The components of graphic design should amplify, clarify and enhance the message for the viewer. Point, line and plane are the building blocks of design. From these elements, designers create images, icons, textures, patterns, diagrams, animations, and typographic systems (Lupton & Phillips, 2014, p. 13). Point can direct attention, be the focus of attention, create emphasis and cut through veiled information. The compositional term 'focal point', brings the objective and subjective together, by being the first place the eye is drawn to in a composition and usually contains the most important piece of visual communication. Lines in nature act as defining planes — examples are a horizon or the silhouette of a forest against the sky. Lines can create a plane (a shape) by being clustered together, or by defining a shape. Like lines, planes (shapes) can be organically made or they can be geometric. Planes are excellent compositional tools for clustering visual elements into visual fields. A plane can also act as a separating device and allow the viewer to see that one section of information is not linked to another. In design software, a vector graphic is a shape created by defining its parameters with a line and then filling it with a solid or textured fill. Grids help to create and define typographic planes that float or interact with solid planes of image, texture, or colour. Given that design and colour are united in every project, it is important to realize that there are two colour systems, and often a project needs to work in both. Digital media works in the additive colour system and its primary colours are red, green and blue (RGB). In this system, the absence of colour equals black, while combining all colours results in white. Subtractive colour is the system needed for print media and its primary colours are cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). In CMYK, the absence of colour equals white, while combining all colours creates black. If your print materials cannot be replicated on screen, you will have a major design problem that will need to be corrected. Always choose colours that will work in both systems. Negative space, which is also called white space, is the visually quiet area that surrounds the active area of a composition. It is also referred to as figure/ground and has a very important role in composition, as it shapes the visual perception of the subject. Without negative space, there is no positive space — the effect is similar to seeing a polar bear in a snowstorm. Designers often utilize figure/ground in the crafting of symbols, wordmarks and logos, because of its capacity to create meaning with the space surrounding a mark. Crafting white space eventually becomes as important to a designer as selecting the words and the elements of a project. Texture is a visual and a tactile quality that designers work with. Texture is used both in composition and also on the printed substrate or media space. Designers create textures for their projects with anything at hand. A texture can be generated in raster or vector software like Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator, or by using a camera and capturing elements in the material world. Using texture thoughtfully will enhance a visual experience and amplify the context for the content. Often adding texture adds visual complexity and a bit of visceral depth to a two-dimensional design project. It can also tie one piece of design to another, or become a defining element of a brand or a series of communications. Typography is the medium of designers and the most important element we work with. Typography not only carries a message, but also imbues a message with visual meaning based on the character of a font, its style and its composition. Words are meaningful in and of themselves, but the style and composition of words tells a reader you are serious, playful, exciting, or calm. Typography traditionally has two functions in most design projects. One function is to call attention to or to ‘display’ the intent of a communication. This function is called titling or display typography and it is meant to call attention to itself. The second function is to present the in-depth details of a communication within a text block. This function requires a different typographic approach — one that is quiet and does not call attention to itself. Examples of old style fonts include Goudy Old Style, Granjon, Janson, Palatino, Perpetua, Plantin, and Sabon. [old_style_fonts] Attribution: Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals, by Ken Jeffery, licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. The aim of these fonts when they were developed, ceased to be about replicating the look of handwriting and more about refining the letterforms to create a lighter overall tone. Examples of transitional fonts include Baskerville, Bookman, Fournier, and Joanna. These new fonts broke with humanist and old style tradition and ceased to reference calligraphy. They are still used in graphic design today. Examples of modern fonts include Fenice, Zapf Book, New Caledonia, Bodoni, and Didot. Attribution: Specimen of the typeface Didot, by Pierre Rudloff, is used under a CC BY SA 2.5 license. Modern fonts are often used as display fonts and can sometimes be used for text, though very carefully. Examples of sans serif fonts include Univers, Helvetica and Akzidenz-Grotesk. Attribution: Specimen of the typeface Neue Helvetica, by GearedBull, is used under a CC BY SA 4.0 license. Sans serif fonts have existed since ancient times, but it was only in the late 19th century that font designers began to consider removing serifs and letting the letterforms stand on their own. These fonts were initially considered appropriate only for titling and display purposes and only became text fonts in the hands of the 20th century modernists. They are often used in graphic design and page layout today. QUESTION ONE: Complete the sentence by choosing the correct option: Point, line and plane are the building blocks of ______. From these elements, designers create images, icons, textures, patterns, diagrams, animations and typographic systems.design science nature