The Law on Fonts and Typefaces in Design and Marketing: Frequently Asked Questions (about commercial and non-commercial use) The right typeface is often the key to strong brand identity, a well-designed website, sharp looking brochures, and strong marketing materials. But there’s much confusion and misinformation about typefaces, fonts and how designers and marketers can lawfully use them commercially. The truth is that most people, and especially … Continue reading Unit 04 1.2 Describe the key elements of copyright law affecting the use of typefaces

10 typography tricks every designer should know 01. Kern upside down Kerning upside down is a well-used and tested technique Why would you want to Kern character pairs upside down? Because this enables you to see your letter forms and the space between them without actually reading the words – bringing meaning to them. If you’re doing something fancy with the kerning based on the … Continue reading Unit 04 1.1 Research typographic characteristics and techniques

Continue reading Unit 04 Typography and layout within graphic design

If you have ever been tasked with considering what types of intellectual property protection were available for a new packaging design, copyright may not be the first thing that came to mind. After all, it is trademark law that is designed to protect the public’s association with a commercial name or logo, and in some cases the distinctive look (or “trade dress”) of a product … Continue reading Unit 03 1.2 Describe the key elements of copyright law affecting packaging and label design solutions

Packaging and label design solutions Before you start your packaging design 3 crucial questions There are three questions you must have the answer to before you start designing the packaging for a product: What is the product? Who’s buying the product? How are people buying the product? Let’s look at these a little bit more in depth: 1. What is the product? Not a trick … Continue reading Unit 03 1.1 Research packaging and label design solutions

Continue reading Unit 03 Packaging and label design

How to Schedule Your Time Set a regular time to do your scheduling – at the start of every week or month, for example. There are a number of different tools to choose from. A simple and easy way to keep a schedule is to use a pen and paper, organising your time using a weekly planner. The most important thing when choosing your planner … Continue reading Unit 02 2.1 Prepare and maintain a work schedule for production to meet the brief

What makes a good production plan? To maximise productivity, every company needs a sound production plan. However, effective planning is a complex process that covers a wide variety of activities to ensure that materials, equipment and human resources are available when and where they are needed. Production planning is like a road map: It helps you know where you are going and how long it will take … Continue reading Unit 02 1.3 Evaluate the visual and contextual characteristics of the research

Market research aims to understand the reasons consumers will buy your product. It studies such things as consumer behaviour, including how cultural, societal and personal factors influence that behaviour. Market research is further split into two varieties: primary and secondary. Primary research studies customers directly, whereas secondary research studies information that others have gathered about customers. Primary research might be telephone interviews or online polls … Continue reading Unit 02 1.2 Research the client and the market in which they operate

What is a brief and why is it so important? Perhaps the greatest contributing factor I’ve seen in failed web projects, lies in the quality of the brief that was written in the first place. And that’s if a brief existed at all! As a client, it’s understandably logical to assume that a brief will be written by the developer you work with. Whilst this … Continue reading Unit 02 1.1 Describe the requirements of the brief and its specifications