It is a great shame that last week Google announced they were closing down their photo editing service Picnik, which they acquired at the beginning of 2010. Visiting the site now you will see a message posted by admin that Picnik will be closing from the 19th April 2012 and that all that have paid for subscriptions will have a full refund.
The site offers a number of good quality and handy free editing tools as well as more advanced premium features which are available only to those who have purchased a subscription package. However due to the imminent closure of the site all tools are as of this week free to everyone.
I’ll get straight to the point: recently, I was asked to design a website for a certain Divorce solicitors who I won’t mention here. Now, I’ve designed a fair few websites in my time but this one was the exception to the rule: the client understood exactly what they wanted and easily got their concept across to me. This, in turn, made designing the site that much easier. So here, below, are a few tricks and tips I learned from pitching to them. Feel free to use them when you pitch and hopefully you will get the job! (Unless I am up against you, of course, in which case obviously I hope I get the job and not you! No offence!)
1) Ask plenty of questions: if you don’t ask plenty of questions in the beginning, how can you expect to know the project inside out? The truth is that you can never ask too many questions. If there is anything you are unsure of then iron this out on the first meeting and avoid an awkward situation or two later on.
Using technical jargon is all fine and well, but if your client doesn’t actually understand it then you’re just wasting your time!
The life of an artist is not an easy one. No matter what form of artistry you dedicate your life to, website design, illustration, theatre or music, sacrifices must be made. Unfortunately most of the time these sacrifices come in the form of relationships. When you are a full time artist, even for some of us that only dabble in our craft, you have to work hard and long to become truly great. Even if you were born with natural talent, you still have to study the history of your chosen craft in order to become truly remarkable. This studying takes up hours of your time each day and even if you walk away from a project, you are still thinking about ways to make that project be your best one yet.
Who would have thought that one day, the humble pen would be able to fight the all-powerful computer? Yet that’s the situation we find ourselves in now: while Photoshop allows anyone with a modicum of design ability to produce something half decent, the pen is coming back with a vengeance. That’s a welcome thing as far as I am concerned – because although computers offer a multitude of more advanced options, they can’t compete with classic illustrations and never will be able to.
Let’s imagine a scenario where classic illustration will thrive: Bob runs a shredding services company. Quite simply, the company’s job is to take sensitive data that must be completely destroyed, and…well…destroy it! The thing is, Bob isn’t a really big computer fan. He has this idea for a website which incorporates a classic look, almost as if someone has expertly illustrated the screen just like back in the day when the pen ruled. He doesn’t know what he wants, exactly, but when he makes a call to a web design firm down the road, he is pleased to discover someone else who is on the same page…
Customers like the look of someone who cares about their work, and believe this is a promising indication of a good working relationship.
Mark is not a really big computer fan either; he works with them, and uses design programmes very well, but his heart is in real drawing, and when he gets the call from this man Bob, he knows more or less instantly what he would like to do.
So he gets to work on a kind of moving illustration. It depicts reams of paper being shredded, with a light sound in the background that is somehow very satisfying. He invites Bob to come and have a look, and the second Bob sees the hand-made look of the site – which shows that real attention to detail has been painstakingly applied – he knows it is perfect. He gives Mark a hug and it’s all a bit overwhelming. Mark isn’t used to people getting this worked up about his drawings, but still, he can put up with it.
The key thing here – the thing which made Bob’s company go on to have immense success – is individuality. Bob gets work because he is different, and catches peoples eyes. Customers like the look of someone who cares about their work, and believe this is a promising indication of a good working relationship.
Sometimes, a simple drawing can be better than a thousand words and anything Photoshop can throw at you.
No matter whether we are talking about tins producer or a huge watch maker we will all see that the flash content on websites is playing more and more significant role in the web design techniques especially by big companies. And I say big companies because I have seen some truly successful flash-based websites that look absolutely stunning and that make browsing rather enjoyable. However, it does sometimes lack accuracy or speed but it is still enjoyable for the eye More
I remember the first time I looked at a font and thought it odd: I was in my dad’s study and my dad was messing about trying different fonts. Every time he changed the font it was a new and interesting thing and I would give him my opinion on it. Sometimes I would say “Too messy.” Other times I would say “Too odd”. But all those times I never really knew what it was that was different or strange or unique about them. That didn’t occur to me for a few more years yet.
I was 14 when I really started to analyse fonts and think of them as more than just funny squiggles. By 16 I knew about serifs, line spacing and why clarity was important, and by 18 I knew what most fonts looked like and had a good understanding of what makes a good font. Now I am going to share my understanding with you readers here (and by my understanding I mean half my opinion and what I believe as half fact).
Take Courier New for example. A classic case of a font which is ideal for just reading, but isn’t exactly the most elegant font
To start with, a font must be readable. This has to be the case or it’s not going to be functional, and that is what a font is for after all. This is where it gets tricky: obviously there are degrees of readability and everyone has their own idea of this, so you can’t really win.
Now we move onto how well the font flows. This is different to readability. For example, some very clear, ultra-readable fonts don’t flow very well and have parts to them which almost make me want to cry. Take Courier New for example. A classic case of a font which is ideal for just reading, but isn’t exactly the most elegant font in modern existence.
Next up it’s time to look at the line spacing. Is there masses of white? This is no good. Or, conversely, is the text all squished together in a way that makes you wonder what the inventor of the font was thinking? In either case something is wrong, and here is why.
Line spacing is crucial: it’s vital for getting the message across, and essential if you want the font to remain invisible and the words to shine through. It doesn’t matter if you’re spelling My metal boxes or Can we go out to a movie? Font is one of the most critical obstacles out there on the front line between communication and understanding.
The importance of a company’s logo can never be underestimated. It is the identifying element of the brand for a company, business, product or economic entity. Its purpose is to create an immediate recognition by the viewer. It should be unique and designed in such a manner as to avoid confusion in the eyes of the general public, suppliers and users and at the same time, it helps the company to stand out of the remaining lot.
The Nokia phone design has always been one that millions of user instantly equated with the mobile phone market. Many of us who first bought mobile phones had a Nokia and have stayed with the company ever since. Brand loyalty can be a very powerful tool in design terms.
A report by the BBC in early June shows light at the end of the tunnel for the Finnish giant that has had many problems this year. Nokia have won an More
Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are characterized by the integration of the best functionality of desktop software applications user interface with the wide reach and deployment of Web applications as well as the best of multimedia, interactive communication.
These applications are created and implemented to boost total website productivity. With the addition of RIAs, versatile website features will be added by website developers and websites will become more attractive, interactive and interesting. Suffice to say, RIAs are designed and added to More
Typography is defined as the discipline and procedure about type layout and the art of processing of type that includes the length, point size, line spacing and the typefaces. Earlier typography represented a specialized occupation until the computerized era, when it opened up to new ages of visual creative designers.
The mechanical press was invented in the mid fifteenth century by the German Goldsmith, Johannes Gutenberg. It was Gutenberg who developed some of the unique techniques of creating letter punches in large quantity which are required for printing of multitude copies of text. The printing technology revolutionized itself with the discovery and development of this technique.
In modern typography there are many issues to be considered when deciding about choosing a font type and also the layout of the text. Some of the issues that are to be considered in modern typography are:
The Context
This means that the visual appeal of typography is not specified by the person who is laying out the text of a page. It is done through the response of the font to the specific words that the text is comprised of.
Contrast and Stress
Earlier the “thins” and “thicks” of a letter were based on the direction, angle and pressure of a pen. However in type, the stress is defined as the direction in which the curve of a stroke changes its weight. There are three types of stress in typography. They are the (i) Angled or oblique (ii) The semi-oblique and (iii) The vertical stress. The contrast means the amount of the variation that happens in between the thick and thin strokes.
Revival versus the construction
There are many designers who use typefaces after learning about their construction. A typeface that is simple and has a repetitive pattern lacks in individuality in the letters and thus makes it difficult to distinguish from each other. High contrast between the foreground letters and the background paper should also be considered in typography.
Apart from these, the right size of the font matters too, after all you wouldn’t want the font to be as big as r4i cards nor as small as a dot.
