Art Department

School of Fine Arts

The University of Rio Grande

Student Space

Graphic Design Program

Benjy Home

BFA program documents

AQIP, AQIP, AQIP!!

Links

Comprehensive Test Questions

Sche

Graphic Design Comprehensive Test Questions

YOU SHOULD KNOW THIS STUFF-IT WILL BE ON THE TEST!!!

Last updated 8/26/07

General design issues

  1. How can you make one element stand out in a composition?
  2. What is the rule of thirds? How do you use it?
  3. What is a horizon line? Where is it in relation to the person making the picture? Where is it in relationship to the page? What happens if it's not perfectly horizontal?
  4. What is a vanishing point? How many are there? Where do you find them?
  5. What kinds of perspectve are there?
  6. What are the differences between central and peripheral vision? How do these differences affect what we do as artists?
  7. Are some shapes masculine, and some feminine? Why?
  8. In a two-dimensional image, how can you make an element appear closer or farther away from the viewer?
  9. What is simultaneous color contrast? What is so special about it?
  10. What is a gray scale?
  11. How can you make a color less intense?

Photoshop

  1. What is a pixel? What is it made of?
  2. What does "dpi" stand for, and what is its relationship to a digital file?
  3. If an image is one inch by four inches at a resolution of 100ppi, how many pixels does it contain?
  4. What is the difference between raster and vector graphics?
  5. What three attributes of pixels can be changed in photoshop?
  6. How does the magic wand work?
  7. What is the difference between CMYK and RGB color?  Which is better?
  8. What is indexed color, and why can't you drop a GIF into an RGB file?
  9. What’s the difference between RGB and RGBG? Where do you find each? Why is there an extra G in one of them?
  10. What are the three properties of color? Define each.
  11. What is HSB color?
  12. What is an "out of gamut" color?
  13. How is a bitmapped image different from a grayscale image?
  14. What does it mean to rasterize text?
  15. What's the difference between a layer and a channel? How many are there of each?
  16. What is the difference between changing the Canvas Size and changing the Image Size? Which is better?
  17. What are the advantages and disadvantages of saving a file in the following formats:  JPEG, Photoshop, GIF, Tiff, PNG?
  18. What is the difference between lossy and lossless compression? What is lost?
  19. What does Save For Web do?
  20. What are Slices? Should you use them?
  21. What does flattening an image do? Is it good?
  22. What is the relevance of the term 72dpi?
  23. When you change the size of a photoshop image, what happens to the pixels?
  24. What is a transparency grid?
  25. What is a blending mode?
  26. What does an adjustment layer do? Why use it?
  27. What is the difference between Image>Adjustments>Invert and Select>Inverse? What is being inverted or inversed?
  28. What does View>Actual Pixels do?
  29. What are Actions?

Digital Photo

  1. How does a digital camera record a picture?
  2. What’s the difference between RGB and RGBG? Where do you find each? Why is there an extra G in one of them?
  3. How does a digital camera capture an image?
  4. What's the difference between JPEG and RAW? Which is better?
  5. What is interpolation? How does it work?
  6. What is clipping? Should you avoid it, and how?
  7. If you have to screw it up, should you over-expose or under-expose?
  8. What's the difference between CMOS, CCD, and the Foveon X3? Which is best? Why?
  9. What is "white balance"? Why is it measured in degrees?
  10. What is the difference between sRGB IEC61966-1 and Adobe RGB (1998)? Which is better?
  11. What is the ICC anyway, and what do they do for us?
  12. How many different kinds of color profiles are there? What are the good ones? How do you get them to play together?
  13. What's the difference between a VGA and an LCD monitor? Which is better?
  14. How do you profile it, and why does the time of day matter?
  15. What is the relationship between ISO, ASA, focal length, and shutter speed?
  16. What is ISO, and how does a digital camera have it?

Web Graphics

Midterm Fall 09-ignore strikeout questions.

  1. Why can't you make a website any size you want?
  2. What is a Web color? When should you use them?
  3. Explain the difference between file resolution, screen resolution and print resolution.
  4. What does HTML stand for, and what does it do?
  5. What is the internet?
  6. What is a website?
  7. What is a browser?
  8. What is a server?
  9. Where is a server?
  10. Why does my website look different on different computers?
  11. What is a tag? What is this: < >…</>?
  12. What is the W3C? What does it do?
  13. What is a domain name?
  14. What is a directory? Where does it live?
  15. What’s the difference between a head and a body? What goes in each?
  16. What is the difference between these two tags: <p>…</p> and <br/>?
  17. What is an FTP? Where do you get one? Should you add an “S” in front when you get it?
  18. What’s the difference between physical formats and logical formats for text? Which is better for Stevie Wonder? Which is which? <b> <strong>
  19. What’s the difference between a link and a hyperlink, and why are they underlined? Can we change that?
  20. What is a “text image” and why doesn’t the WAI like it? How can you resolve this problem?
  21. Why can't you put photoshop images on the web?
  22. What is a template? Where do they live? Why do we use them?
  23. What is CSS? What can it do?
  24. What makes a good website?
  25. What makes a bad website?
  26. FLASH QUESTIONS
  27. What is a keyframe? Why do we need them?
  28. What's the difference between a motion tween and a shape tween?
  29. What is alpha?
  30. What does 12.0 fps mean?

Illustrator/indesign

  1. What is the difference between raster and vector graphics?
  2. Why can’t I change the resolution of my illustrator files?
  3. What is a font?
  4. What is a corrupted font? Are they cool or not?
  5. What is the difference between Bold and Faux Bold?
  6. What is a serif? What does it mean to be Sans Serif? Which is better?
  7. What is the difference between the following font families: Roman, Italic, Egyptian, Novelty, Blackletter?
  8. What is the difference between letter spacing, word spacing, leading and kerning?
  9.  Does leading rhyme with speeding or shredding? Why?
  10. What is reverse type?
  11. What do the following tems mean: x-height, em space, en space. Which one is the biggest?
  12. How can you make your text shout? Is it a good idea to do so?
  13. What are smart quotes? Are you smart to use them?
  14. When and where should your punctuation hang?
  15. Where is there a punctuation error in this question? Hint: its not in the first sentence. Explain your answer.
  16. What’s the difference between a small cap and a drop cap?
  17. What’s the difference between a ligature and a glyph?
  18. How many spaces go after a period? How many returns go after a paragraph?
  19. What is a Bezier curve?
  20. What is the difference between the selection tool and the direct selection tool? Which one is better?
  21. How does the pen tool work?
  22. What does it mean to group objects?
  23. What is the difference between a filter and an effect?
  24. What’s the difference between a linked and an embedded image? Which is better?
  25. What does it mean to outline text? Why would you do it?
  26. What is the biggest picture you can make in illustrator?
  27. What are some properties of a good logo?
  28. How does live tracing work?
  29. If illustrator images are made for the web, how should they be saved?
  30. What are picas and points?
  31. What is justified text?
  32. What is the difference between a frame and content?
  33. Which is on the right, odd or even pages?
  34. What is the difference between saving a file as an indesign or a pdf file?
  35. What’s the difference between a fill and a stroke?
  36. What are these terms: counter, bowl, ear, terminus, spur, ascender, descender?