1, graphic design language
As the language of design, graphics should be clearly expressed. In the treatment, we must grasp the main features and pay attention to the details of key parts. Otherwise, it is a hundred miles away. Such as apples, tomatoes, oranges and so on. They are all about the same size, but in fact they are quite different, depending on their different characteristics in processing.
The graphic expression of creativity is to give full play to imagination and creativity and visualize imagination and ideas through in-depth thinking and systematic analysis of creativity center. This is the last link and the key link of creativity. From how to analyze and think to how to express. Due to the unique social labor and language of human beings, people's conscious activities have reached a highly developed level. People's thinking begins with knowing appearances, then records the appearances in their brains to form concepts, and then generalizes and fixes these concepts from real life experience, so that various objects and processes in the external world and even their own thinking world can produce their own corresponding images in their brains. These influences are separated from direct external relations and maintained and operated independently of thinking. These impressions are based on narrow language, but they are also expressed in a wide range of languages, such as visual graphics, body movements and music.
Strange, different and strange graphics are not the goal pursued by designers, but easy-to-understand, concise and lively graphic language is a necessary condition to achieve strong visual impact, which is conducive to the public's understanding, understanding and memory of advertising themes.
In a certain artistic philosophy and visual principle, creativity runs through Wan Li's imagination and artistic creation for thousands of years. Creativity, as a complex and interesting thinking activity, appears in the form of visual image in the current graphic creativity and advertising design, and has a certain creative form.
2. The essential relationship between graphic design and symbols.
Graphics itself is a symbolic image in visual space design, and it is a direct and accurate communication medium in the process of visual communication. It plays an important role in communicating people, culture and information. In graphic design, the application of semiotics affects the expression of thinking in images in graphic design. It is precisely because of its existence that the information transmission of graphic design is more scientific and accurate, and the expression techniques are more colorful.
The famous Italian symbolist Eco proposed that a symbol should be defined as anything like this. According to the established social habits, it can be regarded as something that represents other things-a symbol X represents a nonexistent Y, and the idiom "Goose Mud with Red Paws" vividly and accurately expresses the concept of a symbol. The paw prints left by a swan goose in the mud and snow let people know the fact that a swan goose passed by here, and can infer information such as size from it. Paw prints are symbols X, Hongyan is not Y, and semiotics is a science that studies the laws of symbols.
At the competition venue, the designer painted the corner walls with black and yellow stripes to remind drivers to concentrate and be alert to accidents. This is because whenever people see black and yellow stripes, they will unconsciously feel fear and vigilance. This feeling may not only come from the visual characteristics of the pattern color itself, but also be related to the association of black and yellow stripes with animals that may bring danger to people, such as tigers or bees. People's fear and vigilance against such graphics is a continuation of people's fear and vigilance against tigers or bees in their life experiences. The same green color often makes people feel relaxed and happy, as if being in dense jungle and fresh air, and life can grow healthily in the natural environment. Therefore, green is more applied to the design theme of life fields such as medicine and environmental protection.
Graphic design itself is the expression of symbols, designers use it to convey their own thinking process and conclusions to the audience, so as to achieve the purpose of guidance or persuasion; In other words, through the designer's works, let the audience use their own experience to confirm and finally understand the thoughts and feelings that the designer wants to express. Obviously, graphic design works, as an intermediate medium, act as the symbol of designers' thoughts and feelings at this moment, and whether the information expressed by this symbol can be accepted and recognized accurately, quickly and effectively by the viewer becomes the symbol of the success of the design works. This is determined by the accuracy and effectiveness of the designer's choice, combination, transformation and regeneration of graphic symbols in the process of design thinking. It can be said that symbols are tools to express thoughts and feelings. The old adage "If a worker wants to be good at his work, he must sharpen his tools first" has a new interpretation here.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, Zhuangzi, a famous thinker in China, pointed out in his book "Zhuangzi Waipian" that "the speaker thinks too much and forgets to be proud of himself", that is, there is a relationship between representation and representation between language and things. Language is the representation of things, and things are the representation of language. The task of language is to convey the information of things, and the function of language is to convey information. A symbol is something that expresses or represents something with a certain medium.
In fact, it is a process of symbolizing the world, and thinking is nothing more than an operation process of symbol selection, combination, transformation and regeneration. So it can be said that people think with symbols, and symbols are the main body of thinking. The purpose of graphic design is to convey information. Undoubtedly, the planning of font position, proportion and relationship in two-dimensional space is also a thinking process, but at the same time it is not a thinking process in the usual sense.
Three types and levels of symbols
At present, in the field of symbol theory research, it is generally believed that from the perspective of the correlation between symbols and the objects they refer to (that is, the things or fields they point to and involve), symbols can be divided into the following three different types, which are also three levels of symbols.
Image symbols (icons) Image symbols are formed by simulating or resembling an object. Such as a portrait, is a symbol of someone's image. People have an intuitive perception of it, which can be identified by the similarity of images.
An indicator (index) indicates that there is a causal or spatio-temporal correlation between the indicator and the referred object. Such as road signs, are indicators of roads; Doors are indicators of building exits.
There is no inevitable or internal connection between the symbol and the object it refers to, but the result of convention. The object it refers to and the acquisition of relevant meaning are the associations generated by many people's feelings for a long time, that is, social customs. For example, red represents revolution, and peaches are a symbol of longevity in the eyes of China people.
Layout graphic design itself is the expression of symbols, and designers use it to convey their own thinking process and conclusions to the audience in order to achieve the purpose of guidance or persuasion; In other words, through the designer's works, let the audience use their own experience to confirm and finally understand the thoughts and feelings that the designer wants to express. Obviously, graphic design works, as an intermediate medium, act as the symbol of designers' thoughts and feelings at this moment, and whether the information expressed by this symbol can be accepted and recognized accurately, quickly and effectively by the viewer becomes the symbol of the success of the design works. This is determined by the accuracy and effectiveness of the designer's choice, combination, transformation and regeneration of graphic symbols in the process of design thinking. It can be said that symbols are tools to express thoughts and feelings. The old adage "If a worker wants to be good at his work, he must sharpen his tools first" has a new interpretation here.
The variable thinking of grasping symbols is a category of time and space.
As a narrow personal thinking, it has the same length as life and explores different living spaces; As a thinking activity of human society in a broader sense, it has universal significance of eternity and applicability to all involved spaces. As the main body of thinking, symbols are also changeable in the transformation of time and space.
■ Different time and space make a specific symbol have different reference objects;
■ Different time and space, different symbols refer to the same thing.
Different time and space make specific symbols have different references.
A large number of tortoise shells and animal bones unearthed from the Yinshang site in Anyang, Henan Province are engraved with a large number of hieroglyphics, which are called Oracle Bone Inscriptions, which is the earliest text that can be verified in China. These words are used to record the divination results at that time, that is, to record the symbols of events. With the passage of time, thousands of years later, in addition to the characteristics of the symbols that record events in the eyes of archaeologists, in the eyes of most people, these illegible words have become the symbols of that era thousands of years ago. In a large number of graphic design works, the image of Oracle Bone Inscriptions appears repeatedly, and the information it conveys is no longer the result of the ancients asking about their fate, but has become people's recollection of that era. Here, these words have become a reminder of the glory of Chinese civilization for thousands of years.
The "swastika" is an ancient spell, amulet or religious symbol, which is usually regarded as a symbol of fire or the sun and has appeared in many countries and regions. In China and other Asian countries, "Zi" is a Buddhist symbol, which means "auspicious place" in Sanskrit. People think it is an auspicious symbol appearing on Sakyamuni's chest, and it is used as a symbol of "universal virtue, good luck and wishful thinking".
B Different time and space, different symbols refer to the same thing.
Our society is experiencing more and more rapid changes. The ever-changing time and space endows things with new meanings, and things are constantly changing their symbols to adapt to the new meanings. People who live in such a constantly changing time and space are constantly changing their cognition of things, and the images-symbols constructed in their brains will naturally be different. Fashion, perhaps the fastest changing thing in society, is different every year, every month and even every day. The symbols representing fashion are constantly changing.
In 2002, the model of rogue rabbit swept the capital, and it conquered the audience with wonderful plot and eye-catching visual effects. Many friends will ask each other "have you seen the rogue rabbit" when they meet. There is no doubt that watching such an animation is the embodiment of fashion and has become one of the symbols representing "fashion". Now many businesses in the market have been inspired by this animation and created a group of images similar to the hero's shape in the movie. The purpose is to convey to the audience that buying and using this product is a fashion behavior like watching an animated rogue rabbit, and it is one of the lifestyles that you will always grasp the pulse of fashion.
Nothing is more complicated and basic than things related to symbols. Symbols are related to the whole field of human knowledge and life. They are universal tools in the human world, just like sports in nature.
3. Graphic design and writing are interlinked.
Mr Keller, one of the representatives of the movement, said: "Font should be a graphic element. Font graphics are highly unified in form and content. "
The graphic characteristics of characters have always been the creative material that designers enjoy. China has always paid attention to the homology of painting and calligraphy. Its characters themselves have the beauty of graphics and reach the artistic realm. The attempt to create Chinese characters began as early as in ancient Oracle Bone Inscriptions. Today, its text structure still conforms to the principle of graphic aesthetics. Words in the world are nothing more than images and symbols. Therefore, it is really easy to find out the factors that can constitute numbers from the text.
Graphic characters are based on Chinese characters that have been developed for thousands of years, and the fonts are re-graphically and re-created. Use some products developed by modern society as creative materials, and at the same time use this creativity to express some behaviors of modern society. Create a modern atmosphere and modernize writing creativity. Not only in form, but also in content, it further deepens the content to be expressed, and it is an image-based picture and text. At the beginning of my creation, I looked for the most expressive creative materials in modern times, and studied the glyphs and lattice structures of many characters from the perspective of glyphs. From the real visual life, we found the behavior symbol "→" which is the easiest to express and be understood by people. So I went around "→" to find all kinds of people related to it. The similarity of related structures, the expansibility and limitation of language and the new structure give this Chinese character a specific meaning.
Text graphics, that is, points, lines and surfaces with text as the most basic unit, appear in the layout. Make it a part of the layout, and even realize the unique layout form of graphic integration.
The idea of pictographic creativity of Chinese characters comes from the idea of graphic creativity, that is, the text itself is regarded as a graphic, and the meaning of graphic change is extended by adding its own text connotation. But there is a difference between this graphic and the original graphic. The former is graphics and the latter is text. Characters evolved on the basis of original graphics, while modern characters and graphics developed and changed on the basis of existing characters, which has deeper cultural connotation and new forms of expression than the original graphics and characters. Pictograph is only a superficial understanding of things, and it is a simple language symbol to convey information. It was produced in the specific environment at that time and is not called writing. Moreover, the development of modern Chinese characters has been relatively systematic, complete, unified and standardized. The imaginative creativity of Chinese characters is to re-create graphics on this basis, and to re-create the structure of Chinese characters by using the products of modern social development and modern element symbols, so that people can imagine another meaning after the change on the basis of being familiar with existing Chinese characters, that is, the concept of "old words and new ideas".
Text is the main element of print advertisement, which is second only to graphics in vision. When arranging words: 1) Words in regional advertisements, that is, the areas of words in pictures are arranged according to the number and content of text units. By changing the size of the text area, the text forms a combination of different sizes and areas, so that the text part in the picture has an elastic layout of points, lines and surfaces, thus creating different effects such as compactness and comfort for the layout, which can not only reduce the reading burden of readers and increase their reading interest, but also make the layout of advertisements have a sense of rhythm, rhythm and visual impact. 2) The arrangement of the text should also pay attention to the text effect of the text itself. In the composition of words and pictures, using different fonts to express different key words is a common method in design, but if there are too many fonts, the pictures will be restless, and if there are too few fonts, they will lack necessary vitality. The number of fonts often implies the core of advertising content.
Combine graphic symbols with words to form new concepts of words, narrow the connotation of words themselves, give them specific meanings, or reinterpret their literal meanings; The figure is treated graphically, the shape of the figure is regarded as the image, the meaning of the figure is regarded as the fundamental guiding ideology of creation, the meaning is expanded through deformation, and the transformation of the shape is limited through meaning, so that the figure is visualized.
Long Island Aquarium is a modern aquarium supplies company, and its logo was designed by Hong Kong designer Cai Yongyao. Because it is an aquarium company, the basic shape of logo is considered as the shape of "fish"; Because the company is a modern enterprise in Hong Kong, the designer adopted the initials "L" of the company name.
In terms of creativity, the design of Chinese characters must be well conceived and accurate, and it must not affect the main image of Chinese characters and be misleading. Designers must grasp the key points of creative design and emphasize the understanding of text design, which includes two important aspects:
1) is the spatial layout of plot and psychology according to the meaning and structure of the text, which is handled by images and symbols.
2) The creative design of Chinese characters must pay attention to the special national psychology formed by the Han nationality in the process of long-term use of Chinese characters-the aesthetic view of seeing business and associating. The latter is the focus of creative redesign of Chinese characters, which makes the designer's intention communicate with the viewer's mind and highly integrates the sound, form and meaning of Chinese characters.
4. Representation of graphics in advertising works
Whether people can leave a deep impression when they come into contact with advertisements depends largely on whether the graphic expressions in advertising works can catch consumers and cause them to scream. Compared with text, graphics have dynamic picture elements. Consider from three aspects:
1) Use fewer but more precise graphics. For most advertising works, the communication effect of graphics is absolutely different. One or two high-quality pictures, the image is distinct and prominent, the theme is prominent to the point, and ten pictures are one; But after more than two graphics, the visual impact is relatively weakened, and the picture atmosphere is dull.
2) The area factor of a graph depends on the importance of the graph. Often use large-area graphics to render the atmosphere, which can produce strong impact. Especially for outdoor large-scale advertising posters, vivid pictures are needed to catch readers' attention, to convey information immediately, and to use small-area pictures to help and deepen readers' impression. Mail advertisements and newspaper advertisements have plenty of time for their readers to read advertisements, and the graphic part can be relatively weakened, while the text part can be strengthened.
3) According to people's habits and emotional factors, readers' feelings about advertising directly affect the advertising effect.
In short, the purpose of graphic design is communication between people. As a designer, learning to use semiotic tools will make the design more effective. As a medium to convey ideas, design itself is a symbol, and design is composed of symbolic elements. Designers successfully select, combine, transform and regenerate these elements, and assemble them into symbols related to their own thoughts, which become symbols recognized by themselves and the audience. Through the combination of graphic symbols and words, they reconstruct a new concept of words, narrow the connotation of words themselves, give them specific meanings, or reinterpret their literal meanings. The figure is treated graphically, the shape of the figure is regarded as the image, the meaning of the figure is regarded as the fundamental guiding ideology of creation, the meaning is expanded through deformation, and the transformation of the shape is limited through meaning, so that the figure is visualized. This is the real formation of communication and the accurate and complete transmission of information, and the thinking process of design is complete.
1. Functionality: The essence of a logo lies in its functionality. Although the artistic design of the logo has ornamental value, the logo is mainly not for people to see, but for practicality. Signs are indispensable intuitive tools for people to carry out production activities and social activities. Signs are used by human beings, such as public place signs, traffic signs, safety signs and operation signs. Having flags and badges unique to countries, regions, cities, races and families; Used in social organizations, enterprises, charities and activities, such as emblem, logo, factory logo, social logo, etc. ; There are special trademarks for commodities; There are also articles dedicated to collectives or individuals, such as seals, signatures, flower pledges, signatures, branding, etc. , has an irreplaceable unique role. Signs with legal effect have a special mission of safeguarding rights and interests.
2. Identifiability: The most prominent feature of the logo is that it has its own unique characteristics, is easy to identify, shows the characteristics of things, and shows the different meanings between things. The main function of signs is to distinguish and belong. All kinds of signs are directly related to the fundamental interests of the country, the group and even the individual, and must not be identical or confused with each other, so as not to create an illusion. Therefore, the logo must be distinctive, clear at a glance and unforgettable.
3. Salience: Salience is another important feature of a sign. Except for invisible signs, most signs are set to attract people's attention. Therefore, strong eye-catching colors and concise and clear graphics are the characteristics of the logo.
4. Diversity: There are many kinds of signs, which have a wide range of uses. From the perspective of their application forms, composition forms and means of expression, they are extremely rich and diverse. Its application forms are not only plane (almost any substance can be used), but also three-dimensional (such as relief, garden carving, packaging and containers with any three-dimensional objects or special patterns, etc.). Its forms include direct use of objects, writing symbols, figuration, imagery or abstract graphics and colors. Most symbols consist of several basic forms. As far as the means of expression are concerned, its richness and diversity are almost hard to describe, and it is always innovating with the development of science, technology, culture and art.
5. Artistry: All unnatural signs of design have a certain degree of artistry. It conforms to both practical requirements and aesthetic principles. Giving people a sense of beauty is the basic requirement for its artistry. Generally speaking, art signs can attract and infect people more, giving people a strong and deep impression. The high artistry of signs is the need of the times and the progress of civilization, the embodiment of people's higher and higher cultural literacy and the need of aesthetic psychology.
Accuracy: No matter what the sign says or expresses, whether it is a meaning or a symbol, its meaning must be accurate. First of all, it should be easy to understand and conform to people's cognitive psychology and cognitive ability. Secondly, we should be accurate, avoid unexpected explanations or misunderstandings, and pay special attention to taboos. People can see clearly and accurately in a very short time, which is the advantage that sign language is better than language and faster than language.
7. Persistence: Unlike advertisements or other promotional materials, signs generally have long-term use value and are not easily changed.