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The Elements of Graphic Design, Second Edition

Book · January 2011

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 The Elements of Graphic Design

Space, Unity, Page Architecture, and Type

© 2011 by Alexander W. White
All rights reserved. Copyright under Berne Copyright Contents
Convention, Universal Copyright Convention, and Pan-
American Copyright Convention. No part of this book Preface vi
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or trans- Introduction 1
mitted in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechani-
This book is concerned cal, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without prior Sect 1 Space
with what things look like, permission of the publisher. Chap 1 Space is emptiness 17
but supposes that what is Chap 2 Symmetry and asymmetry 39
being said is worth the effort 15 14 13 12 11 5 4 3 2 1 Chap 3 The historical development of space: Five timelines 52
of clarity.
Published by Allworth Press Sect 2 Unity
An imprint of Allworth Communications Chap 4 Unity and space 71
10 East 23rd Street, New York, NY 10010 Chap 5 The seven design components 81
Book design, composition, and typography by Chap 6 How to use the seven design components 97
Alexander W. White, New York, NY
Sect 3 Page Architecture
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Chap 7 The page as visual structure 109
White, Alex W. Chap 8 Connecting elements and pages 125
The Elements of Graphic Design: Space, Unity, Page Chap 9 Three-dimensional space 137
Architecture, and Type / Alex W. White – 2nd Edition
p. cm. Sect 4 Type
Includes bibliographical references and index. Chap 10 Listening to type 149
ISBN 978-1-58115-762-8 (pbk.) Chap 11 Typographic technicalities 161
1. Graphic design (Typography) Chap 12 Display type 177
2. Layout (Printing) Chap 13 Text type 189
3. Type and type-founding.
I. Title. Glossary 202
Bibliography 207
Z246.W56 2011
Designer’s checklist 208
686.2'2--dc22
Index 210
2010043571
Colophon 214
Printed in Thailand

Contents v
Illegibility results when an image Lack of color contrast adds to Overlapping display type over Flirting with illegibility is a
is put behind text. This neither illegibility, with yellow on white type and over an image makes powerful way to get attention,
enhances the value of the image the weakest contrast of all. This each individual element harder but knowing when the elabo-
(it is being covered up!), nor German ad for a ten-liter barrel to read but increases overall rate presentation overwhelms
makes the text easy to read of beer nevertheless uses yellow impact as a unified visual. the content is essential.
(with a changing background). lettering on white appropriately.

Use the paper’s whiteness than for the sake of the message. Readers are far less
to attract readers. Does this likely to notice or object to too much white space than
much “emptiness” justify its to an unreadable, crowded page.
cost to the client? Yes, if the Readability is a term that refers to the adequacy of
emptiness communicates the an object to attract readers. It should not be confused
message, which it does in these with legibility, which describes the adequacy of an ob-
two examples (facing page). ject to be deciphered. Good readability makes the page
comfortable to read. Poor readability makes pages look
The space where a camera dull or busy. Richard Lewis, an annual reports expert,
would be held is more arresting says, “Make exciting design. Dullness and mediocrity
than a mundane shot of a are curses of the annual report. For every overdesigned,
camera being held. The camera unreadable report there are a hundred undistinguished
(albeit not in proportional size) ones that just plod along.” Regarding legibility, Lewis “What you see depends to a
is then placed horizontally says, “Designers who play with type until they have great extent on what you ex-
across the spread from the rendered it unreadable are engaged in a destructive act pect to see, what you are used
space, creating a visual link that hurts us all. Hard-to-read [design] is useless.” Make to seeing.” Sir Jonathan Miller
between the two images. unnecessary demands on your readers with great care (1934– ), public intellectual
and only when you are sure the extra effort they are be-
ing asked to make will quickly become evident to them.
Considered use of white space shows off the subject.
Go through the pages of any newspaper and you will find
wall-to-wall ads of even grayness, occasionally punctu-
ated by darker areas of bold type. Few ads utilize the
whiteness of the paper to attract attention. Using the
whiteness of the paper is an especially good approach
if the paper’s whiteness expresses the idea of the ad.

Introduction 13
A bloodied windshield de- blank paper. This “non-existent” Expressive use of space de-
scribes a “delightfully violent raw material is available to scribes the roominess inside
driving game,” but it is actually be exploited in every design, a vehicle, exaggerating it by
a brilliantly utilized area of whether paper or screen based. likening it to a house.

Giovanni Battista Piranesi is part of a valid and logical solution to design problems.
(1720-1778) was an Italian Unlike images and words, which come with their own
artist and printmaker. Trained obvious reasons for being included in a design, emptiness
as an architect, his works is more subtle. It is within the designer’s responsibility
depicted views of Rome and to look for and take advantage of emptiness on each de-
grand buildings and, famously, sign assignment and be able to explain and justify it.
“Carceri d'invenzione,” a series Expressive use of white space requires an asym-
of imaginary prisons. In the metrical design. Centering an element kills white space
series of sixteen works, Pira- because the figure’s position, its centeredness, has “The closer you look at some-
nesi distorted space, treating eclipsed the need for interestingly shaped negative thing, the more complex it
foreground and background space. Placing the figure off to one side – even bleeding seems to be.” Vint Cerf,
whimsically in studies of gigan- off an edge – activates the white space, especially if the (1943- ), co-creator of the
tic vaulted spaces that lead to emptiness is in large chunks. A truism in design is that if Internet
and from nowhere. you arrange the white space well, the elements on the
page will look great, but if you arrange only the posi-
tive elements on the page, the white space will almost
inevitably be ineffective.
Seeing the potential of emptiness requires a shift in
thinking that is equivalent to doctors preserving health
instead of just curing diseases. The medical community
has come to the realization that nurturing patients’
wellness in addition to treating their illnesses is good
practice. This is a historical shift in medical thinking.
Peter Stark wrote an excellent description of an
equivalent way of seeing in an extreme-skiier profile in
Outside magazine: “Standing on Mount Hood, I looked

1 31
 A

c15,000 bc Identifying marks 6,000 bc The first identifiers c1200 Merchants’ marks are 1282 The earliest watermark, 1502 Aldus Manutius adopts 1670 With the advent of print- 1750 Pottery and porcelain 1864 Stylization is introduced
have been around since the were Sumerian stamps (A). Three widely used to mark packages. a symbol embedded directly the anchor-and-dolphin device, ing, “tradesman’s cards” are marks are pressed into the bot- to denote quality in England in
beginning of human writing. thousand years later, cylinder Being diagramatic, they com- into paper fibers to indicate the symbolizing the proverb simple, literal depictions of toms of pieces to indicate prov- the second half of the 1800s.
Here, paint was spit-sprayed seals, rolled across soft clay, municate across dialects and paper’s maker, is Italian. Festina lente, or “Make haste businesses. enance and artisan. These are
around the artist’s own hand. showed stories as signatures (B). languages, even to illiterates. slowly.” samples from Delft, Holland.

Timeline 3: Logos has inherent aesthetic† quality – and it must be good

A logo is a mark that identifies an individual or busi- for the client by satisfying their brand positioning, by
ness. Logos have a rich and fascinating history. “Logos” Symbols meeting clearly stated business objectives, and by the
Representational signs
Realistic images of objects is Greek for “word,” and it is a term that is widely and designer’s ability to explain why a design solution is right
incorrectly used to indicate all corporate trademarks. thinking. | Though logos are part of a greater branding
Marks may be symbols (marks without type), lettermarks Lettermarks effort, every logo should be a perfect jewel of character- A logo is often accompanied
Pictograms (letters form the name), logos (a pronouncable word), or filled relationships that reveals the designer’s mastery of by a tagline. “Good to the last
Descriptive images of objects
combination marks (symbol and logo together). | What the fundamental figure/ground relationship. e n d drop®” may have been coined
is right with your logo’s design? Is it smart, beautiful, * Elegance is not the abundance of simplicity. Elegance is the absence in 1907 by President Theodore
Logos
Symbolic signs witty, elegant*, original, well designed, and appropriate? These handlettered logos, all of complexity. ** Good is a solution to a real or clearly stated prob- Roosevelt at Maxwell House
Pictograms with new meanings Does it use negative space well? Is it, in a word, good**? done by Ed Benguiat, are †
lem. Good lasts for ten years. Aesthetics = artistry + inventiveness Hotel in Nashville … or it was
A good logo must be good on its own design merits – it examples of positive and nega- brought to a problem. written by Clifford Spiller, then
Combination marks tive shapes in perfect balance. president of General Foods.
Ideograms
Nonrepresentational ideas
1933 Lucian Bernhard, a Ger- 1971 Carolyn Davidson, a stu- 1972 A logo is a mark that is 1978 Abstraction is used in 1989 Stefan Geissbuhler de- 1993 A modern mark notable 2006 Logos need regular up-
man designer now best known dent at Portland State Universi- a pronounceable word, like symbols when the companies signs the Time Warner mark. for its elegant N, W, and de- dating to be contemporaneous.

Diagrammatic signs for his typefaces, creates a ty, is paid $35 to design a logo Exxon. Shown here is Raymond they describe are not easily il- The final is a hand rendering scriptive arrow created by The earliest mark here (top
Nonrepresentational, arbitrary body of lettermarks for compa- for a new sneaker company. Loewy’s first sketch, done in lustrated. This is for a Brazilian because the computer-drawn negative space. left) is from 1901.
nies in Europe and the U.S. 1966. banking group. studies were too sterile.

Synonimic signs
Images with the same referent

Semiotics, the study of signs

and meanings, defines nine cat-
egories of marks, of which these
six are the most important.

3 61
If there is just one thing you the type relate to the image, the others. The point is to make involvement from the reader.
attempt to do as a designer, it make the image relate to the a singular message, a message Fooling around with things
must be to create unity among type. Take the attributes – or that looks predigested and pro- and leaving them in disunity is
the pieces and parts with even just one attribute – from cessed in a way that encour- hardly a necessary addition to
which you are working. Make one element and apply it to ages sampling and, perhaps, the communicative process.

4 Unity and space

Technological limitations have Similarity and contrast 73
forced unity on design. Sume- Balance similarity (which
rian cuneiform scribes had only can produce boring

U
wedge-shaped sticks and soft nity contributes orderliness and sameness) with contrast
clay (left, background) and coherency and a civilized state of (which can produce unre-
fifteenth-century printers had things generally. Whereas the Con- lated noisy busyness).
only a few handmade fonts trast family are all savages, more or less. –
(left, foreground). This example William A. Dwiggins* (1880–1956) Using space
is from Geofroy Tory’s Champ to create unity 77
Fleury: The Art and Science of One goal of graphic design is to achieve visual unity Consistent, defined
the Proportion of the Attic or or harmony. Eugene Larkin, in the introduction to his spaces join and add a
Ancient Roman Letters, Accord- book Design: The Search for Unity, writes, “The minimal sense of organization.
ing to the Human Body and Face. requirement in visual design is … the organization of all
Tory (c.1480-1533) completed the parts into a unified whole. All the parts, no matter
the ninety-six page comparison how disparate, must be reconciled so they support each
of perfect proportion between other.” In other words, elements must be made to work
the human body and letter- together with the greatest interest to the reader and
forms in 1529. Champ fleury with the least resistance from the reader.
means “flowery fields,” or Because they had very limited resources, the earliest
“paradise.” design practitioners achieved visual continuity rather eas-
ily: it was externally imposed on them by lack of choice of
Intentional use of similarity materials (left, top). Today, with the abundant resources *Dwiggins coined the term
and contrast are shown (left, available as digital information, giving designers the graphic designer, designed hun-
bottom) in these four student capability to replicate with near exactitude the work dreds of books and eighteen
studies of typographic systems of any era, we must exercise internal restraint to achieve typefaces, and wrote the first
and space. harmonious, unified design. book on advertising design.

4 71
Rayonnant architecture (“radi- interior space became more Architectural voids are hand- Brooklyn bridge is on the right,
ant,” in reference to the circular valued than the walls of the somely lampooned in this ad showing the actual arches in
stained glass windows that ra- building itself, was developed for Absolut vodka. The real its towers.
diate from a central point), in in France in 1231. This is La
which illuminated, weightless Sainte-Chapelle in Paris.

Castles (facing page, top) illus- Architecture and design

trate layout complexity (facing A completely new way of realizing large-scale archi-
page, bottom): tecture occurred in the mid-thirteenth century. Construc-
SIMPL E tion of the church of St.-Denis, near Paris, had stopped
Primitive = Elementary about eighty years earlier when the abbot who began
castle page
architecture
the building died. When the church’s new design was
proposed in 1231, it was the first instance of Rayonnant
S TA N DA R D
Regular = Intermediate
(“radiant”) architecture, in which radiating patterns of “Architecture is the beautiful
castle page cut-glass windows, of which there were many, flooded and serious game of space.”
architecture
the building with light. It was a decision to have empty Willem Dudok (1884–1974),
C O MPL E X space within the cathedral be more important than the architect
Elaborate = Intricate
castle page stone walls that surrounded the space.
architecture There has always been a similiarity between archi-
tecture and design in thinking style and problem–solving
approach. Hassan Massoudy said in his book Calligra-
Layout complexity is deter- phy, “An architectural design defines a living space; the
mined by the number of design space between the walls is as real and as significant as
relationships it contains. Too the walls themselves. In [graphic design] the value of a
many relationships – a design space derives from its relationship with the [elements]
which is said to be “busy” – can that surround it and vice versa.” Sean Morrison, in A
equal no relationships. Guide to Type Design, says, “Type designers are closer to
architects than to artists. The architect must produce a
building that is structurally sound and efficient but that
is also visually pleasing and comfortable to live and work
in.” Surely, a designer’s work must conform to these same
requirements to be useful.

7 111
A piece of parchment (stretched Piet Mondrian expressed de A grid is used in this spread When elements have been fitted
and dried sheepskin) is pre- Stijl principles in his 1942 from an annual report. The into an environment of same-
pared for writing by having a Composition with Red, Yellow white box mortised into the im- ness, whether on a grid or oth-
grid lightly drawn on it in this and Blue using gridded space, age is the most different thing erwise, a focal point becomes
detail of a 1255 German illumi- asymmetrical composition, and on the page. Though small, its visible.
nated letter. primary colors. caption is the focal point.

A seven-column grid struc- A simpler grid is usually better than a complex grid. A
tures space with flexibility. It grid’s complexity should help the designer answer the ques-
imposes white space because tions, “How big should this element be and where should I
the narrow columns must be put it?” A seven-column grid is universally functional and
combined to accommodate great fun to use because it contains many options (fac-
type, leaving at least one ing page, top three rows). But beware: overly complex
narrow column empty. Shown grids offer so many options they become all but useless
diagramatically, these column because they no longer limit choices. Readers can’t rec-
variations are not intended as ognize organization when the grid units are too small.
layouts. Structured design has a visible cadence and tension
that leads from one element to the next in an orderly
How to create a horizontal grid. way. But if structure is followed without thoughtful ma-
Divide the maximum number nipulation, it produces repetitive sameness and boredom. “Simplicity of form is never a
of a page’s text lines into Grid development must include a description of how poverty, it is a great virtue.”
equal groups, allowing a line and when the structure (or “normal” placement) will be Jan Tschichold (1902–1974),
between each group. For ex- violated. The rules of violation focus creativity and make typographer and designer
ample, if there are forty-eight grid-based design look fresh. The most important rule
lines on a page, there can be of violation is to have an element break the grid when
seven units of six lines each it deserves to stand out. In a context of sameness, that
with one line added between lone element becomes very visible (above right).
units (7 x 6 + 6 = 48). In addition to organizing complex information on
a particular page or spread, grids unite the cover and
interior pages and relate one issue to the next. Grids also
organize an entire company’s visual requirements. They
build family resemblance among on-screen applications,
brochures, data sheets, and advertising.

7 123
Hyphens and dashes come in has been proposed as a way the ends of lines. An en-dash numbers. An em-dash is the
three widths. Each has its own to solve the need to hang a is slightly longer and used as a longest – I believe too long,
role, but it is up to the designer horizontal hyphen. A hyphen separator in elective situations, because it becomes too notice-
to choose which character will is a short horizontal bar used as between multiple com- able in a text setting – and
be used. A vertical hyphen to indicate breaks in words at pound words, and between is used for sudden breaks in
dialogue.

Punctuation and dashes

Punctuation developed as a way for scribes to
indicate reading speed for out loud delivery of religious
services. There were no standards for the use of punc-
tuation until the invention of printing. In general, dots
indicated word separations and were replaced by spaces
by about ad 600. The dot, when aligned at cap height,
was then used to indicate a stop, like a modern period,
and when aligned at the baseline, to indicate a pause,
like a modern comma. Aldus Manutius, one of the first
printers in Italy, introduced the semicolon, question mark,
and the slanted, condensed humanist letterforms, which
came to be known as italics.
Never use primes in text (top). «Quote marks were introduced in Paris in 1557 as a
Reduce the size of punctuation pair of sideways Vs.» English printers eventually replaced
and the space after commas those with inverted commas (“6s”) at the opening and
and periods particularly in dis- apostrophes (“9s”), which had been invented in the 1600s, Hung punctuation, the place-
play type for optical evenness. at the end of a quote. Smart quotes like these are used in ment of punctuation marks in
text while prime (') and double prime (") symbols – also the margin beyond the flush
A verbal interpretation of the called the vertical apostrophe – are used in numerals. edge of a column, was first use
“air quote,” those annoying fin- French spacing is the insertion of two word spaces in type by Gutenberg, though
ger gestures people use to step after a period to highlight a new sentence. French spac- it is today an automatic process
outside what they are actually ing was used in monospaced typewritten copy through in InDesign. Hang punctuation
saying, is used to novel effect the twentieth century to help make sentence beginnings by placing it in the margin to
in this car, uh, sedan, ad. more visible. It is not necessary – and actually bad form – create an optically even col-
in proportionally spaced digital typesetting. umn edge.

11 175
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