Cruise Ship Illustration Tutorial

This project presented many unique challenges. The actual ship was still in Germany being completed when I started the project. There was no photography or CAD reference to work from, only the paper blueprint you see below. In order to have the brochures completed by the time the ship went into service, the final illustration had to be finished in under two months.

Hulsey, Kevin. Kevin Hulsey Illustration. Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Customizing Clipart

Like many of you, I come from a training background. Like many of you, we’re experts in group facilitation, engaging our learners, and creating instructionally sound materials. Yet, many trainers are not graphic artists nor do we have a score of graphic artists helping us create our training presentations. As a result, our training presentations often may not adequately represent the professionalism and quality that we’ve built into our training.

Traut, Terence R. Presenters University (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing>Technical Illustration

Cutaway Illustrations

The cutaway perspective is fundamentally a three dimensional sectional view.

Lightfoot, Peter. ITEDO Software (2002). Articles>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Cutting Costs with Computer-Generated Illustrations  

Explains how computer graphics are generated and describes their uses in technical communication.

Noot, Walter. Intercom (2002). Design>Graphic Design

Dealing with Images in Content Management Systems, Part 1

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.

Crane, Tom. Code Project, The (2006). Articles>Content Management>Graphic Design>ASP

The Delicate Art of (Web) Design Critique

Since I tend to hang around on various web-related mailing lists, I often see numerous requests for design critiques. Increasingly, this leads me to wonder about the process of critiquing other people's design. It's quite one thing to criticize someone's code; one can argue the merits or not of being a stickler about standards compliancy, or using CSS, or whatever. But design is more personal than writing code. (Writing on its own is also very personal, but that's not the topic here.) How do you constructively critique someone's work without being taken the wrong way? How do you accept criticism without feeling hurt or angry? Here are just a few ideas, gathered from observations and comments from others.

Itoh, Makiko. Digital Web Magazine (2000). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Assessment

Depth of Field

Shows how to simulate a depth of field effect using a filter.

Kloskowski, Matt. Planet Photoshop (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Software>Adobe Photoshop

Design a Logo of Letters  

An article about the graphic design of logotypes using typographic widely successful techniques.

Before and After (2005). Design>Graphic Design>Typography

Design Basics

The design principles presented here combine traditional wisdom with extensions to address the evolution of future interfaces. Existing design principles are based on our own experiences in user interface design, on the design experiences of others, and on insights from linguistics and psychology. We have extended these design principles to address evolving interfaces that will provide a more friendly appearance and behavior in the future. The increasing use of 3-D and real-world representations as well as the blossoming popularity of the Internet and the World Wide Web have strongly influenced these progressions.

IBM (1999). Design>Graphic Design>Information Design

Design is Function  

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.

DuBose, Mary E. and Deborah L. Baxley. STC Proceedings (1993). Articles>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Design Melt Down

A web resource about web design techniques.

Hunt, Ben. Design Melt Down (2005). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Blogs

The Design of World Wide Web Home Pages: Using Visuals to Establish Organizational Ethos  

The World Wide Web presents information developers with the task of designing texts that will be accessed by multiple, global audiences. At the same time, Web technology presents developers with new design constraints. Therefore, Web text development warrants new design considerations. This paper presents an approach based on the rhetorical concept of ethos. Four visual design considerations—page grid, graphic files, icons, and text structure—are reviewed based on how decisions about each convey the ethos of the organization.

Hunt, Kevin. STC Proceedings (1995). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design>Visual Rhetoric

Design, Typography and Graphics Magazine

Design, Typography and Graphics is the official publication of the Design and Publishing Center. It offers tips and tricks for design, printing, photography and publishing of all kinds.

Design and Publishing Center. Journals>Graphic Design>Typography

Designing on Both Sides of Your Brain

There's a natural balance that can be mastered between both intensely imaginative, and passionately logical lines of thought. We need to seek out this synergy to be good at design. The surprising truth is that for designers everywhere, the scientific method can be an extremely powerful tool for finding and evangelizing your great ideas.

Berkun, Scott. Boxes and Arrows (2002). Design>Graphic Design>Methods>Cognitive Psychology

Designless in Seattle

Getting a job in the design field may not be as easy as you think. Seattle designer Melissa Mason goes for yet another job interview in pursuit of a big agency design job.

Mason, Melissa. Design, Typography and Graphics (2004). Careers>Graphic Design>Regional>Puget Sound

Designorati: Illustration

Site covering both traditional and digital illustration.

Froehlich, Sara. Designorati. Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration

Digital Fashion

Design is the visual expression of thoughts and feelings, and combines rational and emotional conditions. In digital media the focus is shifted to functionality, primarily because the development is rapid and it takes a lot just to understand the options. This is as truer for users as it is true for designers. Once this phase is over and the standards are set, there will be a growing demand for more refined design solutions: projects that communicate and not just deliver information. Rationality rules at the surface, anything that turns the focus of the users awareness to something specific happens earlier and the motivation comes from the deeper levels of the soul. The whole fuzzy composition is very influential before the content is clearly rendered, if it ever gets clear at all; Sites are in the same situation as billboards, they have to grab the attention of the visitor in the first moment without having him to think about something specific. In a more and more competitive environment there is always an

Jenett, Daniel. Digital Web Magazine (1999). Design>Graphic Design>Aesthetics>Emotions

Digital Imaging Tutorial

This tutorial offers base-level information on the use of digital imaging to convert and make accessible cultural heritage materials. It also introduces some concepts advocated by Cornell University Library, in particular the value of benchmarking requirements before undertaking a digital initiative. You will find here up-to-date technical information, formulas, and reality checks, designed to test your level of understanding.

Cornell University (2003). (Spanish) Design>Graphic Design>Image Editing

Digital Photography: Communication, Identity, Memory    

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.

van Dijck, Jose. Visual Communication (2008). Articles>Graphic Design>Photography>Visual Rhetoric

Digital Photography for the Web

Like digital photography? Here's a look at tools and tricks you can use to create great photos for your site.

Calore, Michael. Webmonkey (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Web Design

Digital Photography Resources

A collection of links to online resources for desktop publishers interested in digital photography.

IPA. Resources>Directories>Prepress>Graphic Design

Digital Photoreproduction for Documents and Books  

Smith describes the process of digital photoreproduction--the use of digital technology to scan images and save them to a storage medium. The article includes a list of addresses and Web sites for several companies that produce digital photoreproduction machines.

Smith, Gary M. Intercom (2001). Design>Graphic Design>Photography

Disappearing Act  

It's easy enough to create an irregularly shaped image in Photoshop, but how do you get the rectangular background to disappear when you use that image on the Web or in a print-based layout? Here are some great techniques that'll help you focus on your subject.

Dayton, Linnea and Jack Davis. Adobe Magazine (1998). Design>Web Design>Graphic Design

Display 2.0: A Look Forward to the High-Definition Web and Its Effect on Our Digital Experience

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.

Follett, Jonathan. UXmatters (2006). Design>Graphic Design>Web Design>

Distance Measurement in Perspective

In isometric, it is possible to work directly with measurements only on the main axes. Here you can learn what you have to do if you need a measure beyond the main axes.

ITEDO Software (2003). Design>Graphic Design>Technical Illustration>Isometric