GDS Reading Questions

 GDS Reading and Questions #1

1. What does it take to become a well-rounded designer, according to GDS?

To become a well-rounded designer, one must have a basic understanding of design principles, learn practical and compositional skills, and an understanding of the impact, influence, and context in which design has in the world. With an awareness of our world, and an adept set of skills, you can become a designer.

2. What are a few forms of research that you can do on a regular basis?

   Research includes just about anything that helps you better understand our world and the way design works and can be seen in everything around us. Reading books not just about graphics design but about anything can open you up to new ideas and information to expand your knowledge; an invaluable tool. Keeping sketchbooks, diaries, and notebooks lets you gather inspiration, whether from your original work or clippings and samples from other established works to draw upon. Looking into the way design works and where we get ideas from will help you arrive at your own creative inspiration.

3. What is the difference between primary and secondary research?

   Primary research is the gathering of material that does not pre-exist, such as photographing, drawing, making prototypes, and interviewing people. Secondary research gathers material that already exists, such as design work, color samples, written texts, newspapers and so on.

4. What is contextualization? Give an example that is not given in the book.

   Contextualization is the process of placing something within the interrelated systems of meaning that make up the world. An example would be creating something with elements of design, making it your own, then finding how it fits within the design of the world. Using it for something, whether it be a cover or ad or website. Its finding the context for your work against the world's backdrop.

5. What are four types of photography, and what are their main differences?

   The four types of photography are objects and products, portraits and image of people, landscapes and buildings, and ephemera and texture. Their main differences are that each contains specific qualities that make up the image's style. It pertains to its lighting and composition, subject, and focus/exposure. Objects focus on the obvious use of still life and inanimate objects. Portraits and people focus on the representation of a person. Landscapes and buildings capture the environment, and texture focuses on the specifics and closeups of an object; things we don't normally notice about them or qualities they have.

6. What are a few techniques you can use to strengthen an initial photograph?

   Cropping, zooming, adjusting its orientation, play with light and shadows, try symmetrical or asymmetrical compositions, and/or play with lines and distance.

7. What is Photoshop used for?

   Photoshop is used for enhancing, transforming, altering, editing, and retouching images, whether in their original setting or another entirely. It can be used to change a photo in any way imaginable.

8. How are pixels and resolution related?
   The lower the resolution number, the greater number of pixels are visible. The higher the resolution, the less pixels are seen, therefore making the image clearer.
   
   
   
   
   GDS Questions #2
   GDS 34-41


   1. What is design composition?

   Composition refers to the visual structure and organization of elements within a design; it concerns the process of combining distinct parts or elements to form a whole. Composition involves seeing the whole as greater than its parts, and is just as important as the individual elements that make up a design.
   
   
   
   
   2. What is the difference between positive and negative space?

   Positive space is a form or object that, to the eye, appears to exist. This might be a solid shape, a line, or texture. Negative space is everything else around or within an object. The “empty space left over”.
   3. What do each of the following types of lines signify: soft, zigzagged, converging, horizontal, vertical?

   Soft: tranquility and harmony. Zigzagged: jarring and discordance. Converging: imply a disappearing point; illusion of three dimensions. Horizontal: suggest horizons. Vertical: suggest power and strength.
   4. What is Gestalt psychology? 

   A theory that suggests that the mind perceives and organizes holistically and finds patterns in that which appears to be unconnected.
   5. What is the difference between a symmetrical and asymmetrical design?

   Symmetrical design shows a spatial relationship between elements and specifically where the elements in a layout are centered, having equal space to the left and right or above and below them. Asymmetrical design the elements are not centered and use the entire page format in a dynamic composition, using space, scale, contrast, and tension between elements.
   6. When would a symmetrical design be appropriate versus an asymmetrical one?


   A symmetrical design is appropriate when advertising a product or designing a cover, because you want to attract the reader or viewer, as oppose to making them feel off balance when looking at what your showing them. 
   
   
   
   
   
   

   GDS Reading Questions #3

   
   

   1. What is a thumbnail? How are they beneficial?

      Small, rough visual representation of the bigger picture or final outcome of a design.

   2. What is abstraction?

      An aesthetic concept meaning something that is drawn from the real, but has been “distilled” to its barest minimum form, color, or tone, often removed from its original context.

   3. What is the difference between denotation and connotation?

      Denotation means the image refers to what it actually shows. It is simply what it means. But connotations are extended meanings associated with a sign or symbol. The have deeper meaning than just what the appear to be.

   4. What is a metaphor? Give an example not in the book.
What is symbolism. Give an example not in the book.

      A metaphor is a word or image that sets up associations. A metaphor example, would be saying, “his home was a prison”. The prison is a metaphor for the entrapment and problems he felt and faced in his home, making prison the metaphor. Symbolism is a way of representing an object or word through an image, sound or another word. For example, a sign for of a person walking means you can cross or walk there.

   5. What are a few questions you should ask yourself regarding target audience?

      Who is the desired target audience? What do you know about them? What can you/should you find out about them? What will your work require of you to reach them?

   6. What is customer profiling?


      The process of creating a series of parameters or set of information that defines the desires, trends, or interests of a demographic so that designs can be pitched or marketed to them.