Basics Design 04: Image

Images are used everywhere, from cinema posters to perfume packaging, they have the power to elicit a response and impart information. Images can, quite literally, 'paint a thousand words', but understanding what they mean, when to use them and how to control them is becoming ever more crucial. The ability to alter images is made far easier through technological advances. Importantly though, what we're altering needs to be understood and controlled. "Basics Design: Image" will look at two distinct areas: what images mean and how we can create them. A primer in basic semiotics, "Basics Design: Image" will unravel the often complicated terminology associated with image 'reading'. On a practical level, this volume will introduce some of the many ways images are created; from reportage photography to illustration, computer generation to iconography and computer and print manipulation. "Basics Design: Image" aims to equip the contemporary designer with a series of tools and ideas. Inspirational examples from design agencies help support the 'basic' sections discussed and allow the reader to see the relevance of fundamental principles in practice.