E-Activity 4.1 – Remix and Reflection

Graphic design is a creative process between a client and a designer, traditionally completed in conjunction with producers of form (printers, sign makers, programmers etc.). Graphic design is created to convey a specific message (or messages) to a targeted audience. The field is also often referred to as Visual Communication or Communication Design. Graphic designers use various methods to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation of ideas and messages. A graphic designer may use a combination of typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce a final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

Reference:
Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graphic_Design)
(Retrieved on 17th Sept 2013)
 Creative Commons License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License

Reference:
StockArch (http://stockarch.com/images/business-and-industry/art-design/graphic-design-2083)
(Retrieved on 17th Sept 2013)
 Creative Commons License: Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

There is some debate whether computers enhance the creative process of graphic design. Rapid production from the computer allows many designers to explore multiple ideas quickly with more detail than what could be achieved by traditional hand-rendering or paste-up on paper, moving the designer through the creative process more quickly. However, being faced with limitless choices does not help isolate the best design solution and can lead to endless iterations with no clear design outcome.
A graphic designer may use sketches to explore multiple or complex ideas quickly without the distractions and complications of software. Hand-rendered comps are often used to get approval for an idea execution before a designer invests time to produce finished visuals on a computer or in paste-up. The same thumbnail sketches or rough drafts on paper may be used to rapidly refine and produce the idea on the computer in a hybrid process. This hybrid process is especially useful in logo design where a software learning curve may detract from a creative thought process. The traditional-design/computer-production hybrid process may be used for freeing one's creativity in page layout or image development as well. In the early days of computer publishing, many "traditional" graphic designers relied on computer-savvy production artists to produce their ideas from sketches, without needing to learn the computer skills themselves. However, this practice has been increasingly less common since the advent of desktop publishing over 30 years ago. The use of computers and graphics software is now taught in most graphic design courses.
Nearly all of the popular and "industry standard" software programs used for graphic design since the early 1990s are products of Adobe Systems Incorporated. They are Adobe Photoshop (a raster-based program for photo editing), Adobe Illustrator (a vector-based program for drawing), Adobe InDesign (a page layout program), and Adobe Dreamweaver (for Web page design). Another major page layout tool is QuarkXpress (a product of Quark, Inc., a separate company from Adobe). Both QuarkXpress and Adobe InDesign are often used in the final stage of the electronic design process. Raster images may have been edited in Adobe Photoshop, logos and illustrations in Adobe Illustrator, and the final product assembled in one of the major page layout programs. Most graphic designers entering the field since about 1990 are expected to be proficient in at least one or two of these programs.

Reference:
Deviantart (http://m-thirteen.deviantart.com/art/Graphic-Design-Illustration-185553305)
(Retrieved on 17th Sept 2013)
 Creative Commons License: Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License

 

Extract of all rights reserved content legitimately used in the Copyright Act of Mauritius 1997

Copyright © 2013. All rights reserved. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The text and images belong to legal entities and individuals and are all subject to copyright and other intellectual property protection. The above article may not be copied for commercial use or distribution, but may be modified or shared to others.

Reflections on my experiences of this activity
This activity was very enriching as it fostered much learning on copyright and creative commons issues to finally put into practice all the learned materials. This activity has specially helped me in searching for relevant articles on the internet which were under licences permitting sharing and remixing. Moreover, this activity has given me the opportunity to get access to photos which could be used freely for sharing purposes.

The article selected for this activity was obtained from wikipedi.org under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License. The first picture used was obtained from stockarch.com under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License and the second one was obtained from deviantart.com under the license Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. 

All the resources used for the preparation of this blog were under licenses which permitted the free use of the resources, but under certain specific conditions. In this sense, this activity enlightened me by putting into practice what I have learned on creative commons, copyright as well as the national copyright act of my country. From this activity, skills have been developed for the sharing of my teaching materials under licenses which best suit my choice on how I want these materials to be used by others.