The Tribune

Getting thrown into the world of graphic design can sometimes feel like learning a new language, especially for novices who may sometimes need to communicate with more experienced counterparts.

But even though designers have their very own language, vocabulary or words that only “they” can understand, at times not even they know every exact definition. But, due to their daily use and familiarity, understanding the functions and their purpose comes easy. Let us take a look at a few commonly-used design terms.

Rule of Thirds

The rule of thirds is a technique that designers use to determine focal point. Using a grid of three rows and columns, focal points are indicated where the lines converge. Designers use this as a guide to determine where to place important elements in their design.

Bleed

Sounds pretty gruesome, but bleed is when a design actually extends past its printed edge so there is no chance of white borders when it is trimmed down after printing.

Trim

Trim size is the final size of a printed piece after it has been trimmed from its page. Trimming is executed along crop marks that show where to cut.

Mock-Up

A mock-up is a real or digital model used to test early design ideas and see how they could look in the real world.

Scale

Scale is the size of an object in relation to another object. It can be used to create interest and grab a viewer’s attention.

Hierarchy

In design, hierarchy is the organisation of elements by level of importance. Newspapers, magazine spreads and movie posters are good examples of the use of design hierarchy.

Headlines (also called display type) are usually placed at the top, while subheads and body copy fall underneath.

Leading

Pronounced “ledding”, leading (also known as line-height) is the space between two lines of text.

Tracking

Not to be confused with kerning, tracking is the adjustment of space for groups of letters and entire blocks of text.

Tracking affects every character in the selected text, and is used to change its overall appearance.

Widows and Orphans

Widows and orphans make designers very sad. That is because they are poor, lonely words at the beginning or end of a paragraph left dangling at the top or bottom of a column, and separated from the rest of the paragraph.

Lorem Ipsum

Lorem ipsum (also known as dummy text) is used as a placeholder that will be swapped out later with actual copy.

Monochromatic

A monochromatic colour palette uses one single colour.

Analogous

Colours that are adjacent to one another on the colour wheel (red violet, red and red orange) are analogous.

Complementary colours

Complementary colours are opposites on the colour wheel. This relationship will produce visual tension and “shock”.

Triadic

Triadic colours are three colours evenly spaced on the colour wheel. One colour dominates, the second supports, and the third accents.

Pantone

Pantone is the most widely used, proprietary colour system for blending colours. The system includes colours that cannot be mixed in CMYK. Until we meet again, fill your life with memories rather than regrets. Enjoy life and stay on top of your game!

NB: Columnist welcomes feedback at deedee21bastian@gmail.com

ABOUT COLUMNIST: Deidre Marie Bastian is a professionally-trained graphic designer, marketing co-ordinator and certified life coach. She has qualifications of MSc, BSc, ASc, and trained at institutions such as: Miami Lakes Technical Centre, Success Training College, College of The Bahamas, Nova Southeastern University, Learning Tree International, Langevine International and Synergy Bahamas.