categoryallspace2-Graphic Design http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Graphic-Design A directory of resources about graphic design in the field of technical communication. en-us Copyright (c) 2005-08 by the EServer. All rights reserved. tclib-editorial@eserver.org (TC Library Editorial Board) webmaster@eserver.org (Geoffrey Sauer) http://tc.eserver.org/images/newlogo.gif http://tc.eserver.org/dir/Graphic-Design http://tc.eserver.org/31768.html http://tc.eserver.org/31768.html Have you ever pressed the PrtScn (print screen) key on your Windows keyboard and wondered why it was there since it never seemed to do anything? Well, it does do something! It copies an image of your screen onto the "clipboard," ready to paste into any graphics program. These steps show you how to use it along with Windows' standard image editor, Microsoft Paint, to save an image of your screen. http://tc.eserver.org/31664.html http://tc.eserver.org/31664.html Color can play an important role in technical documentation. http://tc.eserver.org/31300.html http://tc.eserver.org/31300.html When you need to find an image for commercial use, how much consideration do you give to where it came from? Do you think about its provenance, its pedigree? Are the images you license sourced primarily from major distributors or from alternative suppliers, who may have access to more distinctive or original content? http://tc.eserver.org/31299.html http://tc.eserver.org/31299.html Photography has become an essential element of the communication mix for the American Bureau of Shipping (ABS), and is used to reflect the diversity and international nature of the business. If executed properly, a photograph can help explain a technical point or issue in such a way that it makes sense to an audience outside of the shipping community. We initially decided to use photography to enhance the visual content of our annual report. We now also use it in company newsletters (both internal and external), brochures and exhibit stands. http://tc.eserver.org/31297.html http://tc.eserver.org/31297.html Film is dead. The history-changing miracle that made it possible to accurately reproduce anything the eye could perceive is now itself part of history. The cause of death? Digital imagery. But no one is shedding tears. It all began innocently in the mid-1980s when digital photos were a geeks-only, barely noticed novelty. It has since spread around the world in pandemic fashion. In its wake, entire industries have been killed off as more and more people succumb to the digital bug. http://tc.eserver.org/31298.html http://tc.eserver.org/31298.html In just a few short years, the digital camera has blown past its tipping point so completely that many younger shooters have never touched a piece of film. The instant gratification, the tiny camera size and the ability to share images with the world now defines the experience of photography. But if you want to make great digital photos, there are some things you need to know. http://tc.eserver.org/31232.html http://tc.eserver.org/31232.html It sees you when you’re sleeping. It knows if you’re awake. 'It' is the world, and it knows if your company has been naughty or nice. The digital revolution has put a photographic device, be it a camera or camera-phone, in the hands of virtually everybody everywhere—so you can be sure someone besides Santa is constantly watching your company’s behavior. For that and other good reasons, corporate photography is looking very green this season. http://tc.eserver.org/31241.html http://tc.eserver.org/31241.html Anyone can relate the facts of an event, just like anyone can hold a camera up to a scene and document it. But bare facts and badly composed images make for poor communication. It takes skill and talent to write a good story, one that will inform and entertain. The same is true for photography. Images have always been storytellers. A good image can relay large amounts of data in a format that is pleasing and quickly absorbed by the viewer. That makes photos potentially more influential than a massive amount of words. http://tc.eserver.org/31220.html http://tc.eserver.org/31220.html Corporate photography was once the realm of adults only. Just a few years ago, it was surprising to see a picture of anybody under 40 years old in an annual report or capabilities brochure, much less someone under the age of 12. But nowadays, photos of children are showing up more and more often in all kinds of corporate publications, and as you might suspect, photographing children requires a totally different approach than shooting the CEO. http://tc.eserver.org/31101.html http://tc.eserver.org/31101.html When designing interfaces for browsing data-driven sites, creating navigation elements that are also visualization tools helps the user make better decisions. Wilson Miner demonstrates three techniques for incorporating data visualization into standards-based navigation patterns. http://tc.eserver.org/31096.html http://tc.eserver.org/31096.html Use this study guide to learn how to crop and size graphics in several different applications. Cropping is not particularly problematic, but sizing is. http://tc.eserver.org/31052.html http://tc.eserver.org/31052.html Throughout the 1990s the relationship between culture and technology was sharply focused in a debate about whether digital technologies signalled the death or radical displacement of photography. The case for the cultural continuity of photography centred upon a rejection of a strong form of technological determinism. It is now clear that far from being displaced to the margins of culture, there is now more photography than ever. There have also been dramatic developments: mobile phone manufacturers have put more cameras into people's hands then ever before; the photograph as social document and historical witness persists but in changing ways; photographs circulate globally on an unprecedented scale via electronic image banks. It is clear that such changes and developments do involve new technologies. However, rather than being due to the kind of technological determinism debated earlier, this is because photography has come to exist within a new technological environment. In many recent accounts, 'information' and information technology are repeatedly cited as constituting a new and shaping context for photographic practices. http://tc.eserver.org/30868.html http://tc.eserver.org/30868.html Visuals that provide insights come from 1) a deep understanding of the goal / objectives 2) from thinking beyond what standard trend lines or stacked bar graphs can provide. Something non-normal to grab attention and yet communicate insights (sort of already contain recommendations and action items and not just data). http://tc.eserver.org/30857.html http://tc.eserver.org/30857.html Taking photographs seems no longer primarily an act of memory intended to safeguard a family's pictorial heritage, but is increasingly becoming a tool for an individual's identity formation and communication. Digital cameras, cameraphones, photoblogs and other multipurpose devices are used to promote the use of images as the preferred idiom of a new generation of users. The aim of this article is to explore how technical changes (digitization) combined with growing insights in cognitive science and socio-cultural transformations have affected personal photography. The increased manipulation of photographic images may suit the individual's need for continuous self-remodelling and instant communication and bonding. However, that same manipulability may also lessen our grip on our images' future repurposing and reframing. Memory is not eradicated from digital multipurpose tools. Instead, the function of memory reappears in the networked, distributed nature of digital photographs, as most images are sent over the internet and stored in virtual space. http://tc.eserver.org/30858.html http://tc.eserver.org/30858.html his article describes the (re-)design of newspapers and magazines as a process of cultural change which goes beyond designing a publication's layout, typography and use of colour, and includes designing the processes and structures of its production. http://tc.eserver.org/30850.html http://tc.eserver.org/30850.html Charts and graphs are ubiquitous in business documents, and most students in my business communication courses are well aware that they need to be able to create many different types of data representation. Most of them have had a great deal of experience working with spreadsheet applications, and they know how to manipulate data and present it in the various forms permitted by their software. http://tc.eserver.org/30776.html http://tc.eserver.org/30776.html You don't need to be a skilled illustrator to create effective 3-D graphics. Three-dimensional illustration allows the technical communicator to respond quickly to project changes and create imagery appropriate for most publications or multimedia. Burns' article shows the benefits of 3-D artwork and its potential for technical communicators. http://tc.eserver.org/30767.html http://tc.eserver.org/30767.html Good web design does not necessarily mean good use of colors and layouts, but it does transcend beyond it. Design elements like color, font, size, frame, etc. play an important role nonetheless, but what is more important is that how it affects the aesthetic sensibilities of the users. The warmth and the feel of the web site, or in another words, the texture of the web site is a crucial area to turn our attention to. By texture of the web site what it means is the subtleties of the surface of the web site. Varied aspects as discussed in this article, when sensibly used -- and in combination with good deign skills aimed at creating intuitive appeal -- are of definite help of when it comes to developing engaging graphics on your web site. http://tc.eserver.org/30527.html http://tc.eserver.org/30527.html An article about the graphic design of logotypes using typographic widely successful techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/30528.html http://tc.eserver.org/30528.html When your photo can't be changed, surround it with a cool color. http://tc.eserver.org/30526.html http://tc.eserver.org/30526.html Un weblog / magazine avec les techniques de conception graphique avec le logiciel Adobe Photoshop. http://tc.eserver.org/30547.html http://tc.eserver.org/30547.html 'Flowcharts-- UGH!' That's a too-typical reader reaction when faced with the average flowchart. It underscores the author's challenge when trying to develop this potentially powerful tool. For conveying process, there is no better means. In proposals, however, where the flowchart must also serve as a sales tool, its optimum form is not always clear. This paper provides some guidelines, such as: Ensuring your flow is a process of merit. Letting goals dictate form. Organizing for readability. Focusing on action. Using simple, standard visuals. Illuminating features. And obviating responsiveness... To reap the winning rewards. http://tc.eserver.org/30529.html http://tc.eserver.org/30529.html How to choose a typeface for clear, easy reading over long distances. http://tc.eserver.org/30488.html http://tc.eserver.org/30488.html This presentation examines ineffective technical graphics with problems in simplicity, orientation, and scale. It identifies principles of effective graphic communication that could prevent such problems, and clarifies objectives and techniques in designing editing and preparing technical graphics for printed documents and briefing materials. Graphics principles illustrated by transparencies include avoiding clutter, orienting properly, controlling scales, checking the content, and avoiding extraneous graphics. message, and that the table title or figure caption focuses clearly on the subject of the graphic. http://tc.eserver.org/30489.html http://tc.eserver.org/30489.html Electronic imaging has enabled the desktop publisher to capture and manipulate images to produce documents that are both attractive and cost-effective. In addition to making basic corrections such as balancing colors and improving highlight and shadow detail, the desktop publisher can retouch photographs and other artwork to repair damaged areas, eliminate distracting elements, or alter composition. However, the ease of manipulation has, in some cases, overshadowed the many ethical issues that desktop publishers need to consider. Integrity of the image, ownership of artwork, and copyright laws are some of the issues that desktop publishers must confront. http://tc.eserver.org/30514.html http://tc.eserver.org/30514.html This paper takes a look at what is being said in various disciplines (technical writing, journalism, education, psychology, user interface design, and visual arts) in an attempt to answer the question 'What is visual literacy?' A corollory is 'How will I know when I have achieved it?' A working definition of visual literacy has many implications for how we train technical writers in order to meet the professional challenges of the future. http://tc.eserver.org/30452.html http://tc.eserver.org/30452.html Speculative work, or free pitching, 'spec' for short, is considered unethical among leading graphic design associations around the world. http://tc.eserver.org/30453.html http://tc.eserver.org/30453.html No matter what you call it, Spec Work, Free Pitch, etc the concept is the same. I'll get a handful of designers or studios to come up with a handful of concepts for my website, and the winner gets my business. Great concept? No! There are no winners here. http://tc.eserver.org/30451.html http://tc.eserver.org/30451.html Organizing the available information and coming up with a plan for presenting it is the first and probably the most difficult stage in designing any infographic. http://tc.eserver.org/30426.html http://tc.eserver.org/30426.html Good design, like good writing or editing, cart make or break a technical publication. Even if you know little about design us a discipline, as a technical communicator you employ it in every publication you produce. If technical communicstion is indeed the art that bridges the gap between people and technology, then understanding the function of design us an inherent element of communication is paramount. Design seeks 10 translate perceptions, goals, and desires through the manipulation of images and language. Design inspires understanding, is both an art and a science, and is good business. Design matters! The purpose of our presentation is to explore the relationship between design until technical communication and heighten the level of consciousness of the function of design. http://tc.eserver.org/30276.html http://tc.eserver.org/30276.html A Motorola technical communications team and a University of Illinois writing class collaborated to research and develop a set of icons to use in manuals and in an online information retrieval system. This paper describes this joint venture, reporting on icon design criteria (list of criteria and how they were derived); design testing; design proposals and rationale; and the results. http://tc.eserver.org/30248.html http://tc.eserver.org/30248.html When writing for cultures that are not your own, you must consider the powerful cultural associations that color and graphics have. Understanding and leveraging these associations leads to documentation that is strong and usable, while not understanding them leads to cultural miscommunications and misunderstandings that can render your information useless. http://tc.eserver.org/30169.html http://tc.eserver.org/30169.html Diverse work situations and varied skills, abilities, and motivation affect how users handle documentation to do their jobs. Communicating graphically challenges the communicator to 1) select illustrations that orient users ana' 2) use dynamic arrows to show the motion required. The communicator then 3) shows the order of steps within a task by using numbers with 'numberness.' Users' eyes seek information dynamically: help them find needed i$ormation by 4) keeping tasks within eyespan on a page. Then 5) use a grid to consistently layout an interesting page. http://tc.eserver.org/30158.html http://tc.eserver.org/30158.html The technology of in-house publishing is radically shifting the responsibility for document design from the graphic specialist to the individual writer. To apply the new technology, professional communicators need to understand the principles underpinning typographical design and their origin in the functionalist aesthetics of modernism, particularly as articulated by the Bauhaus. While some of the key concepts of modernism--strict economy, universal objectivity, intuitive perception, and the unity of form and purpose--are well-suited to business and technical documents, these concepts are bound to an historical and intellectual milieu. By understanding the influence of modernism on typographical design, professional communicators equipped with the new technology can adapt design principles to the rhetorical context of specific documents. http://tc.eserver.org/30099.html http://tc.eserver.org/30099.html Lay out images consistently across your site using a liitle clever JavaScript. http://tc.eserver.org/30094.html http://tc.eserver.org/30094.html Data visualization is the graphical representation of information. Information technology combines the principles of visualization with powerful applications and large data sets to create sophisticated images and animations. Representing large amounts of disparate information in a visual form often allows you to see patterns that would otherwise be buried in vast, unconnected data sets. Data visualizations offer one way to harness infrastructure to find hidden trends and correlations that can lead to important discoveries. Visual literacy is an increasingly important skill, and data visualizations are another channel for students to develop their ability to process information visually. http://tc.eserver.org/30072.html http://tc.eserver.org/30072.html 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. http://tc.eserver.org/30052.html http://tc.eserver.org/30052.html An interview with Kevan J. Atteberry, the graphic artist who first developed Clippy the Overly Eager Office Supply Unit. http://tc.eserver.org/29829.html http://tc.eserver.org/29829.html In this article, I examine a historical information graphic--Charles Booth's maps of London poverty (1889-1902)--to analyze the cultural basis of ideas of transparency and clarity in information graphics. I argue that Booth's maps derive their rhetorical power from contemporary visual culture as much as from their scientific authority. The visual rhetoric of the maps depended upon an ironic inversion of visual culture to make poverty seem a problem that could be addressed, rather than an insurmountable crisis. This visual rhetoric led directly to significant features of and concepts in western societies, including the poverty line and universal old-age pensions (social security). http://tc.eserver.org/29801.html http://tc.eserver.org/29801.html In this article we examine 561 different airline tailfin designs as a visual genre, revealing how the global-local binary may be managed and realized semiotically. Our analysis is organized into three strands: (a) a descriptive analysis identifies the strikingly restricted visual lexicon and dominant corporate aesthetic established by tailfin design; (b) an interpretive analysis considers the communicative strategies at play and the meaning potentials which underpin different visual resources; (c) a critical analysis links these decisions of design and branding to the political and cultural economies of globalism and the airline industry. Specifically, we show how airlines are able to service national identity concerns through the use of highly localized visual meanings while also appealing to the meaning systems of the international market in their pursuit of symbolic and economic capital. One key semiotic resource is the balancing of cultural symbolism and perceptual iconicity in the form of abstracted stylizations of kinetic effects. Although positioned unfairly in the global semioscape, airlines may resist straightforward cultural homogenization by strategically reworking existing design structures and exploiting possibly universal semiotic meaning potentials. http://tc.eserver.org/29800.html http://tc.eserver.org/29800.html 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'. http://tc.eserver.org/29778.html http://tc.eserver.org/29778.html This paper examines raster and vector file formats and explains the details necessary to transform them for use in various output devices. Methodologies and suggestions for raster-to-vector, vector-to-raster, resampling of raster, 3-dimensional vector to 2-dimensional vector, and 2-dimensional vector to 2-dimensional vector conversions are discussed. http://tc.eserver.org/29757.html http://tc.eserver.org/29757.html Beautiful Evidence is Edward Tufte's fourth and latest book and both follows and diverges from the directions established with The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (Tufte, 1983), Envisioning Information (Tufte, 1990), and Visual Explanations (Tufte, 1997). Visual Display examined pictures of numbers, Envisioning explored pictures of nouns, and Visual Explanations addressed pictures of verbs. Beautiful Evidence foregoes the 'pictures of' approach and instead establishes the role of evidence as the foundation of reasoning. In some ways, this latest book might have been better positioned as the first book because of its efforts to explain interplays of understanding and reasoning. http://tc.eserver.org/29539.html http://tc.eserver.org/29539.html Scholarly conversation within the field of professional communication increasingly has focused on the practice, research, and pedagogy of visual rhetoric. Yet, visual thinking has received relatively little attention within the field. If our programs produce students who can think verbally but not visually, they risk producing writers who are visual technicians but are unable to move fluidly between and within modes of communication. This article examines the literature and pedagogical practices of visually oriented disciplines to identify strategies for helping students develop the ambidexterity of thought needed for the communication tasks of today's workplace. http://tc.eserver.org/29528.html http://tc.eserver.org/29528.html An examination of a random sample of four medical journals--The Lancet, The New England Journal of Medicine, The Journal of the American Medical Association, and The Journal of Laboratory and Clinical Medicine--reveals that one-fifth of the space of articles in medical science is devoted to an average of three tables and three flow charts, graphs, or photographs. Given these figures, the absence of discussion of visuals in the literature on medical communication may seem puzzling. But the puzzle is easily solved: our basic education gives us a coherent vocabulary for talking about prose, but no coherent vocabulary for talking about tables and visuals. Once we have this vocabulary in hand, we make another step in the direction of an explanation of the nature of communication in the medical sciences. We may note that understanding the meaning of a medical article is not just a consequence of understanding its texts; it is a consequence of understanding all its meaningful components working together--verbal, tabular, visual. http://tc.eserver.org/29518.html http://tc.eserver.org/29518.html Although it is true that designers generally rely on clients, pleasing them is not the ultimate purpose of our work. What designers share with our clients is a public, an audience. Our clients wouldn't need us at all if we weren't helping them reach that public. Our broader responsibility is to the ultimate users of our work. http://tc.eserver.org/29515.html http://tc.eserver.org/29515.html Unlike so much in today's business world, graphic design is not a commodity. It is the highly individualized result of people coming together to do something they couldn't do alone. When the collaboration is creative, the results usually are too. This brochure is about how to get creative results. http://tc.eserver.org/29334.html http://tc.eserver.org/29334.html Graphs and semigraphic displays are made for purposes. Different purposes usually call for different graphs. http://tc.eserver.org/29318.html http://tc.eserver.org/29318.html Compared to GIF and JPEG, the PNG file format has a lot to offer: smaller file sizes, higher quality, and superb transparency. All you need are a few guidelines and techniques to expand your design toolbox. http://tc.eserver.org/29314.html http://tc.eserver.org/29314.html It's next to impossible for one person to know the ins and outs of every single facet of Photoshop. With that in mind, we present three video tutorials to plug a variety of holes in your Photoshop knowledge. http://tc.eserver.org/29311.html http://tc.eserver.org/29311.html Every avid chef has little gizmos and gadgets, designed for specific tasks, that find their way to the back of a drawer and are then forgotten. Like those special tools, the Pathfinder commands in InDesign are often forgotten or considered too sophisticated for non-artistic types. Yet they can slice and dice and combine paths in unique ways that add vastly to the repertoire of the InDesign chef. Added to InDesign's other ways to mix up text and graphics, Pathfinder can help you further push the creative edge. http://tc.eserver.org/29309.html http://tc.eserver.org/29309.html New photo-oriented podcasts pop up all the time, and you could listen to them all day every day and not get through everything. But this article points out a few of the better ones. http://tc.eserver.org/29307.html http://tc.eserver.org/29307.html Here's how to apply the principles of a well-known productivity system to your creative process. The resulting creative habits can boost your design skills while they reduce stress and free your mind to tackle big problems. http://tc.eserver.org/29310.html http://tc.eserver.org/29310.html Pinhole cameras have been a long-time favorite of adventuresome photographers. But forget the Quaker Oats carton and go wide with this roll-film, panorama design. http://tc.eserver.org/29258.html http://tc.eserver.org/29258.html Airbrush is a much less forgiving endeavor than digital illustration. The first use of the airbrush started in the 1890s and was accomplished by blowing air through a tube with your mouth. With airbrush there is no command>undo. Mistakes are costly as they usually result in the need to do a separate piece of work as a patch or fix and have a printer strip it into the main image. http://tc.eserver.org/29257.html http://tc.eserver.org/29257.html In this demonstration we will be approaching the entire illustration process in much the same way as was done before Photoshop or any other computer graphics programs where created. In the non-digital world, you would start with an inked line drawing on illustration board. http://tc.eserver.org/29259.html http://tc.eserver.org/29259.html A "Ghosted", "Phantom View", "Transparent", or "See Through" technical illustration is one that renders the exterior skin of an object transparent in order to see the interior workings. This Photoshop tutorial will cover the basic techniques used to render a ghosted technical illustration using the airbrush technique. http://tc.eserver.org/29052.html http://tc.eserver.org/29052.html This paper is a critique of current approaches to the development of computer graphing and graph visualization programs. Developers of these programs model the user as an individual problem solver who is reliant on perceptual skills to create and interpret graphed information. Such a model of graphing is ill-suited to meet the complex needs of real users, a supposition that is supported by work in two major areas of graphing theory and research: the sociology of science and the educational research of mathematics and scientific students. These areas have not been traditionally cited when planning computer graphing or visualization programs or when assessing their usability. A review of the literature in these fields reveals that an over-reliance on a user's perceptual skills is unlikely to result in successful graph practices. http://tc.eserver.org/29069.html http://tc.eserver.org/29069.html For too long, journal articles and textbooks on scientific and technical discourse have adopted a positivistic approach to visuals. Unfortunately, this approach is problematic. It ignores that visuals are constructions that are products of a writer's interpretation with its own power-laden agenda. For example, in representing a tamed and dominated nature, visuals become instruments of patriarchy. Reading them responsibly requires that we uncover some of the values attached to the strategies of creating visuals and to the objects created. This article reviews the current approach taken by composition scholars, surveys richer interdisciplinary work on visuals, and-- by using visuals connected with the Human Genome Project--models an analysis of visuals as rhetoric. http://tc.eserver.org/28891.html http://tc.eserver.org/28891.html The field of technical communication focuses on the ability of the author to gather information, interpret it, and then present the necessary items to the reader in a clear and concise manner. This article serves to briefly outline several of the key factors involved when deciding how to include imagery in technical materials. http://tc.eserver.org/28845.html http://tc.eserver.org/28845.html Optimizing an offer page to maximize the number of people who make a purchase or pay for a subscription is a delicate process. You need to get the balance just right. http://tc.eserver.org/28734.html http://tc.eserver.org/28734.html Documenting networks is playing less with words, and more with diagrams. It also requires an engineering mind, an ability to think out-of-box, and creative mind. Technical writers can rise to a new scale and expand their skill sets if they are able to document networks. http://tc.eserver.org/28731.html http://tc.eserver.org/28731.html The goal of this site is to explore the ways in which rhetoric, visual culture, and pedagogy interact with and inform each other. In keeping with this mission, the viz. blog is a forum for exploring the visual through identifying the connections between theory, rhetorical practice, popular culture, and the classroom. http://tc.eserver.org/28687.html http://tc.eserver.org/28687.html The adoption of high-resolution displays--with 150 or more pixels per inch--will significantly alter our conception of what the Web and networked applications can potentially be. As the price of high-res displays comes down to earth and early adopters make way for mass consumers, beautiful visualizations of data will enrich the digital realm. http://tc.eserver.org/28668.html http://tc.eserver.org/28668.html Of all the objects that occupy our digital spaces, there are none that capture the imagination so much as icons. As symbols, icons can communicate powerfully, be delightful, add to the aesthetic value of software, engage people's curiosity and playfulness, and encourage experimentation. These symbols are key components of a graphic user interface--mediators between our thoughts and actions, our intentions and accomplishments. http://tc.eserver.org/28593.html http://tc.eserver.org/28593.html So, you think you'd like to get into Games development? Follow along as Sessions School of Game Art advisory board member Jolene Spry interviews Dave Taylor, independent video game producer and long-term veteran of the gaming industry. http://tc.eserver.org/28596.html http://tc.eserver.org/28596.html Every wondered what it's like to hold a high-powered design position in the cosmetics and fashion industry? Enjoy this intreview by industry expert and sessions EDU instructor Laura Schwamb, and get a peek into the life of Lara Modjeski VP of Creative, Tom Ford Beauty. http://tc.eserver.org/28595.html http://tc.eserver.org/28595.html Anne-Marie "HerGeekness" Concepcion wrote about 'Telling Questions' prospective design employers may ask the job applicant. Some of the questions are obvious -- others not so. So, we teamed up with Anne-Marie to find out if YOU can correctly answer these Questions for Designers. http://tc.eserver.org/28592.html http://tc.eserver.org/28592.html It's not hard to persuade a designer that color matters. But persuading Fortune 500 companies? You might be surprised. Color consultant Leatrice Eiseman has carved out a major career in helping companies 'make correct choices in colors that sell.' http://tc.eserver.org/28528.html http://tc.eserver.org/28528.html Technical illustration ranges from hand-drawn artwork to complex computer imagery. It extends from instructional materials intended for the general public to complex technical engineering drawings intended for other engineers. This article, with a timeline, chronicles the evolution of technical illustration. Descriptions of illustration basics are included along with an introduction to ISO/S1000D/W3C standards and practices. http://tc.eserver.org/28523.html http://tc.eserver.org/28523.html Step 1. Clean up any blemishes or distracting marks in the illustration. Make it as perfect a B & W illustration as you can. Make sure the contrast, sharpness and clarity are uniform throughout. Step 2. You will have sharply clear demarcations of tone which are easy and you will have areas where the tones between parts are quite similar and therefore more difficult. Start by using the Keep-Color brush to preserve everything you do not wish to color. Carefully outline each element with your chosen color being sure there are no unwanted gaps. Where there is no demarcation between tones, you should outline each color as precisely as you can. Also, the original may have lines separating the sleeve from the jacket for example. Cover that line with the Keep-Color brush and put a line of your chosen color closely beside each side of the line. Step 3. Press the run button (green arrow) and be amazed when your B & W illustration pops into color just as you ordered. Press the green check mark , the AKVIS window closes and the changes are applied to your original graphic. Save your new image immediately." http://tc.eserver.org/28436.html http://tc.eserver.org/28436.html Three-dimensional illusion effects are powerful devices that can achieve excellent results. They can also add significantly to overall page filesize, and can reduce usability if overused, so should be used deliberately and with care (unlike the title image above, see cooltext.com if you want one). http://tc.eserver.org/28443.html http://tc.eserver.org/28443.html A web resource about web design techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/28439.html http://tc.eserver.org/28439.html When I find a really nice logo, icon or button, I save a copy to file for future inspiration. Here's my collection of logos, with descriptions of why I think each one works. See article on designing logos for guidelines of logo design fundamentals. http://tc.eserver.org/28437.html http://tc.eserver.org/28437.html Logos are graphical shorthand that can represent a company or product, and communicate certain characteristics. http://tc.eserver.org/28438.html http://tc.eserver.org/28438.html Logos in the form of words or letters have natural properties that make them visually effective: (see also logos article): good recognition; good descriptiveness; and good presence. http://tc.eserver.org/28392.html http://tc.eserver.org/28392.html Colour is one of the designer's best tools. There are lots of ways to use it to help communicate a message. Colour can carry meaning, express personality, differentiate, frame, and highlight content. http://tc.eserver.org/28393.html http://tc.eserver.org/28393.html Contrast is the most fundamental design device: it differentiates elements; it brings out dominant elements; it mutes lesser elements; it creates dynamism. http://tc.eserver.org/28396.html http://tc.eserver.org/28396.html Don't reinvent the wheel for functional imagery. Concentrate creative effort on imagery that adds value in branding or message (content). http://tc.eserver.org/28383.html http://tc.eserver.org/28383.html The professional objectives of the AMI are to promote the study and advancement of medical illustration and allied fields of visual communication, and to promote understanding and cooperation with the medical profession and related health science professions. Its members are primarily artists who create material designed to facilitate the recording and dissemination of medical and bioscientific knowledge through visual communication media. Members are involved not only in the creation of such material, but also serve in consultant, advisory, educational and administrative capacities in all aspects of bioscientific communications and related areas of visual education. http://tc.eserver.org/28384.html http://tc.eserver.org/28384.html The GNSI is a non-profit organization that sets high professional standards, provides opportunities for professional and scholarly development, encourages and assists member networking, and promotes itself to potential clients and the general public. http://tc.eserver.org/28289.html http://tc.eserver.org/28289.html Gradients: a nutritious part of your Web 2.0 breakfast. Wouldn't it be swell if you could get all that goodness without opening Photoshop every time you needed a little gradient bliss? Matthew O'Neill explains how you can. http://tc.eserver.org/28227.html http://tc.eserver.org/28227.html Custom made fills can be of significant value to technical illustrators. This article shows many custom fills and how they can be applied. There is also a free download of over 50 custom fills. http://tc.eserver.org/28202.html http://tc.eserver.org/28202.html This page contains a listing of twenty-four links to technical illustration tutorials and how-to articles for illustrators using draw software, especially CorelDraw. http://tc.eserver.org/28141.html http://tc.eserver.org/28141.html This is a simple tutorial on how you can make a statue from a portrait with Photoshop. It is highly recommended if you're using a close up portrait of a woman/man. http://tc.eserver.org/28056.html http://tc.eserver.org/28056.html In Photoshop CS2, many of the shortcuts for the application menus, palette menus and tools can be customized using the Keyboard Shortcuts editor. Although this document mentions some of the more common editable shortcuts, it also provides additional functionality only accessible through using keyboard modifiers which can't be changed through the Keyboard Shortcut editor. Although this is not a completely comprehensive list of all of the keyboard shortcuts in Photoshop CS2, it is my goal to present the shortcuts and additional functionality that enable me to use Photoshop CS2 both more freely and efficiently. http://tc.eserver.org/28057.html http://tc.eserver.org/28057.html Automating repetitive tasks in Photoshop can increase productivity as well as save time and money. Almost any command (or set of commands) in Photoshop can be recorded into an action to be applied repetitively to a single file or across multiple file. The most basic action will execute one command such as resizing an image or displaying a dialog box. More complex actions can execute multiple commands automating more elaborate tasks. When used with the Batch command and/or Droplets, these actions can be applied to multiple files at once, enabling Photoshop to do repetitive tasks more quickly than even the best-trained Photoshop user! When repetitive tasks in a more involved workflow need to be carried out between applications, then AppleScript, Visual Basic, or JavaScript can be used to create scripts which work with Photoshop. In the case of conditional logic (a fancy way of saying 'Make a decision!') when an action needs to be applied to some files but not others, JavaScript files can be written to fulfill this need. One word of caution when first trying to conquer actions - run them on duplicate files, leaving your pre- cious originals unaltered. As you become more Action savvy, you can kick off those training wheels, and batch away! http://tc.eserver.org/28045.html http://tc.eserver.org/28045.html Drawing gears is now very simple using CorelDraw. http://tc.eserver.org/28047.html http://tc.eserver.org/28047.html How to open SolidWorks technical illustration DXF files in CorelDraw. http://tc.eserver.org/28046.html http://tc.eserver.org/28046.html Sometimes there are problems importing AutoCAD files. The following gives a few tips on correcting such problems. http://tc.eserver.org/28035.html http://tc.eserver.org/28035.html Designers are clearly more self-conscious about their social role today than they have been at any time in the last 20 years, yet the lack of substance of the critics who have come to the fore, and the issues on which it is chosen to take a stand, reflect a political agenda that is set elsewhere. There are many areas of life in which designers can make a real difference, but we need to look first at why they are taking themselves so seriously in the noughties. http://tc.eserver.org/28036.html http://tc.eserver.org/28036.html Politics is commonly thought of as the activities of political organizations--from which the majority of designers (if not majority of people) feel disassociated. But there is a missed opportunity here: at base, politics is about values, and design is nothing if not a means of embodying values. http://tc.eserver.org/27943.html http://tc.eserver.org/27943.html Weblog van Gerard Voshaar over typografie. http://tc.eserver.org/27899.html http://tc.eserver.org/27899.html We call on the common man to rise up in revolt against this evil of typographical ignorance. http://tc.eserver.org/27853.html http://tc.eserver.org/27853.html Most web-based content management systems offer a variety of tools to help contributors enter text. When it comes to graphics, content contributors are usually expected to provide web-ready images to the system. This means that either editorial users needs to know about image optimisation and web image formats, or additional staff are required to make web-ready images out of raw materials. This article demonstrates a technical solution to this problem. http://tc.eserver.org/27442.html http://tc.eserver.org/27442.html When the philosophy of the 'skin interface' is applied to other applications, it becomes problematic. There is nothing wrong with that concept as long as it is clear that it only works with highly specialized applications such as Winamp. It is even culturally expected in the Winamp community that skins will be created and made available. http://tc.eserver.org/27428.html http://tc.eserver.org/27428.html Shows how to create a stroke layer style in Photoshop CS2 to quickly add a custom border to your photos. http://tc.eserver.org/27437.html http://tc.eserver.org/27437.html Brushed metal is always a cool effect to pull off in Photoshop. And after you’ve created your steel texture, what better place to use it than to produce beveled steel type? http://tc.eserver.org/27430.html http://tc.eserver.org/27430.html Shows how to simulate a depth of field effect using a filter. http://tc.eserver.org/27429.html http://tc.eserver.org/27429.html Using the Blend If sliders in the Layer Style dialog box, you can quickly and easily create interesting duotone and silhouette effects. http://tc.eserver.org/27435.html http://tc.eserver.org/27435.html Here's a couple of super quick frame effects to add a little burst of creativity to otherwise mundane photos. http://tc.eserver.org/27426.html http://tc.eserver.org/27426.html Shows how to find the exact center point of your Photoshop document. http://tc.eserver.org/27432.html http://tc.eserver.org/27432.html Some tips on how to improve photos that are taken at night. http://tc.eserver.org/27438.html http://tc.eserver.org/27438.html With Apple's release of iWeb -- an amazing web site building tool -- I've been getting a steady stream of emails wanting to know how to recreate the nifty photo reflection effect which appears at the top of iWeb pages and in the slide shows (here's a sample). Adding such a reflection is a super easy way to add depth and a bit of sophistication to your photographs. http://tc.eserver.org/27425.html http://tc.eserver.org/27425.html Threaded discussion forums for people working in digital image editing. http://tc.eserver.org/27431.html http://tc.eserver.org/27431.html Use an Adjustment Layer to easily change a color in your photo, and then quickly change it back if things don’t work out. http://tc.eserver.org/27440.html http://tc.eserver.org/27440.html 'Step-and-repeat' is the term used for the process of duplicating an object and spacing or transforming the duplicates sequentially. http://tc.eserver.org/27433.html http://tc.eserver.org/27433.html Dave Cross shares some tips on using Quickmask in Photoshop to feather a portion of a selection. http://tc.eserver.org/27439.html http://tc.eserver.org/27439.html Sometimes the only thing that keeps a good portrait from being a great portrait is a little too much shine on the skin. Here’s a quick and easy way to tone down those highlights. http://tc.eserver.org/27434.html http://tc.eserver.org/27434.html Shows you how to brighten those teeth without an expensive trip to the dentist. http://tc.eserver.org/27232.html http://tc.eserver.org/27232.html Objects in the drawing layer are visible in Page Layout (Print Layout) view and Print Preview but not in Normal view. Interestingly, a frame is a sort of hybrid object that can appear to float (and text can be wrapped around it), but it is actually inline and can be viewed (though not in position) in Normal view. http://tc.eserver.org/27213.html http://tc.eserver.org/27213.html Word's draw layer is a metaphysical space where floating objects reside. It really isn't a layer, since floating objects can be sent behind the text layer or brought out in front of it. Either way, they continue to reside in the draw layer. http://tc.eserver.org/27092.html http://tc.eserver.org/27092.html This documents several ways to get ANSYS plots into your reports without getting out of your chair. http://tc.eserver.org/27039.html http://tc.eserver.org/27039.html Use XSLT and SVG to offset points in X-Y scatterplots so they do not plot on top of each other. http://tc.eserver.org/26986.html http://tc.eserver.org/26986.html Before the age of color film, when black-and-white photography was the only option, it was common practice for photographers to tint a black-and-white image with colored dyes to mimic real-life colors. Although we now have all the advantages of stunning color photography, we can still use Photoshop to replicate this technique, and add great charm to black-and-white images. http://tc.eserver.org/26985.html http://tc.eserver.org/26985.html Glossaire de la photo tout en français! http://tc.eserver.org/26962.html http://tc.eserver.org/26962.html 从心理学角度来讲，不同的颜色代表不同的意思。从这个观点出发，本文讨论网页界面中背景颜色和内容颜色的关系。了解这个关系，有利于：a) 为网页中不同的内容选择适合的颜色；b) 浏览网页时，可以方便的找到需要的内容。 http://tc.eserver.org/26869.html http://tc.eserver.org/26869.html These Free Powerpoint Templates are a great choice for a wide variety of presentation needs. http://tc.eserver.org/26868.html http://tc.eserver.org/26868.html How to take a photo, remove the color so that it's black and white. Then, I want to drag over it so that the B&W blend into color. Basically, a nice transition from no color to colorized. http://tc.eserver.org/26865.html http://tc.eserver.org/26865.html Although collage is an old art form, tools such as Photoshop CS2 give it a new twist. You don't need to get out paint, brushes, scissors, and glue to make art. Instead, everything you need is on your computer. With a handful of photos, Photoshop, and the desire to experiment, you're well on your way to creating collage art. Helen Bradley gives the how-to's for creating a collage in Photoshop by using photos and other techniques, and how to use some design and Photoshop tricks to make sure the result is balanced and pleasing to the eye. http://tc.eserver.org/26867.html http://tc.eserver.org/26867.html A very frequently asked question in Photoshop 911 is putting text into a circle or a shape. A number of readers have asked how to put text into a shape so it runs around pictures. This is all doable so long as you remember the rules of putting text on a path. http://tc.eserver.org/26866.html http://tc.eserver.org/26866.html Don't be satisfied with boring rectangular photos! Thanks to Photoshop, you can use simple techniques to create amazing edge effects and cool artistic borders that can add the ultimate finishing touch to your photos. Dave Cross shows you how easy it is to create many different variations from three key techniques. http://tc.eserver.org/26673.html http://tc.eserver.org/26673.html You can find desktop publishing tutorials, tips of the day and design resources. http://tc.eserver.org/26477.html http://tc.eserver.org/26477.html U ovom jednostavnom tutorialu naučiće∫ kako da pomocu photoshopa napravi∫ jedan ovakav efekat na nekoj fotografiji. http://tc.eserver.org/26478.html http://tc.eserver.org/26478.html Jedan kratki tutorial na bosanskom jeziku, a moze i hrvatskom jebiga. http://tc.eserver.org/26376.html http://tc.eserver.org/26376.html A visual designer discusses why Swatch, watercolors and cooking can inspire the design of color. Louise Sandhaus draws out how Beatrice Santiccioli came to be the Queen of Color. http://tc.eserver.org/26378.html http://tc.eserver.org/26378.html Design can be more than meets the eyes. Denise Gonzales Crisp opens her ears to unfamiliar territory. http://tc.eserver.org/26379.html http://tc.eserver.org/26379.html One of the functions of design is to bring order to the world. But how to decide what the categories are that constitute order?