Understanding Graphic Design Assets for Beginner Designers.
If you’re an aspiring designer or just stepping into the arena of design, a common term you’ll often encounter is Graphic Design Assets. While this might seem overwhelming or confusing at first glance, this article aims to break down what they are, their significance, and their applications. Simply put, graphic design assets are visual elements used to enhance a design, making it engaging and appealing.
What Are Graphic Design Assets?
Graphic design assets are materials that form the foundation of any design project, used in the process of designing. These elements consist of anything visual that helps you tell your creative story or pass your intended message across. Examples include stock images, graphics, vectors, icons, fonts, color palettes, templates, UI elements, layouts, and even text. Essentially, any material used to support and build your creative vision and deliver it to your audience can be considered a graphic design asset.
Types of Graphic Design Assets
Images
Stock images and photographs are among the most common design assets. They are used as backgrounds or as focal points to communicate a particular idea or theme. They can be sourced from several stock image libraries or asset marketplaces available online.
Graphics
Graphics are perhaps the most encompassing type of graphic design asset. This category includes icons, logos, illustrations, infographics, digital paintings, vector artwork, and even small decorative elements like borders and dividers.
Typography
Typography isn't just the style or appearance of printed matter. It's a key tool to set the tone, personality, and overall mood of the design. This involves using fonts that fit the message of your design. Some websites offer font packs that you can download and incorporate into your designs.
Templates
A design template is a pre-made design file that features a professionally designed layout. It is a pre-existing groundwork to initiate a design project. You can replace or customize each element within a template, making it an effective way to maintain consistency in design while saving time.
Colors
Color palettes may seem trivial, but the right color scheme can either make or break your design. Specific color combinations can create different emotions or moods and convey a deeper meaning to your audience.
The Importance of Graphic Design Assets
- Time-Saving: With these design assets at your disposal, the design process is faster and smoother. For instance, templates allow you to simply tweak design elements, hence accelerating your design process.
- Enhancing Aesthetic Appeal: High-quality assets significantly contribute to making designs appealing. They enhance the professional and artistic quality of your work.
- Streamlining Design Process: With ready-to-use assets, the process becomes efficient and effective as they simplify the tasks at hand.
- Establishing Consistency: Using consistent design assets throughout your work creates a unique brand identity and makes it easily recognizable to your audience.
Conclusion
Whether you are designing a flyer, poster, business card, or website, your creation involves the use of multiple graphic design assets. Therefore, it is important to understand their use and management. As a beginner designer, building up your library of assets will give you a broad base from which to pull when crafting your designs. This forms the backbone of successful design work, lending you a competitive edge while easing the design process.
Happy designing!