TIME TO MAKE Do you like to write or draw Have you spent time coloring things on paper We all like making things with our hands What you might not know is how important these skills are Writing and drawing may seem like playing rather than working but by using them together you can share your ideas with the world HAND TO EYE Look at the book you are holding See how the words are placed and how they are shaped Look at the colors on the pages and where the pictures are Notice how the letters of some words are shaped differently from others such as thicker or in different colors See how these elements move your eyes across the page in a certain order A lot of people worked very hard to produce the words and pictures you see They made them in such a way that your eye follows the words making it easier to understand what they are telling you The combination of words colors and pictures makes this page fun to look at and that makes the page easier to read The process that puts all this together is called graphic design Be a Maker Superman's logo is simple yet suggests Superman's attributes through the use of colors and lettering Do you believe that we are controlling where your eyes look on this page Try reading the parts of this page out of order How hard is that to do Look at the page again what is the first thing you see What is the first thing you
EVERYWHERE A MAKERSPACE You can use the words you write and the pictures you draw to reach out to people In fact by playing with your art and your writing you are learning how to become a maker Makerspaces are places where we unleash our creativity We play with new ideas and we share what we have made with others We learn from mistakes and we adapt old ideas to make new things A makerspace can be in your library your school on the Internet or at home By trying the activities in this book or being inspired by what you read here you can turn the space around you into a makerspace Now let s get started Group collaboration or working as a team is a great makerspace way to create new ideas and improve individual
THE ART OF GRAPHIC DESIGN Graphic design uses both words and pictures to deliver a message to the reader or viewer Graphic design communicates Graphic design can express emotions deliver important information quickly or help you understand what you are reading AROUND THE WORLD Walk down a street and look at the signs Pick up a newspaper and look at the articles Almost everything around you uses graphic design Signs and maps use graphic design to tell you where you are and where you can go Books and magazines use graphic design to help readers read their stories Advertisements use graphic design to make you want to buy things Graphic design produced these images that clearly Communicate a message without written language You may wonder if there is something people need to know why not write it down for them The problem is not everybody can read or read in all languages Even if they can read they might not have time to read something complicated You do not want a sign that uses paragraphs of text to tell you how to leave a building if the building is on fire You want a sign that says EXIT and points you to the right door
EASY READING Even if you have time to read good graphic design makes reading easier Well made books use particular styles of text that are easy to read Newspapers and magazines use headlines and subheadings to summarize stories and break up text into smaller sections Not only does this emphasize the important points of the text it makes it easier to find that text again when you look for it THOUGHTS AND FEELINGS Pictures and words share information in different ways Words reach out to our thoughts while pictures appeal to our emotions You can use a lot of words to describe a scene but a picture takes viewers there in an instant If we want people to think and react emotionally at the same time we cannot use Just text or just pictures Both are useful tools but they are even more powerful when used together Thriftlodge Advertising uses graphic design to catch the eve and sell you things However a lot of different advertising in one place can be overwhelming ST DET Be a Maker Is a picture worth a thousand words What information has to be communicated quickly What things can you think of that need to be explained in detail Would text or pictures be better for these messages or a combination of
