Graphic design and illustration: composition, typography, layout and visual communication
This domain tests whether you can build a layout a reader decodes in the intended order, and then explain the typographic and compositional decisions behind it. Answers are judged on reasoning, not decoration.
Composition and hierarchy
- Establish a single dominant focal point, then order the rest by contrast, scale, weight and position. White space is an active element, not leftover paper.
- Alignment and proximity group related items; repetition creates rhythm; contrast of size or value separates levels.
- Common structures are the rule of thirds, the golden section, the Z-path for sparse posters and the F-pattern for text-heavy pages.
Typography
- Anatomy: x-height, ascender, descender, counter, stem, serif. x-height governs apparent size at a given point size.
- Classify families as serif, sans serif, slab, script and display, and note humanist, transitional and modern serifs.
- Spacing terms are examined precisely: kerning adjusts a single pair, tracking adjusts a range of characters, leading is line spacing, measure is line length, comfortable at roughly 45 to 75 characters.
- Legibility concerns individual characters; readability concerns whole passages. Both collapse when the measure is too long or leading too tight.
- Build hierarchy with size, weight, case, colour and position. Three typefaces is already a lot.
Layout and visual communication
- Grid systems use columns, gutters, margins, modules and a baseline grid; breaking the grid only works once the grid is established.
- Illustration: thumbnails, roughs and comprehensives move from idea to resolved image; line weight and consistent style carry the message.
- Semiotics: an icon resembles its object, an index points to it causally, a symbol relies on convention. Contrast for accessibility means value contrast, not hue alone.
Worked example
An A2 concert poster. The artist name is set largest in a condensed sans at about 120 pt; the event date sits at half that size in the same family, bold; the venue and ticket line use one secondary sans at 10/12 pt, ranged left on a two-column grid. One image occupies the top third, the type stacks down the left column, and a single high-contrast colour marks the date. Hierarchy explains the sequence: name, date, place, detail.
Traps that cost marks
- Confusing kerning with tracking.
- Too many typefaces competing in one layout.
- Text in low value contrast against its background.
- Centring every element so nothing dominates.
- Setting body copy in a script or display face.