Graphic Design 100 Hours Certificate Course

1. Scope and Nature of Graphic Design
2. Design Fundamentals (line, tone, colour etc)
3. Colour Theory and Applications
4. Typography
5. Illustration -methods & techniques
6. Logotype Design
7. Layout Design
8. Design Systems and the Design Industry (design briefs, how to bid for jobs, etc)
9. Comparative Design -Lessons From Other Designers (lots of research)
10. Design Project - A practical project applying everything prior to this.

Each lesson culminates in an assignment which is submitted to the academy for marking by your tutor and returned to you with any relevant suggestions, comments, and if necessary, extra reading.

Design Tips When Putting together a Layout

• Length of a line of text needs to be balanced according to size of the text. (Long lines are inappropriate for tiny lettering, but may be very appropriate for very large letters).
• Don’t clutter (increasing white space will make words and images more noticeable)
• Do not use borders, boxes, clip art excessively or inappropriately. These things can cause clutter and detract from the message of the artwork.
• Use less rather than more fonts.
• Use caps with the correct fonts (Some fonts are caps only!)
• Use one space between sentences rather than two (mostly)
• Do not over use centering, particularly with text
• Use ragged right or full justification (mostly)
• Avoid double hard returns after a paragraph
• Use proper punctuation
• Reset software defaults (usually default settings are inappropriate when creating a design)
• Use rules of third and the golden mean to help with layouts
• Fonts have different weights light, normal, semi bold, bold, italic use these rather than a different font.

What do you know about Typography?

• Typography involves the choosing and using of letters in the words you produce in your graphic design.
• Typeface selection can be a very subjective and personal decision, that is easily affected by bias of a designer. A good designer needs to be able to adopt a perspective that is as far away from any sort of prejudice as possible; and choose typefaces that are most suited to the job at hand, and suitable for the client and the reader.

Consider the criteria you are applying?

• Must be Legible (ie. The way individual letters look will determine how legible they are)
• Must be Readable (ie. The way different letters are arranged together will determine how readable they are)
• Must have appropriate impact (Letters can be legible and readable, and still not get noticed, dor example, bold, contrasting letters have more impact)