Visual Communication, Color Theory, and Geometry

Communication and Its Functions

Communication: This process involves a transmitter, channel, benchmark, code, message, and receiver.

Functions:

• Insight: To transmit information, such as a green road traffic light.
• Free-expression: To vent our feelings, such as the Twin Towers or being a fan outdoors.
• Health: To express beauty and harmony, such as a landscape.
• Representative: To represent the reality created by humans, such as a street.

Signs, Symbols, and Branding

Signs and Symbols:

• Sign: A representation of a single image or idea that conveys information by which we understand its representation.
• Symbol: A sign that represents reality in an abstract way, providing ideas to be known to understand its meaning.

Types of Signs:

• Brand: A distinctive source for information and quality.
• Logo: The most significant characters of a brand.
• Pictogram: A simplified sign understood very rapidly by the receiver.
• Signal: A pictorial sign indicating circumstances such as prohibitions; they use geometric figures.

Basic Elements of the Comic

Comic: A means of expression that tells a story using images and text.

• Bullet (Panel): The space-time history of the story.
• Framing (Enquadernament): The point of view from which the action is observed within the bullet.
• Kinetic Lines: Elements that generate movement.
• Forms of Text: Balloons, grids, and voiceovers.
• Onomatopoeia: Words that imitate sounds.

Color Theory and Mixtures

Additive and Subtractive Colors

• Additives: Blue + Green = Cyan; Magenta = Blue + Red; Green + Red = Yellow.
• Subtractives: Cyan + Magenta = Blue; Magenta + Yellow = Red; Yellow + Cyan = Green.

Color Categories

• Primary Colors: Magenta, Yellow, and Cyan.
• Secondary Colors: Green, Blue, and Red.
• Tertiary Colors: Yellowish-green, green-cyan, magenta-red, yellowish-red, blue-cyan, and magenta-blue.

Qualities and Perception of Color

Qualities of Color

• Hue (Tone): The name of the color, such as green.
• Value: The degree of brightness (dark or light).
• Saturation: The degree of purity (less saturated tones appear gray; more saturated tones are pure colors).

Complementary Colors and Ranges

• Complementary Colors: Yellow-Blue, Magenta-Green, and Cyan-Red.
• Range: Under the tone, the range of blue goes from blue to green; red goes from red to pink to magenta; yellow includes yellow to orange (taronja).
• Value Range: The range of bright or dark tones (e.g., blue to white or blue to black) with their synonyms.
• Thermal: Tones categorized as hot, cold, or neutral (terbium).
• Chromatic Circles: The colors of the rainbow (Arc de Sant Martí).

Color Perception

Alterations to Perception: On two different backgrounds, a color can vary in its tonal sensation (appearing more yellow or not). The Value may appear darker or lighter depending on the background (fund). Regarding Saturation, if you lay one highly saturated color on a less saturated one, it appears cleaner.

Lines and Geometric Construction

Lines: When working with lines, keep in mind direction, spatial distribution, volume, depth, and structure.

Construction of Regular Polygons

To construct a polygon knowing the sides:

1. Draw perpendicular segment AB.
2. With the center and radius AB, cut the perpendicular at the center point C.
3. With center C and radius AC (medium size), find point P.
4. With radius CP, divide the circle into 6 parts and find numbers 7 through 12.
5. With center 9 and a circle of radius AB, we cut the sides.