U&lc

U&lc Online is ITC’s international journal of graphic design and digital media.

Upper and lowercase Magazine. Journals>Graphic Design>Typography

An Unbearable Lightness?    

This article considers various notions of 'beauty' and how these have informed the creative and critical processes of graphic design, specifically typography. The author considers how the Renaissance revival of Greek mathematics to support a 'universal beauty' was gradually unpicked by Enlightenment thinkers such as Descartes, Kant and Hume, and how this process has subsequently shaped modernist and postmodernist attitudes towards 'beauty'. From our current vantage point it could be argued that 'beauty' should now be considered a redundant concept; however, design schools and studios continue to make value judgments dividing the 'beautiful' from the 'ugly'. On what basis are these judgements made and are they still valid in a pluralistic society? Is it possible that we now have a new sensibility, a different notion of beauty? Reflecting upon important questions raised by the American designer and writer Steven Heller in his controversial essay 'The Cult of the Ugly' in _Eye_ magazine in 1993, the author proposes that 14 years on from the article, we can indeed witness a new aesthetic sensibility, shared but not universal, rooted in loss yet also 'found'.

Rigley, Steve. Visual Communication (2007). Articles>Graphic Design>Typography>History

Understanding Data Flow Diagrams  

Data flow diagrams (DFDs) reveal relationships among and between the various components in a program or system.

Le Vie, Donald S., Jr. STC Proceedings (2000). Presentations>Graphic Design>Charts and Graphs

Unexpected Text  

I know, I know, Illustrator is a drawing program - but its text-handling features can be handy, too. Here's a guide to using them.

Kvern, Olav Martin. Adobe Magazine (1996). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Adobe Illustrator

Usability as Recognition

I'd like to point out something that you may not have noticed yet. And though I'm quite sure many of you have seen it by now, its subtlety is worth mentioning here again. Go take another look at the FedEx logo — specifically, take another look at the white space surrounding the logo. There may have been years when you didn't notice this arrow in its negative space. Now you can't stop noticing how the figure and its ground produce an entirely new object. The brand may have even taken on new meaning. Josef Albers describes the arrow's visual effect as 1+1=3 or more, or the creation of an incidental new element from two intentionally placed elements. What has happened here is that you're stopped recognizing the logo, and started to perceive it as having another quality.

Danzico, Liz. Bobulate (2001). Design>Typography>Graphic Design>Usability

Use Actions in Adobe Photoshop

Photoshop's Actions utility is a great way to speed up repetitive image-editing jobs or quickly perform commonly used edits. This tool lets you assign a sequence of commands to a single key. Rather than going through a number of steps, the program records a set of actions and allows you to recall those same actions with a single keystroke the F12 function key, for example.

Regenold, Stephen. Presentations (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Using AutoCAD Drawings in CorelDraw  

Sometimes there are problems importing AutoCAD files. The following gives a few tips on correcting such problems.

Broz, Donald. Broz and Dian (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Using Color to Bring Harmony to Photographs

What do you do if the photographer is on assignment -- hundreds of miles away -- shooting an event that happens only once, and all the elements in the setting seem to work against each other? After getting the images via email the next morning I couldn't hardly call the photographer to say 'shoot it again.'       In this scenario the photographer had but one chance to create the images for a web page with an important, compelling story. In situations like this the only thing you've got to work with are the camera and your senses.       The serious nature of the message dictated that the audience play an important role in the overall impact of the story. However, the lights were mixed incandescent and fluorescent, giving a greenish tint to the audience when the stage lights rendered flesh tones fairly well.

Photoshop Tips and Tricks (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Using Design Elements as Page Organizers  

Creating a visual hierarchy has always been the primary concern of page design. Whether the purpose is to instruct, inform or sell -- communication is the primary goal. The designer's task is to organize the page so that the viewer can easily find pertinent information on the page and in the appropriate sequence. The layout or appearance of the page establishes relationships between items -- what is most important, what goes together, what is incidental. Structuring the page establishes clearly defined areas to assist the reader. Design elements can be used to add structure to the page by unifying or emphasizing particular page elements. Although conventions for print and online documents may vary slightly, these techniques can be applied to both.

Birchman, Judith A. STC Proceedings (2002). Design>Document Design>Graphic Design

Using Graphics to Help Users Build Mental Models  

Research shows that adults learn more efficiently when they have formed an accurate mental model of the product they are trying to use. We can help our users form accurate mental models more quickly by graphically depicting that model on the interface. One product using that approach allowed engineers to become productive with no reference to user documentation.

Elser, Arthur G. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Documentation>Graphic Design

Using Streamline with Adobe Illustrator

I've been doing pen and ink illustration for years. It's part of my comic book roots I guess. It's taken a while but I've figured out how to combine pen and ink skills along with Adobe Illustrator to create a completely digital illustration, with a little help from Adobe Streamline and a dash of Photoshop.

Sellers, Mike. Illustrator World (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Illustrator

Using the Photoshop Zoom Tool

Photoshop's zoom facility is very versatile and allows you to zoom in and out of an image in many different ways. You can even have different views of the same document open at once, with different zoom levels! In this tutorial we will explore the zoom tool and its applications.

Elated (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Using Visualization in Websites

In some websites the amount of information is so large that the context may be lost whenever it is displayed on a single computer screen. If we try to have the entire structure visible all at once (so we did not lose the context), the details may be too small to read. For example, the HypViewer product on the right below is showing over one million IP addresses. If you think that adding visualization methods to a website automatically will improve user performance in this situation, you may want to consider the results of a couple of recent studies.

Bailey, Robert. Web Usability (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Value of Value-Based Pricing: Should a Creative Professional Charge on an Hourly Basis, or a Project Basis? Here's the Answer

We creative professionals tend to be a right-brained bunch, harnessing our creative talents to create practical solutions for our clients. Creating pricing structures, estimates and invoices are not high on our enjoyment list. But we can avoid some common pitfalls and potentially unhappy clients by pricing our work based on project value rather than an hourly rate.

Stuart, Valarie Martin. Creative Latitude (2004). Careers>Freelance>Graphic Design>Estimating

Vectorization of Raster Data

There are various solutions available which allow the vectorization of raster data, such as scanned design drawings or manually created technical illustrations. What kind of problems can occur with vectorization?

ITEDO Software (2004). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Verbalizing About the Visual: Visual Analysis Tools for Design Evaluation and Group Communication  

While technical communicators are increasingly involved in visual design, they frequently have difficulty communicating verbally about the visual, and, therefore, contributing effectively to design development. A five-step visual analysis tool provides a common framework and language for design evaluation and group communication.

Keyes, Elizabeth. STC Proceedings (1995). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Viewing Image Information

In this tutorial we're going to show you some quick and easy ways to find out information about your image in Photoshop. The tutorial was written for Photoshop 4 users, but also applies to later versions of Photoshop.

Elated (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Visible Narratives: Understanding Visual Organization

Visual designers working on the web need an understanding of the medium in which they work, so many have taken to code. Many have entered the usability lab. But what about the other side? Are developers and human factors professionals immersed in literature on gestalt and color theory?

Wroblewski, Luke. Boxes and Arrows (2003). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Alignment

Designers are used to being detail-oriented and mathematically precise, nudging things a point this way and a pixel that way until technical perfection is achieved. However, when it comes to typographic alignment, the mathematical approach to design doesn’t apply: it’s all in the eye of the beholder. Visual alignment (also called optical alignment) means exactly that: using that high-tech tool, the human eye, to line up your text until it looks right.

Strizver, Ilene. Upper and lowercase Magazine (2002). Design>Typography>Graphic Design

Visual Architecture: The Rule of Three

When I think of web designers and developers, I think of them as craftsmen. These are people that are specifically skilled for their jobs, and know their way around almost any unforeseen obstacle that may appear in their path. A true craftsman is an artist, who pays close attention to detail and produces work of the highest standard. These are the architects of solid information structure. They are not merely turning out product, but building from the foundation to the finishes.

Finck, Nick and Peter Fielding. Digital Web Magazine (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Information Design

Visual Communication: The Expanding Role of Technical Communicators  

Visual communication no longer refers only to illustrating verbal information but to all aspects of designing documents. To be effective as information architects, technical communicators must understand the opportunties and limitations of developing technologies, the basics of communication in general and of visual communication in particular, especially the principles of selection, design, positioning, production, and cost of graphics.

Rainey, Kenneth T. STC Proceedings (1995). Presentations>Graphic Design>Visual>Visual Rhetoric

Visual Literacy Crash Course  

Today, communication requires more than just pages of printed words. Producing effective documents and training requires the ability to understand, think, and communicate graphically-to be visually literate. This demonstration shows how to communicate almost anything graphically. Through creative brainstorming you will start to think visually and to translate text into graphics. By looking at numerous examples of what works and what doesn’t, you are going to learn valuable principles that you can use back on the job to refine your own graphics.

Horton, William K. III. STC Proceedings (1997). Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric