternatives.

Postcript from Adobe is a Page Definition Language (PDL), an adequate

procedural programmer language that describes the graphics and texts for each
printed side in mathematical formulas and the interface between the application
programme and the printer (a general output device).

Characters and vector graphics are not transferred to the printer with Postcript as
dots (pixel or Bitmap characters) but defined as outlines (outline font). This
results in image enlargements without a loss in quality; they can be turned and
modified in diverse ways.

A similar, newer writing technique that is more suitable for the non-professional
area are ―truetype‖ fonts that have a huge success in Windows but compared to
Postcript they are no longer being further developed.

69
It is possible to not just print a file in the application programme but also to export
it to a Postcript file, save it and then (even from another computer) export the
Postcript file on to the previously installed printer. With this approach the selected
printer does not have to be connected to just one computer, the proper printer
driver is enough to generate a Postcript file with a high printing quality from home
and export it to the university later on. (In practice difficulties can arise!)

Characteristics of Postcript:

Integration of text and graphic: Device independence: output on each Postcript-

capable output device, a simple (laser) printer costs1.500 DM and a high quality
image setter can be bought for 150.000 DM.

A similar, newer writing technique that is more suitable for the non-professional
area are ―truetype‖ fonts that have a huge success in Windows but compared to
Postcript they are no longer being further developed. Software and hardware
independence: The source code of Postcript files only consists of ASCII/ANSI-
characters and is therefore in principle exchangeable between all PC/Workstation-
operating systems (DOS/Windows, Apple OS, Next, Solaris/Unix), it is also
exchangeable or rather can be processed with every text editor when it comes to
the compliance of structure conventions concerning the EPS (=Encapsulated
Postcript) format. Postcript portrays itself through a higher level of flexibility and
portability when compared to other printing techniques. Postcript has therefore
become a standard in the DTP industry.

On the other hand, Postcript can be viewed as a ―one way street with a dead end‖
(DTP p.81) due to the fact that the already created file cannot be displayed on the
screen to make other changes. In the mean time corresponding works on a
―Display-Postcript‖ have led to Adobe PDF formats that are generated from
Postcript and are presented with a programme such as Acrobat Reader or as a
Plugin for example Netscape Navigator.

Scanner: = ―page reader‖ (literal translation), a device to load graphics and texts

70
Technique: In other respects the scanning process is also similar to that of a
photocopier: the template is scanned by a light beam and is digitalised and
changed into electronic binary files (dot/no dot).

All the loaded templates are only available as so-called Bitmaps, graphics created
from single dots, however they can be reworked in various different techniques
(vectorization or character recognition).

Quality Criteria: In this case quality depends greatly on the scanners resolution;
the templates type, brightness, and contrast also play a role when it comes to
quality.

Resolution: in the DTP area it ranges from 72 dpi (adequate for screen display),
150dpi (normal fax quality), 300 dpi (normal printing resolution) and can reach up
to 1200 dpi (however this requires the use of mathematical interpolation
procedures).

Types of templates:

Line drawings are by nature best suited for scanning because they are made up of
only black and white dots.

Continuous tone templates (photos) contain shades of grey that are approximated
when scanned through an alignment of black dots: close-set and heavy dots create
a blacker area, thinner dots that are further apart create a lighter image region.
Normally there are 16 shades of grey, that is to say 4 Bit per pixel. The maximum
printing resolution of 300 dpi however, lowers the effective output quality to 75
dpi or technically contingent (approximation of curves) it can be even lower. This
process is characterised as rasterization (a relatively bad quality) and is for
example used for the production of newspapers in offset printing. In contrast high-
quality printing (colour pages from Geo) are created in gravure and letterpress
printing, where a continuous tuning of colour strengths is possible due to the
different levels of template space.

71
Colourful templates are more difficult to scan because the storage capacity is
greatly increased: one bit must not be spent per pixel but 4 bits per 16 colours or 1
byte per 256 colours – scanning an A4 page with a 300 dpi resolution in other
words 8 million pixels which results to a file size (uncompressed) of 4-8MB.

Finishing: Essentially, templates that are more interesting to scan are those that
can be vectorised (reviewed) because the quality can be increased and optimised.

Photos: with programmes such as Aldus Photostyler or Corel PhotoPaint the

contrasts for example can be strengthened and therefore the output quality
(camera-readiness) can be improved during offset printing.

Graphics can often be vectorised that is to say transformed into objects.

CorelTrace is used for this procedure.

Text recognition:

OCR (optical character recognition) is the (broad) area of transforming scanned

Bitmaps to ASCII-characters, an editable text.

The stated recall ratio in advertisements of 95%-98% can only be reached with
good templates that are free of ―flaws‖ such as incomplete letters or ―spatters‖
(due to photocopying).

A similar, newer writing technique that is more suitable for the non-professional
area are ―truetype‖ fonts that have a huge success in Windows but compared to
Postcript they are no longer being further developed.

Text recognition is rewarding for equally large text quantities with an optimal
(printing) quality, such as old magazine volumes or corpora juris.

The recognition of (national) special characters (accents etc) is extremely

problematic in the foreign-language department because the programme has to
differentiate between these characters (combinations) and spatters.

There is however, a gleam of hope: the entry of automatic spellcheckers is very

profitable because so many reoccurring recognition errors can be automatically

72
corrected: e.g. when the letter l is recognized as a one 1. This affects the
spellcheckers that do not work with a fixed dictionary but rather with linguistic or
rather statistic procedures to review word forms.

Basics of Typography:

Font

Font- is a complete character set (capital and lower case letters, figures, sentence
characters and special characters) with a standard character.

Styles are (characterised as style in Word, look at table for examples)

Basic effects of typography, light, plain, oblique or italic, bold and the
combination of bold italics.

Other effects are generated through a different tracking of letters. As a result a

longer text can be shortened or a shorter text can be lengthened in a more elegant
fashion.

Small caps such as outlines and shadows are closely linked to fonts when it comes
to application; they are also different style effects.

Font families

All font styles of a font create a font family

In principle you can distinguish between serif and sanserif fonts

Serif or antiqua-script e.g. Times New Roman, have a classic and literary effect
and are suitable for current texts.

Sanserif or grotesque lettering e.g. Helvetica, have a modern and factual effect
and are used in titles or user manuals.

Besides the ―real‖ italic fonts or font families, tilted letters are often used in DTP
(so-called ―oblique‖ letters)

73
Font size (type size) is measured in typographical dots, although nowadays the
Pica-system from America (1pt = 0.351mm, 12pt =1 pica) has become an
international ISO-norm.

Font families and their uses

Paragraph configuration:

Leading and feed:

Leading is the space between two text lines; it‘s a deciding factor for the legibility
of texts. It‘s the space between the bottom edge and the upper edge of a line.
A negative leading can be useful when drawing up logos that are intertwined into
one another or letter heads.

The feed or line spacing one the other hand is the space from one baseline to the
next.

Line spacing in most cases is set automatically at 120% of the font size and the
leading at 20

Example: if the font size is 10 the feed is set at 12 points and the leading at 2
points, a line spacing of 1.5 lines carries a leading of 0.5 lines.

Spacing and kerning:

Spacing originates from the typewriting era where each letter had a fixed width.
In the modern proportional fonts (almost all besides Courier or Courier related
fonts) the spacing are omitted e.g. the i in contrast to M.
Kerning removes the drawbacks of proportional fonts so that the space between
letter pairs is always the same. Just like ligatures (fused letters) where kerning
letters are pushed closer together.

Configuration tips for the typography of technical and business texts Chose font
size that matches text type and print space with 9-12 pts, where the text in pictures
and captions should be as big as the body text font. The best body text font is
Times New Roman; Helvetica (sanserif) is used for headings (like most

74
newspapers and magazines). Line spacing of at least 1.5 lines, and an extra space
between paragraphs. Headlines (header or footer) should be clearly separated from
the text, precise and short Basic Knowledge Layout: Print Space: One page
(dimensions for A4) can either be printed in print space.

Page set up and margins:

The difference here between one-page printouts and double sided printouts can be
observed. Double sided printouts have a necessary addition of a normal margin
called binding margin, it‘s extra space for binding or even hole punching, on even
pages the margin is on the right and on uneven pages the margin is on the left.

The following margins are different:.

 Configuration tips for the layout of technical texts

 Pay attention to a balanced and calm overall impression of the pages.

 Keep the arrangement of texts and pictures coherent and conclusive and
take into account the reading flow: the picture as the key medium on the
left or on the upper half of the explanatory text (and reversed).

 Single-column sentences, per line a maximum of 60 characters, multiple-

column sentences should be 35-45 characters per gap, whereas the gutter
should be bigger than the average word spacing.

 The binding margins needs to be large enough for the binding so that no
letters go missing

5.3 Vector and other elements

Vector graphics:

Vector graphics are the best computer compatible form of graphics that can be
changed without a loss of quality (analogue to Postcript font)

Such characters are not saved in their concrete forms but rather as mathematical
formulas (vectors) for each output with the given measurements

75
Reoccurring application fields are technical documentations that resort to the
illustration of facts of engineering drawings and part drawings. Due to their high
reproduction quality from the computer they are also used for all types of high-
quality graphic outputs (provided the outlines are determined).

Pixel photos:

Pixel graphics if anything correlate to the ―artistic‖ colouring with pencils and
erasers.

Due to the storage as raster, one is greatly appointed to a specific output device
(the corresponding size and resolution of the output) if the aim is to reach an
optimal quality. For a screen display the images need to be edited on a
considerably low resolution than for a (laser) printed version.

In many cases the pixel format cannot be avoided, especially when it comes to
photos, there is no other choice (especially if you disregard the complex and
professional finishing).

However, the Bitmap format with a suitable resolution is enough for domestic
purposes, where by the file size increases greatly.

Clipart:

Clipart images are prefabricated and catalogued commercial art in which a cadre
is delivered together with many graphic programmes (e.g. Microsoft Office
Packet).

It has to do with illustrations, symbols, pictograms or even very simple but useful
elements of design such as arrows, dots, margins, waves and shadow lines.
Often the images are thematically organised; CorelDraw even sends a printed
catalogue.

The file format is different; it can be linked to vector graphics as well as Bitmap
graphics. The clipart files often only use up a few kilobytes because the images
have been compressed.

76
Graphic formats:

Current graphic formats and their file extensions should be noted in this overview,
DOS/Windows are only allowed 3 characters.

Programme specific extensions

CDR Corel Draw (importable from a few programmes)

DS4 Designer 4.0, good export functions

PPT PowerPoint 4.0 (presentation programme)

Specific operating system graphic formats

BMP Windows Bitmap-Format, at least 75 dpi, normal 300-600 dpi

PCX Same as BMP formats

WMF Windows Metafile, interchange format with a relatively low quality

PICT Apple Macintosh Standard graphic format (as PICT2 colour possible)

Standardised graphic formats and de-facto standards

EPS Encapsulated Postcript, special PS-form for graphics

GIF Graphic Interchange format, very high compression, lower quality

and colour depth esp. screen display

JPEG Joint Picture Experts Group, international ISO-standard, ideal for

photos and halftone presentation

TIFF/TIF Tagged Image File Forman, very high printing quality (differs)
through standardised description language

WPG Word Perfect Graphics, very ideal for expressions because the
graphic is automatically fitted to the page width and size

5.4 Creating Elements

77
Creating beautiful design is about more than inspiration or a great idea, it‘s about
understanding the fundamentals of the subject. Although it‘s possible to spend
years studying the nuances of design and the many varying takes on how to be
successful at it, there are a handful, or two, of basic elements that every designer
should know before beginning any project. Even amateurs in the field who
maintain personal blogs or only make a hobby of it can utilize these following ten
tips to create professional looking pieces, and anyone who intends to earn money
from the endeavor must know them. Rules were made to be broken, of course, but
you have to know what they are first.

Line:

The first and most basic element of design is that of the line. In drawing, a line is
the stroke of the pen or pencil but in graphic design, it‘s any two connected points.
Lines are useful for dividing space and drawing the eye to a specific location. For
example, think about how a magazine uses lines to separate content, headlines and
side panels.

Color:

Color is one of the most obvious elements of design, for both the user and the
designer. It can stand alone, as a background, or be applied to other elements, like
lines, shapes, textures or typography. Color creates a mood within the piece and
tells a story about the brand. Every color says something different, and
combinations can alter that impression further.

Shape:

Shapes, geometric or organic, add interest. Shapes are defined by boundaries, such
as a lines or color, and they are often used to emphasize a portion of the page.
Everything is ultimately a shape, so you must always think in terms of how the
various elements of your design are creating shapes, and how those shapes are
interacting.

Space:

78
Negative space is one of the most commonly underutilized and misunderstood
aspects of designing for the page. The parts of the site that are left blank, whether
that‘s white or some other color, help to create an overall image. Use negative
space to create shapes as you would any other element. Check out this article if
you're interested in learning more about frequently used design terms like negative
space.

Texture:

It‘s counter-intuitive to think about texture when the piece isn‘t ever going to be
touched. Websites and graphic design do rely on the look and impression
of texture on the screen, however. Textures can create a more three-dimensional
appearance on this two-dimensional surface. It also helps build an immersive
world.

Typography:

Perhaps the single most important part of graphic and web design istypography.
Like color, texture, and shapes, the fonts you use tell readers you‘re a serious
online news magazine, a playful food blog or a vintage tea tins shop. Words are
important, but the style of the words is equally essential.

Scale (Size):

Playing with the scale and size of your objects, shapes, type and other elements
add interest and emphasis. How boring would a symmetrical website with all
similarly sized ingredients be? Very. But the amount of variation will depend
heavily on the content within. Subtle differences suit professional content, while
bold ones prefer creative enterprises.

Dominance and Emphasis:

While you can talk about emphasizing one thing or another, the element of
emphasis has more to do with an object, color or style dominating another for a
heightened sense of contrast. Contrast is intriguing, and it creates a focal point.

Balance:
79
There are two schools of balance: symmetry and asymmetry. While most
designers, artists and creative folks much prefer asymmetry for its eye-catching
nature, symmetry does have its place. Sometimes.

Harmony:

Harmony is ―The main goal of graphic design,‖ according to Alex White, author
of ―The Elements of Graphic Design.‖ So, you know it must be important.
Harmony is what you get when all the pieces work together. Nothing should be
superfluous. Great design is just enough and never too much. Make sure all the
details accord with one another before you consider the project complete.

Here are hundreds of rules and many more principles when it comes to creating
beautiful designs on and off the web, but these ten are the basic essentials that will
ensure anything you create is appealing, professional and perfect. We highly
suggest you continue your learning path looking at this infographic featuring ten
essential commandments of graphic design.

5.5 Let us sum up

5.6 Unit End Exercises
5.7 Points for Discussion
5.8 Answers to Check your Progress
5.9 Suggested Readings

1. http://doe.concordia.ca/cslp/Downloads/PDF/jobaids/Desktop_publishing.p
df

2. http://www.inveralmondchs.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/DTP-
Tutorial-and-Homewroks.pdf

3. http://www.24hrco.com/Training_24HC_np.pdf

4. http://web.utk.edu/~impact/pdf/DesktopPublishing.pdf

5. http://reta.nmsu.edu/lessons/desktop/dtpall.pdf

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6. Anderson, M. A. (2007). Technology, Design, & the Artist’s Hand *Abstract+.
SchoolArts: The Art Education Magazine for Teachers. 107(1). 38-39.

7. Kelly, R. R. (2001). The Early Years of Graphic Design at Yale University.

Design Issues. 17(3).

8. Occupational Outlook Handbook. (2010-2011). Graphic Designers

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 UNIT – 3

Lesson 6

Desktop Publishing

INTRODUCTION

Desktop publishing (abbreviated DTP) is the creation of documents using page

layout skills on a personal computer. Desktop publishing software can generate
layouts and produce typographic quality text and images comparable to traditional
typography and printing. This technology allows individuals, businesses, and
other organizations to self-publish a wide range of printed matter. Desktop
publishing is also the main reference for digital typography. When used skillfully,
desktop publishing allows the user to produce a wide variety of materials, from
menus to magazines and books, without the expense of commercial printing.

Desktop publishing combines a personal computer and WYSIWYG page

layout software to create publication documents on a computer for either large
scale publishing or small scale local multifunction peripheral output and
distribution. Desktop publishing methods provide more control over design,
layout, and typography than word processing. However, word processing software
has evolved to include some, though by no means all, capabilities previously
available only with professional printing or desktop publishing.

The same DTP skills and software used for common paper and book publishing
are sometimes used to create graphics for point of sale displays, promotional
items, trade show exhibits, retail package designs and outdoor signs. Although
what is classified as "DTP software" is usually limited to print and PDF
publications, DTP skills aren't limited to print. The content produced by desktop
publishers may also be exported and used for electronic media. The job
descriptions that include "DTP", such as DTP artist, often require skills using

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software for producing e-books, web content, and web pages, which may
involve web design or user interface design for any graphical user interface.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understanding the Concept of Desktop Publishing

 How to process Printing
 How to work in Vector, Illustration and Painting
 Import and Export Process with Effects, language and theories related with
space & form, design.
 Understanding the psychology during DTP.

UNIT STRUCTURE

6.1 Illustration and Painting

6.2 Import and Export Process
6.3 Color Processing
6.4 Psychology of Desktop Publishing
6.5 Let us sum up
6.6 Unit End Exercises
6.7 Points for Discussion
6.8 Answers to Check your Progress
6.9 Suggested Readings

6.1 Illustration and Painting

An illustration is a graphic depiction of any concept or subject in
a drawing,sketch, painting, photograph, cinema or other type of image. The word
comes from the latin word illustra'tio, illu'stro meaning enlighten, irradiate.
Printing is the current process for reproducing illustrations, typically with ink
on paper using a printing press. Illustrations can be artistic images illustrating for
example a text, poem, fashion, magazines, stamps or a book and very often

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illustrations were made for children's books. The aim of an illustration is to
elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information by providing a
visual representation of something described in the text. Illustrations can also
represent scientific images of flora, medicine or different processes,
a biological or chemical processes or technical illustrations to give information on
how to use something. Illustrations can be executed in different techniques, like
watercolor, gouache, ink, oil, charcoal chalk or woodcut.

Illustrations are often carried out as a large-scale industrial process, and is an

essential part of publishing and transaction printing.

Computer illustration or digital illustration is the use of digital tools to produce

images under the direct manipulation of the artist, usually through a pointing
device such as a tablet or amouse. It is distinguished from computer-generated art,
which is produced by a computer using mathematical models created by the artist.
It is also distinct from digital manipulation of photographs, in that it is an original
construction "from scratch". (Photographic elements may be incorporated into
such works, but they are not the primary basis or source for them.)

Pointing Devices:

Mice are not very precise for drawing, so a graphics tablet is an important tool for
a digital illustrator, because it allows the user to make a mark easily in any
direction, in a way that reflects the natural or "lively" line made by the human
hand. In addition to flexibility of movement, an industry-standard digital drawing
tablet has a pressure-sensitive surface, allowing the illustrator to make marks that
vary from faint to bold, and from thin to broad. These variations mimic traditional
wet and dry media. Drawing on a digital drawing tablet starts to feel natural after
about a week of practice. A hybrid graphics tablet/screen might be helpful, since
the artist can see more accurately where to place strokes in the image, but the
hardware is currently much more expensive.

Illustration Software:

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There are two main types of tools used for digital illustration: bitmapped (also
known as "raster") and vector applications. Bitmap applications are commonly
called "painting" programs, while vector applications are called "drawing"
programs. These terms reflect the difference in look-and-feel between the images
created in each type of program. With a bitmap application, the content is stored
digitally in fixed rows and columns of pixels, which can be created in separate
layers for more easily isolating and manipulating different parts of the image. A
bitmap image contains information about each pixel's hue (color), luminance
(brightness), and saturation (intensity of color). When the pointing device moves
over an area of the image, new colors and values are applied to the underlying
pixels. Painting tools allow the easy creation of "fuzzy" imagery, including effects
such as glows and soft shadows, and textures such as fur, velvet, stone and skin,
and are heavily used in photo-retouching.

With vector-based tools, the content is stored digitally as resolution-independent

mathematical formulae describing lines (open paths), shapes (closed paths), and
color fills, strokes or gradients. Vector paths are constructed of anchor points and
path segments by using the pointing device to click and drag. Drawing tools
typically create precise lines, shapes and patterns with well-defined edges and are
superb for working with complex constructions such as maps and typography.
Digital illustrations may include both raster and vector graphics in the same work.
A bitmap image file may be saved in a format which embeds a layer of vector
information, and vector image file may include imported bitmap images.

Digital Painting:

Digital painting is a method of creating an art object (painting) digitally and/or a

technique for making digital art in the computer. As a method of creating an art
object, it adapts traditional painting medium such as acrylic
paint, oils,ink, watercolor, etc. and applies the pigment to traditional carriers, such
as woven canvas cloth, paper, polyester etc. by means
of computer software driving industrial robotic or office machinery (printers). As

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a technique, it refers to acomputer graphics software program that uses
a virtual canvas and virtual painting box of brushes, colors and other supplies. The
virtual box contains many instruments that do not exist outside the computer, and
which give a digital artwork a different look and feel from an artwork that is made
the traditional way.

Within the category of computer generated painting, a distinction is made between

'code-mode', and 'design-mode'. The difference can be clarified with the aid of
web page design. A web designer who wants to give a web page a black
background, can do so by writing, in a language that the computer can understand:
<body bgcolor="#000000"> . The earliest digital paintings are made in this
method, where the artist writes a code, and the code generates an image. Code-
mode painting offered a lot of freedom in style and idiom – though intricate forms
were difficult to program.

Modern programs used for web design usually offer a 'design mode' alongside a
'code mode'. The advantage of a design mode is that it allows building web pages
without the need of programming. The designer can choose to visually construct
an image and the software will generate the necessary code.
Graphics programs used for digital painting take this one step further. The design
mode is the only mode. The image is translated into the codes that are needed for
viewing, printing etc. without interference of the artist. Most of these programs
feature a number of ready-made shapes, such as circles, ellipses, squares, and
many brush points. While it is probably not possible for a human hand to create
exactly identical shapes, or construct a perfect circle, for a computer this is not
difficult at all. Hence the typical occurrence of regular forms and exact repetition
in digital painting in general, and the designation 'computer generated' for art in
which regular shapes and exact repetition dominate. It is possible to subject
shapes to a variety of mathematical operations. Programs for fractal art for
instance, assist the artist in creating visually complex structures of great
mathematical regularity.

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The creative process in traditional and digital painting is more or less the same,
but when the digital artist is done, there is nothing to hang on a wall. The painting
is on the hard disk of a computer. The usual way to make it presentable and
salable is to project it on a traditional carrier, such as paper, canvas or polyester.
This is commonly done by a professional printer. For an original painting, the
traditional physical carrier substitutes the digital carrier, which is deleted. For a
series, the digital carrier is deleted when the prefixed number of copies has been
reached. For an open ended series, the digital carrier is retained on the computer.

Working with two separate carriers – the hard disk where the artwork was created
and saved as a file, and the paper, canvas, etc. on which it is projected and which
becomes its actual physical appearance – raises some specific difficulties for
digital artists as well as art dealers. The most prominent is: how to protect the
numerical uniqueness of an artwork if the source is stored in single digits in the
computer and can be exactly and infinitely reproduced? Other typical problems
are: how to match the colors of the projection accurately with those on the
computer monitor, and how to sufficiently increase the length and width
dimensions of the work without distorting lines and forms and without the file
becoming unmanageable. A problem of an entirely different nature stems from the
relative ease to copy-and-paste in the digital working space, which occasionally
raises questions about copyright or about to what extent the artwork is a form of
self-expression.

The emergence of a market for digital art is currently (2013) still hampered by the
fact that the original is often indistinguishable from the (cheaper) copy. As a
result, along the current development path, the sale of the original painting is
gradually supplanted by the sale of prints, and the market for digital art moves in
the direction of the market for the printed book, where the original manuscript is
mainly a tool to maximize the sale of exact copies. Prints hand signed by the
artist, and certification (see below) might bring a change of direction. Whether
this will lead to a mature market for digital painting is hard to predict.

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Digital painting differs from other forms of digital art, particularly computer-
generated art, in that it does not involve the computer rendering from a model.
The artist uses painting techniques to create the digital painting directly on the
computer. All digital painting programs try to mimic the use of physical media
through various brushes and paint effects. Included in many programs are brushes
that are digitally styled to represent the traditional style like oils, acrylics, pastels,
charcoal, pen and even media such as airbrushing. There are also certain effects
unique to each type of digital paint which portray the realistic effects of, for
instance, watercolor on a digital "watercolor" painting. In most digital painting
programs, the users can create their own brush style using a combination of
texture and shape. This ability is very important in bridging the gap between
traditional and digital painting.

Digital painting thrives mostly in production art. It is most widely used in

conceptual design for film, television and video games. Digital painting software
such as Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, ArtRage, GIMP, Krita, MyBrushes
and openCanvas give artists a similar environment to a physical painter: a canvas,
painting tools, mixing palettes, and a multitude of color options. There are various
types of digital painting, including impressionism, realism, and watercolor. There
are both benefits and drawbacks of digital painting. While digital painting allows
the artist the ease of working in an organized, mess-free environment, some argue
there will always be more control for an artist holding a physical brush in their
hand. Some artists believe there is something missing from digital painting, such
as the character that is unique to every physically made object. Many artists post
blogs and comment on the various differences between digitally created work and
traditionally created artwork.

6.2 Import and Export Process

Import into Illustrator:

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You can import Photoshop, PDF, image, and vector files by choosing File→Place.
The Place dialog box opens and you can choose a file to import. Click Place to
import the file.

An Import dialog box may appear at this point, depending on the type of file
you‘re importing. This dialog box offers several options for choosing a way to
import the content into Illustrator. For example, you can sometimes choose
between flattening layers or retaining layers when you import a document
containing layers.

Encapsulated PostScript (EPS) is a commonly used file format for saving vector
drawings (although it can be used for other file types as well). Because this file
format is used in many programs, you may find other people giving you these files
to work with.

To import an EPS document, you also choose File→Place; after you import an
EPS document into Illustrator, the file is converted to Illustrator objects but isn‘t
editable. To edit the EPS object, choose File→Open to open the file, or double-
click the image name in the Links panel.

You can also import text files into Illustrator. Microsoft Word, TXT (text only),
RTF (Rich Text Format), and Unicode, among other text documents, are all
supported by Illustrator, and you can import them by choosing File→Place. When
you import the text file, you‘re prompted to choose the character set used for the
text.

You can not only use the Place command for importing files but also copy and
paste from other programs. You can select part of an image in Photoshop and
copy it to the Clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C (Windows) or Cmd+C (Mac) and then
pasting it into the Illustrator document.

Use the Place command whenever possible to avoid losing quality in the content
you‘re importing. Also, transparency isn‘t supported from one application to
another when you copy and paste, but it is when Place is used.

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When you have particular plug-ins installed, you can import additional file types,
such as CAD files, into Illustrator.

Export Illustrator files:

Illustrator supports exporting to many different file formats. You can export files
in a long list of image formats. Choose File→Export, and the Export dialog box
opens. Click the Save As Type (Windows) or Format (Mac) drop-down list to
view the exportable file formats.

After you choose a file type to export to, a second dialog box may appear,
allowing you to enter a bunch of settings for the exported file.

Try choosing the Flash SWF file format when you export a file. A second dialog
box opens that includes many settings, such as options to generate an HTML
page, save each layer as a separate SWF document, and preserve editability (when
possible). The options that are available when you export a document depend on
the type of file format to which you‘re exporting.

6.3 Color Processing

A (digital) color image is a digital image that includes color information for
each pixel.

For visually acceptable results, it is necessary (and almost sufficient) to provide

three samples (color channels) for each pixel, which are interpreted as coordinates
in some color space. The RGB color space is commonly used incomputer
displays, but other spaces such as YCbCr, HSV, and are often used in other
contexts. A color image has three values (or channels) per pixel and they measure
the intensity and chrominance of light. The actual information stored in the digital
image data is the brightness information in each spectral band.

Color Image Representation:

A color image is usually stored in memory as a raster map, a two-dimensional

array of small integer triplets; or (rarely) as three separate raster maps, one for
each channel.
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Eight bits per sample (24 bits per pixel) seem adequate for most uses, but
faint banding artifacts may still be visible in some smoothly varying images,
especially those subject to processing. Particularly demanding applications may
use 10 bits per sample or more.

On the other hand, some widely used image file formats and graphics cards may
use only 8 bits per pixel, i.e., only 256 different colors, or 2–3 bits per channel.
Converting continuous-tone images like photographs to such formats
requires dithering and yields rather grainy and fuzzy results.

Graphics cards that support 16 bits per pixel provide 65536 distinct colors, or 5–6
bits per channel. This resolution seems satisfactory for non-professional uses,
even without dithering.

In the visual arts, color theory is a body of practical guidance to color mixing and
the visual effects of a specific color combination. There are also definitions (or
categories) of colors based on the color wheel: primary color, secondary
color and tertiary color. Although color theory principles first appeared in the
writings of Leone Battista Alberti(c.1435) and the notebooks of Leonardo da
Vinci (c.1490), a tradition of "colory theory" began in the 18th century, initially
within a partisan controversy around Isaac Newton's theory of color (Opticks,
1704) and the nature of primary colors. From there it developed as an independent
artistic tradition with only superficial reference to colorimetry andvision science.

Color psychology is the study of hues as a determinant of humanbehavior. Color

influences perceptions that are not obvious, such as the taste of food. Colors can
also enhance the effectiveness ofplacebos. For example, red or orange pills are
generally used asstimulants. Another way in which colors have been used to
influence behavior was in 2000, when the company Glasgow installed blue street
lights in certain neighborhoods in order to reduce the crime rate. Color can indeed
influence a person; however, it is important to remember that these effects differ
between people. Factors such as gender, age, and culture can influence how an
individual perceives color. For example, males reported that red colored outfits

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made women seem more attractive, while women answered that the color of a
male's outfit did not affect his attractiveness.

Color psychology is also widely used in marketing and branding. Many marketers
see color as an important part of marketing because color can be used to influence
consumers' emotions and perceptions of goods and services. Companies also use
color when deciding on brand logos. These logos seem to attract more customers
when the color of the brand logo matches the personality of the goods or services,
such as the color pink being heavily used on Victoria's Secret branding. However,
colors are not only important for logos and products, but also for window displays
in stores. Research shows that warm colors tended to attract spontaneous
purchasers, despite cooler colors being more favorable.

A color model is an abstract mathematical model describing the way colors can be
represented as tuples of numbers, typically as three or four values or color
components. When this model is associated with a precise description of how the
components are to be interpreted (viewing conditions, etc.), the resulting set of
colors is calledcolor space. This section describes ways in which human color
vision can be modeled.

The RGB color model is an additive color model in which red, green,
andblue light are added together in various ways to reproduce a broad array
ofcolors. The name of the model comes from the initials of the three additive
primary colors, red, green, and blue.

The main purpose of the RGB color model is for the sensing, representation, and
display of images in electronic systems, such as televisions and computers, though
it has also been used in conventional photography. Before the electronic age, the
RGB color model already had a solid theory behind it, based in human perception
of colors.

RGB is a device-dependent color model: different devices detect or reproduce a

given RGB value differently, since the color elements (such asphosphors or dyes)
and their response to the individual R, G, and B levels vary from manufacturer to
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manufacturer, or even in the same device over time. Thus an RGB value does not
define the same color across devices without some kind of color management.

Typical RGB input devices are color TV and video cameras, image
scanners, video games, and digital cameras. Typical RGB output devices are TV
sets of various technologies (CRT, LCD, plasma, OLED, Quantum-Dots
etc.),computer and mobile phone displays, video projectors,
multicolor LED displays, and large screens such asJumboTron. Color printers, on
the other hand, are not RGB devices, but subtractive color devices
(typically CMYK color model).

This concepts common to all the different color spaces that use the RGB color
model, which are used in one implementation or another in color image-producing
technology.

Roper reproduction of colors, especially in professional environments, requires

color management of all the devices involved in the production process, many of
them using RGB. Color management results in several transparent conversions
between device-independent and device-dependent color spaces (RGB and others,
as CMYK for color printing) during a typical production cycle, in order to ensure
color consistency throughout the process. Along with the creative processing, such
interventions on digital images can damage the color accuracy and image detail,
especially where the gamut is reduced. Professional digital devices and software
tools allow for 48 bpp (bits per pixel) images to be manipulated (16 bits per
channel), to minimize any such damage.

ICC-compliant applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, use either the Lab color
space or the CIE 1931 color spaceas a Profile Connection
Space when translating between color spaces.

6.4 Psychology of Desktop Publishing

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What does the World Wide Fund for Nature‘s logo have in common with a jar of
Waitrose Honey? They both use a stylised image of an animal, and are examples
of simple yet effective design. They are also both neat practical applications of the
psychological theories of Gestalt.

Developed by German psychologists in the 1920s, Gestalt theories explain how

people tend to organise visual elements into groups, and how the whole is often
greater than its parts. Their application takes advantage of how the brain self-
organises information in a manner that‘s orderly, regular, symmetrical and simple.
Used in a logo, the Gestalt principles make it more interesting, more visually
arresting – and therefore the message more memorable.

Whether this only vaguely rings a distant bell of your design education, Gestalt
and other psychological hypotheses – such as colour theory or semiotics – are still
very much in evidence in today‘s creative industries.

Branding agency Turner Duckworth often plays with the core tenets of Gestalt,
having created the design that appears on jars of Waitrose‘s own-brand honey, for
example. It uses implied shape in three ways: to indicate Waitrose‘s ‗E‘, as well as
the shape of a bee and a honey dipper.

Its recent design for a limited edition Coca-Cola‘s Summer drinks can also uses
this tool, creating the shape of a Coke bottle out of the negative space between
two flip-flops – forging the association between summer and the soft drink.

The WWF logo (designed by Landor) uses the law of closure, its visual elements
suggesting a connection between each other, even though they don‘t completely
touch.

Semiotics, the understanding of signs and how they convey meaning, is evident in
most smartphone app logos, for example. Whether through icons (clear
representations of the object itself, such as the camera), indexes (signs that have a
connection with the object but are not real representations) or symbols that have

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no visual connection, the logos help users know their function through connecting
their meaning to existing associations.

Theory test:

So does the application of psychological theories make design more effective?

And does being a good shrink make you a better designer? Many creatives will
remember the core principles of Gestalt, balance, and the golden ratio and the rule
of thirds from design school, but should they be applied to make a better design?

Ed Woodcock, director of strategy at branding agency Aesop, believes that

designers might not always be aware of using psychological principles. ―It does
happen that someone takes psychological theory and applies it to creativity in
some way, but it‘s more likely that someone creative intuits what‘s a truthful way
of perceiving and sensing things. And that‘s then reflected in their work and gets
picked up by psychologists,‖ he explains.

For a recent campaign for beer brand Birra Moretti, Aesop designed a series of
press adverts that featured an archive image of a women looking directly at the
viewer. The image and composition were chosen instinctively by the designers,
says Ed, but they still use the psychological effect of the direct gaze that makes
the viewer more responsive.

However, today‘s use of psychology in design needs to go beyond those basic

theories learnt at college, believes Andy Budd, founding partner and managing
director at digital design consultancy Clearleft. Understanding of cognitive
behaviour, for instance, can hugely affect a design, and tools such as Stephen P
Anderson‘s Get Mental Notes card deck can help designers apply psychology
to the creative process.

―To be a good designer in today‘s society, you need to have an understanding of

psychology, human behaviour, and the little shortcuts, the little quirks, in the way
people operate,‖ he says. ―Then you can use them to make it easier for people to
engage with your products.‖

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Great design requires great psychology, agrees Simon Norris, managing director
at Nomensa, a design consultancy that combines psychological insight with
design. ―Psychology is the science of behaviour and the mind. When design and
behaviour match, the design will be superior,‖ he explains.

Books such as Richard H Thaler and Cass R Sunstein‘s Nudge have brought the
strand of behavioural economics to the mainstream in recent years, and its
principles are particularly relevant in creating digital user experiences for
example.

―It‘s about trying to remove barriers of friction and trying to nudge people in a
direction that‘s ultimately going to be best for them,‖ explains Andy. There are a
number of cognitive biases that are ―psychological shortcuts that humans make to
basically avoid thinking‖, he adds.

Social proof is one such bias. It purports that people are more likely to do
something if others are doing it too, and is used by Amazon to great effect. The
company‘s product pages are crammed full of items of social proof, such as
reviews, recommendations and top 10 lists.

Meanwhile, the latest Audi poster campaign, ‗Everything You Need, Nothing You
Don‘t‘, arguably uses cognitive dissonance to draw your attention. Making the
script marginally more difficult to read engages the brain more effectively, and
therefore allows you to process the message more easily.

Behavioural therapy:

Paul Davies, who was a psychologist before becoming a designer, runs

psychology-led design consultancy Behaviour, also believes that an understanding
of behaviour can make design more effective. ―Psychology has a huge impact,‖
he argues. ―Unlike artists, designers have to make something for effect; an artist
can start a project without a brief, but a designer has to have a purpose and they
have to do that for a particular audience.‖

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Paul believes this is becoming particularly important as design gets increasingly
used to effect positive behavioural changes. For a recent project for breast cancer
charity CoppaFeel, Behaviour was asked to design a tool for young women to get
into the habit of regularly checking for early signs of breast cancer.

It worked with psychologists at University College London to build behavioural

insight into the design of an app to help its users stay engaged, and ultimately
build long-term habits. For example, when people first start the app they are
encouraged to read out a pledge – ―research shows that consciously
acknowledging a commitment leads to a stronger chance of long-term
engagement,‖ Paul explains.

Users also see how many other people have ‗copped a feel‘. This feature exploits
the fact that people are more likely to participate in an action when they see others
doing the same. These and many other insights are built into the app to encourage
young women to form a habit.

―It‘s this insight into the way we humans work that design needs to connect with
more,‖ Paul adds. ―A great-looking design isn‘t always a great working design
and often design without psychology is a source of dangerously misapplied
effort.‖

Another area of psychology that‘s of growing relevance is neuroaesthetics. This

deals with the effect of art and imagery on a neurological level, and how subtle
differences in colour, contrast or grading, for example, can affect the emotional
reaction to – or the quality of – a piece of design.

James Digby-Jones, partner at Saddington Baynes, is a keen student of image

theory and the emotional effects of varying aesthetics. He has been manipulating,
tweaking and improving images for quite some years. ―Essentially, we‘re about
the use of colour and the retouch styling to affect a viewer‘s response to an
image,‖ explains James.

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―It‘s very much about mood and how you feel about an image. We create
additional engagement with imagery – through the choice of colours and the
tonality in addition to the colours themselves, the relationship of how you separate
or identify different elements within the image – how you help lead the way
the viewer is going to perceive the piece, and so on.‖

Emotional engagement is the name of the game, he adds, and eliciting or

heightening emotional reactions through various adjustments to an image is the
company‘s bread and butter.

The aim of recent Guinness ad in Ireland, It‘s Alive Inside, which featured an Irish
hurling ball as a man‘s eye, was to shock and unsettle the viewer. The impact of
the original image of an eye staring out was further enhanced to highlight the
―unflinching biological reality of the eyeball‖. Subtle touches, such as giving the
hurling ball a wet translucency and adding a tinge of pink to the inner eyelid,
helped to make the viewer feel challenged and unnerved. In addition, the balance
of tone and palette of the colour grading needed to reflect the brand‘s previous
campaigns.

Saddington Baynes‘ expertise goes beyond the stipulations of colour theory, and
James is not advocating the adherence to a set formula of psychological theories –
by definition that would be anti-creativity. But an awareness of psychology can
inform good design in very tangible ways.

Time to start swotting up on those psychological theories. In fact, Paul wants

psychology research to become more widely available to the creative industries.
Citing a student who trotted out the hackneyed description of a designer as ―an
artist who can‘t draw‖, Paul counters: ―Designers are actually psychologists who
can draw.‖

6.5 Let us sum up

6.6 Unit End Exercises
6.7 Points for Discussion

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6.8 Answers to Check your Progress
6.9 Suggested Readings

1. Swanson, G. (1994). Graphic Design Education as a Liberal Art: Design

and Knowledge in the University and the ―Real World.‖ Design Issues.
10(1). 53-63.

2. https://www.okcareertech.org/educators/cimc/free-samples/tlas/pdf-
files/multimediatla.pdf

3. http://web.utk.edu/~impact/pdf/DesktopPublishing.pdf

4. http://www.davidpilling.info/cd/DavidPilling/Documentation/Pdf/tutorial.
pdf

5. http://www.gvboces.org/files/251022/Do's%20&%20Don'ts%20of%20Des
ktop%20Publishing.pdf

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 UNIT 4
LESSON 7

Basics of Photo Editing and Image Manipulation

INTRODUCTION

Image editing encompasses the processes of altering images, whether they

are digital photographs, traditional photochemical photographs, or illustrations.
Traditional analog image editing is known as photo retouching, using tools such
as an airbrush to modify photographs, or editing illustrations with any
traditional art medium. Graphic software programs, which can be broadly grouped
into vector graphics editors, raster graphics editors, and 3D modelers, are the
primary tools with which a user may manipulate, enhance, and transform images.
Many image editing programs are also used to render or create computer art from
scratch.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 Understand the basics of Photo Editing Tools.

 Working with Images and Manipulation

UNIT STRUCTURE

8.1 Basics of Photo Editing Tools

8.2 Image Editor Features
8.3 Image Manipulation
8.4 Types of Digital Photo Manipulation
8.5 Let Us Sum Up
8.6 Unit end Exercises
8.7 Points for Discussion
8.8 Answers to check your progress
8.9 Suggested readings.

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7.1 Basics of Photo Editing Tools
Raster images are stored in a computer in the form of a grid of picture
elements, or pixels. These pixels contain the image's color and brightness
information. Image editors can change the pixels to enhance the image in many
ways. The pixels can be changed as a group, or individually, by the
sophisticated algorithms within the image editors. The domain of this article
primarily refers to bitmap graphics editors, which are often used to alter
photographs and other raster graphics. However, vector graphics software, such
as Adobe Illustrator, CorelDRAW, Xara Designer Pro or Inkscape, are used to
create and modify vector images, which are stored as descriptions oflines, Bézier
curves, and text instead of pixels. It is easier to rasterize a vector image than
to vectorize a raster image; how to go about vectorizing a raster image is the focus
of much research in the field of computer vision. Vector images can be modified
more easily, because they contain descriptions of the shapes for easy
rearrangement. They are also scalable, being rasterizable at any resolution.

Camera or computer image editing programs often offer basic

automatic image enhancement features that correct color hue and brightness
imbalances as well as other image editing features, such as red
eye removal, sharpnessadjustments, zoom features and automatic cropping. These
are called automatic because generally they happen without user interaction or are
offered with one click of a button or mouse button or by selecting an option from
a menu. Additionally, some automatic editing features offer a combination of
editing actions with little or no user interaction.

Many image file formats use data compression to reduce file size and save
storage space. Digital compression of images may take place in the camera, or can
be done in the computer with the image editor. When images are stored
in JPEG format, compression has already taken place. Both cameras and computer
programs allow the user to set the level of compression.

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 Some compression algorithms, such as those used in PNG file format,
are lossless, which means no information is lost when the file is saved. By
contrast, the JPEG file format uses a lossy compression algorithm by which the
greater the compression, the more information is lost, ultimately reducing image
quality or detail that can not be restored. JPEG uses knowledge of the way the
human brain and eyes perceive color to make this loss of detail less noticeable.

7.2 Image Editor Features

Listed below are some of the most used capabilities of the better graphic
manipulation programs. The list is by no means all inclusive. There are a myriad
of choices associated with the application of most of these features.

 Selection

 Layers

 Image Size Alteration

 Cropping an Image

 Histrogram

 Noise Reduction

 Removal of Unwanted Elements

 Selective color change

 Image Orientation

 Perspective Control and Distortion

 Lens Correction

 Enhancing Images

 Sharpening and Softening Images

 Selecting and Merging of Images

 Slicing of Images
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  Special Effects

 Stamp Clone Tool

 Change Color Depth

 Contrast change and brightening

 Gamma Correction

 Color Adjustments

 Printing

 Warping

7.3 Image Manipulation

Photo manipulation involves transforming or altering a photograph using

various methods and techniques to achieve desired results. Some photo
manipulations are considered skillful artwork while others are frowned upon as
unethical practices, especially when used to deceive the public, such as that used
for political propagandizing, or to make a product or person look better.

Depending on the application and intent, some photo manipulations are

considered an art form because it involves the creation of unique images and in
some instances, signature expressions of art by photographic artists. For
example, Adams employed some of the more common manipulations
using darkroom exposure techniques, such as burning (darkening) and dodging
(lightening) a photograph. Other examples of photo manipulation include
retouching photographs using ink or paint, airbrushing, double exposure, piecing
photos or negatives together in the darkroom, scratching instant films, or through
the use of software-based manipulation tools applied to digital images. There are a
number of software applications available for digital image manipulation, ranging
from professional applications to very basic imaging software for casual users.

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7.4 Types of Digital Photo Manipulation

In digital editing, photographs are usually taken with a digital camera and
input directly into a computer. Transparencies, negatives or printed photographs
may also be digitized using a scanner, or images may be obtained from stock
photography databases. With the advent of computers, graphics tablets, and digital
cameras, the term image editing encompasses everything that can be done to a
photo, whether in a darkroom or on a computer. Photo manipulation is often much
more explicit than subtle alterations to color balance or contrast and may involve
overlaying a head onto a different body or changing a sign's text, for examples.
Image editing software can be used to apply effects and warp an image until the
desired result is achieved. The resulting image may have little or no resemblance
to the photo (or photos in the case of compositing) from which it originated.
Today, photo manipulation is widely accepted as an art form.

There are several subtypes of digital image-retouching:

Technical retouching:

Manipulation for photo restoration or enhancement (adjusting colors /

contrast / white balance (i.e. gradational retouching), sharpness, noise, removing
elements or visible flaws on skin or materials)

Creative retouching:

Used as an art form or for commercial use to create more sleek and
interesting images for advertisements. Creative retouching could be manipulation
for fashion, beauty or advertising photography such as pack-shots (which could
also be considered inherently technical retouching in regards to package
dimensions and wrap-around factors). One of the most prominent disciplines in
creative retouching is image compositing whereby the digital artist uses multiple
photos to create a single image. Today, 3D computer graphics are used more and
more to add extra elements or even locations and backgrounds. This kind of image

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composition is widely used when conventional photography would be technically
too difficult or impossible to shoot on location or in studio.

Photoshopped:

As a result of the popularity of Adobe Photoshop as image editing

software, use of the neologism "photoshopped" grew ubiquitously. The term
commonly refers to any and all digital editing of photographs regardless of what
software is used. Trademark owners Adobe Systems Incorporated, while flattered
over the software's popularity, objected to what they referred to as misuse of their
trademarked software, and considered it an infringement on their trademark to use
terms such as "photoshopped" or "photoshopping" as a noun or verb, in possessive
form or as a slang term. However, Adobe's attempts to prevent "genericization" or
"genericide" of the company's trademark was to no avail. The terms "photoshop",
"photoshopped" and "photoshopping" are ubiquitous and widely used colloquially
and academically when referencing image editing software as it relates to digital
manipulation and alteration of photographs.

In popular culture, the term photoshopping is sometimes associated

with montages in the form of visual jokes, such as those published on Fark and
in MAD Magazine. Images may be propagated memetically via e-mail as humor
or passed as actual news in a form of hoax. An example of the latter category is
"Helicopter Shark," which was widely circulated as a so-called "National
Geographic Photo of the Year" and was later revealed to be a hoax.

7.5 Let Us Sum Up

7.6 Unit end Exercises
7.7 Points for Discussion
7.8 Answers to check your progress
7.9 Suggested readings.
1. https://labs.at.ufl.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/session8.pdf

2. https://www.ischool.utexas.edu/technology/tutorials/graphics/digital/d
ig_img_handout.pdf
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3. http://www.wilmotli.com/pubs/grabler09tutorials.pdf

4. https://meded.ucsd.edu/assets/51/File/PhotoshopWorkshopII.pdf

5. http://www.bristol.ac.uk/is/media/training/documentation/photoshop-
2/photoshop-2t.pdf

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 UNIT 4
LESSON 8

Layers and formats in Photo Editing Tools

INTRODUCTION

Layers are simultaneous, over–lapping components of an image or

sequence. They are at work in countless media software programs, from
Photoshop and Illustrator to audio, video, and animation tools, where multiple
layers of image and sound (tracks) unfold in time. Maps use overlapping layers to
associate and separate different levels of data, allowing each level to contribute to
the whole while maintaining its own identity. Printing techniques use multiple
layers of ink to build a single image. Although the layered archeology of the
printed page or digital file tends to disappear in the final piece, experimental work
often uncovers visual possibilities by exposing layers.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

This lesson will help you to

 About Layers, Color Correction and Retouching

 Know about Filter Effects and File Formats

UNIT STRUCTURE

8.1 Layers in Photo Editing Tools

8.2 Color Correction in Photo Editing Tools
8.3 Color Balance in Photo Editing Tools
8.4 Color Leve in Photo Editing Tools
8.5 Curves in Photo Editing Tools
8.6 Auto Tone in Photo Editing Tools
8.7 Retouching in Photo Editing Tools
8.8 File Formats
8.9 Let Us Sum Up

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 8.10 Unit end Exercises
8.11 Points for Discussion
8.12 Answers to check your progress
8.13 Suggested readings.

8.1 Layers in Photo Editing Tools

Layers are used in digital image editing to separate different elements of
an image. A layer can be compared to a transparency on which imaging effects or
images are applied and placed over or under an image. Today they are an integral
feature of image editors.

Layers were first commercially available in Fauve Matisse

(later Macromedia xRes), and then available in Adobe Photoshop 3.0, in 1994, but
today a wide range of other programs, such as Photo-Paint, Paint Shop
Pro, GIMP,Paint.NET, StylePix, and even batch processing tools also include this
feature. In vector images editors which support animation, layers are used to
further enable manipulation along a common timeline for the animation;
in SVGimages, the equivalent to layers are "groups".

There are different kinds of layers, and not all of them exist in all
programs. They represent a part of a picture, either as pixels or as modification
instructions. They are stacked on top of each other, and depending on the order,
determine the appearance of the final picture.

In graphics software, a layer is the term used to describe the different

levels at which you can place an object or image file. In the program you can
stack, merge or define layers when creating a digital image. Layers can be
partially obscured allowing portions of images within a layer to be hidden or
shown in a translucent manner within another image, or you can use layers to
combine two or more images into a single digital image. For the purpose of
editing, working with layers allows you to go back and make changes within a
layer as you work.

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 The standard kind of layer is called simply "Layer" in most programs. It
contains just a picture which can be superimposed on another one. The picture can
cover the same area as the resulting picture, just a part of it, or, in some cases, a
bigger part than the final picture.

A Layer can have a certain transparency/opacity and a number of other

properties. In a high end program like Adobe Photoshop, a basic layer may have
more than a hundred different possible settings. Even though some of them
overlap and give the same result, they give a skilled user a lot of flexibility. A free
program like the GIMP may not have as many settings, but well used they can
often provide a satisfactory result.

Two Layers can blend using one of several modes which result in different
light and color combinations.

A Layer Mask is linked to a layer and hides part of the layer from the
picture. What is painted black on the layer mask will not be visible in the final
picture. What is grey will be more or less transparent depending on the shade of
grey. As the layer mask can be both edited and moved around independently of
both the background layer and the layer it applies to, it gives the user the ability to
test a lot of different combinations of overlay.

An adjustment layer typically applies a common effect like brightness or

saturation to other layers. However, as the effect is stored in a separate layer, it is
easy to try it out and switch between different alternatives, without changing the
original layer. In addition, an adjustment layer can easily be edited, just like a
layer mask, so an effect can be applied to just part of the image.

8.2 Color Correction in Photo Editing Tools

Color grading is the process of altering and enhancing the color of

a motion picture, video image, or still image either electronically, photo-
chemically or digitally. The photo-chemical process is also referred to as color
timing and is typically performed at a photographic laboratory. Modern color

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correction, whether for theatrical film, video distribution, or print is generally
done digitally in a color suite.

Color correction is a lot easier than you think. You just need to know
which colors are complimentary (meaning on the opposite end of the color wheel)
and you can use those to cancel out too much of another color. (If you need a
refresher on color, check out our color guide.) You also need to be able to spot
where colors are the most prominent. This means being able to tell, for example,
when red is dominating the light areas of the photo and blue is dominating the
dark areas. If you simple applied a blue filter to the entire photo, you'd end up
with more neutral highlights—which you want—but a photo that looks too cool
because the shadows are overly saturated with blue color. To recap, you need to
pay attention to two major things when color correcting: which colors are
dominating the photograph and which colors aren't, and also where, tonally, those
dominating colors exist.

This is something you can generally do just by eying the photo, but the
proper method is to consult the histogram. You can bring this up by going into the
Window menu and choosing Histogram. The left side represents the shadows, the
right side the highlights, leaving the middle for the midtones. If a particular color
is dominating the photo in any area, you'll see it dominating that space on the
histogram. This can be a handy guide for spotting necessary corrections.

Now that you've got a basic idea of what we're going to be targeting, let's
take a look at some of the best color balancing tools Photoshop has to offer. You
can find all the adjustments we'll be discussing in the following places:

You can find standard adjustments that apply to a single layer by going to
the Image menu, choosing Adjustments, then choosing the adjustment you want.

If you want to create an adjustment layer that can apply to multiple layers
and be adjusted after the first application you can create an adjustment layer. You
can either do this by going into the Layers menu, choosing Adjustment Layer, and

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then selecting the adjustment you want, or just selecting the adjustment you want
from the Adjustments palette.

8.3 Color Balance:

Color Balance is not a very flexible tool, but sometimes you just need
minor adjustments to color and you can use Color Balance to apply them quickly.
If the brightest parts of your photo are just a little bit too red—something that's
common with photos taken in low light—you can just select the Highlights radio
button and then move the sliders towards cyan and blue a bit until you start to see
the colors look a bit more balanced and neutral. You can also use Color Balance to
create some interesting color effects by emphasizing different colors in the
shadows, midtones, and highlights. Play around with it and get a feel for what it
can do. It's not a tool you want to use most of the time, since Curves will generally
help you do everything better and with more flexibility, but for quick changes
Color Balance can definitely be useful.

8.4 Color Level:

Levels is like Curves (which we'll discuss next) with training wheels. You
have three main sliders. On the left, you have the shadows slider. Moving it to the
right will increase the intensity of the shadows. On the right, you have the
highlights slider. Moving it to the left will increase the intensity of the highlights
of your photo. In the middle, you have the midtones slider. Moving it to the left
will brighten up your photo and moving it to the right will make it darker. These
sliders mainly affect contrast. The sliders under Output Levels affect brightness.
Moving the black slider towards the white one will brighten things up. Moving the
white slider toward the black one will darken them. By default, Levels applies any
of these changes to the entire photo, but you can select a specific color channel
and alter it all by itself. There's a little drop-down menu at the top of the Levels
panel that lets you select from all channels—I'm going to assume you're in the
RGB colorspace and it says RGB—or each individual channel (red, green, and
blue). If you want to brighten or darken just the reds, select the red channel and

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make your adjustments. To see a full demonstration of how Levels works, watch
the video.

8.5 Curves in Photo Editing Tools

Curves is definitely the best color correction tool you've got in Photoshop,
but you might find it a little intimidating and shy away from it since Levels seems
to work well enough. Trust me—curves is much better, so take the time to get to
know it and learn how it works so you're using it to do most of your adjustments.
It's powerful, versatile, and very easy to control once you get the hang of it. That
said, it works a lot like levels only you set your own points. You can adjust the
entire image or just specific channels, just like you can in levels. To make a point
on the curve, you just click anywhere on the line and drag in a particular direction.
If you pull towards the top left corner, you'll brighten things up. If you pull down
towards the bottom right corner, you'll darken things. The middle of the line in
curves represents the midtones. The bottom of the line, touching the bottom left
corner, represents the shadows. That would leave the top, which represents the
highlights.

Here's an example of creating a simple curve: make a point at the midpoint

of the line and then two more points that are each about one grid space away from
the midpoint. Pull the bottom-most point down into the shadows a bit and the top-
most point up into the highlights. This will create basic contrast and is the
simplest adjustment you can make in curves. If you're having trouble
understanding how this works, you can see an example in your Photoshop presets.
At the top of the Curves window, you'll see a preset menu. Choose "Strong
Contrast" and you'll get a curve that's similar to the one we just discussed. You
should also check out the video at the top of this post to see a full demonstration
of Curves.

8.6 Auto Tone in Photo Editing Tools

Sometimes you can just let Photoshop do a lot of the work for you. While
you don't want to rely on Photoshop's Auto Tone option, you can just chose it
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from the Image menu to let Photoshop make an educated guess about what your
photo needs in terms tone and color adjustments. Sometimes you can save
yourself a little time by just using Auto Tone, but definitely don't rely on it.
Sometimes it just gets it right and it takes about two seconds to try it out and see if
it works. If it doesn't work, undo it, and do the corrections yourself. If it does
work, you just saved yourself some time.

8.7 Retouching in Photo Editing Tools

The retouching tools in Adobe Photoshop are: Clone Stamp, Pattern

Stamp, Healing Brush, Patch and Color Replacement.

These tools repair damaged images, apply repeated patterns, or replace

colors in an image.

The following illustration shows the arrangement of these tools in the

toolbar.

If two or more tools occupy the same cell (the icon for the tool last used is
always shown), in order to choose another tool, right-click the mouse on the arrow
next to the icon and and choose another tool from the menu that appears. This
menu will also appear if you click on the icon and press it for some time.

The Clone Stamp tool and Healing Brush clone (copy) pixels from one
part of an image to another, to another layer or even to another image. The
difference between the Healing Brush and the Clone Stamp tool is, the Healing
Brush in Photoshop takes into account the texture, illumination and shadows of
the processed image. As a result, the fragment processed by the Healing
Brush blends more easily into the rest of the image.

To clone an area with the Clone Stamp or Healing Brush, follow these
steps:

Step 1. Choose the tool from the Toolbar.

Step 2. Set the parameters for the tool in the Options panel: size, blending
mode, the amount of opacity and others.
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 Step 3. Check Use All Layers, if you need to work with several layers at
once.

Step 4. Check Aligned to create one clone selected from the area around a
starting point. The mouse button can be released and new fragments selected.
Also, the mode and size of the tool can be changed. If Align is unchecked, then
each application of the tool will create a clone from the same starting point.

Step 5. Set a starting point. Do this by holding ALT, and then left-clicking
on the point from which the clone will be taken.

Step 6. Move the cursor to the location where you want to copy the
fragment.

Step 7. Press the left mouse button and the clone will be applied. If
the Healing Brush is used, then the cloned fragments, texture, luminance, and
shadows, will be processed in relation to the pixels of the background image.

The Patch tool repairs an area with pixels copied from another area or
image. Like the Healing Brush, the Patch takes into account the texture,
luminance, and shadows of the background image.

This tool can be used in one of two ways:

Define the place where the clone will be applied, then drag the tool to the
source point.

Follow these steps:

Step 1. Choose the Patch tool from the Toolbar.

Step 2. Choose the shape and size of the tool in the Options panel, and
select Source in Patch's options.

Step 3. Draw a line with the Patch tool around the part of the image that
needs to be restored.

Step 4. Drag the selected area to a new spot, from which the clone will be
created.
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 Define the source, then drag the tool to the damaged area.

Follow these steps:

Step 1. Choose the Patch tool from the Toolbar.

Step 2. Choose the tool's size and shape in the Options panel, and in
Patch's options select Destination.

Step 3. Draw a line with the Patch tool around the part of the image that
will be cloned.

Step 4. Drag this area over the part of the image that needs repair.

The Pattern Stamp tool works by drawing with a repeating pattern. This
tool can be used to created a frame or design for wallpaper or for retouching the
texture of part of an image. A pattern is selected from the Pattern Palette in the
Options Panel.

To use this tool, follow these steps:

Step 1. Choose the tool from the Toolbar.

Step 2. Set a pattern, by choosing it from the Pattern Palette in the Options
Panel.

Step 3. Choose the size and shape, blending mode, amount of pattern
opacity and other parameters for the tool in the Options Panel.

Step 4. Press the left mouse button and drag the tool into the image.

A repeating pattern can also be used with the Healing

Brush and Patch tool. To do this with theHealing Brush, in the tool's options select
Pattern for the Source and choose a pattern from the Pattern Palette. To do this
with the Patch tool - begin by using the tool to draw a line around an area (or use a
previously selected area), then choose a pattern from the Pattern Palette and press
the Use Pattern button.

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 The Color Replacement tool replaces one color in an image with another.
This tool can be used, for example, to repair the "red eye" effect.

Follow these steps to use the tool:

Step 1. Choose the tool from the Toolbar.

Step 2. Set the color which will be used to replace the intended color in the
image.

Step 3. Set the parameters for the tool in the Options Panel, such as: size
and shape of the brush, the color's blend mode, color choice mode, opacity, etc.

Step 4. Click on the color in the image to be replaced.

8.8 File Formats

The most common image file formats, the most important for cameras,
printing, scanning, and internet use, are JPG, TIF, PNG, and GIF.

JPG is the most used image file format. Digital cameras and web pages
normally use JPG files - because JPG heroically compresses the data to be very
much smaller in the file. However JPG uses lossy compression to accomplish this
feat, which is a strong downside. A smaller file, yes, there is nothing like JPG for
small, but this is at the cost of image quality. This degree is selectable (with an
option setting named JPG Quality), to be lower quality smaller files, or to be
higher quality larger files. In general today, JPG is rather unique in this regard,
using lossy compression allowing very small files of lower quality, whereas
almost any other file type uses lossless compression (and is larger). The meaning
of Lossy is discussed Below.

Frankly, JPG is used when small file size is more important than
maximum image quality (web pages, email, memory cards, etc). But JPG is good
enough in many cases, if we don't overdo the compression. Perhaps good enough
for some uses even if we do overdo it (web pages, etc). But if you are concerned
with maximum quality for archiving your important images, then you do need to
know two things: 1) JPG should always choose higher Quality and a larger file,
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and 2) do NOT keep editing and saving your JPG images repeatedly, because
more quality is lost every time you save it as JPG (in the form of added JPG
artifacts... pixels become colors they ought not to be - lossy). More at the JPG link
at page bottom.

TIF is lossless (including LZW compression option), which is considered

the highest quality format for commercial work. The TIF format is not necessarily
any "higher quality" per se (the same RGB image pixels, they are what they are),
and most formats other than JPG are lossless too. TIF simply has no JPG artifacts,
no additional losses or JPG artifacts to degrade and detract from the original. And
TIF is the most versatile, except that web pages don't show TIF files. For other
purposes however, TIF does most of anything you might want, from 1-bit to 48-
bit color, RGB, CMYK, LAB, or Indexed color. Most any of the "special" file
types (for example, camera RAW files, fax files, or multipage documents) are
based on TIF format, but with unique proprietary data tags - making these
incompatible unless expected by their special software.

GIF was designed by CompuServe in the early days of computer 8-bit

video, before JPG, for video display at dial up modem speeds. GIF discards all
Exif data, and while GIF is fine for video screen purposes, GIF does Not retain
printing resolution values. GIF always uses lossless LZW compression, but it is
always an indexed color file (1 to 8-bits per pixel). GIF can have a palette of 24-
bit colors, but only 256 of them maximum (which colors depend on your image
colors). GIF is rather limited colors for color photos, but is generally great for
graphics. Repeating, don't use indexed color for color photos today, the color is
too limited. GIF offers transparency and animation. PNG and TIF files can also
optionally handle the same indexed color mode that GIF uses, but they are more
versatile with other choices too (can be RGB or 16 bits, etc). But GIF is still very
good for web graphics (i.e., with a limited number of colors). For graphics of only
a few colors, GIF can be much smaller than JPG, with more clear pure colors than
JPG). Indexed Color is described at Color Palettes (second page of GIF link
below).
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 PNG can replace GIF today (web browsers show both), and PNG also
offers many options of TIF too (indexed or RGB, 1 to 48-bits, etc). PNG was
invented more recently than the others, designed to bypass possible LZW
compression patent issues with GIF, and since it was more modern, it offers other
options too (RGB color modes, 16 bits, etc). One additional feature of PNG is
transparency for 24 bit RGB images. Normally PNG files are a little smaller than
LZW compression in TIF or GIF (all of these use lossless compression, of
different types), but PNG is slower to read or write. That patent situation has gone
away now, but PNG remains excellent lossless compression. Less used than TIF
or JPG, but PNG is another good choice for lossless quality work.

Camera RAW files are very important of course, but RAW files must be
processed to regular formats (JPG, TIF, etc) to be viewable and usable in any way.
However, the point is that RAW offers substantial benefit in doing that, one of
which is we can choose our settings AFTER we can see the image, and what it
needs, and what helps it. The debate goes on, some cannot imagine NOT taking
advantage of the greater opportunities of RAW. Others think any extra step is too
much trouble, and are satisfied with JPG - my own biased opinion is they just
don't know yet. :) More detailBelow.

We could argue that there really is no concept of RAW files from the
scanner. Vuescan does offer an output called RAW, which is 16 bits, includes the
fourth Infrared noise correction channel data if any, and defers gamma correction.
Vuescan itself is the only post-processor for these. But scanner color images are
already RGB color, instead of Bayer pattern data like from cameras. Camera
RAW images are not RGB (the meaning of RAW), and must be converted to RGB
for any use.

Major considerations to choose the necessary file type include:

Compression quality - Lossy for smallest files (JPG), or Lossless for best
quality images (TIF, PNG).

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 Full RGB color for photos (TIF, PNG, JPG), or Indexed Color for
graphics (PNG, GIF, TIF).

16-bit color (48-bit RGB data) is sometimes desired (TIF and PNG).

Transparency or Animation is used in graphics (GIF and PNG).

Documents - line art, multi-page, text, fax, etc - this will be TIF.

CMYK color is certainly important for commercial prepress (TIF).

See chart near bottom of page. We select the file type that supports the
options we need.

The only reason for using lossy compression is for smaller file size,
usually due to internet transmission speed or storage space. Web pages require
JPG or GIF or PNG image types, because sone browsers do not show TIF files.
On the web, JPG is the clear choice for photo images (smallest file, with image
quality being less important than file size), and GIF is common for graphic
images, but indexed color is not normally used for color photos (PNG can do
either on the web).

Other than the web, TIF file format is the undisputed leader when best
quality is desired, largely because TIF is so important in commercial printing
environments. High Quality JPG can be pretty good too, but don't ruin them by
making the files too small. If the goal is high quality, you don't want small. Only
consider making JPG large instead, and plan your work so you can only save them
as JPG only one or two times. Adobe RGB color space may be OK for your home
printer and profiles, but if you send your pictures out to be printed, the mass
market printing labs normally only accept JPG files, and only process sRGB color
space.

8.9 Let Us Sum Up

8.10 Unit end Exercises
8.11 Points for Discussion
8.12 Answers to check your progress
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8.13 Suggested readings.

1. http://usuaris.tinet.cat/clazaro/docs/flexphoto_7.pdf

2. http://tolweb.org/tree/ToLdocuments/photoshop7_user.pdf

3. http://help.corel.com/paintshop-pro/v18/main/en/user-
guide/corelpaintshoppro.pdf

4. http://www.serif.com/media/community/pdfs/photoplusx6-us.pdf

5. http://studerende.au.dk/fileadmin/www.asb.dk/servicekatalog/IT/Adob
e/PS_CS5_EN.pdf

6. http://www.mtholyoke.edu/lits/assets/lits/PS_CS4.pdf

7. http://groups.csail.mit.edu/graphics/ibedit//ibedit_s2001_cameraReady
.pdf

8. http://www.gimp2tutorials.info/layers.pdf

9. Fournier, A. Gunawan, and C. Romanzin. Common illumination

between real and computer generated scenes. Graphics Interface,
1993.

10. C. Loscos, G. Drettakis, and L. Robert. Interactive virtual

relighting of real scenes. IEEE Trans. on Visualization and
Computer Graphics, 6(3), 2000.

11. J. Shade, S. Gortler, L. He, and R. Szeliski. Layered depth images.

In Proc of SIGGRAPH, 1998.

12. L. McMillan and G. Bishop. Plenoptic modeling: An image-based

rendering system. In Proc. of SIGGRAPH, 1995.

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 UNIT 5
LESSON 9

Corporate Designs

INTRODUCTION

Graphic designers work in design studios and advertising agencies,

printing and packaging companies, publishing companies and in marketing
departments at larger organizations. In 2010, around 279,200 people worked in
graphic design jobs, with job opportunities expected to grow by about 13 percent
between 2010 and 2020, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Graphic designers create designs for marketing material, such as company

logos, brochures, leaflets, posters, displays or exhibition graphics. They work in
design studios, where they create designs for clients, or in the marketing
departments of companies that need a lot of graphic design. Graphic designers
create initial designs and manage projects to completion, working with specialists,
such as photographers, illustrators, copywriters and printers. Depending on their
experience, they may take complete responsibility for a project or work under the
supervision of a senior designer or creative director.

Designers require knowledge of digital techniques in their day-to-day

work to create digital versions of traditional print-based marketing materials.
However, the importance of the Internet has created opportunities for graphic
designers with strong digital skills to specialize in this aspect of design. Digital
designers create designs for websites, working with web developers who carry out
the detailed coding for the site. They also work in advertising agencies and video
production companies, creating animations for advertisements or videos.

Magazine, newspaper and book publishing companies offer job

opportunities for graphic designers with editorial design skills. Designers are
responsible for creating layouts for newspapers and magazines, collaborating with
writers, editors and photographers to create a balance between text and graphics.

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In book publishing companies, designers create concepts for book covers and
layouts for promotional material.

Packaging companies require designers with good three-dimensional

design skills. Packaging must protect products in transit and create an impact on
retailers‘ shelves, so designers must have a good knowledge of materials, in
addition to creative design skills. They must also take account of the
environmental impact of packaging and create designs suitable for recycling.

Advertising agencies employ graphic designers to work as creative

directors, collaborating with other members of the agency team to create concepts
for advertising campaigns. Creative directors receive a brief on campaign
requirements from an account director or account manager and work with a
copywriter to develop campaign proposals. To take the concepts to completion,
they work with photographers, video production companies and talent agencies.

UNIT OBJECTIVES

From this section you can learn

 Different types of designs available in the industry?

 How the industries are using multimedia designs?

UNIT STRUCTURE

10.1 Logo Design

10.2 Stationery Design

10.3 Commercial Design

10.4 Portfolio Design

10.5 Brochure Design

10.6 Let Us Sum Up

10.7 Unit End Exercises

10.8 Points for Discussion

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 10.9 Answers to check your progress

10.10 Suggested Readings

9.1 Logo Design

A logo is a graphic mark, emblem, or symbol commonly used by

commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote
instant public recognition. Logos are either purely graphic (symbols/icons) or are
composed of the name of the organization (a logotype or wordmark).

In the days of hot metal typesetting, a logotype was one word cast as a
single piece of type, e.g. "The" in ATF Garamond (as opposed to a ligature, which
is two or more letters joined, but not forming a word). By extension, the term was
also used for a uniquely set and arranged typeface or colophon. At the level
of mass communication and in common usage a company's logo is today often
synonymous with its trademark or brand.

Logo design is an important area of graphic design, and one of the most
difficult to perfect. The logo (ideogram) is the image embodying an organization.
Because logos are meant to represent companies' brands or corporate identities
and foster their immediate customer recognition, it is counterproductive to
frequently redesign logos.

The logo design profession has substantially increased in numbers over the
years since the rise of the Modernist movement in the United States in the
1950s. Three designers are widely considered the pioneers of that movement and
of logo and corporate identity design: The first is Chermayeff & Geismar, which
is the firm responsible for a large number of iconic logos, such as Chase Bank
(1964), Mobil Oil (1965), PBS (1984), NBC(1986), National Geographic (2003)
and others. Due to the simplicity and boldness of their designs, many of their
earlier logos are still in use today. The firm recently designed logos for
the Library of Congress and the fashion brandArmani Exchange. Another pioneer

123
of corporate identity design is Paul Rand, who was one of the originators of the
Swiss Style of graphic design. He designed many posters and corporate identities,
including the famous logos for IBM, UPS, and ABC. The third pioneer of
corporate identity design is Saul Bass.[18] Bass was responsible for several
recognizable logos in North America, including both the Bell Telephone logo
(1969) and successor AT&T Corporationglobe (1983). Other well-known designs
were Continental Airlines (1968), Dixie (1969), and United Way (1972). Later, he
would produce logos for a number of Japanese companies as well. Rand and Bass
both died in 1996. An important development in the documentation of logo design
is the study of French trademarks by historian Edith Amiot and philosopher Jean
Louis Azizollah

Color is a key element in logo design and plays an important role in brand
differentiation. The importance of color in this context is due to the mechanics of
human visual perception wherein color and contrast play critical roles in visual
detail detection. In addition, we tend to acquire various color connotations and
color associations through social and cultural conditioning, and these play a role
in how we decipher and evaluate logo color. While color is considered important
to brand recognition and logo design, it shouldn't conflict with logo functionality,
and it needs to be remembered that color connotations and associations are not
consistent across all social and cultural groups. For example, in the United States,
red, white, and blue are often used in logos for companies that want to project
patriotic feelings but other countries will have different sets of colors that evoke
national pride. Similarly, diverse industry sectors tend to favour different color
palettes: strong, saturated colors are favoured in the fast food industry and less
saturated, more sombre colors in the banking and insurance sectors.

Choosing an organisation's logo's color is an important decision because of

its long term implications and its role in creating differentiation among
competitors' logos. A methodology for identifying potential logo colors within an
industry sector is color mapping, whereby existing logo colors are systematically
identified, mapped and evaluated (O'Connor, 2011).
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Logo Design Process:

Designing a good logo may require involvement from the marketing team
and the design agency (if the process isoutsourced), or graphic design contest
platform (if it is crowdsourced). It requires a clear idea about the concept and
values of the brand as well as understanding of the consumer or target group.
Broad steps in the logo design process might be formulating the concept, doing an
initial design, finalizing the logo concept, deciding the theme colors and format
involved.

9.2 Stationery Design

Letterpress is a method of printing many identical copies that requires

characters being impressed upon the page. The print may be inked or blind but is
typically done in a single color. Motifs or designs may be added as many
letterpress machines use movable plates that must be hand-set.

When a single document needs to be produced, it may be handwritten or

printed typically by a computer printer. Several copies of one original can be
produced by some printers using multipart stationery. Typing with a typewriter is
obsolescent, having been largely superseded by preparing a document with a word
processor and printing.

Thermographic printing is a process that involves several stages but can be

implemented in a low-cost manufacturing process. The process involves printing
the desired designs or text with an ink that remains wet, rather than drying on
contact with the paper. The paper is then dusted with a powdered polymer that
adheres to the ink. The paper is vacuumed or agitated, mechanically or by hand, to
remove excess powder, and then heated to near combustion. The wet ink and
polymer bond and dry, resulting in a raised print surface similar to the result of an
engraving process.

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 Embossing is a printing technique used to create raised surfaces in the
converted paper stock. The process relies upon mated dies that press the paper into
a shape that can be observed on both the front and back surfaces.

Engraving is a process that requires a design to be cut into a plate made of

a relatively hard material. It is a technology with a long history and requires
significant skill and experience. The finished plate is usually covered in ink, and
then the ink is removed from all of the un-etched portions of the plate. The plate is
then pressed into paper under substantial pressure. The result is a design that is
slightly raised on the surface of the paper and covered in ink. Due to the cost of
the process and expertise required, many consumers opt for thermographic
printing, a process that results in a similarly raised print surface, but through
different means at less cost.

9.3 Commercial Design

Commercial or Industrial design is a process of design applied

to products that are to be manufactured through techniques of mass production. Its
key characteristic is that design is separated from manufacture: the creative act of
determining and defining a product's form takes place in advance of the physical
act of making a product, which consists purely of repeated, often automated,
replication. This distinguishes industrial design from craft-based design, where the
form of the product is determined by the product's creator at the time of its
creation.

All industrial products are the result of a design process, but the nature of
this process can take many forms: it can be conducted by an individual or a large
team; it can emphasize intuitive creativity or calculated scientific decision-
making; and it can be influenced by factors as varied as materials, production
processes, business strategy and prevailing social, commercial or aesthetic
attitudes. The role of an industrial designer is to create and execute design
solutions for problems of form, function, usability, physical ergonomics,
marketing, brand development, and sales.

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Commercial Character Design:

Commercial character design is the process of creating a character and

utilising it to enhance or publicise a commercial entity through design. Examples
of characters which have been designed to be used in a commercial application are
found throughout the modern world, on advertisement billboards, murals, graphic
marketing within interior spaces and within recent years, as animations on the
Internet. A character can appear in two dimension (2D) or as a three-dimensional
design (3D) as modeled using a computer or traditionally sculpted. Commercial
entities use characters which are designed to embody a brand image or enhance a
sales campaign.

9.4 Portfolio Design

Building an online portfolio is possibly the most important step you can
take in your graphic design career. Here at HOW, we decided it was time for a
three-part HOW-to guide on graphic design portfolios and the process of building
them. Included is advice from well-known designers like Malika Favre, tips from
in-house designers and tricks from students going through the portfolio building
process themselves.

Portfolio Trends—After only a few minutes of browsing the web, it‘s easy
to pick up on today‘s design trends, the most popular
being interactive and responsive designs. These strategies engage audiences and
can act as a map for visitors to follow. Keep in mind that while interactive design
can look beautiful, it can easily be overdone, which may result in a cluttered
difficult to use website.

If interactive design isn‘t your forte, you may want to consider one
of Patrick McNeil‘s suggestions from the 4th volume of The Web Designer‘s Idea
Book to make your site stand out.

9.5 Brochure Design

These three fundamental points:

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  General and morphological features

 Advertising aspects

 Production process

This site exists since it is almost unknown how efficiently a brochure

could improve your corporate image and its development. But unfortunately when
a company is in the process of growing, the brochure is considered an unnecessary
and irrelevant object for this growth.

Too many people think that doing a brochure is so simple that anybody
can do it at any free time and the rest of the work is finished at the printing house.
Because of this, too many printing houses not only offer you to have your
brochure printed, but also to have it designed. Sometimes those are standardized
designs and your brochure depends on people that don‘t have experience on
designing a brochure, that haven‘t done any marketing investigation and can‘t
even offer you any experts in marketing or writing as the companies that are
specialized in brochure design do.

The companies that are specialized in brochure design have all the
necessary tools to make a good job on your company brochure design.

This work is not done only by the company, but with you. It has different
stages:

 Exchange of ideas. This exchange is between you and the brochure

design company. Here is where you tell the company what you
have in mind to have your brochure done, and according to that the
company will offer you new ideas and options.

 Compile the information. In this stage is where the images and

texts for the brochure are chosen. It is possible that you have them
already, or you want to be in charge of getting them, but if you
don‘t, there are writers available in these companies that can write
the text as well as these companies can offer you getting the images
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 for your brochure. This could help you to have your brochure done
in a professional way.

 Revision. Once the design company has finished designing your

brochure, you will be able to analyze if this brochure is the one that
you were expecting or if you would like to make some changes on
it.

 Translation. This is a service that is offer by some companies in

order for your company to be known in other regions.

 Delivery. After all the revisions have been done and you have
approved them, the design process is finished. Your design
company will give you a file including your brochure ready to be
sent to the printing house.

We created this site to help you to think what would be the best and the
most convenient way for you to know about the brochure and its aspects.

It is important that you analyze every brochure aspect, fundamentally

because every one of those will be helping you to have an effective brochure. The
design companies are in charge of designing your brochure, but they can‘t decide
everything, it is you the one that decides how you want your brochure to be done.
For that you have to be informed about the brochure and its general and specifics
features, related to your corporate image or the way you want your company to be
seen by your customers. These are the things that can‘t be done by a
specialized brochure design company, they could suggest you but you‘re the only
one that has the last word on your brochure design.

9.6 Let Us Sum Up

9.7 Unit End Exercises

9.8 Points for Discussion

9.9 Answers to check your progress

129
9.10 Suggested Readings

1. http://www.designtagebuch.de/cd-manuals/Bertelsmann-Corporate-Design-
2002.pdf

2. Kotler, P. (1988), Marketing Management, Analysis, Planning,

Implementation and Control, Prentice-Hall International, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ

3. Dowling, G.R. (1994), Corporate Reputations, Strategies for Developing

the Corporate Brand, Kogan Page, London

4. Chajet, C. and Shachtman, T. (1992), Image by Design, Addison-Wesley,

Reading, MA

5. http://www.markantoffice.com/transfer/MAR_CorporateIndentity_Guidelines_
EN_Lr.pdf

6. https://www.straumann.com/content/dam/internet/straumann_com/Resource
s/About%20Straumann/our-company/our-brand/CICD_Guidelines.pdf

7. https://www3.spd.de/linkableblob/88918/data/corporate_design_manual.p
df

8. http://www.bosch-automotive-
steering.com/fileadmin/downloads/Bosch_CD_Elemente/bosch_cd_basic_elem
ents.pdf

9. Balmer, J.M.T. (1995a), ―Corporate identity: the power and the paradox‖,
Design Management Journal, Winter, pp. 39-44.

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 UNIT 5
LESSON 10

Magazine and Poster Designs

INTRODUCTION

The phase design may include artwork being commissioned or

confirmation of layout. In publishing, the word "art" also indicates photographs.
Depending on the number of photographs required by the work, photographs may
also be licensed from photo libraries. For those works that are particularly rich in
illustrations, the publisher may contract a picture researcher to find and license the
photographs required for the work. The design process prepares the work
for printing through processes such as typesetting, dust jacket composition,
specification of paper quality, binding method and casing.

The type of book being produced determines the amount of design

required. For standard fiction titles, the design is usually restricted to typography
and cover design. For books containing illustrations or images, design takes on a
much larger role in laying out how the page looks, how chapters begin and end,
colours, typography, cover design and ancillary materials such as posters,
catalogue images, and other sales materials. Non-fiction illustrated titles are the
most design intensive books, requiring extensive use of images and illustrations,
captions, typography and a deep involvement and consideration of the reader
experience.

The activities of typesetting, page layout, the production of negatives,

plates from the negatives and, for hardbacks, the preparation of brasses for the
spine legend and Imprint are now all computerized. Prepress computerization
evolved mainly in about the last twenty years of the 20th century. If the work is to
be distributed electronically, the final files are saved in formats appropriate to the
target operating systems of the hardware used for reading. These may
include PDF files.

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UNIT OBJECTIVES

From this section you can learn

 How Magazines are designed?

 Poster Designing Techniques.

UNIT STRUCTURE

10.1 Magazine Design

10.2 Poster Design

10.3 Effective Digital Poster Session

10.4 Let Us Sum Up

10.5 Unit End Exercises

10.6 Points for Discussion

10.7 Answers to check your progress

10.8 Suggested Readings

10.1 Magazine Design

Typography design:

"Column width is really important," says Luke Hayman from Pentagram.

"Consider how the typography is set, and the text size. You can get away with
smaller fonts for a younger audience, for example with youth magazines
like Maxim, but consider something like The New Yorker, which is exquisitely
designed typographically - it uses quite a large font because you're reading multi-
thousand-word articles."

Editorial independence:

"The most important thing for me," says Matt Willey, of Studio 8, "is
having a handle on the editorial content. It's not that I don't care about the design
of it, but we can publish things that are valuable.
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 "We're not owned by anyone - we're completely independent, so we only
publish what we want to. We're not pandering to a media conglomerate that
thinks, 'This is what a men's magazine should look like,' and then comes up
with Nuts."

The pitfalls of newsprint:

"As a graphic designer, working with newsprint has its own unique set of
challenges. It's wonderfully cheap to mass-produce, but it refuses to print evenly,
colours can bleed or appear washed out, and you'll never get photographs as crisp
as they would be on high-gloss magazine stock. It takes some time to get it right,
but luckily our printers are patient and willing to work with us until we approve
each issue."

Life after your magazine launches:

"There are lots of resources available on how to start a magazine," says

Bec Brown, the publisher of Blanket Magazine. "But the real challenge isn't the
launch, it's afterwards: how do you keep it going? And not just this month or the
next, but indefinitely.

"I've produced Blanket for more than five years and have overcome many
obstacles on the way, relying mainly on my instinct. I haven't found a formula to
success; it really boils down to sheer dogged determination, hard work and the
sacrifice of your free time - and you need to be prepared to do it for little (or no)
monetary reward.

As the old joke goes: 'How do you make a small fortune with a magazine?
Start with a large fortune'."

Wearing many hats:

or designer, illustrator, speaker and first-time publisher Elliot Jay Stocks,

the most important thing he's learned during the process of bringing a magazine
from idea to sale, is that editorial and design are just parts of a much larger
picture.
133
 "You'll need to be prepared to wear many hats," he warns. "The thing that I
really underestimated with 8 Faces [pictured above] was the time it'd take to do all
the 'unseen' stuff - things like trying to get funding, chasing invoices, liaising with
the printers, cutting down the copy, and so on and so forth," he says.

10.2 Poster Design

Digital poster sessions have been cited to archive proceedings pages—in a

kind of digital preservation in Second Life, a 3D immersive virtual world (Lee,
Fox, Marchionini, Velacso, Antunes, & Borbinha, 2009). Digital posters are often
vetted by an editorial team and are accepted based on a set of editorial standards.
Various conferences treat poster sessions with varying levels of importance, with
some broadcasting live video feeds of human-facilitated poster sessions
(presentations of their posters). The following then consists of a basic definition of
terms.

A Digital Poster:

A ―digital poster‖ consists of either a static or dynamic digital object

which focuses on a particular topic. This may consist of a stand-alone single
element, or it may consist of a web page with a mix of elements (such as videos,
interactive lectures, slideshows, photo albums, short games, or other elements).

These posters are hosted on web sites, in digital repositories, in digital

libraries, and on tangible memory devices (like CDs, DVDs, thumb drives, or
portable hard drives). These may be created by individuals or by teams.

By definition, the contents are pre-created or pre-recorded. These are not

generally captured on-the-fly, but then again, they could be captured live and then
delivered in recorded and archived format.

The learning in a digital poster is usually a kind of automated, self-

discovery learning. It is comprised of a computer-based training (CBT) sort of
experience, with just the person interacting with the contents via the computer.

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 A digital poster generally offers a fairly brief learning experience, usually
up to 15 – 20 minutes of learning. These offer some depth in terms of the topic,
but given the automated

A Digital Poster Session:

A ―digital poster session‖ is an organized and curated collection of poster

sessions based around a conference theme or topic. There may be particular
topical sessions that are hosted with posters presented live.

Or these may just be sessions created in alignment with a live online or

face-to-face conference, with the pre-recorded / pre-created poster sessions made
available before, during, and after the live conference. Such sessions are usually
placed in an online digital gallery space or repository.

Evolving Standards:

The standards for the creation of digital posters and digital poster sessions
are evolving. Some basic standards of multimedia builds for e-learning are helpful
guidelines.

How do digital posters and digital poster sessions enhance both face-to-
face and online conferences?

Digital posters and digital poster sessions add more learning depth to
various conferences. These capture and deliver knowledge and mediated
experiences to the conference participants. The archival and delivery of digital
poster sessions make conferences more inclusive and allow more professional
participation—even for those who did not manage to find a slot for their
presentations in the main agenda…or to even capture more knowledge from a
presenter albeit on a different topic. Others note that digital poster sessions
mitigate some of the busyness of the live poster sessions and enable conference
participants to learn more before, during, and after the conference.

135
 Because synchronous, real-time sessions are necessarily limited for busy
professionals, this additional learning enables conference organizers to capture
value-added knowledge collection.

More recent technologies enable people to post messages in response to

particular pieces of knowledge and experiences, thus enabling a kind of
―community of interest‖ or ―network of interest‖ interactivity based around certain
information. The addition of text, voice, and other ―threads‖ around a digital
object adds value to that object. This asynchronous interactivity enables a kind of
―social constructivism‖ of shared knowledge around digital information.

What are some of the technologies used to create digital posters and
sessions?

The technologies and equipment used to make digital posters and sessions
are the typical ones used for the creation of digital learning objects.

These include Web design software; screen capture / recording software

(aka lecture capture software); presentation software; image authoring and editing
tools; interactive learning object authoring tools; open-source wikis, and others. A
list of some of the more popular mainline technologies are listed below in the
Extra Resources section.

10.3 EFFECTIVE DIGITAL POSTER SESSION

Effective poster sessions need to fulfill several requirements. They must…

Housekeeping Issues:

 Be clearly named and labeled

 Be described accurately in the metadata

 Digital poster pages / slides should be labeled clearly for easy

reference and user orientation

Informational Value

 Include unique and value-added information

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  Offer a comprehensive and brief look at the topic

 Be focused on the relevant issues

Viewer Experience

 Offer a coherent sequential (or semi-sequential) experience

 Offer viewers control over the pacing of the experience

 Offer some interactivity to engage viewers

Style

 Be eye-catching

 Be memorable

 Be accurate in terms of grammar and syntax

 Be sufficiently neutral for a wide cultural range / or be sufficiently

culturally targeted to reach a particular audience

Technology

 Be portable between technology platforms and systems

 Be accessible by a wide range of users regardless of their speed of

Internet connectivity or browser versions

Accessibility

 Follow federal guidelines on accessibility

Legalities

 Follow all laws on intellectual property

 Not defame anyone

 Not contravene privacy rights

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 Ideally, poster sessions should avoid repetition. They should be well
revised and edited. They should include citations to all contributors to the poster
session. They should also offer ways to contact the presenter.

When should digital posters and digital poster sessions be created and distributed?

Digital posters and digital poster sessions should be created when the
creators have some unique perspective on a topic, have the time and resources to
create a quality digital poster, and can meet the requirements of the curators for
digital poster sessions.

Possible Pitfalls

Digital poster sessions are archived for many viewers and for a digital
posterity, so this need to be created with high quality standards—per those
mentioned above (and possibly even others). These sessions should be engaging.
These should offer complete information and be sufficiently stand-alone (although
there should be references to other resources).

Digital posters and digital poster sessions should be protected against

digital ―slow fires,‖ the obsolescence‘s of equipment, software versions, and other
dependencies on which digital files exist. The corruptibility of digital files also
means that the contents should likely be versioned into different types in order to
try to ensure the ―future-proofing‖ or life cycles of these contents.

10.4 Let Us Sum Up

10.5 Unit End Exercises

10.6 Points for Discussion

10.7 Answers to check your progress

10.8 Suggested Readings

1. http://extension.colostate.edu/docs/staffres/poster.pdf

2. https://www.york.ac.uk/media/biology/documents/careers/POST
ER-DESIGN-USING-CORELDRAW-2007.pdf
138
3. https://faculty.unlv.edu/nagelhout/ENG400f12/BASmallPoster.pdf

4. https://www.smashingmagazine.com/2012/08/poster-design-
contest-redesign-the-web-redesign-the-world-best-entries/

5. http://www.sfu.ca/siatclass/IAT102/old/spring2010/projects/IAT1
02Project02.pdf

6. http://libregraphicsmag.com/files/libregraphicsmag_1.2_lowquali
ty.pdf

7. http://hsp.berkeley.edu/sites/default/files/ScientificPosters.pdf

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9. John Foster. (2008), New Masters of Poster Design: Poster Design

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