Lesson 13 – Design Basics

Design Basics

To identify design best practices and the tools used to create digital designs.

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Lesson Resources – Design Basics

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Video Transcript – Design Basics

Objective: To identify design best practices and the tools used to create digital designs.

“Welcome back, Volunteer Managers! So far, we’ve explored the ins and outs of Google, webinars, emails, websites, social media, and more. If you’ve learned at least one thing by now, we hope it’s the power and opportunity of gaining digital skills. Today, we’re going to explore one principle that ties all of this together: design.

You might think that design basics are only important for artists and creatives, but it’s quite the contrary. Design is at the heart of the digital world.

Think of it like this: Experts suggest that the majority of our in-person communication is nonverbal. In fact, they estimate that we get 55 per cent of our messages across through nonverbal cues like body language, 38 per cent through our vocal tone, and only 7 per cent through our words…

This means that our visual communication outweighs our verbal communication every time. But how does this apply to the way we communicate online? Besides video, we aren’t always using our voices or seeing each other when we connect digitally. In this case, our visual communication steps up to the plate. This means the photos, videos, and visuals we share online can deliver greater, more profound meaning than our words.

Visuals and designs can take our messages to a whole new level. They create that extra layer of meaning and connection. They provide context, tone, and direction. Studies show that visuals are processed up to 60,000 times faster than reading text. It saves time and cuts past the clutter. They show that pairing strong visuals with information helps people remember and retain it better. It’s not just art or design –– it’s communication.

In the modern world, this is accomplished through digital design. Digital design includes graphics, photos, and videos. Graphics might include pie charts, infographics, or logos. It’s any design combining visuals and text used to portray a message. Perhaps you see informational graphics with tips, how-tos, or statistics. Graphics are used to create logos and other branding elements for businesses to communicate visually with their audience. Basic graphic design is an essential skill for modern-day marketers, creatives, social media users, and online communicators.

Photos and videos take the power of visual communication to the next level, implementing reality into the digital world. We’re able to capture moments and share them online. We can see each other’s faces, gain trust, and witness updates on projects and glimpses of memories.

Videos take this to a new level, bridging the gap between in-person and online communication. It’s the closest thing to talking face to face from a distance. Nonverbal and verbal communication comes into play, making it powerful for individuals and professionals. By the end of 2022, it’s estimated that over 82 per cent of internet traffic worldwide will be video. This means most of the time, we’re online, we’re watching videos. These numbers are growing increasingly as social media apps, marketing materials, and even news articles focus on videos. This makes recording, editing, and publishing video one of the most essential digital skills in the modern world.

A recent study by the Queensland University of Technology found a total of 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video are shared online each day. These are a mixture of personal and professional photos –– users sharing their memories, brands promoting their causes, and journalists spreading the news. Design is central to how we communicate. The digital world is a visual world. And understanding design basics ensures we can communicate effectively in business and life. That’s why we’ll be exploring design best practices, branding basics, and the unique platforms used to create designs in this chapter. From Adobe Creative Suite to Canva to iMovie to QuickTime, we’ll learn the fundamentals of digital design, how to communicate effectively with them, and what tools you can use to do just that. We’ll get started in the reading portion of this Module.”