I was recently asked what exactly the class ‘Graphic Communication’ entails and i fumbled to find the right words to answer with. Fortunately for me, this article cleared things right up. It seems like ‘graphic design’ is an umbrella term- it takes a portion of everything we see (in advertisement, birthday cards, in-class handouts, etc.) and gives it a home. While reading, I was reminded of a short video i’d seen a couple of months ago about the ‘forgotten’ art of hand-painted signs (and it’s subsequent revival). I hadn’t really understood that something like painting letters on glass windows could be considered a form of graphic design, but after reading the article the connection between the two fell into place.

I’m most curious about the process of choosing a color scheme for any sort of project. Since we are bombarded with such a variety bright lights and colors, especially in a city like New York, there must be some sort of method to the madness. We’ve been told that Red is bold, that Yellow is happy, that Green invigorates, and Chartreuse is the most visible color to the human eye. My question is: how does color relate to the message that someone is trying to send, and how does graphic design com into play? The author might respond by citing some basic psychology, or showing an advertisement that directly associates a color like Red with a word like ‘bold’.