Graphics & Web Design Resources » Graphic Design

Corporate Graphic Design and Its Need for Your Business

admin — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 23:13:09 +0000

The best bakers and pastry chefs come out with products that are not only mouthwatering but delectable visually as well. Similarly, graphic design is the art of presenting information in a visually appealing way. For companies to stand out from the crowd, it’s critical to have an outstanding and instantly recognizable logo that represents the company.That’s where corporate graphic design comes into the picture.

Every entrepreneur’s dream is to have a company and a logo that’s as instantly recognizable around the world as a Nike or a Coca Cola. The job of a professional graphic designer is to try to convert these dreams into reality. The graphic designer takes the brief from the client and comes up with a graphic design that reflects the values of the client.

Professional graphic design is a skill that is a combination of both art and science. While a design needs to be catchy, the graphic designer has to keep in mind the different media that will be used to promote an identity for which the logo is created. A logo needs to look good – be it from an outdoor advertising panel, on computer/TV screen, or on to a mobile device.

The role of the print media continues to decline as the primary mode of advertising for companies. As people are beginning to spend more and more time online, the share of online advertising from the total branding remuneration pie will continue to grow for online and internet advertising. With ubiquitous broadband internet and 3G mobile services, advertising will change from something that is simply static to one highly dynamic; and encourage greater interaction amongst the user.

The corporate graphic design of the future has to bear in mind these changing dynamics. The winning graphic design will be the one that best understands the mindset of its target audience and is able to entice and influence its target geography and the people living there.

Anti-aliasing for a Smoother Corporate Graphic Design

admin — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 23:15:18 +0000

When vying for a commercial successful website, one cannot really afford to ignore the need for a professional graphic design powered by custom web development and overall search engine friendliness. Per se, there are various facets to a good looking corporate graphic design and one of them is called anti-aliasing.

A term often used in connection with graphic cards and computer games; Anti-aliasing is integral to a nice and smooth professional graphic design across digital media. The method is used to discernibly smooth the rough edged texts and images in any online game, graphic card or website to give it a more corporate look.

A deeper look into how anti-aliasing works, reveals that it involves no magic but purely smarter handling of the graphics at hand. Anti-aliasing achieves a smoother look for the texts and graphics by rendering the edges less obvious for the human eyes, thus only fooling the viewer’s eyes that the image is now minus a jagged look. The finer texts and graphics in turn reinforce a corporate graphic design impression in the psyche of the audience at large and win better response for the game/ graphic card/ website etc.

The secret behind anti-aliasing can be easily realized by magnifying the text before and after anti-aliasing. An analytical eye would take no time in understanding what anti-aliasing does to any text/ graphic. The method when implemented simply blurs the edges of the text, which looks neat and corporate like for any professional graphic design when reduced manifolds in size within the template. It naturally increases the calculations to be done on the computer monitor to achieve the professional look for the graphic design, and hence a bit slower uploading time.

While the jagged look is an outcome of the basic limitation of a computer screen, which is made up of multitude of pixels and draws any subject using horizontal and vertical lines, Anti-aliasing basically incorporates gentle color changes around the edges to give them a blended look.

Graphic Design Schools – Everything You Need To Know

admin — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 23:12:00 +0000

A successful future in the new media industry (and specifically, graphic design) depends on choosing the right school. As a graduate student in this field myself, I will be able to provide you with the absolute best advice one can get in regards to this topic.

1. Area of Focus

The first thing that you need to know about schools of this nature is that they are designed with everyone in mind, and that means people going into the program may have absolutely no experience. In my case, they asked for a portfolio of work as part of the admission process. So, if you are self-taught and eager to solidify your already existing knowledge, or a total beginner, this is a good choice for you. If, however, you have already completed a similar program, you may wish to take a new program merely to upgrade your skills (because the field of new media is always changing). If you can, it really, really, really helps if you take a freehand drawing course prior to learning how to draw using a computer.

2. Recognition

- Does the school participate in any graphical arts competitions?
- Have students accomplished anything of reknown in the industry?

3. Teachers

Trust me, this doesn’t go without saying. The quality of your education will be directly related to the instructors. I have never encountered an instructor that wasn’t immensely knowledgeable about the subject area. Of course, there is a big difference between knowing the subject area and being able to teach (that is, to convey that information, and manage students, answer questions, etc).

4. Job Placement

100% make sure that you get into a program that incorporates on-the-job experience. Or at least a practicum. This usually is 100 hours of real on-the-job experience and it is absolutely invaluable to your career.

5. Curriculum And Tools

You must assess whether the curriculum is relevant to you field of study. You may want to compare the curricula of different schools to see which offers the best form of education. As it so happens in my case, the administration did something they have never done before: changed the curriculum halfway through the program. The reasoning behind this was that the software we were scheduled to be instructed in would soon be discontinued on the Mac. It really pays off if you can see the facilities beforehand so you know what tools they are using. Don’t just oogle at the computers, snoop around and see the programs directory and make note of what programs are installed, and if they are the latest versions.

6. Student to Teacher Ratio

Graphic design is kind of an industry that more or less demands personal contributions on every project. For this reason, you can’t just be known as the photoshop guy, it is your responsibility to be well versed in a lot of different programs and techniques for creating stunning graphics and illustrations. And that means you will definately need one-on-one instruction, or at least the ability to stop the class in case you get lost. These programs are very fast-paced and if you don’t make sure you fully understand concepts in the first semester you will get hopelessly lost – fast.

7. Accreditation

Accreditation means the school has passed a certain standards of educational quality. If you can, ask for literally one minute of the head departments time and find out a listing of companies that students have been hired into.

8. Cost

A full education in graphic design can cost anywhere from 13,000 to 16,000 dollars for an intensive one-year program (120 credits). The goal here is to find a university, college, or technical institute that is recognized internationally for excellence. Let’s face it, Harvard University will look a lot better on your resume than Texas Community College. Three great recognized schools in are BCIT located in Vancouver Canada (Vancouver is the equivalent of Hollywood for graphic designers, web designers, and all new media experts), the Art Institute (with locations worldwide), and the Vancouver Film School (VFS) that has graphic design programs that are very specialized.

9. Scholarships

You might want to consider whether the design school you are looking at offers any scholarships. You also might want to know the terms to them too. Some schools offer scholarships based on academic performance. Some offer them based on art competitions they hold regularly. You should qualify for a national student loan either way, and repayment is extremely affordable.

Choosing A Computer For Freelance Graphic Design

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 23:13:23 +0000

For many years, when a freelance graphic designer chose a new computer, Macintosh was the automatic choice. Macintosh computers provided the memory, processing speed and storage necessary for large design files. Most graphic design firms and printing companies used only Macintosh computers. Today, that trend continues but PCs are making inroads in what used to be territory exclusive to Macintosh. Therefore, the decision on what computer to purchase is not as clear cut as it once was for graphic designers.
Hardware is the first consideration of most freelance designers. While PCs have been proven to rival Macs in terms of processing speed, some people claim that Macs still process large graphic files more efficiently. Also, Macintosh computers have a better maintenance record than most PCs. However, when a hardware problem does arise a Mac can cost more to repair.
Software is where the Macintosh shines compared to the PC. All the major graphic design applications are available for both platforms and run with similar speed. However, the Macintosh operating system has historically been much more stable than the Windows operating system and much easier for the end user to troubleshoot. Additionally, Macintosh computers are far less susceptible to viruses, adware and spyware than PCs, which are notorious for their security flaws.
There are considerations beyond the hardware and software that a freelance designer needs to consider. For example, Macintosh computers typically cost more than PCs. However, once a PC is equipped with the appropriate memory, processor and graphics card to efficiently process graphic files, the cost is fairly similar. If a designer decides to switch platforms any graphic design software already owned must be repurchased under a new license which leads many designers to stick with one platform.
Aesthetics are often a consideration of many designers. Macintosh computers are designed to look sleek and creative while PCs are typically more standard looking. However, some of Macintosh’s most originally designed computers are not suitable for graphic design work, leaving a designer with the standard CPU tower, monitor and peripherals, though perhaps in interesting colors.
Finally, careful consideration must be given to interactions with outside vendors and clients. Many printing companies and graphic design firms still have a strong pro-Macintosh bias and may reject native files created with PC software. However, if you are submitting EPS, TIFF or PDF files, the difference in platform will be negligible.

Use Graphic Design Skills in Right Format for Websites

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 23:19:45 +0000

Graphic design is the most sorts after website design feature making any website visually attractive and appealing. There are many skills that contribute towards making of successful graphic designs. Some of them are as follows:

1) Adobe

Adobe Illustrator software is used for vector based graphics, the designs created are also very neat in texture. It is usually used for logo formation, poster and print work. This program is a bit difficult to learn but can be very beneficial.

Adobe Photoshop is used for producing pixel based photo management. The experts also keep them updated by regular online learning. It is a little costly trick to learn but worth learning it due to excellent results produced by it.

The Adobe InDesign uses page layout program useful for print based designs. In case of magazines, newspapers, brochures, books the skills of this software can be used.

2) Flash

Flash provides motion to your presentations online and turns imagination into reality. Flash is being used extensively in the form if videos on World Wide Web. In comparison to other video players the use of flash player is more on computer devices and desktops. The websites getting hi-tech day-by-day needs to possess strong and full-fledged of flash.

3) Idea creation

Internet is a dynamic platform where everyday something new occurs in terms of technology and creativity. Graphic designers that can come up with newer and innovative ideas get most of the clients. Every customer wishes to present his website by a novel idea generation. However the ideas for graphic designing should complement your website and its business completely.

4) Sharpening business skills

In order to excel in business it is important to know and understand basics of business which includes talents like- accounting, tax strategy information, marketing, database management and so on. It applies to the business of graphic designing also, keeping you much ahead of the market competition and earn desired profits.

5) Network Construction

The graphic designers having strong and apt network are very well ahead of the competition. They get access to latest information and happenings in the field of graphic designing. As these designers spend most of the time in offices therefore network construction becomes all the more important.

6) Typography knowledge

A good graphic designer has knowledge of typography which facilitates good communication. Now-a-days it should not be overlooked.

Copyright © 2009

Airbrush Tool of Photoshop: A Graphic Designer?s Favorite

admin — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 23:10:05 +0000

Adobe Photoshop and graphic designing spell almost synonymous. The contribution of Photoshop to a graphic design firm has been manifold –right from designing to editing. A graphics designer who works on Photoshop is well-aware of the advantages of Photoshop over other designing tools. Photoshop’s Paint Tools consist of four tools – Airbrush is one among them (Pencil Tool, the Paintbrush and the Paint Bucket are the rest). The Airbrush Tool of Photoshop stimulates an airbrush and it’s ideal for soft, delicate and subtle editing. A creative graphic designer even uses this function for removing dark circles from under eyes while merging or incorporating images onto their projects to make the graphics look for stunning, more vibrant. The Airbrush Tool of Photoshop is similar to the Paintbrush only difference being its softer edge. Using the function is quite easy. You just need to click on the tool and then select the desired options from the Option Bar that includes brush size, shape and pattern. The Brush pull-down menu on the Option Bar helps you select a new brush. You can also load more brushes by clicking the circle button with the black arrow. Create brushes, save modified brushes, delete brushes, rename brushes and reset brushes are the other functions which can be initiated using the button. You need to select the layer on which you want to paint in the Layers palette. Then dragging the mouse you are all set to draw. A graphic design company can harvest the maximum in designing using the Airbrush Tool of Photoshop. The tool comes with a Pressure slider function that modifies how much paint is sprayed when the mouse is down. The spraying of paint using the function is pretty easy and interesting. You just need to choose the airbrush tool and then click on the canvas holding the mouse down while dragging. In a custom graphic design firm, this function is frequently used. And results have been just terrific!

The 3 Golden Rules professional Graphic Designers don’t want you to know about

admin — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 23:10:29 +0000

Ever wondered how some graphic designers always manage to produce beautiful looking designs for their brochures, website designs, logo designs? Talent…yes, it helps but there are a handful of more important things you can do that will have even complete beginners producing award winning design.

Forget everything you’ve ever been told about Graphic Design
There are some hard and fast things that graphic designers will insist are to be obeyed. Only use limited fonts on a design for example or never use green on a magazine or book cover as people will not buy it. Stuff and nonsense. You can pretty much do whatever you like but you must apply these STRICT GRAPHIC DESIGN RULES and you will soon be walking away with graphic design silverware.

Somewhere on the page you MUST put in a subliminal message
This can be done in a multitude of ways for example if you are producing a brochure selling wellington boots then start every paragraph spelling out ‘buy our wellington boots’ or better still ‘you have no choice but to buy our wellington boots now get out your cheque book and buy them – NOW!’ Another crafty method is to doctor images in photoshop so that on an innocent picture of a tree for example carved into the bark is a message along the lines of ‘U Luv Wellington boots’ You get the idea. just make sure it’s hidden away on a subliminal level and watch your sales go through the roof, quite literally

You MUST include a picture of a pretty girl smiling on your document or webpage
This works for 95% of products. Put simply would you rather read and look at pictures of industrial machinery or would you rather look at a pretty girl? It’s a no brainer right? Research has proven that mens brains are wired up to focus on girls smiles and of course their breasts and backsides. If you can somehow convince your client to put a naked girl on there somewhere you can pretty much laugh yourself down to the bank. However, never ever put a muscle bound hunk on any design thinking it will work conversely for womens products. Research has shown that womens brains are only wired to think of shopping for clothes and chocolate, so putting a bare chested chippendale on the cover is going to see your business go down the dumper. Unless your product is for homosexual merchandise in which case go ahead.

Shock and Awe – the guaranteed way to get your design work noticed and talked about
Perhaps the best example of this trick can be found widely used in the modern art world. Sharks in formaldahyde, unmade beds and plastic dolls melted together to sodomise each other. All these pieces of art have been much talked about and whether you find them to your taste or not are widely percieved as being breath takingly original. The same principal can and should be applied to your graphic design work or website design. Add a blood splattered severed willy in the centre of the page for example or how about using an excrement smear as a backdrop. Remember the important thing is to get people talking about your design work. Bad taste soon becomes acceptable once commonplace so be the first to do something outrageous and reap the rewards.

If you remember to apply at least one or two and ideally all 3 of these golden graphic design rules there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be a millionaire/billionaire within one or two months. Now get creative!

Become a Master of Graphic Design

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 23:21:38 +0000

Graphic design is a creative process that combines art and technology to communicate ideas. It is the process of communicating visually using typography and images to present information, usually used whenever visual intricacy and creativity are needed to present text and imagery. It can also be applied to the layout and formatting of educational material to make the information more accessible and more easily understood.
Designing a masterpiece graphically is the art of combining text and graphics to communicate an effective message. It is primarily used in the design of logos, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and other type of visual communication. Graphic design is the use of words and images to pass on information or to create a certain visual effect. This art form is sometimes referred to as commercial art because of its application to advertising and its vital contribution to business function.
Graphic design practice embraces a range of cognitive skills, aesthetics and crafts, including typography, visual arts and page layout. Graphic designers have a unique ability to sell a product or idea through effective visual communications, and are asked to perform the difficult task of being creative every single day.
Combining visual communication skills with the interactive communication skills of user interaction and online branding, graphic designers often work with web developers to create both the look and feel of a web site and enhance the online experience of web site visitors. Color is also another powerful way of helping users find their way around a site, and color coding sections of the site helps users identify where they are.
Graphic design adds a visual and emotional context to the purely cognitive text on the site. The primary tool for this art form is, of necessity, the creative mind. With the advent of computers and software applications, the task of the designer has become a little easier, as these have provided more effective production tools than traditional methods. It is a creative profession and things that were once only conceived in the mind are brought to life through skills and imagination.
There is a downside to the inclusion of graphic design on websites. Many designers have tried to force the Web to be what it is not, creating ineffective and sometimes unusable websites. There is a tendency to forget that words, and not images, are the building blocks for the vast majority of websites. People are strongly visually orientated, and their response to the website’s aesthetics and visual structure plays a strong part in how they interact with it as a whole.
The mid 1980s heralded the arrival of desktop publishing and the introduction of graphic art software applications. This introduced a generation of designers to computer image manipulation and 3D image creation that had previously been a tedious and intensive process. Today’s graphic designers often use desktop publishing software and techniques to achieve their goals.
Graphic design requires that the advocate must continually keep up to date with the development of new and updated software, usually either on their own or through software training programs. Contrary to popular belief, anybody with the right software can not necessarily do it, creativity is the biggest attribute that needs to be added.
Graphic design is not just a case of being fluent in some type of software, but also about communication, solving visual problems, and imagination. The tools that are now available do not detract from the need for creative imagination, rather just make the performance of the task easier, and perhaps open the floodgates to applications that may have been out of reach previously.

What are the Benefits of Graphic Design and Why Should You Care?

admin — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:47:22 +0000

If you run a business and you have any form of corporate identity then you should care very much. How you present your company to your chosen market is fundamental to its success.

The graphic design process is crucial to any business, making it stand out head and shoulders from the competition. Whether it is the design of an entire corporate campaign or the creation of a simple company logo it still has to work effectively for you. There are four critical elements that should be seen in every logo design:

• It must be describable

• It must be memorable

• It must be effective without colour

• It must be scalable

Fairly obvious really but how does your logo stand up to these criteria? How does your company identity stand out from the competition?

Ask yourself why something is designed in a certain way. Consider why a particular colour is chosen instead of its opposite. Why use this font? Why include this particular graphic here? A good designer will think through every detail of a design and only include elements that will add to the design and re-enforce the brand.

Once your business is up and running you may think that any form of corporate identity will act to represent the company, visually creating a brand by default. Think again. If you look at the large corporations you will notice that their brand strategy stands the test of time for many years.

Many companies never change their logo design dramatically but only make the smallest of changes to keep the design looking modern and refreshed.

Benefits:

• Professional image

• Considered and long-lasting design strategy

• Make your company look bigger

• Stand out from your competition

• More effective

By Ben Smith

– Website design somerset- Professional Website Design Weston-Super-Mare

How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer

admin — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:45:00 +0000

Just the other day I received a question on Twitter from Adam at Design4Love:

“Hi.. how are you? Do you have any tips for me how to get into the UK design industry (Other than sending applications to agencies). Thanks!”

Which got me thinking about how difficult it was for me and some of the fellow graphic design students I studied with to get a job in the design industry back in 1999 (yes that long ago!) straight out of design college. I snapped up a job with a Central London design agency in Soho within 2 weeks of leaving college but looking back it wasn’t really the right job for me then. Though just 13 months later I changed positions and worked for a great design agency based in London Bridge and learned a huge amount as well as working on lots of different types of projects as a designer.

Anyway competition was fierce then BUT the amount of graphic design and other design courses available in art colleges and universities up and down the college has grown hugely since then.

So here are a few tips on (like Adam asked) “how to get into the UK Design industry”

The Portfolio:

Having a great design portfolio is a must. To be honest your design portfolio is the most important thing on this list, its what you’ll mainly be judged on. It must be well presented and include at least 6 or more design projects. Think about the kind of work the agency your applying to does and try to tailor your portfolio towards that. For example if they specialise in corporate identity and branding work try to include work of this kind.

Be ready to talk about your design work, what inspired you, why you approached the project in the way you did, even choice of typeface, colours, imagery etc. Show them some of your sketchs and development work, some agencies what to see your scribbles more than the finished work as it shows your design process and how you think!

Before taking your portfolio along to job interviews, make sure you show it to a people (tutors, other design students) talk them through it, get them to ask you questions about your design work and respond with suitable answers. This will get you used to talking people through your portfolio, making you a more prepared for the interview.

Work Experience:

Offer to do some work experience with a design company who’s work you really admire (for free if you have to!), even if its just a week then spend that week wowing them, making the tea, producing great work, take an interest in everything relating to that design company. It is a good way to get your foot in the door but also don’t be too pushy or cocky, you might think your a great designer but remember there is a big difference between design college and the real world!

If the company really like you during your work experience they might offer you a full time job!

Finding Work:

Send your portfolio as a PDF etc to as many design companies (that your interested in) as possible, then after a few days give them a quick call to check they have received it.

Another alternative and one that worked for me is to approach a design recruitment agency. I contacted Major Players (there are many others!) when looking for a new graphic design position. They interviewed me and I took them through my portfolio and skills set, based on this they then contacted me when suitable jobs became available. This worked very well as they got me a new job within 2 weeks.

Dress code:

There isn’t one as such. Wear what your comfortable in but also look like you have made some sort of effort! That said I wouldn’t recommend turning up in a suit! Remember what you wear can be seen as a reflection of yourself and your design style or preferences.

Behaviour:

Be yourself, be calm and open to discussing your work and the work of the design agency. Remember to ask questions about what work they produce and what your role would be. One thing I found useful was to ask if someone could take you around the studio, afterall that is where you’ll be working if you get the job and you need to see what sort of environment you’ll be working in. It also easier to ask questions as you move around and see how they work.

Research:

Remember to do some research on the company that is interviewing you, as they are likely to ask you what made you apply for a job with them, what sort of work do they produce, what awards have they won (if any), why do you want to work for them in particular?

Keep trying:

Above all keep trying and keep looking at ways to improve your portfolio. If you go for an interview and they don’t give you a job, don’t worry, your work just might not be suitable for that particular design agency.

So hope this has helped, good luck!