Tag: typography

Movie Posters Expert Explains Color Schemes

James Verdesoto, the movie posters artist behind iconic posters such as Pulp Fiction, Ocean’s Eleven; Girl, Interrupted, and Training Day, explains how color schemes are used in Hollywood movie posters.

This is a great glimpse into the mindset of a graphic designer as he not only discusses the use color, but also other narrative and formal techniques such as the use of negative space in the composition, relative scales of the subject within the page, framing, and the use of logos.

A great crash course in graphic design in only ten minutes!

Grid System: The Basis of (Web & Print) Professional Layout

Grid Systems from Bas Leurs

Ever wonder how professional graphic designers make their work look so… professional? And how they manage to create complex layouts so quickly?

Simple. Both web and graphic designers—as well as architects—use one of greatest tools in the visual arts: the grid system.

Of the many different attempts during art history to create a design system based on a grid, the so-called Swiss Grid is probably the foremost example. In many ways, modernist graphic design is the Swiss Grid.

Based on a strategically chosen number of columns and sometimes also on text parameters such as font size and leading as well as baseline, the grid system makes placing elements on a page fast and precise.

For the reader, it makes a series of pages—or screens—predictable and intuitive. This increases usability and comprehension. In e-commerce systems, the well structured layout increases sales by making the navigation of the site and shopping cart more efficient.

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