Visual Design: Ninety-five things you need to know. Told in Helvetica and dingbats.

Chapter 13. Inspiration and Education

90 Learn from the Greats

As commercial artists (designers, illustrators, photographers, et al), our real task is to find ways of delivering messages, information, and ideas through a vocabulary that not only includes words, but also images, typefaces, decor, color, abstract themes, and stylistic inferences.

This broad communicative vocabulary, in order to come across as being as worthy of attention as possible, needs to manifest itself through layouts, logos, illustrations, and photographs that are recognized by their target audiences as being timely, relevant, and remarkable within the context of today’s media.

A tall order, for sure. So, how do we do it? How do we keep our figurative fingers on the imaginary ...