Foundations. Graphic Design 04: New Basics | Ellen Lupton, Jennifer Cole Phillips

In Graphic Design: The New Basics, authors Ellen Lupton and Jennifer Cole Phillips reveal the key concepts of visual language that are essential to any design job, from designing a logo or letterhead to creating a complex website. They explain these concepts through visual examples and side-by-side commentary, introducing the formal basic elements of 2D design, such as point, line, plane, scale, hierarchy, layers, and transparency.

The new, revised edition adds a new chapter covering formstorming and gestalt principles, and features numerous new examples of work from students and professionals illustrating topics such as working with grids and color.

This book is a guide to creating visual forms that allows designers to understand how to build variety and complexity from simple connections. The authors draw on the pioneering work of modernist designers, from Joseph Albers and László Mogoj-Nagy of the Bauhaus to Armin Hoffmann and Malcolm Greer, to help readers bridge the gap between software and visual thinking.

Primarily intended for students and aspiring designers, this book is illustrated with work by students in the undergraduate and graduate programs at the Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA). The authors show a variety of works, which reflects the natural difference in skill and ability to sensory perception.