SMA Launch | Basic Design Literacy

Smith Moore and Associates Basic Design Literacy

Through the following pages you’ll find literature on the basic elements of design as well as a checklist that can help smooth and speed up the creative process with your designer.

With insight and some terminology, you can confidently execute any design job.

COMMUNICATING WITH A DESIGNER

The majority of the time we design something it’s in InDesign, which is a product of Adobe. Programs like Photoshop, Lightroom and Illustrator contribute elements to what is ultimately built and exported from InDesign.

Exporting is an important word when it comes to designing. Through InDesign we can create a variety of file types that work for printing, web design or online viewing.

These options are not available when creating something in Microsoft Word, which is why Word is NOT a design program. (Nor is PowerPoint) File Types: PNG: Web Design, Facebook, Emails, Twitter, etc.

JPEG: Great for images if it’s of high resolution.

Online PDF: Online viewing, fillable fields and interactive links.

Print-Ready PDF: Resolution suitable for printing, bleed marks and color graph are optional.

TIFF: Optimal photograph file.

EPS: A graphics file format used in vector-based images and text. The BEST format for logos.

Additional Tips Supply an example of another design you like. That can eliminate a lot of re-drafts from the get-go.

When getting a logo from a sponsor, exhibitor, etc. always ask for an EPS version with outlined text.

Simplify your text. You don’t want to overwhelm your reader. Posters are only posters if they contain less than 20 words.

Have a single point of contact per design project. It’s challenging being CC’d on multiple emails and getting various comments and edits that are often the same. Give us a single list of the approved edits to save time and money.

DESIGN NEEDS CHECKLIST Consider the following things before approaching a designer.

1. STYLE What kind of job is it? Event program, web ad, event flyer? This gives us perspective on what kind of elements to use.

2. DIMENSIONS The first thing InDesign asks us when we start a new project is size: 8.5x11 or 11x17 or 5x8, etc.

3. DISTRIBUTION How is this design being distributed? In an email, printed, website, facebook, etc. All of them? We need to know before setting up the type of document and most importantly, exporting it.

COPY is a document of ALL the verbiage to be included in the design. Preferably a single word document with no formatting. Images and other graphics should NEVER be inside a word document as it degrades the quality. Adding your own indentations, tabs and bullets, numbers, etc. has to be stripped, cleaned and then loaded into InDesign. It’s better if none of it exists.

Some bolding and Italicizing CAN be copied over from Word Documents, which is a new feature in InDesign.

An example of clean copy without formatting looks like the following: [Bold All Session Names] [Italicize & Indent Speaker Names] Public Speaking for Finance Folks Leadership and Management (N – Non-technical subject areas) Location: Magic Kingdom Ballroom 4 (Fantasy Tower) Impactful and memorable public speaking is both an art and a skill. Without it, your message can be ignored, diluted, or not taken as seriously. In addition, it is an essential part of leadership! Learn what it takes to overcome your fear of public speaking and to be more effective at it. As a financial professional, you need people to listen to you! This presentation breaks down into bite-size and actionable chunks what to do. The session is engaging, with exercises that move you around and interact with others. Here are some major take-aways from the session: [Bullet] Master how to be more calm and confident before, during, and after a presentation.

Understand what your body is conveying to the audience without you even realizing it.

Do these three things before every presentation to feel more confident.

Learn how to express yourself as a leader that others will want to follow.

Learn, master, and have fun!

Speaker: Steve Yu, Chief Financial Officer/Assistant Dean, UCLA School of Law Moderator: Mike Sung, Deputy Finance Director, City of Fremont 5. Most importantly: The deadlines. We need to know when you want a draft and when you want the final. A one-page flier requires less lead time than a 60-page program. Even a verbal warning letting us know you have a program coming up can help.

(Please, don’t send us logos or images pulled from websites or Google. Those aren’t print ready.)

COMMON QUESTIONS Will this logo I pulled off their website work for printing? NOPE. Those are normally low resolution PNG’s or JPEG’s and we prefer an EPS file for logos. You can request this from most organizations or give us the contact info and we’ll ask. Same thing goes for images too. If you pull a head shot off the internet, it probably won’t work.

I Googled this image of a lake, can we put that in the design? 9/10 times, NO. That’s not a royalty free image. We’ll need to get permission from whoever took that photograph. We have access to our own purchased or royalty free images we know we can use.

ALIGNMENT

The placement of elements such that edges line up along common rows or columns, or their bodies along a common center.

- Symmetry

Lines and edges create a visual rhythm.

When items are aligned on the page, the result is a stronger cohesive unit.

- Asymmetry

- Alignment

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PROXIMITY Elements that are close together are perceived to be more related than those that are farther apart.

The most powerful means of indicating relatedness in design.

SPACE The area around or between elements in design.

Use it effectively to: give the eyes a rest; define importance; lead the eye to what’s important and more.

Don’t be afraid of empty space.

It’s a good thing.

CONTRAST Contrast is created when two elements are different. If the two elements are sort of different, but not really, then you don’t have contrast, you have conflict.

You can contrast large type with small type; a graceful oldstyle font with a bold sans serif font; a thin line with a thick line; a cooler color with a warm color, etc.

Contrast doubles in its purpose: create interest in a design & organize the message of your design.

If two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different.

BLAH BLAH

BLAH BLAH

PRIDE Pandrejudice

COLOR

Color can evoke a variety of emotions in its viewers. It’s widely accepted that red can raise your heart beat and blue can repress hunger.

With the exception of a photograph, most designs should only contain up to 3 colors.

These four colors are two examples of color gradient.

And is two examples of complimentary colors to use in design that contrast.

EMPHASIS An accentuation of importance.

Similar to contrast, emphasis is a juxtaposition of an element, however it’s created, to pull focus to one singular thing rather than comparing two.

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VISUAL GRAMMAR Balance: The equal distribution of visual weight.

Movement: A directed path of optical motion.

Unity: A harmonious arrangement of elements.

Pattern: An orderly repetition of an object.

ASANA & Purchase Orders

We use a software at SMA called ASANA to track all kinds of tasks, especially design and IT. Here’s a look at what our in-office Purchase Order looks like which then gets transfered into the task tracking software.