Increasingly, graphics are an important part of the production experience. Stations and networks spend huge amounts of money on their graphic "look." The tools for creating slick graphics used to be prohibitively expensive, but now almost anyone with talent (that talent thing is important) can create quality graphics.

But this is not a graphics course. Instead, the goal for this unit is simply to provide you with an overview of the graphics landscape, and introduce you to some basic terminology. By the way, in broad terms, a "graphic" is any two-dimensional image, which would include paintings, posters, signs etc. that are displayed on television. That's in addition to graphic images that are designed in a computer.

ASPECT RATIO
Unlike the printed page (which can be almost any shape) television graphics must fit in the 4 by 3 "aspect ratio" of standard television—or the 16 by 9 ratio of HD television.