Top 7 Graphic Design Terms That Most Designers Get Wrong

Graphic designers often goof-up with designing jargons. Similar sounding words may mean completely different things. So it is advisable to use the right words to describe a particular design element correctly.

why it is so necessary to use the right words at the right place is because:

  • It does not look professional. A graphic design service provider generally boasts of providing the best services to the clients with the help of very able graphic designers. Jargon blunders may prove you wrong and dilute your perception of being a top company in the field
  • It can actually cause chaos. Imagine a client asking you to create a grayscale image and you present him a black and white one. It obviously will lead to confusion and chaos.
  • It also leads to wastage of time and resources. Getting the brief wrong and creating something without a proper understanding of a particular term leads to re-work. Which means wastage of time and resources.

So, what are the common terms that most of the graphic designers get wrong?

Few words that a graphic design studio should be careful about.

  1. Font and typeface:

    Font refers to the weight and other characteristics like italics, bold, slant etc. The typeface is a collection of fonts. For example, Arial is a typeface. Arial black is a font.

  2. Color and hue:

    Colour refers to a whole lot of colors like red, blue, green, yellow etc. Hue refers to a spectrum of a particular color.

  3. Tint and tone:

    When you add white to a hue it results in a tint. A tone is created by adding grey ( both black and white colors together).

  4. Letter mark and wordmark:

    A font based logo is called a wordmark. When only initials are used as font based logo it is called letter mark. For example, CNN is a better mark and Coca Cola is a wordmark.

  5. Whitespace and negative space:

    The space that remains in between the images or surrounding the images is negative space. White spaces are used to give breathing space to design. They are generally defined by margins or gutter space.

  6. Lettering and calligraphy:

    Lettering is illustrating letters. While calligraphy is an art of beautiful writing.

  7. Italic Vs Oblique:

    In Italics, the characters are changed to decorate the writing. In oblique, the characters are only tilted without changing their styles.

These may sound a bit complicated and the best way to become a pro in understanding them is using them often in your design and in your briefs. Another good way to be sure you are using the right elements of design is to work with a company that is an expert in the field. One such company is WebSocl. Do visit our website to understand how we are adding value in the field of graphic designing.

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