graphicdesignfor kids!

graphicdesignforkids.com

An interactive course in visual design. Learn the language of design one puzzle at a time; drag, drop, and train your designer's eye.

Lessons

11 principles · 62 exercises

01 Lesson 1

Contrast

Difference draws the eye. Make the important thing look different from everything around it.

02 Lesson 2

Flow

Eyes follow a path. Design decides the order in which people read.

03 Lesson 3

Hierarchy

Size signals importance. The most important element should be impossible to miss.

04 Lesson 4

Alignment

Every element should share an edge with something else. Nothing sits somewhere by accident.

05 Lesson 5

Unity

A design feels whole when its parts repeat a system; a grid, a style, a rhythm.

06 Lesson 6

Proximity

Things placed close together are read as belonging together.

07 Lesson 7

Whitespace

Empty space is not wasted space: it is what makes everything else readable.

08 Lesson 8

Framing

A frame is a spotlight: it tells the eye exactly where to look.

09 Lesson 9

Typography

Typefaces have voices. Choose the voice that fits, then pair it with a calm partner.

10 Lesson 10

Colour

Colours have temperature and relationships. Pick a small team and give one the lead.

11 Lesson 11

Emphasis

Decide what matters most: then use size, weight, colour or isolation to make it unmissable.

Train your eye

Spot the principles in the real world

✦ Field Guide

Design in the wild

Annotated real-world mockups: news sites, billboards, yearbooks, comics, menus and movie posters, done right and done wrong.

? Quiz · 9 cases

Design Detective

Nine designs with mistakes; name the principle each one breaks.

Studio projects

Real briefs that combine everything

Project 1

Advertisement Flyer

A neighbourhood flyer that makes people stop and read.

Project 2

Website Homepage

A homepage laid out the way real sites are.

Project 3

Party Invitation

An invitation guests can read at a glance.

Project 4

Movie Poster

The classic one-sheet, ranked like the studios do it.

Project 5

Book Cover

A cover that sells the story from across the shop.

Project 6

Magazine Cover

One masthead, one main story, a couple of teasers.

Project 7

Restaurant Menu

Sections a hungry reader can navigate instantly.

Project 8

Business Card

A tiny canvas where every millimetre counts.

Project 9

Event Ticket

Easy to read in the dark, in a queue, in one look.

Project 10

Album Cover

A square of calm that still says everything.

Project 11

Video Thumbnail

Three words, one face, maximum pop: at postage-stamp size.

Project 12

Weather App Screen

A phone screen where the temperature is the hero.

Project 13

Science Fair Poster

A poster that walks judges through your experiment in order.

Project 14

Greeting Card

Warm, personal, and not a pixel of clutter.

Project 15

Comic Page

Panels that carry the reader through the story.

Project 16

Product Label

A bottle label that pops off the shelf.

Project 17

Email Newsletter

An email people actually scroll to the end of.

Project 18

Gig Poster

A two-step build: cast the type voices, then lay out the night.

Project 19

Team Rebrand

Three designs, one identity: logo, jersey, announcement.

Project 20

Magazine Spread

An opening spread and a photo essay, composed like the glossies.