Understanding Visual Design

During the final weeks of this course, you will design an original infographic to suit a particular audience and rhetorical context. This project draws upon many of the concepts we've learned over the course of the semester. Because this assignment focuses heavily on visual design, we will also spend more time investigating the design principles we have only briefly addressed thus far in the course.

At the end of this lesson you will be able to become familiar with the infographic genre and identify principles of visual design including contrast, repetition, alignment, and proximity.

Read Chapter 4 of The New Harbrace Guide.
Watch all the videos in Chapter 1: Why Visual Communication Matters (3 videos), and
Watch all the videos in Chapter 2: Types of Visual Communication (4 videos), and
Watch all the videos in Chapter 3: The Rules of Infographic Design (5 videos) from Learning Infographic Design with Amy Balliett.
Watch "Researching your Infographic" (approx. 4 minutes) in Part 4.

Note: Balliet's course provides a great overview of infographics and infographic design. Don't worry about her comment about designing on Abobe Illustrator. The last parts of her course (Part 4 and Part 5) offer an in-depth tutorial about how to design an infographic on Illustrator. You are not, however, required to use Adobe Illustrator for Assignment 4.

Important: Before watching videos, activate your LinkedIn Learning account by logging in at https://linkedinlearning.psu.edu/. LinkedIn Learning is free for Penn State students.