Graphic design
Graphic design combines typography, imagery, color, and layout to communicate messages and shape visual experiences across print and digital media.
Typography: The design and arrangement of letterforms to make written language legible and expressive. Type choices establish hierarchy, tone, and readability in a design.
Editorial design: The design of publications, including the organization of text and images across pages. It applies graphic design to long-form reading and recurring page structures.
Printing press: A machine for transferring inked text or images onto paper and other materials. Mass printing created the scale and repeatability that shaped graphic design.
Fine art: Art made primarily for aesthetic, expressive, or conceptual purposes rather than a prescribed practical function. Graphic design usually answers a communication brief, unlike much fine art.
Visual communication: The exchange of information and ideas through visual forms such as images, symbols, and spatial arrangements. Graphic design is a practical discipline within this broader mode of communication.
Visual hierarchy: The arrangement of elements to guide attention according to their relative importance. Hierarchy helps viewers identify the message and its supporting details.
Brand identity: The visual and verbal system through which an organization presents itself consistently. Graphic design makes a brand recognizable across its communications.
William Morris: An English designer, writer, and socialist associated with the Arts and Crafts movement. His decorative books and production ideals influenced later design reform.
Advertising: Paid communication intended to promote products, services, ideas, or organizations. Advertising sets persuasive goals that graphic design may serve but does not define.
Semiotics: The study of signs, symbols, and how they produce meaning. Semiotics helps explain how designed images and symbols carry cultural associations.