GENERAL WORK SKILLS (C)

Speed skills

Clients do not always understand the amount of work to create a project from blank slate to a printed masterpiece. And because you are a designer they think you can design something in a moments notice and if you cant deliver they will find someone who can. This is why speed is important because you cant loose out on a job and most importantly money.

The psychology of marketing

To have a basic knowledge of marketing is always an advantage in the graphic design industry, because you may be asked to step in as the marketing manager within a small company. To understand the human behaviour is a starting point as they either buy things for their needs or their wants or desires. You are not only trying to sell something to them but earn their trust and form a relationship as this will create a regular customer.

Copywriting

It’s not uncommon for the designer to have to act as copy writer. This is someone who writes or edits copy or written content for a living. They also develop the content for websites, sales, letters, articles, book, and other print information. The graphic designer who possesses these skills will certainly have an advantage over those who do not in a highly competitive market.

Art direction

An art director oversees the art, the photographs and drawn images, that appear in newspapers, magazines, ad campaigns and on book covers. They are usually the person who oversees the entire design department, working with photo editors to make sure that their imagery matches the text. An art director would work to create the specific look and feel over an entire piece of work so the visual look though out is the same.

Typography and grids

Type is everywhere and we probably take it for granted but this is the main thing that gives us information. There are many different types, different shapes and characteristics but they all follow the same rules.

Leading - This is the space between the lines, too close together it becomes difficult to read but too far apart the reader may become lost. To solve this the rule is, the leading should be 30% bigger than the font size. (9pt=12pt)

Kerning - The term kerning refers to adjusting the space between two letters. If letters in a typeface are spaced too uniformly, they make a pattern that doesn’t look uniform enough.

Tracking - This is the spacing across a word, line, or column of text is called tracking, also known as letter spacing.

Grids - The most basic grid is the single-column grid, this then moves on to a multi column grid which allows you more options on how to lay out your page. Then with horizontal rows this can be divided up even more, to give a more interesting page layout. All of these guide lines are there to help keep your text and imagery inline and in order, to achieve a consistent look and feel through out the product.