Two Types of Graphic Design

I am very interested to learn about graphic design because I am a journalism major and journalists have to know a lot about graphic design to perform well in their chosen fields. Whether it be choosing a typeface to use on the front page of a newspaper or creating a graphic to identify someone on television news. I have chosen environmental design and publication design as my two different categories of graphic design that are interesting to me. Environmental design involves the creation of a three dimensional experience for the viewer. These designs can include designs for museum exhibits and convention booths. Publication design is the design and layout of pages, words and images on newspapers, magazines, and other periodicals.

Environmental Design

Environmental design interests me because it is meant to draw people to a certain point to experience art, business, science, or even history. The idea of designing an atmosphere that invites people to come interact with the environment is very fascinating to me. You have to know what will draw people to a certain point and why different set ups look better than others. Without this category of graphic design I doubt whether people would actually want to enter museums, stores or libraries because the environmental graphic design is vital to why people come to those areas. This link will take you to a site that does many different environmental designs for convention display booths. This link shows an example of environmental design in the form of a museum exhibit.

Publication Design

As a journalist it is my job to understand the basics of publication design, to know how to draw in a reader, to attract their eyes to a page or article so my published material can be viewed and consumed by the general population. Publication design interests me because it is important to news organizations to know what photos, images or typefaces are more likely to attract the eye of the reader. Different fonts and typefaces for example make the actual article easier to read, while others have been designed to be obvious and visually engaging. Picture layout is important when placing it around a story for context and front page design or cover design are the first impressions everyone gets from a periodical. The two links above show article designs from Time magazine and the New York Times.