Apr
16
Colour Gets Noticed. Are you using colour in your page layouts? From a production point of view, colour printing can get pretty expensive, though it’s gotten cheaper with the advent of digital output. It’s still more expensive than black and white, though. Is it worth the trouble? I’d say so. Using colour can make… Continue reading »
Apr
09
I’m a musician (kind of) and have played in ensemble settings long enough to know that music can be made a lot more effective by knowing when NOT to play as well as when actually making some sound. Skillful musicians and composers use the silences in the song to lend more power to song’s content. … Continue reading »
Mar
14
When I updated my iPhone’s software last week, I noticed that my phone’s camera now has a grid option. It divides the picture area into thirds each way, for nine equal squares. This is a handy graphic design thingy that improves my picture taking. How, you ask? Lots of folks seem to think that the… Continue reading »
Feb
28
The colour wheel we discussed in our last exciting instalment dealt with pure colours; what we would call hues. The range of available colours increases when we start adding white or black to these basic colours, creating what we would call tints (by adding white) and shades (created by adding black). Image editing software usually comes… Continue reading »
Feb
23
People have commented (I’m not making this up) how much better I look since I’ve been married. It’s hard to sneak out the door without the Fashion Police giving the thumbs-up or thumbs down. I’m a bit of a klutz when it comes to knowing what’s cool and/or appropriate. Colours are like that too. How… Continue reading »
Feb
15
Be Bold Using contrast to make your pages look interesting is a lot of fun. It requires a bold touch – don’t wimp out here. In Robin Williams’ book The Non-Designer’s Design Book, she states: “If two items are not exactly the same, then make them different. Really different”. How to create contrast? A graceful… Continue reading »
Feb
13
When my wife asks me to get the mayo out of the fridge (maybe this is a guy thing), if someone has put it in a different container than what I’m used to, I’m in trouble. I can look right past it; I expect to see it in the container I’m used to seeing it… Continue reading »
Feb
10
In the last instalment I wrote about proximity of graphic elements in design. Again, for further exploration of today’s topic, I refer you to Robin Williams’ book The Non-Designer’s Design Book. It’s an excellent resource for design basics! Today we’ll talk about alignment. When I talked about proximity, I did sneak in a little about… Continue reading »
Feb
06
An important part of your company’s brand is the image of professionalism you want to convey, and good looking, brand-consistent stationary is a vital part of that. When it comes to image, what is it that separates the professionals from the wannabe’s? There are some basic principles to good looking design that Robin Williams (not… Continue reading »
Jan
24
Font do’s and don’ts One thing that particularly grates on designers is the use of more than 2 font families on a page. Though there may be occasional reasons for breaking this rule, generally speaking professionals will be careful to keep within this range. It gives a cleaner look; when it comes to fonts, less… Continue reading »