Book review: the elements of Graphic DesignWritten by MAricon Williams
Graphic design is a very broad field and to master it is a very challenging escapade. We can have a good grasp of graphic design by understanding basic elements and principles which make effective design and page layout. Graphic design is a course of combining texts and graphics in order to develop an interactive work of art. Designers achieve their purpose by utilizing elements and principles of graphic design. In today’s world, graphic design has a greater percentage of influencing us. Everywhere we go, anywhere we look, there are graphic design materials – from posters, signs, newsletters, billboards - practically everywhere. I guess everybody longs to be a creator of a masterpiece. Sounds difficult, but actually it’s not. Even those who have no formal graphic design training can improve their page layout and text compositions through enhancing their concepts of design basics and modern desktop publishing. Though individual lessons can be taken, I strongly recommend book Elements of Graphic Design authored by Alexander White. Alexander White is an expert in graphic design. He has shaped visual design of nineteen magazines and twenty identity programs. White was also a consultant to numerous publications, art directors and editors. He was formerly a teacher in design at Hartford Art School of University of Hartford. He has taught there for about fifteen years. He has also lectured on typography and design to professionals in corporations and at conferences. He is currently residing in New York City.
| | The Do's of Banner DesigningWritten by Granny’s Mettle
Banners are effective media materials that can make or break a company's ad campaign. For web sites, along with corporate logo, banner speaks of your message and what you want to achieve for your corporate image and identity.To help you with your banner design, we have compiled following tips and suggestions that have made other web sites effective in terms of amount of visitors and sales. The Do's of Designing Your Banner DO use animation. Especially animation that is quick to download. Animations do attract attention of your target audience, but it should not take much time to download or else your visitors would just click on to another site. But remember to provide animation in minimum. Too much would not attract but irritate your visitors. It will also overwhelm your page. Grantastic Designs have provided following general guidelines for animated banners: •The animation should be subtle enough to attract attention but should not be so ostentatious as to interfere or clash with design of web page you are advertising on. •An animation that loops endlessly tends to irritate visitors. Have animation loop 7-10 times, leaving main message on last animation frame. •Conversely, some visitors will stop a web page from loading before banner animation has loaded, leaving only first frame. Thus, it might be a good idea to have your message come across in your first frame if you know that web page you are advertising on has a long download time. DO provide features that call for some action. Images that ask visitors to "click" or "submit" on your banner can improve significantly rate of visitors clicking on your web page. Visitors are attracted to click on icons especially if you offer them something in return. DO provide "FREE" in your banner. Human nature provides for attraction of anything that is offered "FREE". Depending on what is being offered, word "FREE" can increase rate of visitors clicking on your web site. Web sites usually offer free demonstrations of new software. This often gets good response from target audience. Offering free money though produces suspicion among browsers since people tend to question what catch is.
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