TGJ3M · Unit 1 test review

Graphic Design: Test Review

Everything for the Unit 1 test on one page: the key facts from all 7 lessons, the mistakes that cost the most marks, and a practice test that points you back to the lessons you need.

Key facts

The Design Process and the Principles of Design

The design process runs: define, research, ideate, develop, prototype, test, revise, produce, evaluate — and loops back.
Contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity are the four principles that diagnose most broken layouts.
Contrast means very different. Two things that are slightly different just look like a mistake.
Visual hierarchy is the order the eye takes things in, controlled by size, weight, colour, position and isolation.
White space is an active design element, not leftover area — it is what makes the rest readable.
Useful critique describes what is seen and ties it to the brief, rather than stating a preference.

Colour Theory and Typography

RGB is additive light for screens — all three channels at full gives white. CMYK is subtractive ink for print — no ink gives the paper's white.
Hex is RGB in base 16: #FF8800 is $255$ red, $136$ green, $0$ blue.
Colour schemes are defined by geometry on the wheel: analogous is adjacent, complementary is opposite, triadic is evenly spaced.
Hue is the colour, saturation is its intensity, value is its lightness. Tint adds white, shade adds black.
Kerning is between two specific letters; tracking is across a run; leading is between baselines.
Body text wants 45–75 characters per line and leading of roughly 120–145% of the type size.
Two typefaces are enough, and they should differ structurally rather than slightly.

Information Design and Infographics

The Gestalt principles (proximity, similarity, enclosure, continuity, closure, figure–ground) describe how the eye groups things before anything is read.
An icon system shares one grid, one stroke weight, one style and one meaning per icon; label anything ambiguous.
Pick the chart from the question: bar to compare, line for change over time, pie or waffle for parts of a whole, scatter for relationships, histogram for spread.
Bar charts must start at zero because length encodes value; a truncated axis exaggerates differences.
$lie factor = \frac{effect shown}{effect in data};$ an honest graphic is close to 1.
For proportional circles, scale the radius by $ratio$ so that area matches the data.

Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats

Raster images are grids of pixels and degrade when enlarged; vector images are equations and scale losslessly.
Logos and icons must be built as vector — a flattened raster logo can never be made sharper.
$print size = \frac{pixel dimension}{PPI},$ and $pixels = inches \times PPI$ .
300 PPI is the standard for professional print; 72–96 PPI is the screen convention.
A colour depth of $n$ bits gives $2^{n}$ colours. 24-bit is 8 bits each for red, green and blue — about 16.7 million.
Uncompressed size in bits is width × height × bit depth. Divide by 8 for bytes.
Lossy compression (JPEG) discards data permanently and degrades on every re-save; lossless (PNG) does not.

Vector Illustration and Logo Design

A vector path is anchor points joined by segments; curved segments are Bézier curves controlled by direction handles.
Handle angle sets the direction a curve leaves an anchor; handle length sets how far it travels that way before bending.
Place anchors at the extremes of curves, use as few as possible, and keep handles about one third of the way to the next anchor.
Boolean operations (unite, minus front, intersect, exclude) build clean logo shapes from simple geometry.
The five logo types are wordmark, lettermark, pictorial or abstract mark, emblem and combination mark.
Every logo needs full-colour, one-colour and reversed versions, plus a style guide setting clear space, minimum size, colours and misuse rules.

Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching

Non-destructive editing keeps the original pixels: corrections on adjustment layers, hiding on masks, retouching on an empty layer.
On a layer mask, white reveals, black conceals and grey partly shows.
A histogram plots how many pixels sit at each brightness from 0 (black) to 255 (white); spikes at the edges mean clipped, unrecoverable detail.
Levels remaps tones: $output = \frac{input - black}{white - black} \times 255 .$
The clone stamp copies pixels exactly; the healing brush copies texture and blends it into the surrounding colour and brightness.
News photos may be corrected for exposure, colour and crop but nothing may be added, removed or moved; ads may be retouched but must not mislead.

Layout Grids and Print Production

A grid divides the page into margins, columns and gutters; modular grids add rows to make modules.
$column width = \frac{page width - 2 \times margin - ( n - 1 ) \times gutter}{n}$
Trim is the finished size, bleed (usually 0.125 in or 3 mm) extends artwork past it, and the safe area keeps important content inside it.
Document size with bleed = trim size + 2 × bleed in each direction.
Saddle-stitched booklets need a page count that is a multiple of 4; pages printed side by side add up to the total plus one.
Process colour (CMYK) builds any colour from four inks; spot colour is a premixed ink for exact brand colours, metallics and fluorescents.

Where marks get lost

Opening the software before sketching, which locks you into the first idea you had. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Making two elements slightly different in size or colour. Contrast has to be obvious or it reads as an error. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Filling every corner because empty space looks unfinished. Margins and breathing room are what make a page look professional. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Using a new typeface for every piece of text. Two is plenty; the discipline is what creates unity. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Centring everything by default. Centred text has no strong edge, so nothing aligns and the layout drifts. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Treating critique as a verdict on you rather than information about the work, and defending the draft instead of writing the notes down. (The Design Process and the Principles of Design)
Designing in RGB and converting to CMYK at the end, so the vivid colours chosen on screen cannot be printed. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Reading a hex code as decimal. In #40C0FF the first pair is $64$ , not forty — each pair is base 16. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Confusing kerning with tracking. Kerning adjusts one specific pair of letters; tracking adjusts a whole run evenly. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Setting body text in all caps or in a script face, both of which erase the word shapes readers rely on. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Leaving default leading on a long measure, so lines sit too tight and the eye jumps to the wrong one on return. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Pairing two typefaces that are almost the same. If the difference is not obvious, it reads as an accident. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Spending the accent colour on decoration, so it is no longer available to mark the one thing that matters. (Colour Theory and Typography)
Starting a bar chart's axis above zero to make a small difference look dramatic. Length encodes value, so the bars must begin at zero. (Information Design and Infographics)
Scaling a circle's radius in proportion to the data, which makes the area grow with the square of the ratio and exaggerates big values. (Information Design and Infographics)
Using a pie chart with many slices, or to compare values that are close together, where the eye cannot judge the angles. (Information Design and Infographics)
Mixing icon styles (some filled, some outlined, different stroke weights), so readers think the odd ones mean something different. (Information Design and Infographics)
Shading a map by raw counts, which mostly shows where people live; use a rate such as per 1000 residents. (Information Design and Infographics)
Trying to rescue a small raster logo by raising the PPI. Upsampling invents pixels; it cannot recover detail that was never captured. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Treating PPI as a property of the file. Pixel dimensions are the content; PPI is only an instruction about print density. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Saving a JPEG repeatedly while editing. Each save re-applies lossy compression, and the damage accumulates. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Using JPEG for a logo or a screenshot, which produces visible artifacts around hard edges and offers no transparency. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Dividing bits by 1000 instead of 8 to get bytes. Bits to bytes is ÷8; bytes to kilobytes is ÷1024. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Delivering a flattened export as the master and keeping no layered file, so the smallest revision means starting again. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Designing a large-format banner at 300 PPI, producing an enormous file for something viewed from several metres away. (Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats)
Placing anchors in the middle of curves instead of at their extremes, which produces lumpy, hard-to-edit paths. (Vector Illustration and Logo Design)
Adding many anchor points to fix a curve, when adjusting two handles would do it more smoothly. (Vector Illustration and Logo Design)
Designing a logo that only works in full colour, with gradients or shadows that disappear in one-colour and reversed versions. (Vector Illustration and Logo Design)
Delivering a logo as a single JPEG instead of vector files in every required version. (Vector Illustration and Logo Design)
Stretching a logo to fit a space instead of using the stacked or horizontal version the style guide provides. (Vector Illustration and Logo Design)
Using the eraser to remove a background, so a bad edge cannot be fixed without starting again. Use a layer mask. (Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching)
Applying brightness or contrast straight to the photo instead of on an adjustment layer. (Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching)
Pushing Levels or Curves so far that the histogram piles up at 0 or 255, clipping detail that cannot be recovered. (Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching)
Using the healing brush along a hard edge, where its colour blending smears the edge. Use the clone stamp there. (Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching)
Cloning from the same source point over and over, leaving obvious repeated patterns in the texture. (Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching)
Ending a background exactly at the trim line instead of extending it to the bleed, which leaves white slivers when the cut wanders. (Layout Grids and Print Production)
Adding bleed to only one side, or forgetting that each dimension grows by two bleeds. (Layout Grids and Print Production)
Placing text right against the trim edge, outside the safe area, so it gets clipped. (Layout Grids and Print Production)
Dividing the page width by the number of columns without subtracting the margins and the n − 1 gutters. (Layout Grids and Print Production)
Designing a saddle-stitched booklet with a page count that is not a multiple of 4. (Layout Grids and Print Production)

Practice test

21 questions from across the unit. Each one shows the lesson it comes from.

The Design Process and the Principles of Design
1
A layout has a caption sitting exactly midway between two photographs. Which principle has been broken?
The Design Process and the Principles of Design
2
Match each principle to the problem it solves.
Contrast
Repetition
Alignment
Proximity
The Design Process and the Principles of Design
3
Order these from the element a viewer notices first to the one noticed last, in a typical layout.
1. 1A mid-sized subheading in a second colour
2. 2Small grey legal text at the foot of the page
3. 3A block of body text at reading size
4. 4A large, high-contrast headline isolated in white space
Colour Theory and Typography
4
In the RGB colour model, what colour results from red, green and blue all at full strength?
Colour Theory and Typography
5
Body text is set at 12 pt with leading at 130% of the type size. What is the leading in points?
pt
Colour Theory and Typography
6
Following the 60-30-10 rule, what should the 10% accent colour be used for?
Information Design and Infographics
7
Which chart best shows how Ontario's average monthly temperature changes over a year?
Information Design and Infographics
8
What is the name of Edward Tufte's measure that compares the size of an effect shown in a graphic with the size of the effect in the data?
Information Design and Infographics
9
An icon set has six outlined icons and one filled icon. What will most readers assume?
Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats
10
A logo needs to appear on a business card and on the side of a truck. What should it be created as?
Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats
11
What is the uncompressed size, in bytes, of an 800 × 600 image at 24-bit colour depth?
bytes
Raster, Vector, Resolution and File Formats
12
Order these steps for preparing a photograph for a printed magazine page.
1. 1Export a flattened PDF or TIFF for the printer
2. 2Convert the document to CMYK for the press
3. 3Edit in a lossless master file, keeping the layers
4. 4Start from the largest original file available
5. 5Check the pixel dimensions against the required print size at 300 PPI
Vector Illustration and Logo Design
13
Where should you place anchor points when drawing a curved shape with the Pen tool?
Vector Illustration and Logo Design
14
What type of curve, named after a Renault engineer, is used to draw smooth vector paths?
Vector Illustration and Logo Design
15
Which of these would NOT normally appear in a brand style guide?
Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching
16
On a layer mask, what does painting with black do?
Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching
17
Which retouching tool copies pixels exactly from a sampled point, with no blending?
Image Editing: Layers, Masks and Retouching
18
Match each selection method to what it is best for.
Magic wand
Pen tool path
Marquee
Select and mask / refine edge
Layout Grids and Print Production
19
A flyer has a trim size of 8.5 × 11 in and needs 0.125 in bleed. How wide must the document be including bleed, in inches?
in
Layout Grids and Print Production
20
A 10-page saddle-stitched booklet is sent to the printer. What will they say?
Layout Grids and Print Production
21
Which of these is the most important reason to embed fonts in a print PDF?

Endless drill

Fresh numbers every time, for the calculation questions in this unit.

Endless drillnew numbers every time

Generating a problem…