Graphic Design
Professional visual communication and
presentation.
Graphic design is a very broad term that covers
many disciplines. Classically, graphic design is
closely tied to the commercial print industry. With
the influx of digital media, graphic design has
expanded to include web design, digital business
cards, digital presentations, interactive media and
much more.
Winning Solutions, Inc. (WSI) understands the
difference between classic graphic design and the
new digital graphic design. We handle graphic design
tasks with this minor difference in mind. A digital
medium shouldn't be locked down to the rules of
static design and vice versa. By understanding this
difference our designers can offer both print design
and web design collectively or separately.
Winning Solutions, Inc. (WSI) is your "one stop
shop" for graphic design. Feel free to
contact us to learn more about our graphic
design,
print
design,
web design and other design services.
Common Graphic Design Questions
What is visual communication and how does it
relate to graphic design?
Visual communication is a marketing term that
refers to graphic design in general. The idea
behind visual communication is to express ideas
in a visual format. Often times graphic design
can be used to take a complex idea and simplify
it. A good graphic design can also accent
important parts of a presentation or
marketing
materials.
Many times an image will be used to convey an
over all feel for any piece of presentation
including
websites,
flash presentations,
print designs and
corporate identities. As the saying goes, "A
picture is worth a thousand words." This is very
true in visual communication and graphic design.
The selection of complementary imagery can
set the mood of any graphic design work. Even
colors are considered when visually
communicating to an audience or market. Mc
Donald's spent millions of dollars designing the
visual appearance of their stores and the colors
used in their marketing endeavors to encourage
people to eat at their stores. Doesn't the
yellow "M" in Mc Donald's spark a rumbling in
your tummy? It has an odd resemblance to French
fries, doesn't it?
Contact either our Midwest (Ames, Iowa) office
or our Fort Myers, Florida location today
for a free consultation or to begin your graphic
deisgn relationship with us.
What graphic design software do you use to
create your design materials?
WSI graphic designers use a large set of
tools to create websites, print designs,
corporate identities, brochures, trade show
displays and interactive media materials. Some
of those items are listed below.
Graphic designers are an odd bunch and can be
found using what ever they can get their hands
on to create visually impressive works of art.
Our designers are no different,
photography,
illustration, clipart and digital graphics
are all used to help express ideas in a visual
format.
WSI also offers training for many of the
software packages we use in our graphic designs.
You can find
out more about our training services here.
What graphic design services does WSI have to
offer?
WSI designers work in many mediums. From
digital imagery created in Adobe Photoshop to
print designs created in Quark Express or Adobe
Illustrator, their appetite for creative flare
is outstanding. Our graphic designers also like
to sketch, outline, detail and hatch ideas with
classic pen and pencil.
Here is a list of some of our graphic design
services. If you would like a more complete
list, please a designer at either our
Midwest (Ames, Iowa) office or our Fort Myers,
Florida location.
How does WSI ensure functionality is retained
with their implementation of graphic designs?
In any design or development of any form
there is a golden rule, "Form follows function."
This statement is a direct reference to
usability and process flow. Function is what any
process does, form is how that function appears.
WSI designers keep this in mind when working
with functional projects.
Let's look at a quick example of a process
and identify it's form and function. For
our example we will use a basic contact form on
a website. The "function" of the contact form is
to collect information from a user and send the
collected information in the form of a response
to a recipient. The "form", in this case, is how
the contact form is displayed to the user and
how the response is formatted for the recipient.
The entire process of filling out the contact
form, sending it, and receiving it is the
process flow.
Lets pick this process apart a little more in
the form of a table that shows us the whole
process flow, functions and forms.
|
Process Flow for Contact Form of a
Website |
|
Function |
Form |
|
Collect Contact Information |
Website Contact Form |
|
Send Contact Information |
Email through Email Server |
|
Receive Contact Information |
Email in Recipients Email Box |
Every function in the process has a form in
which it appears. All the functions in a process
and how they are organized are the process flow.
Reviewing the functions and forms in a process
and optimizing them for people that us them is
the very essence of usability.
The more complicated a system or process is,
the more attention needs to be given to process
flow and it's optimization. If something is
difficult to users, chances are they won't use
it. Graphic design should always support
function, not the other way around. WSI
developers and designers will only add graphic
elements where they add to the functionality of
a process.
We like what we see and want to begin a
relationship with you, however, we're located
hundreds of miles away from your office and no where
near Iowa or the Midwest - will this work?
We have had, and continue to develop,
numerous relationships with clients that are not
located around either our Ames Iowa, or Ft.
Myers Florida locations. Some of our clients are
not even in the Midwest or Southeast.
Depending on the scope of the graphic design
or visual communication services required, face
to face meetings are not necessary to develop a
work of art. Many of our clients enjoy sitting
in the comfort of their own office or home and
conducting a phone or shared desktop meeting
with one of our trainers, developers or
designers.
Our attention to detail and customer service
has helped us deliver many systems without ever
having a face to face discussion with the
client. Contact
either our Midwest (Ames, Iowa) office or our
Fort Myers, Florida location today for a
free consultation or to begin your graphic
design process with us.