Graphics
are visual images or designs on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, screen, paper, or stone, to inform, illustrate, or entertain.
In contemporary usage, it includes a pictorial representation of data, as in design and manufacture, in typesetting and the graphic arts, and in educational and recreational software.
Graphic design may consist of the deliberate selection, creation, or arrangement of typography alone, as in a brochure, flyer, poster, web site, or book without any other element.
The latter can be a recorded version, such as a photograph, or an interpretation by a scientist to highlight essential features, or an artist, in which case the distinction with imaginary graphics may become blurred.
Some of the earliest graphics and drawings are known to the modern world, from almost 6,000 years ago, are that of engraved stone tablets and ceramic cylinder seals, marking the beginning of the historical periods and the keeping of records for accounting and inventory purposes.
Records from Egypt predate these and papyrus was used by the Egyptians as a material on which to plan the building of pyramids; they also used slabs of limestone and wood.
An illustration is a visual representation such as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that stresses the subject more than form.
The aim of an illustration is to elucidate or decorate a story, poem or piece of textual information (such as a newspaper article), traditionally by providing a visual representation of something described in the text.
Illustrations can be used to display a wide range of subject matter and serve a variety of functions, such as: A graph or chart is a graphic that represents tabular or numeric data.
One difference between photography and other forms of graphics is that a photographer, in principle, just records a single moment in reality, with seemingly no interpretation.
It is usually created in accordance with standardized conventions for layout, nomenclature, interpretation, appearance (such as typefaces and line styles), size, etc.
In the mid-1960s, large computer graphics research projects were begun at MIT, General Motors, Bell Labs, and Lockheed Corporation.
In 1968, ray tracing was first described by Arthur Appel of the IBM Research Center, Yorktown Heights, N.Y.[1] During the late 1970s, home computers became more powerful, capable of drawing both basic and complex shapes and designs.
Computer systems dating from the 1980s and onwards often use a graphical user interface (GUI) to present data and information with symbols, icons, and pictures, rather than text.
Websites began to use the GIF format to display small graphics, such as banners, advertisements, and navigation buttons, on web pages.
SVG, and to some extent VML, support in some modern web browsers have made it possible to display vector graphics that are clear at any size.
Plugins expand the web browser functions to display animated, interactive and 3-D graphics contained within file formats such as SWF and X3D.
Modern web graphics can be made with software such as Adobe Photoshop, the GIMP, or Corel Paint Shop Pro.
A growing number of people use create internet forum signatures—generally, appearing after a user's post—and other digital artwork, such as photo manipulations and large graphics.
Popular magazines, such as Time, Wired and Newsweek, usually contain graphic material in abundance to attract readers, unlike the majority of scholarly journals.
The term business graphics came into use in the late 1970s, when personal computers became capable of drawing graphs and charts instead of using a tabular format.
[2] Graphics are heavily used in textbooks, especially those concerning subjects such as geography, science, and mathematics, in order to illustrate theories and concepts, such as the human anatomy.
The majority of schools, colleges, and universities around the world educate students on the subject of graphic design and art.
The subject is taught in a broad variety of ways, each course teaching its own distinctive balance of craft skills and intellectual response to the client's needs.
