In graphic design, as in any profession, there is a specific language that sometimes is difficult to understand. Here are some key terms that you should know to be a good graphic designer. We will talk about the jargon in themes of images, typography, graphic design, etc.
Graphic designer: Images
Types of images:
- Images raster: Raster images are images that are made up of thousands of pixels that define the color and shape of the image. Photographs, for example, are raster images. The most common editor for these images is Photoshop. These images to be formed by so many pixels can give problems for resizing size, losing quality.
- Vector images: These are images formed by points (each has a coordinate). These points join lines to form the forms, and within these forms the colors are added. These images can be resized to any size without losing quality.
Image modes:
- CMYK (Cyan, magenta, yellow and key): It is the standard way to send documents from a magazine, newspaper, report, to the printer. In this case the key means black. All four color possibilities can be formed with these four colors.
- RGB (Red, blue and green): Used for screens. It has fewer color limitations than CMYK, so it is used to capture all the colors that the human eye can perceive on screens. When converting from RGB to CMYK there will be loss of color.
Resolution of image:
- DPI (Means “dots per inch”): It is important when it is for jobs that go to the printer. One of the most common misuses of the term dots per inch is to use it for digital images, that is, for images that are going to be represented on screens. The more DPI the quality of the image will be. The standard format for printing is 3000 DPI.
- PPI (Means “pixels per inch): They are the number of pixels that the image has. If you make a larger image, the number of pixels and the image will increase, therefore, you will lose quality. DPI can only be used properly when it comes to the resolution of a printer. However, PPI can also be used to describe the resolution of a digital screen.
Graphic designer: Typography
- The interletraje or interletra in typography is the space that is added between letters for various visual functions. This term applies to two different types:
- Kerning: It is applied between pairs of letters to compensate optically their different forms and that does not give the feeling that they are closer together or separate than the others.
- Tracking is systematically added between the letters of a text with aesthetic or diacrisis functions.
The interleter can be positive or negative, that is, it can separate or bring the letters closer, respectively for graphic designer.
Graphic design
- Grid: They are intersections of vertical and horizontal lines that serve to organize and structure the content. Thanks to this grid we can have a more correct and better structured composition.
- Logo design: It is a graphic sign that identifies a company, a brand or a product in a visual and fast way. For graphic designers it is a challenge to group the whole essence of a brand and its values in a single graphic.
- Brand: Although the logo is the point of reference for a product or a company, the brand goes much further. The logo encompasses everything that the brand means. A good brand identity is built by carefully linking all the elements, values, personality, history or function of it.
- Wireframe: Known as a page layout or screen layout, it is a visual guide that represents the skeleton or structure of a website. Its main objective is the functionality, behavior and hierarchy of the contents. That is, “what the screen does, not how it looks”.
- Bleed (bleeding): This is the area outside the boundary of the document. It’s the term that indicates the size of more we give to our design. The design when it comes time to print it or export it will be the desired size without bleeding.
- Padding / Margin: The first constitutes the space between an edge and the object inside it. However, the margin refers to the space between the edge and the object outside it.
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