Principles of graphic design

# Principles of graphic design

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# Truth, beauty, stories, design

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# Why even care about design?

.center[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/why-design.png" alt="Why care about design?" title="Why care about design?" width="100%">
</figure>
]

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# Content + form

.box-inv-3.large[Art is how we translate core, essential **content** to different **forms** for specific **audiences**.]

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# Stories + content + form

.box-inv-3.large[**Stories** are an art form for translating core, essential **content** to different **forms** for specific **audiences**.]

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# Stories

.box-inv-3.medium[“A need to tell and hear stories is essential to the species *Homo sapiens*—second in necessity apparently after nourishment and before love and shelter.”]

.box-3.small[—Reynolds Price, from *A Palpable God*]

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# Beauty, stories, and truth

.box-inv-3.sp-after[**Beauty** shapes that form.]

.box-3.medium[There are aesthetic principles we can follow to create beauty—and truth.]

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layout: false
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# Graphic design and CRAP

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# Principles of design

.box-inv-7.medium[There are thousands of books and centuries of debate and theory about what makes good design.]

.box-7.medium[For this workshop, the easiest and most memorable distillation of these principles is **CRAP**.]

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# CRAP

]

.pull-right.center[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/williams-design-book.jpg" alt="Robin Williams's The Non-Designers Design Book" title="Robin Williams's The Non-Designers Design Book" width="65%">
 <figcaption>Buy this book and your life will change forever.</figcaption>
</figure>
]

---

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# Contrast

.box-inv-1.large[If two items are not exactly the same, make them different. Really different.]

.box-7.large[**Don't be a wimp.**]

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# Typographic contrast: Family

.box-1.small[Serif + Sans serif&emsp;&emsp;Script + Serif&emsp;&emsp;Slab + Sans serif&emsp;&emsp;etc.]

<table>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Serif</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'EB Garamond'">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Sans serif</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Oswald'">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Slab serif</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Alfa Slab One'">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Script</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Dancing Script'">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Monospaced&emsp;</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Inconsolata'">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
</table>

---

# Typographic constrast: Family

.pull-left.frame[

Here’s a heading

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.pull-right.frame[

Here’s a heading

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]

---

# Typographic contrast: Weight

.box-1.small[Bold + Regular&emsp;&emsp;Regular + Extra light&emsp;&emsp;Black + Light&emsp;&emsp;etc.]

<table>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Extra light&emsp;</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 200;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Light</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 300;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Regular</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 400;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Semi bold</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 600;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Bold&emsp;</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 700;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 <td class="cell-left">Black</td>
 <td class="cell-left" style="font-family: 'Source Sans Pro'; font-weight: 900;">Sphinx of black quartz, judge my vow</td>
 </tr>
</table>

---

# Typographic constrast: Weight

.pull-left.frame[

Here’s a heading

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.pull-right.frame[

Here’s a heading

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# Size contrast

&nbsp;

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# Color contrast

.box-1.tiny[[color.adobe.com](https://color.adobe.com)]

.pull-left[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/triad.png" alt="Triad" title="Triad" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Triad</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/monochromatic.png" alt="Monochromatic" title="Monochromatic" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Monochromatic</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/complementary.png" alt="Complementary" title="Complementary" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Complementary</figcaption>
</figure>

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/complementary-split.png" alt="Split complementary" title="Split complementary" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Split complementary</figcaption>
</figure>
]

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# Color contrast

.center[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/palette-atl-extracted.png" alt="Extracted colors" title="Extracted colors" width="50%">
 <figcaption>Colors extracted from an image at <a href="https://color.adobe.com">color.adobe.com</a></figcaption>
</figure>
]

???

Photo by [Brad Huchteman](https://unsplash.com/photos/sR1Kz2auNJE) on Unsplash

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# Usability and accessibility

.box-inv-1.medium[Perceptually uniform colors]

.box-1[Values close to each other use similar colors, and values far from each other use different colors]

.box-inv-1.medium[Colorblind-safe colors]

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# Perceptually uniform colors

.pull-left[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/palettes-typical.png" alt="Typical palettes" title="Typical palettes" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Traditional palettes vs. viridis</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/palettes-deuteranopic.png" alt="Deuteranopic palettes" title="Deuteranopic palettes" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Traditional palettes vs. viridis as seen with deuteranopia</figcaption>
</figure>
]

---

# Perceptually uniform colors

.pull-left-3[
<figure>
<img src="06_graphic-design_files/figure-html/ga1-1.png" width="360" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />

<figcaption>Georgia counties filled by area, rainbow palette (NOT GOOD)</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-middle-3[
<figure>
<img src="06_graphic-design_files/figure-html/ga2-1.png" width="360" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />

<figcaption>Georgia counties filled by area, viridis::viridis palette</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right-3[
<figure>
<img src="06_graphic-design_files/figure-html/ga3-1.png" width="360" style="display: block; margin: auto;" />

<figcaption>Georgia counties filled by area, viridis::inferno palette</figcaption>
</figure>
]

---

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# Repetition

&nbsp;

.box-4.large[Repeat some aspect of the design throughout the entire piece.]

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# Things to repeat

.box-4.medium[Colors]

.box-4.medium[Fonts]

.box-inv-4.sp-after[Families, weights, sizes]

.box-4.medium[Graphical elements]

.box-4.medium[Alignments]

---

layout: false
class: bg-full
background-image: url("img/06/oxfam-annual-report.jpg")

???

Source: Pages 5 and 9 from Oxfam's 2019 Annual Report/: https://assets.oxfamamerica.org/media/documents/2019_Oxfam_America_Annual_Report_web.pdf

If you want to see generally great examples of public sector designs, search for "<big charity or think tank name> annual report", like "red cross annual report" or "urban institute annual report"

---

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# Alignment

&nbsp;

.box-1.large[Every item should have a visual connection with something else on the page.]

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# Alignment

.pull-left[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/alignment-bad.png" alt="Bad alignment" title="Bad alignment" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Bad alignment</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/alignment-good.png" alt="Good alignment" title="Good alignment" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Good alignment—everything is connected to something</figcaption>
</figure>
]

???

Source: Robin Williams, *The Non-Designer's Design Book*

---

# Alignment + repetition

.pull-left[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/alignment-bad-annotated.png" alt="Bad alignment" title="Bad alignment" width="100%">
 <figcaption>4 horizontal alignments; 3 vertical alignments</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/alignment-good-annotated.png" alt="Good alignment" title="Good alignment" width="100%">
 <figcaption>1 shared horizontal alignment; 2 vertical alignments</figcaption>
</figure>
]

---

# Alignment + contrast

.pull-left.frame[

Chapter 1

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.pull-right.frame[

Chapter 1

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]

---

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# Proximity

&nbsp;

.box-inv-4.large[Group related items together.]

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# Proximity

.box-inv-4[Use white space, color, location, contrast, repetition, alignment, etc. to make visually distinct groupings]

.pull-left[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/proximity-bad.png" alt="Bad proximity" title="Bad proximity" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Bad proximity; no logical groupings</figcaption>
</figure>
]

.pull-right[
<figure>
 <img src="img/06/proximity-good.png" alt="Good proximity" title="Good proximity" width="100%">
 <figcaption>Good proximity; information visually grouped</figcaption>
</figure>
]

???

Source: Robin Williams, *The Non-Designer's Design Book*

---

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# CRAP review

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/review-contrast.png" alt="Contrast" title="Contrast" width="100%">
</figure>
]

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/review-repetition.png" alt="Repetition" title="Repetition" width="100%">
</figure>
]
]

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/review-alignment.png" alt="Alignment" title="Alignment" width="100%">
</figure>
]

<figure>
 <img src="img/06/review-proximity.png" alt="Proximity" title="Proximity" width="100%">
</figure>
]
]