Specialization in Graphic Design and Visual Communication

Introduction

Graphic design transforms complex ideas into impactful visual messages. It is based on basic geometric shapes and principles established by movements such as the Bauhaus. In the digital age, this discipline is essential for creating effective visual identities and communicating messages in a clear and attractive way.

1m

Inspiration / Silvia Ferpal

You will discover how walking, observing and recording everyday details can inspire your creativity. You will meet references such as Bruno Munari, who used playful and experimental design, and Annie Albers, a textile pioneer from the Bauhaus, whose work combines colour, geometry and functionality. You will also reflect on Hilma af Klint, a pioneer of abstract art who used colour as a symbolic language. You will discover how personal experiences, everyday objects and great references can enrich your design and stimulate new ideas.

5m

Inspiration / Leire Fernandez and Eduardo Herrera

In this lesson, you will reflect on how colour, present in everyday life, has influenced perception and graphic design. You will analyse its symbolism and meaning from the beginning of your studies in Fine Arts, exploring key works such as Van Eyck's The Arnolfini Wedding. You will also learn about fundamental books such as Principles of Colour Design by Wucius Wong, The Art of Colour by Johannes Itten and Colour, Project and Aesthetics of Graphic Arts by Fabrice Germain, which offer practical tools to understand the visual impact of colour. You will also study influential designers such as Iko Tanaka, Saul Bass and Kazumasa Nagai, who are known for their innovative use of colour. You will learn how colour can convey emotion, contrast and movement, drawing inspiration from their legacy to apply these ideas to your own projects.

4m

Inspiration / Javier Alcaraz

You will explore how to draw inspiration from disciplines and references outside of graphic design to enrich your projects. You will discover the work of Alvin Lustig, who revolutionized post-war editorial design with intuitive and emotive compositions, challenging the rational rules of the time. You will also meet Ladislav Sutnar, a pioneer of information design, whose dynamic and functional approach demonstrates that every element has a purpose in space. From cinema, you will analyze Orson Welles' masterful compositions in Citizen Kane, marked by innovative framing and depth of shot, as well as the natural lighting and impeccable visual narrative in Terrence Malick's films such as Days of Heaven and The Tree of Life. These cinematic references will show you how compositional coherence can transcend the image and enhance the message. With these examples, you will learn how to identify quality and apply transdisciplinary ideas to your own compositions. Additional resources will help you delve even deeper into these references.

4m

Inspiration / Esteban Ibarra

In this lesson, you will explore influences such as the elegant design of Iko Tanaka, the symbolism of pre-Columbian art, and Soviet brutalism with its monumental geometry. You will also reflect on the stamp creativity and disciplined methodology of Marcelo Bielsa, applying them to your own creative process.

4m

Inspiration / Eric Jardí

You'll see iconic brands that stand out for their design and ability to transcend time. You'll reflect on logos like Penguin, whose simplicity and functionality have endured, or historic brands like British Petroleum and Pirelli, with designs full of character and visual heritage. You'll also learn about curiosities such as the old NASA logo, an icon of the space age, and the Michelin mascot, a character that combines functional design with charisma. You'll examine unique pieces such as the AT&T ambigram, a reversible logo designed by Raymond Loewy, and the US Bicentennial commemorative mark, which captures the freshness and boldness of 1970s design. Finally, you will see how modern brands such as Hewlett-Packard dare to use minimalist proposals that synthesize identity and avant-garde. Through these examples, you will understand how logos communicate values and how they can inspire the creation of memorable visual identities.

2m

Literalness/subjectivity

To begin, we will talk about how text and images coexist in designs, and we will delve into the axis that goes from the literal to the subjective in the construction of images.

9m

Bauhaus and geometric shapes

Next, I'll talk about geometry, the most important basic resource for generating images. I'll also talk about the Bauhaus, an important design school. Finally, we'll get down to business and represent concepts with basic shapes.

6m

Laws of perception (Gestalt)

Now we are going to talk about how we perceive images. To do this, I will tell you about Gestalt, a famous school of psychological thought.

8m

Shaping the project

In this lesson we will start with the project: a series of templates for Instagram. I will make the design for my own studio, but you can do it for whatever you want.

10m

Types of types

I'll explain what typography is and we'll look at some of the most common types. We'll also play with words and do some training using typography.

7m

The crimes

Below, I'll tell you about some of the most common mistakes we make when using fonts and how to avoid them.

5m

The tricks

Now I'm going to show you some tricks to make your texts always work well. We'll also see how to choose more than one font and make the whole look good.

6m

Project: adding texts

It's time to choose how we want to display text in our designs. Let's get to it!

8m

Perception

In this lesson we will discuss how we perceive color and how we can create harmony. We will also look at the color wheel and create some color flags based on nautical flags.

9m

Color mixes and modes

Let's see how we name colors and we will see different color modes, important for organizing our designs for printing or digital.

5m

Color palettes

I'll tell you how to make color palettes with formulas that work. We'll also see examples of how they are applied in design and in cinema, and finally, we'll look at the color palettes we live with and try to give them a new meaning.

6m

Project: Adding color and consistency

Back to our project, we are now going to choose a color palette that works and apply it to our designs consistently.

11m

Balance and grids

We will talk about balance in composition and analyze some designs. I will also tell you about the grid, a magical resource to organize our designs.

8m

Schemes that work

Next, we will discuss some ways to make our composition interesting. We will also see how these resources are used in other disciplines such as film.

6m

Project: Ordering the elements

Now we will put into practice what we have learned in this unit: we will organize our designs with a grid and we will compose the text, shapes and color according to their weights. Finally, we will also see how to adapt our designs to other formats.

17m

What will we do in the course?

In this lesson we explain the tasks to be performed and the steps to follow in the project that we will carry out during this module. Remember that if you like, you can do a similar or completely different project.

1m

Color and communication

In this lesson we present different analyses, of a semiotic nature, to show examples of the meaning of color in graphic communication.

10m

Harmony

In this lesson, you will explore the essential role of harmony in color composition, focusing on its aesthetic and communicative impact in graphic design. Through the analysis of works by artists such as Picasso, Matisse, and designers such as Paul Rand, you will discover how color harmonies enhance unity, attraction, and visual communication.

15m

Contrast

We will discuss contrast as a fundamental principle in color composition, key to creating visually appealing designs. Although contrast seems the opposite of harmony, you will discover how both complement each other to achieve balance and distinction.

16m

A functional classification of color

In this lesson we present a classification of the functions and variables of color in graphic design. This classification will serve as a guide for following the following lessons.

12m

Naturalistic color

You will analyze the denotative function of color through its naturalistic variable, focused on the realistic representation of color as it is perceived in nature. This iconic color seeks to faithfully imitate the chromatic aspect of the environment, facilitating the identification and understanding of images.

13m

Exalted color

You will study exalted color, the second variable of denotative color. This color, although still iconic, is exaggerated through greater saturation, achieving more vivid, intense and attractive shades than naturalistic color.

11m

Expressionist color

Let's talk about exalted color, the second variable of denotative color. This color, although still iconic, is exaggerated through greater saturation, achieving more vivid, intense and attractive shades than naturalistic color.

11m

Fancy color

This is the last variable of denotative color, which abandons iconicity to open itself to imaginative and abstract representations. This color contradicts the real tones of the elements represented, creating unreal and fantastic effects that expand creative possibilities.

14m

Psychological color

Psychological color does not seek to represent reality, but rather to influence people's emotions and perceptions. This type of color generates both individual and collective sensations, activating the subconscious and provoking emotional responses that enrich visual communication.

13m

Symbolic color

Symbolic color represents ideas, concepts, or values through collective associations and cultural conventions. This type of color is a widely used resource in art, religion, heraldry, design, and more.

13m

Red, orange and yellow colors

In this lesson we analyze both the psychological effect aspects and the symbolic meanings attributed to the colors red, orange and yellow.

18m

Green and blue colors

During this lesson we will cover both the psychological effects and the symbolic meanings attributed to the colors green and blue.

15m

Violet color

We will analyze both the aspects of psychological effect and the symbolic meanings attributed to the color violet.

7m

Brown, white, black and grey colours

In this lesson we value both the aspects of psychological effect and the symbolic meanings attributed to the colors brown, white, black and gray.

18m

Pastel and metallic colors

We will show both the aspects of psychological effect and the symbolic meanings attributed to pastel colors and to gold and silver colors.

17m

Schematic color

Schematic color is a flat, simplified and autonomous color that functions as a graphic resource to signify and communicate visually. It does not seek to represent reality or generate psychological emotions, but rather to transmit information or highlight elements.

13m

Signal color

This type of color combines two key functions: acting as a signal color to attract immediate attention and as a sign color, with a specific meaning associated with its use in certain contexts.

14m

Emblematic color

You will learn about emblematic color, the latest variant of signaling color, which combines a practical function with deep-rooted cultural symbolism. This color acts as a conventional sign that represents ideas or concepts through its widespread use and social codification.

15m

Personal Project Analysis 1

In this lesson we show our practical project for the course. We explain the design process of the visual identity and the different supports for the graphic coverage of the event entitled “Illusion and Science at the UPV/EHU”.

12m

Personal Project Analysis 2

Here we present other of our own visual identity, poster design and editorial graphics projects, identifying the chromatic variables applied in each case.

11m

How to evaluate a color proposal

Finally, we will show the so-called “semantic differential” as a tool to assess whether a color proposal is correct or not.

12m

What will we do in the course?

After understanding what an effective composition is, what the elements of the design language are and how they relate to each other, you will develop the design of a piece of your choice where you will apply everything you have learned. Also, if you want, you can redesign a work you did previously and think could be improved; it's up to you.

2m

What is composition?

To begin, I will explain what composition means, what objectives are in its pursuit and why it is fundamental for any visual creation. You will understand the concepts of whole, order and unity. In addition, you will see how this strategy is applied to different creative disciplines.

6m

The effective composition

How do we know when a composition is right for the project? What criteria can we use to evaluate our layout? What do we need to know to judge and appreciate designs and be able to draw inspiration to enhance our graphic compositions? Let's take a look.

8m

Particular considerations

The basics of visual composition are easily applicable to any specific field of design. Thus, you can apply the same criteria to a poster or a website. However, each area of design has its own particularities. In this lesson I will explain some of them so that you can take them into account.

8m

Shape

Design is, ultimately, about organizing shapes in space. But what do we mean by “shape”? In this lesson, I will explain that shapes in design have contours and structural axes. I will also show you how to use shapes as design objects or compositional groups.

12m

Negative Space

Next, we'll go over the idea of "negative" form and learn that figure and ground are equally important and need each other to work. I'll explain why negative space is critical in graphic design and how to describe and use it so you never call it "empty space" again.

10m

Color

There are many theories about color, but what I will explain in this lesson is how color creates relationships with other objects and space. I will tell you how to highlight different parts of your design, how to attract and guide attention, and how to use it in a practical and functional way.

11m

Typography

Without a doubt, the most characteristic and unique element of visual communication design. I will explain the concepts of typographic structure and color, we will see the extension of a family so that you understand the variables you have, and also some ideas for combining fonts and relating them to other elements.

11m

Iconography

Images play a very important role in design projects. In this lesson I will explain some image typologies and some fundamentals of their expression. You will analyze how they function within their graphic boundaries, how they work with each other, and their influence on the overall composition.

11m

Keep it simple

Simplifying the compositional structure is key, both to organize the piece and to invite its experience. In this lesson I want to explain how to consider the alignment and proximity of elements to group them into less complex sections and achieve unity for the composition.

8m

Balance and movement

Now I'm going to tell you how our perception senses balance in visual representations and how you can move from rest to tension to achieve a dynamic but balanced composition. Finally, you'll learn how to create interest, movement and an energetic design that persuades your audience.

8m

Define a center of interest

In this video I will explain the importance of organizing a composition around a visual focus. You will see how the concepts of weight, size or color value can organize your design and guide the recipient through the layout.

13m

Contrast to organize

Contrast is an essential ingredient in contemporary design. You will learn the possibilities of giving variety to your project, but at the same time, also clarity and precision. In addition, I will show you how opposition and difference hierarchize the contents and regulate the reading.

10m

Repetition unifies

In this fifth lesson, I will explain how designing with modules is much more than just organizing and providing coherence to a piece. You will understand how to achieve consistency, rhythm and harmony through different principles of repetition and how to generate surprise, avoiding monotony thanks to variation.

14m

Symmetry and asymmetry

The principle of equilibrium has a lot to do with this compositional articulation. Now I'm going to talk to you about the concepts of leveling and sharpening, and also about rest and movement. By the end of the lesson, you'll understand why asymmetry doesn't imply imbalance and that symmetry doesn't have to be boring.

5m

The rule of thirds

In this lesson you will learn how to divide your design into fields that will make it easier for you to compose elements in space. You will know how to use intersection points, horizontal and vertical axes, and finally, the horizon of your design.

9m

The golden ratio

From art history to everyday objects, the golden ratio is perhaps the most well-known method for effective composition. In this lesson, you will understand its principles and, without scaring you, I will explain its geometric and mathematical logic so that you can use it to your advantage. I will tell you about the Fibonacci sequence and how these relationships can be very useful to you.

13m

Proportional scales 1

Next, I'll explain the practicality of using proportional scales to organize your composition. I'll show you different proportional scales and some examples of projects that use them. Finally, I'll show you how to use this procedure with elements such as color or page margins.

9m

Proportional scales 2

We continue to delve into the different tools for creating proportions in space.

18m

Grids: concept

Grids are powerful composition tools that allow you to achieve unity, harmony and order in a practical and fast way. I will start by explaining how they are composed and what their parts are, and then explain different types of grids such as modular or hierarchical ones. Through examples, I will show you what they are normally used for.

7m

Grids: Application

We will begin by working on defining the minimum units, seeking repetition and consistency of elements in space. I will also teach you strategies to give freshness and variety to your composition to achieve surprise and the charm of the unexpected, but without losing the overall coherence and harmony.

13m

Personal projects

In this lesson I will tell you how I have filled the training gaps and how I have developed a continuous training process through my personal projects (projects outside the assignment).

10m

First experiences

Through one of my personal projects, I started using waste materials around 2001. Since then, and up to now, I have continued to use them continuously in different projects. In this lesson I will tell you about it.

10m

Silent spelling

In this lesson I tell you about this work done with waste materials that revolves around writing, signs and representation.

18m

Diary of a castaway

In this lesson I tell you about the Diary of a Castaway project.

8m

The green bag

During this lesson, I will explain to you the reason why I changed my mind and delved into another concept of expression.

11m

The method, preamble

I will explain my work process, the advantages of using waste material for these exercises and the possibilities that the method offers for use in circumstances and on materials very different from the one we show.

6m

Working method and the laws of visual perception

In this lesson I expand on information about this phase of the method: how matter loses its identity and becomes form.

6m

Sources of inspiration

In this lesson I will talk about my inspiration notebooks where I have collected everything that interested me at any given time. I will also mention the artists who have somehow sparked my interest.

18m

Organize/Unit 1

In this exercise I will explain the importance of creating unity between the different compositional elements when composing. I will also explain different resources to achieve this.

14m

Organize/Unit 2

During this second part of the lesson, I will give you some tips that will help you elevate your work.

11m

Categorize/Weight

The second exercise aims to give the different compositional elements the appropriate visual weight. With some very simple concepts, which I am going to explain to you, you will be able to handle it very easily.

15m

Express/Balance

In this lesson I explain how to visually provide rest or internal energy to the compositional elements.

19m

Guide/Movement 1

In this last exercise we take advantage of the energy we get from the imbalance to achieve movement.

15m

Guide/Movement 2

In the second part of the lesson, through three photographs by Chema Madoz, we will see how the principles we have been talking about work in an image.

5m

Symbolism

In this lesson, I will explain the basics and foundations that will be necessary for this course and for the completion of your project. I will begin by going into more detail about the use and connection between human beings and symbology throughout history.

5m

Iconicity

Now you will learn the different levels and ways of representing real-life objects or figures in a visual and graphic way. You will also learn how an idea or concept can be stripped down to its minimum graphic unit without losing meaning.

7m

Geometry

Here I will analyze the scope and possibilities of the three basic geometric shapes and how—through their use and stylistic decisions—it is possible to find an infinite number of resources when it comes to transmitting messages.

8m

The brief

In this lesson, I will determine the type of product I will make, taking into account what I need to tell and for whom. First, I will analyze the brief and select a song from all the musical artists that appear on the mood board. From this selection, I will obtain the name of the product, which must consist of a single word from the entire lyrics of the song. Let's get started!

8m

The story we will tell

In this lesson, I will perform the exercise of replacing the word “message” with “story” in the “sender-message-receiver” circuit. After having defined the name of my product, I must now begin to select words or concepts from my song to become the elements of my visual identity.

5m

The visual universe

Now we will see different types of graphic representations and the different types of scales or views: the close view, the distant view and the complementary view.

14m

The composition

Here I will show you different composition techniques and the link between shapes and space. I will also talk about some very important concepts such as position, direction, space, gravity and movement.

5m

The system

In this lesson, you will see a theoretical approach to visual identity systems.

12m

Constants and variables

Now I will determine which elements will remain stable throughout my visual identity system and which ones can mutate or transform in each piece.

5m

The colors

Here I will talk about color, how to make decisions for your project and some basic tips. Then, I will incorporate my final color palette to bring my project to life.

6m

Typography

In this lesson, I'll go into more depth about the use of typography within a visual identity system. I'll talk about type selection, typographic variables, hierarchy, and primary and secondary typefaces.

11m

The visualization

Now you will incorporate the elements of your visual identity into objects—in the form of a mock-up—that will allow you to visualize the final proposal and give your project a more realistic and creative feel.

7m

The presentation of the project

In this final instance, I will go through a possible final presentation of my proposal, analyzing each instance of the entire creative process I went through.

13m

Identity design

In this lesson we will briefly review the evolution of brand identity.

2m

Presentation for screen 1

Now you are going to see how to create a piece for a company that already exists and has a logo. But it is of little use to them, since they do not use any design for the most common applications. Let's see how to make a presentation for a screen.

12m

Presentation for screen 2

In this second part of the lesson, I am going to explain some solutions to improve the quality of an on-screen presentation.

15m

Business card

This is a simple but very common case. I'm going to talk about an image that depends on a single piece: a business card. We're going to review a logo so that it works well on that medium.

16m

Identity for a publishing house

Now I'm going to explain how to create an image whose main application is strategic: an image for a publishing house.

14m

Label for an alcoholic beverage

In this lesson you will see how to give identity to an alcoholic beverage through its main communicative element, the label of its bottle.

15m

Identity for courses

For this piece, we are going to create different alternatives, different styles for an identity, that of a series of courses from a business school.

16m

Image for a show

At this stage we will collaborate with a photographer to whom we will give prominence in the image. Our role is to help grow this identity.

10m

Image for a hardware store franchise

Here you will see an identity that needs a strong logo with personality whose language extends across all its applications, which will be many and diverse.

17m

Campaign for a music festival 1

For an event such as a cultural festival, the graphic language must be a support and give unity to the images of the artists which, as we will see, are generally very different.

12m

Campaign for a music festival 2

In this second part of the lesson, you will see through some examples how we can give consistency and coherence to the graphic language of the campaign pieces.

12m

Brand image on screen

If you want to go a little further with your company image, in this lesson, we are going to look at the problems and opportunities of graphic brands on screen.

5m

Keeping identity alive

Let me give you some tips that will give your brand a strong, personal and lasting presence.

1m