GRAPHIC DESIGN

HANDBOOK
by Patrick t. correll
ABOUT ME
I am a 22 year old graphics designer, father & husband.
I am nitpicky & OCD enough that I have chosen this as
my profession. I hope you see that my work displays this
kind of forensic detail, the kind that annoys my family
and goes into my parenting as well. I am a perfectionist.

website: zexyl.com
 The History of
Arts & Crafts
This style of graphics
originated in England
during the later part
of the 19th century.
Subsequently this
style was taken up by
American designers,
with somewhat different
results. (Cornell, n.d.)
This style commonly
pronounced a patterned
nature, with a focus on
elegance regarding the
subject, curves, repeating
colors, shapes, etc.
1850-1900
Deutscher-Werkbund Dada Bauhaus
Founded by Hermann The Dada Movement The Bauhaus was
Muthesius in 1907, the focused on typography the most influential
aim of the Deutscher and literature. It began modernist art school of the
Werkbund was to foster in Zrich, Switzerland 20th century, one whose
links between artists and as a reaction to World approach to teaching,
German industrialists War I. Its range had and understanding arts
to develop a German many artistic outlets and relationship to society and
identity through design was reactionary to the technology, had a major
and architecture. (UC, scope of major events impact both in Europe
2015) This age also came and crisises that revolved and the United States long
with some steampunk around the world. Many after it closed. (the Art
lettering and typography of the plays and poetic Story, n.d.) Its influences
that represented works evoked inspiration came from the Arts &
this movement, an among others and assisted Crafts movement, among
industrial revolution. the Swiss in coping. its inspirational lessons.
1907-1938 1916-1923 1919-1933
 Graphic Design
International
Typographic Style
Switzerland and Germanys
styles echoed through the
world as movies and print
became more competitive and
entertainment was consumed.
To distinguish titles from
another, companies began
to reflect on these artistic
movements and as a result, we
still have perfectly decorated
movie posters, interesting book
covers and news paper headlines
have never looked better.
1945-1970
Late Modern /
New York Style
Much of this style pays
credit to the International
Typographic Style movements.
Americas newfound wealth
post World War II challenged
businesses to compete on
new levels. After companies
had been taking a functional
approach to garner their wealth
during the war, they began
to diversifying themselves
in countless of variances
during these 3 decades.
1950-1980
Post Modern
To correct much of the
expirementation in the
previous design era, this style
was overlaping the late modern
era. Its simplicity attracted
customers who perceived ease of
use, and its style was functional
in the sense of its efficiency.
This style still persists to this
day, especially in web design.
Its execution is sometimes
accused as being abstract or
derivative of other works.
1970-2000
 The principles of graphic design
There are four main principles of design that designers use as considerations
during their workflow. This acronym is known as C.A.R.P., like the freshwater
fish. It stands for Contrast, Alignment, Repetition and Proximity.

CONTRAST:
The first principle is Contrast. Contrast consists of different sizes,
textures, colors, orientations, or anything that sets off an element from
the rest of the page. (Versluis, 2014) Understanding how contrast
works with color, the highest level of contrast is the comparison of
black (#000000) and white (#ffffff), like the text of what youre reading
right now. You are reading solid black text on a solid white background.
This makes its legibility much easier. Contrast also applies to colors
that complement each other, known as complimentary colors. The
most traditional complimentary colors, from the primaries of red,
yellow and blue, are red/green, yellow/purple and orange/blue. Having
contrasting colors helps us to improve legibility and organization.
You could imagine a demonstration of how a graphic with only very similar shades of orange would be
more difficult to make out, rather than a graphic with very different colors that complement each other.
For other forms of contrast, you want your design to stand out and find a way to shot certain parts are
more important than others. This is where the creativity in design has infinite possibilities, and there
are plentiful amounts of resources for inspiration.

ALIGNMENT:
The second principle is Alignment. This is when an element, such as
a graphic or text is centered, adjusted to the left, right, top or bottom
and follows the universal alignment of the document. Alignment is
used to organize text foremostly, so that the reader can quickly find
the information he is looking for. Graphics and other important
information are usually aligned with secondary priority, unless
they express information such as a logo or a graphic that models or
provides insight into what the text is describing and then they either
become the primary priority of the document or share their priority
with text or other graphics in the document.
REPETITION:
The third element is Repetition. Repetition is used in any case that you
use an element in the same way more than once. A grid layout, such
as using rows and columns assists in the organization of a document.
This is a form of repetition. Using the same color scheme is a form
of repetition. Using the same main words is a form of repetition,
so that the points are easily understandable. Using the same fonts,
synchronized headers, patterns and ideas that relate to positioning
are other forms of repetition. Repetition is important in organizing
lots of information, so that the reader can access information quickly,
thus finding what they are looking for. On more complicated ideas,
organization is necessary so that the idea retains focus and that focus
doesnt have anything distracting from its purpose(s).

PROXIMITY:
The fourth element is Proximity. Proximity is how close or far
elements are in relation to one another. Related items should usually
be kept together, in closer proximity in a way that they are grouped
together, such as a business address, their phone number and other
contact information. On a grid layout, this can be the spacing between
each column and/or row. Having too much spacing between two
elements or too little can either leave too much whitespace or make
the documents presentation confusing and appear disorganized.
For example: If two columns of text are too close to one another in
a newspaper, the reader may interpret that there is only one column
and read the text out of order. If text is overlapping other text is an
unreadable way, this is one of the worst examples of proximity. Seldom can text overlap other text, as
a rule. Only in tasteful and well-designed logos can something like this be pulled off and related to the
third dimension of proximity, when youre working with layers or elements that are stacked on top of
one another.

IN SUMMARY:
A perfect balance of the CARP principles will give your projects a clean and beautiful look, drawing
the eye to the most important elements and keeping the viewer interested. (Ott, n.d.) C.A.R.P. exists
to ensure that your information is easily accessible and tasteful and that the graphic represents its
purpose well. Without organization and these principles to assist designers in the way they work with
graphics, graphics can appear messy and unprofessional. The idea that less is more in graphics design
originates from the idea that less is easier to organize and understand. You can still organize a lot of
information tastefully, which is where repetition is used the most and use a conventional design that
is classified as minimalism. Following these principles will make your life a lot easier and guarantee
that your work speaks for itself.

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