Communications Toolkit - Visual Communication and …

1 ContentsWhat Leaders Need To 55 The Goal of Visual Communication 55 Kids & the Creative 55 How to Use the Materials .. 56 Life 56 Self-Assessment & Evaluation .. 56 Beyond the Toolkit : More Ideas & 57 Skill SheetsThe Creative 59 Design Building Blocks The Elements & Principles .. 60 Type Terms & Tips .. 62 Color Terms & Tips .. 64 Designing Symbols & Logos That Work .. 66 Designing Presentation Graphics That Work .. 67 Designing Layouts That Work .. 68 Designing Exhibits That Work .. 70 How Did I Do? A Self-Check for Evaluating Your Design 72 Design Warm-Up ActivitiesDesign Elements: Line .. 73 74 Texture .. 77 Space & Size .. 78 Color .. 80 Design Principles: 84 Rhythm .. 87 Emphasis .. 88 Unity .. 90 You re My Type .. 91 Scanning the Visual Environment.

2 93 Design a Logo .. 94 Design a Poster or Flier .. 96 Design Presentation 101 Communications Toolkit Visual Communication & Graphic Design 55 2000 Michigan State University Board of LeadersNeed to KnowIntroductionWhether you take a drive down awell-travelled highway, strollthrough a local shopping mall orsurf the Internet, you see and in-terpret many Visual messages everyday. These messages may be informs such as logos, signs and post-ers, or television, computer andmagazine and your group may need todesign some Visual messages of yourown. You might need a poster toadvertise a meeting, a brochure ornewsletter for your organization, ora logo for a club business. Computertechnology now gives more peopleaccess to many of the same or similardesign tools as those used by mediaprofessionals.

3 To use these tools toeffectively communicate a message,however, requires more than justknowledge of the computer requires an understanding of howto structure Visual information usingthe elements and principles ofdesign. The area of design that dealswith structuring Visual informationfor communicating messages is calledgraphic is becoming more vi-sual in nature. (Consider CD-ROMmultimedia encyclopedias andgames, or the images availableacross the Internet the electronic information superhighway. ) As weexchange more information withpeople whose language and culturediffer from ours, Visual communi-cation through well-designed sym-bols and images may help make ourmessages easier to s young people will face manysituations in the future both onand off their jobs in which theywill need to understand and usegood Visual Communication designskills to ensure that their messagesare seen and can use the activities and in-formation in this section to help theyoung people you work with: Think about how and why visualmessages in our environment arecreated.

4 Become familiar with the lan-guage of Visual Communications . Become comfortable with the cre-ative process as it applies to visualcommunication. Learn to use the basic elementsand principles of Visual communi-cation design. Learn to evaluate Visual communi-cation. Find additional Visual communi-cation Goal of VisualCommunicationDesignVisual Communication is a specialblend of art and language used todeliver information to a particulargroup of people. If the informationis presented in a way that attractsthe intended audience and per-suades them to take action (suchas to come to a car wash or to re-cycle their trash), the designer hasdone his or her job way to state the goal of thevisual Communication designer is:To create Visual formats for mes-sages, taking into consideration theintended audience by using mutu-ally understandable alphabets, sym-bols, colors, images and selectingappropriate media so the messagescan be received, understood and re-sponded you begin working with yourgroup on Visual Communication ac-tivities, ask the participants tothink about this.

5 Have them putinto their own words what theythink the goal of a Visual commu-nication designer might & theCreative ProcessCreative problem-solving and cre-ative presentation of Visual infor-mation are essential elements of thedesign process. You can help stimu-late creative thinking by providingkids with: Opportunities, time and materi-als to explore. Encouragement to express theirown ideas. Acceptance and respect for it is difficult for kids (andadults!) to talk about their creativework in front of others for fear theywill be criticized. It s helpful to askkids to talk about the process theywent through to create their your group to identify and talkabout aspects of each others work56 Communications Toolkit Visual Communication & Graphic Design 2000 Michigan State University Board of like.

6 This gives kids a chanceto use their new design vocabularyto describe what they when kids are comfortablewith this positive presentation andfeedback process should you beginto add questions like, How couldone part of this project be improved,and why? or If you could do thisagain, what might you do differ-ently? Allow one group member topresent a suggestion to the de-signer, then give the designer achance to agree or disagree with theobservation. The How Did I Do? ASelf-Check for Evaluating Your De-sign Project skill sheet found onpage 72 also can provide a way forindividuals to privately evaluatetheir own to Use theMaterialsIn addition to What Leaders Needto Know, the Visual communicationsection includes: Skill Sheets Single conceptsheets that provide basic informa-tion and tips.

7 Specific sheets arereferred to in many of the activi-ties and may be copied and reviewedby leaders and members before be-ginning an activity. These sheetsalso can be used independent of theactivities for quick reference . Design Warm-Up Activities Short activities that introduce spe-cific Visual Communication can be used as warm-ups forprojects. Projects Longer activities de-signed to take a group through thedesign process using a format suchas a poster or logo. Depending onthe needs of the group, each ofthese activities can be completedin a single meeting or expanded intomultiple meetings or using the activities, thinkabout the suggested procedures andmaterials. Then adapt them to fitthe needs and resources of activities are designed so thatthey can be carried out with theleast amount of specialized tools,technical training on those tools,materials and room setup.

8 If yourgroup has access to and familiaritywith computer page layout anddrawing software or other commu-nication technology, you can adaptthe activities to take advantage ofyour available activities provide generic situations for participants to applytheir design skills to. However, youcan substitute a real situation suchas designing posters for an up-coming event. If your group is inter-ested in making communicationstheir project, you can use the ac-tivities as a jumping-off point forexploring the area of Visual com-munication SkillsUsing the Visual communicationand graphic design activities in thissection can provide young peoplewith practice in valuable life skillssuch as: Planning and researching aproject, and then organizing theinformation.

9 Making decisions and solvingproblems creatively. Using resources wisely. Working as a team member. Learning useful and marketabletechnical skills (the elements andprinciples of design, for example)and applying these skills to aproject. Developing record-keeping skills(for example, creating a graphicsportfolio). Communicating a concept or mes-sage to others through visualmeans. Strengthening self-esteem byunderstanding one s abilities andhaving an opportunity to experiencesuccess. Evaluating a project and settinggoals for EvaluationAfter each activity or project youlead with young people, please helpthem think about what theylearned. Make copies of the WhatI Learned self-evaluation form onpage 8 and distribute them to yourgroup.

10 Ask them to think quietlyabout the questions and make notesabout what they learned, how theyfeel about their skills in that areaand what they d like to learn moreabout. Then lead a discussion withthe whole group and ask if anyonewants to share what they came upwith. Young people may want tokeep their What I Learned self-evaluation forms to refer to laterand as a way to document theirlearning Toolkit Visual Communication & Graphic Design 57 2000 Michigan State University Board of theToolkit:More Ideas &ResourcesCommunity as aResourceThere are probably individualsworking in the area of Visual com-munication design in your commu-nity or neighboring areas. Their jobtitles are often graphic designer or graphic artist.