Try your hand at digital arts and who knows what talent you may uncover. You'll hardly be a Picasso but with digital printers that allow you to convert these pieces to a real artist canvas you just might create the next masterpiece for your living room. Who knows, your large format printing might even land a spot in the museum of modern art.
Need an inspiration, just watch any of the recently released computer generated graphics movie and you know just how real graphic design can get. As a starter though, you would want to go for simple pieces you can use as a focal point for your home or office interior.
Here are a few design suggestions that will keep you glued to your computer:
• Graphic design is easy. There are a number of ways to start including with your digital camera. You can simply take your favorite snapshot, enhance it digitally and create your picture perfect profile you can hang in your bedroom or living room.
• When you want to create abstract art though, you can browse through the classic painters and choose a design school that draws your attention the most. You will be happy to find many filters in Adobe Photoshop that can help you emulate at least a basic art technique. Experiment with different tools and find the look you want.
• Aside from the classics, there are numerous graphic design superstars as well. You can look into these design subcultures in websites that host their pieces. Most of the time, they will even include a step by step tutorial that will help you copy certain techniques or create certain textures from scratch.
• You can start with small ideas and grow from there. You can work on a simple project and add layers of complexity as you go along and become more experienced in graphic design. Save different drafts so you can also observe the project as it develops.
• Digital art works well for the surrealist thinkers as well. If your idol is Salvador Dali, you can convert your photographs into surrealist art in one sitting. You can juxtapose pictures into different scenes stretching, bending, or blurring them as you go a long with various graphic design tools.
• Jackson Pollock wannabes on the other hand can have their fun playing around with paint brushes and extra large canvas. They can simply choose different paint brushes and splatter the blank screen. Or better yet, they can make their own paint brush.
And even if you want to design murals or extra small prints, you can simply adjust the size of your canvas. With digital printers, they can work on a variety of sizes from 8x8 inches to as big as 51x100 inches with half-inch increments.
Remember also that your artist canvas soaks more ink than your regular semi-gloss and will give you deeper and richer colors. In addition, you also have that beautiful fabric texture that builds up the drama for your large format printing.
Large Format Printing tips, guides and sizes can be found at Large Format Posters
By: Terry De Guie
Monday, May 19, 2008
Monday, May 5, 2008
Ten Font and Text Tips
1. Use reversed text sparingly, although it produces a dramatic effect it is easily overdone and small sizes are difficult to read on some monitors.
2. Keep it simple. Avoid over filling a page, good use of white space encourages the reader to focus on the content. Use bullets, indents, italics or headings to distinguish important points.
3. Do not use too many font types. Generally, two font types are enough—for example one serif and one sans serif.
4. Avoid the use of all uppercase, depending on the font, it can be difficult to read. If you want a certain word to dominate use small uppercase, but an entire sentence or paragraph in uppercase is too much.
5. Use your boldface lightly. Contrast creates attention, if there are many bolded words, nothing will stand out.
6. Choose the right font. For example, a casual or frisky font distracts from serious content. The font should match your message and tone, not contradict it.
7. Select the proper font format. If you do not know what kind of format to purchase, consult with your font provider.
8. Test your font choice. It may be a good idea to see how a certain font appears across a broad range of applications or systems. Some programs, browsers or operating systems convert fonts and they may look different than they do on your monitor.
9. Do not overuse fancy, complicated fonts. Calligraphy fonts or other loopy, sweeping fonts may be beautiful, but are hard to read. Use them in moderation and never in content. For example, perhaps for a title in a large size that is easy to read, this will show a little style.
10. It may not be a good idea to copy fonts. Although the technology is available to copy a font, many are protected by license. Instead of copying, consider developing your own font style and purchase a custom, licensed font.
References
Adobe. Tips for Type. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Adobe. Use the right character. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Pamela Stevens
Pamela Stevens writes for TopTenREVIEWS.com, a review site that publishes unbaised reviews on a wide range of subjects, including software, online services, hardware, movies and actors.
2. Keep it simple. Avoid over filling a page, good use of white space encourages the reader to focus on the content. Use bullets, indents, italics or headings to distinguish important points.
3. Do not use too many font types. Generally, two font types are enough—for example one serif and one sans serif.
4. Avoid the use of all uppercase, depending on the font, it can be difficult to read. If you want a certain word to dominate use small uppercase, but an entire sentence or paragraph in uppercase is too much.
5. Use your boldface lightly. Contrast creates attention, if there are many bolded words, nothing will stand out.
6. Choose the right font. For example, a casual or frisky font distracts from serious content. The font should match your message and tone, not contradict it.
7. Select the proper font format. If you do not know what kind of format to purchase, consult with your font provider.
8. Test your font choice. It may be a good idea to see how a certain font appears across a broad range of applications or systems. Some programs, browsers or operating systems convert fonts and they may look different than they do on your monitor.
9. Do not overuse fancy, complicated fonts. Calligraphy fonts or other loopy, sweeping fonts may be beautiful, but are hard to read. Use them in moderation and never in content. For example, perhaps for a title in a large size that is easy to read, this will show a little style.
10. It may not be a good idea to copy fonts. Although the technology is available to copy a font, many are protected by license. Instead of copying, consider developing your own font style and purchase a custom, licensed font.
References
Adobe. Tips for Type. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Adobe. Use the right character. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Pamela Stevens
Pamela Stevens writes for TopTenREVIEWS.com, a review site that publishes unbaised reviews on a wide range of subjects, including software, online services, hardware, movies and actors.
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Ten Font and Text Tips
1. Use reversed text sparingly, although it produces a dramatic effect it is easily overdone and small sizes are difficult to read on some monitors.
2. Keep it simple. Avoid over filling a page, good use of white space encourages the reader to focus on the content. Use bullets, indents, italics or headings to distinguish important points.
3. Do not use too many font types. Generally, two font types are enough—for example one serif and one sans serif.
4. Avoid the use of all uppercase, depending on the font, it can be difficult to read. If you want a certain word to dominate use small uppercase, but an entire sentence or paragraph in uppercase is too much.
5. Use your boldface lightly. Contrast creates attention, if there are many bolded words, nothing will stand out.
6. Choose the right font. For example, a casual or frisky font distracts from serious content. The font should match your message and tone, not contradict it.
7. Select the proper font format. If you do not know what kind of format to purchase, consult with your font provider.
8. Test your font choice. It may be a good idea to see how a certain font appears across a broad range of applications or systems. Some programs, browsers or operating systems convert fonts and they may look different than they do on your monitor.
9. Do not overuse fancy, complicated fonts. Calligraphy fonts or other loopy, sweeping fonts may be beautiful, but are hard to read. Use them in moderation and never in content. For example, perhaps for a title in a large size that is easy to read, this will show a little style.
10. It may not be a good idea to copy fonts. Although the technology is available to copy a font, many are protected by license. Instead of copying, consider developing your own font style and purchase a custom, licensed font.
References
Adobe. Tips for Type. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Adobe. Use the right character. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Pamela Stevens
Pamela Stevens writes for TopTenREVIEWS.com, a review site that publishes unbaised reviews on a wide range of subjects, including software, online services, hardware, movies and actors.
2. Keep it simple. Avoid over filling a page, good use of white space encourages the reader to focus on the content. Use bullets, indents, italics or headings to distinguish important points.
3. Do not use too many font types. Generally, two font types are enough—for example one serif and one sans serif.
4. Avoid the use of all uppercase, depending on the font, it can be difficult to read. If you want a certain word to dominate use small uppercase, but an entire sentence or paragraph in uppercase is too much.
5. Use your boldface lightly. Contrast creates attention, if there are many bolded words, nothing will stand out.
6. Choose the right font. For example, a casual or frisky font distracts from serious content. The font should match your message and tone, not contradict it.
7. Select the proper font format. If you do not know what kind of format to purchase, consult with your font provider.
8. Test your font choice. It may be a good idea to see how a certain font appears across a broad range of applications or systems. Some programs, browsers or operating systems convert fonts and they may look different than they do on your monitor.
9. Do not overuse fancy, complicated fonts. Calligraphy fonts or other loopy, sweeping fonts may be beautiful, but are hard to read. Use them in moderation and never in content. For example, perhaps for a title in a large size that is easy to read, this will show a little style.
10. It may not be a good idea to copy fonts. Although the technology is available to copy a font, many are protected by license. Instead of copying, consider developing your own font style and purchase a custom, licensed font.
References
Adobe. Tips for Type. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Adobe. Use the right character. http://www.adobe.co.uk/type/topics/info8.html.
Pamela Stevens
Pamela Stevens writes for TopTenREVIEWS.com, a review site that publishes unbaised reviews on a wide range of subjects, including software, online services, hardware, movies and actors.
Friday, April 11, 2008
Photo Art Galleries
Photo art galleries generally feature the artwork of photographers. The items for display are usually categorized into themes such as fine art, wildlife, nature, landscape, nude, travel, digital stock, documentary, and other images. By using advanced photographic production techniques, artists create black and white, color, digital, and film art photos in a variety of sizes and formats. At these galleries, you can view and buy images ranging from most modern and contemporary photography to vintage photography.
There are a number of photo art galleries located in the United States and Canada. Most of them feature mainly fine art photography, but some show other art media such as paper and textiles. In addition to photos, most photo art galleries carry a wide selection of videos, prints, and books. An array of stationery including bookmarks, greeting cards, and postcards are also usually available at these galleries. Some of the photo art galleries provide a wide variety of curatorial and design installation services as well.
Photo art galleries are greatly sought after for their personalized, friendly attention for art-selection assistance, archival-quality framing and matting, conservation and restoration services, special commissions, and installation services. There are photo art galleries that focus on particular projects such as thematic and historical topics. Many photo art galleries showcase a fine selection of religious photos. Sports, still life, fauna and flora, science, and fashion trends can also be the subjects of photos. Fine art photographs are excellent collectible items for a photograph collector. Single-subject photo galleries such as tattoo photo art galleries and nail photo art galleries are also very common.
Photo art galleries also conduct exhibitions for you to view and buy photos. These exhibitions sometimes focus on a particular artist or theme. Most photo art galleries provide online services for selection and purchase of photos. Online photo art galleries are also available.
Art Galleries provides detailed information on Art Galleries, Art Gallery Dealers, Fine Art Galleries, Online Art Galleries and more. Art Galleries is affiliated with Framed Art Prints.
By: Richard Romando
There are a number of photo art galleries located in the United States and Canada. Most of them feature mainly fine art photography, but some show other art media such as paper and textiles. In addition to photos, most photo art galleries carry a wide selection of videos, prints, and books. An array of stationery including bookmarks, greeting cards, and postcards are also usually available at these galleries. Some of the photo art galleries provide a wide variety of curatorial and design installation services as well.
Photo art galleries are greatly sought after for their personalized, friendly attention for art-selection assistance, archival-quality framing and matting, conservation and restoration services, special commissions, and installation services. There are photo art galleries that focus on particular projects such as thematic and historical topics. Many photo art galleries showcase a fine selection of religious photos. Sports, still life, fauna and flora, science, and fashion trends can also be the subjects of photos. Fine art photographs are excellent collectible items for a photograph collector. Single-subject photo galleries such as tattoo photo art galleries and nail photo art galleries are also very common.
Photo art galleries also conduct exhibitions for you to view and buy photos. These exhibitions sometimes focus on a particular artist or theme. Most photo art galleries provide online services for selection and purchase of photos. Online photo art galleries are also available.
Art Galleries provides detailed information on Art Galleries, Art Gallery Dealers, Fine Art Galleries, Online Art Galleries and more. Art Galleries is affiliated with Framed Art Prints.
By: Richard Romando
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Finding and Choosing Fonts
First off you need to identify what you require from your font. Some questions to ask yourself are:
1. What characters will be used?
Almost all fonts contain all alphabetical characters but not all contain numbers or special characters such as * or -. The last thing you want is to incorporate a font into a graphic only to find you can't use a character you need.
2. What special effects does the font contain?
Depending on your use of the font you may need to make it italic, bold or underlined. If so make sure the font has these features.
3. Serif or Sans Serif?
Sans means "without" in French. So Sans Serif fonts obviously don't have serifs and Serif fonts do. A serif is a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of the letter.
4. Font category?
What sort of theme/category are you loohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifking for. Maybe your making a website for a punk band and you want a grunge font or maybe you want comic book fonts for an illustration. Fonts are almost always grouped into categories for viewing so it's important to know which category to view.
Once you've decided on the criteria for your font it's time to go searching. There are two main ways to do this. The first way is to go to a free ware font website. There are many websites that showcase large collections of fonts for free in many different categories. A personal favorite of mine is Cool Fonts.
The second way to find fonts is to use a search engine. You can either search for a specific fonts, font websites or font categories.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope it has given you some useful insight.
By: Nat Petrie Dodd
1. What characters will be used?
Almost all fonts contain all alphabetical characters but not all contain numbers or special characters such as * or -. The last thing you want is to incorporate a font into a graphic only to find you can't use a character you need.
2. What special effects does the font contain?
Depending on your use of the font you may need to make it italic, bold or underlined. If so make sure the font has these features.
3. Serif or Sans Serif?
Sans means "without" in French. So Sans Serif fonts obviously don't have serifs and Serif fonts do. A serif is a small cross stroke at the end of the main stroke of the letter.
4. Font category?
What sort of theme/category are you loohttp://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gifking for. Maybe your making a website for a punk band and you want a grunge font or maybe you want comic book fonts for an illustration. Fonts are almost always grouped into categories for viewing so it's important to know which category to view.
Once you've decided on the criteria for your font it's time to go searching. There are two main ways to do this. The first way is to go to a free ware font website. There are many websites that showcase large collections of fonts for free in many different categories. A personal favorite of mine is Cool Fonts.
The second way to find fonts is to use a search engine. You can either search for a specific fonts, font websites or font categories.
Thank you for reading this article. I hope it has given you some useful insight.
By: Nat Petrie Dodd
Monday, March 24, 2008
How To Design Unique Logo
There are 7 types of logo:
1. Typographic Logo which consist of word only e.g.: Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba
2. Geometric Typography Logo which consist of word (brand) and combined with geometrical shape such as square, circle, elipse. e.g.: Dupont
3. Initial Letter Logo which consist of one or more letters as an initial. e.g.: Hewlett-Packard
4. Pictorial Just like typographic logo (see no.1), but pictorial logo has stronger character since the typography was designed specially to create or design logo. e.g.: Hard Rock Café, Coca Cola
5. Associative Logo or symbol which has a direct associate with the product or main business core. e.g.: Shell, 20th Century Fox
6. Allusive Logo Logo that has indirect associate with the product or main business core. e.g.: Mercedes Benz, Alitalia
7. Abstract Logo that has an abstract symbol. This kind of logo is usually hard to understand, because the design comes from a very long process. In fact, it’s losing the basic form. Since the logo becomes an allusive/abstract symbol, everybody would have different perceptions about this kind of logo.
Personally, I love an allusive and abstract logo, because logo must be unique, simple and have a strong character. The basic idea could be anything as long as related to the company. It could be the product, main business core, the philosophy, the background, geographic, vision or mission, etc.
If you’re designing logo for fitness and spa center, leave the muscle and fitness equipment kind of image away. Start to think deeper about the purpose of being healthy and fit instead. What people get when they do exercise and spa (regularly)? The answer is “Their bodies will be healthy and so do their souls”. That’s the main purpose of doing fitness and spa, get healthy body and soul equally. It means that you can illustrate this with something equal or balance. The most common symbol to illustrate the balance is a “Ying-Yang” symbol. But you can not use this symbol as it is (that wouldn’t be unique, would it?!). Try to modify and make it related to the fitness/spa field. That would be another challenge for you as a designer…
I’m sure that the exploration of each business area to be exposed on logo is unlimited.
Anton Ardjanggi :: Jakarta-Indonesia based freelance graphic designer, http://anardlogo.blogspot.com/
1. Typographic Logo which consist of word only e.g.: Sony, Panasonic, Toshiba
2. Geometric Typography Logo which consist of word (brand) and combined with geometrical shape such as square, circle, elipse. e.g.: Dupont
3. Initial Letter Logo which consist of one or more letters as an initial. e.g.: Hewlett-Packard
4. Pictorial Just like typographic logo (see no.1), but pictorial logo has stronger character since the typography was designed specially to create or design logo. e.g.: Hard Rock Café, Coca Cola
5. Associative Logo or symbol which has a direct associate with the product or main business core. e.g.: Shell, 20th Century Fox
6. Allusive Logo Logo that has indirect associate with the product or main business core. e.g.: Mercedes Benz, Alitalia
7. Abstract Logo that has an abstract symbol. This kind of logo is usually hard to understand, because the design comes from a very long process. In fact, it’s losing the basic form. Since the logo becomes an allusive/abstract symbol, everybody would have different perceptions about this kind of logo.
Personally, I love an allusive and abstract logo, because logo must be unique, simple and have a strong character. The basic idea could be anything as long as related to the company. It could be the product, main business core, the philosophy, the background, geographic, vision or mission, etc.
If you’re designing logo for fitness and spa center, leave the muscle and fitness equipment kind of image away. Start to think deeper about the purpose of being healthy and fit instead. What people get when they do exercise and spa (regularly)? The answer is “Their bodies will be healthy and so do their souls”. That’s the main purpose of doing fitness and spa, get healthy body and soul equally. It means that you can illustrate this with something equal or balance. The most common symbol to illustrate the balance is a “Ying-Yang” symbol. But you can not use this symbol as it is (that wouldn’t be unique, would it?!). Try to modify and make it related to the fitness/spa field. That would be another challenge for you as a designer…
I’m sure that the exploration of each business area to be exposed on logo is unlimited.
Anton Ardjanggi :: Jakarta-Indonesia based freelance graphic designer, http://anardlogo.blogspot.com/
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Rich Fonts In Your Web Sites
Font selection is perhaps on of the biggest deciding factors in the success of any given design. Using CSS we have the ability to modify existing fonts significantly. Unfortunately, we're still limited to a small number of browser safe fonts.
The sIFR typography module uses flash actionscripts and javascript to replace existing fonts with rich typography. It's an incredibly powerful tool. The module is free and available under a general public liscense.
How does it work?
sIFR downloads flash .swf files containing a custom font that is then held in the browser cache. This means you can effectively patch your user's browser with a new font that doesn't exist in their computer's font library. Crucially sIFR can handle dynamic content since the .swf is a font library, rather than a simple static flash movie.
Degradation/Compatibility
sIFR degrades gracefully into default CSS fonts for those users who have their Javascript of flash disabled. It's also fully accessible to screenreaders and other assistive technologies. Matt May from the W3C has fully endorsed it as an accessible method to create rich typography on the web.
In terms of compatibility, sIFR works on Firfox, IE5+, Opera 7+, Safari and many other browsers. 90% of machines are said to be compatible. On non-compatible machines the module simply does not take effect.
Limitations
I've found there to be some minor speed issues. It's generally advisable only to use the module on small headlines etc rather than whole paragraphs. Loading speeds are excellent though if used properly, and are invisible to the user.
Overall impression
I love this module. I'll be using it in many of my future websites. This tool can make your websites stand out from the crowd by displaying fresh looking typography. It's important though to remember that small proportion of people who can't run the module, and make sure that the default CSS styles are also up to today's high standards.
I think that sIFR is an excellent stop-gap measure. It's badly needed as designer’s grapple with current font limitations. In the long-term however, browsers will have to find a way to support rich typography ranges.
Article source: http://www.grumpycoder.co.uk
Original article: http://www.grumpycoder.co.uk/replace-browser-safe-fonts/
The sIFR typography module uses flash actionscripts and javascript to replace existing fonts with rich typography. It's an incredibly powerful tool. The module is free and available under a general public liscense.
How does it work?
sIFR downloads flash .swf files containing a custom font that is then held in the browser cache. This means you can effectively patch your user's browser with a new font that doesn't exist in their computer's font library. Crucially sIFR can handle dynamic content since the .swf is a font library, rather than a simple static flash movie.
Degradation/Compatibility
sIFR degrades gracefully into default CSS fonts for those users who have their Javascript of flash disabled. It's also fully accessible to screenreaders and other assistive technologies. Matt May from the W3C has fully endorsed it as an accessible method to create rich typography on the web.
In terms of compatibility, sIFR works on Firfox, IE5+, Opera 7+, Safari and many other browsers. 90% of machines are said to be compatible. On non-compatible machines the module simply does not take effect.
Limitations
I've found there to be some minor speed issues. It's generally advisable only to use the module on small headlines etc rather than whole paragraphs. Loading speeds are excellent though if used properly, and are invisible to the user.
Overall impression
I love this module. I'll be using it in many of my future websites. This tool can make your websites stand out from the crowd by displaying fresh looking typography. It's important though to remember that small proportion of people who can't run the module, and make sure that the default CSS styles are also up to today's high standards.
I think that sIFR is an excellent stop-gap measure. It's badly needed as designer’s grapple with current font limitations. In the long-term however, browsers will have to find a way to support rich typography ranges.
Article source: http://www.grumpycoder.co.uk
Original article: http://www.grumpycoder.co.uk/replace-browser-safe-fonts/
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