ABSTRACT
This chapter presents some basic rules of graphic design and layout so you can begin to speak the visual language that you already read. There are interior designers and landscape designers, product designers and product packaging designers, and, of course, graphic designers. Believe it or not, there are even font designers and color designers. To a great degree, designers engineer visual culture. All this is to say that visual culture changes as a result of design's changing forms and functions, both related to technology and social trends. Technically, "graphic design" refers to a plan for organizing visual objects in space. Generally, that space is a two-dimensional plane, meaning some kind of flat surface such as paper or an electronic screen. Negative space always has weight and structure in graphic design. Taking creative license with the rules of design can lead to innovation, which leads us to changing design trends. Design, like visual culture and English language, is not static.
