Graphics
Sarah works as a florist in a flower shop.
She wants to create an Instagram account for the shop.
There she wants to promote the shop with photos and graphics.
But Sarah doesn’t know how to create graphics...
Don’t worry, Sarah! We will help you out.
Graphics are visual representations. For example: photos, drawings,
graphic designs, cards, technical drawings, info graphics.
Graphics often include text and pictures.
Graphics catch people’s attention. Therefore graphics are often used online.
For example: websites, blogs, social media, advertisement and so on.
A graphic design consists of: colours, fonts, logo, pictures.
There are 2 different types of pictures files:
1. vectors 2. rasters
When is a vector file better?
If you want to change the size of a picture, this is called: scaling.
If you enlarge the picture, the details say sharp.
Vector files end with the letters: SVG, EPS and EMF.
When is a raster file better? For example for photos.
You can open this file type with many programmes.
If you enlarge a raster picture, your picture gets blurry.
Raster files end with the letters: JPG, PNG and TIFF.
If you want to make simple graphics,
think about what designs and graphics you like and collect them.
Pay attention to the file sizes and formats.
Platforms like Instagram determine what size graphics need to have.
If you want to publish on a certain platform the graphic needs to have the right size.
Do you want to make graphics that look professional?
The most common programmes are: Photoshop or Illustrator.
You have to pay for these programmes.
There are also free programmes and apps. For example: Canva.
You need to register for Canva but the basic functions are free.
If you want to use all the functions then you need to pay.
In Canva there are templates with different sizes.
For example for: Instagram posts, flyers, business cards, …
You can change the colour, pictures, icons, font colour,... of the templates.
By using drag and drop, you can add pictures.
If the graphic is finished, you can download it.
For example in the formats: png, jpg, pdf, mp4, givy,...
Every colour has a colour code. There are different types of colour codes.
For example: colour codes for print graphics or for web graphics.
For print graphics, you use CMYK. Every letter stands for a colour.
C for cyan. It’s a particular blue.
M for magenta. It’s a particular red.
Y is for yellow.
K stands for key or key plate.
The most used key plate is black. Therefore K stands for black.
An example of a colour code is: cmyk (26,0,79,28).
For web graphics, you use HEX-Codes.
For example: #87b726.
In word processing programmes, you use RGB colours.
That’s an abbreviation for red, green and blue.
For example: rgb (135,183,38).
Sarah is relieved! She is pleased!
There are good programmes for starting to create graphics.