Thursday, May 24, 2007

Color Help: Color Theory and Design Psychology

Color theory is an entire science unto itself, and to get a full picture of how it all works, I'd suggest picking up a few art books. In this article, however, we're going to take a brief look at the essentials of color theory, in light of the concepts of Design Psychology. we'll first list a term, and then offer a short summary of how the term relates to Design Psychology.

Hue

The base name of a color without any white, gray, or black added. The terms hue and color are interchangeable.

Color wheel

A color wheel contains twelve colors, based on primitive pigments. The three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. Three secondary colors (composed of combinations of the three primary colors) follow: red and blue make purple; red and yellow make orange; yellow and blue make green. Six tertiary colors (comprised of combinations of primary and secondary colors) form the remainder of the color wheel: yellow-orange, red-orange, violet, blue-green, and yellow-green. Black is the total absence of color and white is the reflection of all colors.

Value or Lightness

This denotes the degree of lightness or darkness of a hue, in relation to pure white or black.

Intensity, Saturation, or Croma:

This term describes the degree of purity of a hue as compared to neutral gray of the same value. This is the freedom from added white or gray; how bright or dull a color appears in relation to the basic hue.

Shades

These are deep tones, in which black is added to a color.

Tints

These are pastels, in which white is added to a color.

Tone

Adding gray of the same value to a hue or adding its complement creates a tone.

Saturation

The intensity or depth of color, such as dark or light.

Monochromatic Color Schemes

This term is used to describe rooms with only tints and shades of the same color. Neutral color schemes are usually monochromatic.

Analogous, Side-by-Side, or Related Color Schemes

These rooms use adjacent colors to the principal color on the color wheel. This is considered a friendly scheme, because the colors blend well and create a soft effect.

Complementary or Opposite Color Schemes

Rooms that use colors from opposite sides of the color wheel. This is considered to be a power and action scheme.

Triad

Consists of three colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Triad color schemes can potentially cause glaring and confusing feelings when all the colors are intense.

Tetrad

Consists of four colors, spaced an equal distance apart on the color wheel. Tetrad color schemes create interesting effects because of the potential variety available. They are best when two colors dominate.

Topographical Color Schemes

These schemes contain colors from nature, such as rocks, earth, sky, sea, and plants.

Floral Color Schemes

These schemes use brilliant or pastel colors found in plants and flowers.

Colorways

Fabrics and wallpapers come in different combinations of colors, or colorways. A fabric pattern will have several selections of colorways to choose from. A pattern may be available in colorways of: yellow, blue and green, red, blue and green; or purple, burgundy and blue.

Visual Vibration

This occurs when neighboring colors appear to clash and vibrate in our vision, creating a dizzying effect that adds to nervousness and tiredness.

Cusp Colors

These are colors on the edge of two colors that take on different values under different lighting situations, such as, dark blue/purple (periwinkle), orange/red (terra-cotta reds), and blue/greens (teal). Periwinkle may appear more purple than dark blue at night or under different lighting systems.

Simple Color

This is a true color, without additive colors, such as sky blue, grass green, or apple red. A simple color is a pure color.

Complex Color

This is a combination of colors, such as silvery blue, or lichen (grayish green-brown). A complex color is a color that requires a long description, such as “sort of a grayish-blue with a hint of pink.”

Palette

The entire range of colors used in a design project.

These are the basic terms used to describe color schemes within the concepts of Design Psychology. Learning them is the first step toward creating dynamic spaces for both the interior and exterior of your home.

(c) Copyright 2004, Jeanette J. Fisher. All rights reserved.

Professor Jeanette Fisher, author of Doghouse to Dollhouse for Dollars, Joy to the Home, and other books teaches Real Estate Investing and Design Psychology. For more articles, tips, reports, newsletters, and sales flyer template, see http://www.doghousetodollhousefordollars.com/pages/5/index.htm

By: Jeanette Joy Fisher

Friday, May 18, 2007

Web Design: How To Get Your Visitors To Stay

Remember the famous line from the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come"? In the world of Internet marketing, you not only want them to come, you want them to stay.

The Internet is fast-paced. Your visitors decide very quickly whether or not you have what they want. There are five strategies that will help you engage your visitors and encourage them to explore what you have to offer.

Make Your Site About Your Visitors Not You

In order to do this, you must clearly know your target audiences and what you anticipate they will be looking for when they visit your site.

For example, your target audiences could include the client groups you serve, potential donors, policymakers, members of the general public and the media. In order to get and keep their attention, you must quickly let them know that you understand their needs and have a service or product that meets them.

Remember, your visitors want to know what's in it for them.

Make Your Site Easy to Navigate

Limit the navigation choices your visitors can make. One recent study found that many sites offer an average of 25 options from the home page. That's too many. In addition, make sure the wording of your navigation bars gives your visitors a clear idea of what they'll find. You want to make it easy for visitors to get the information they want.

Visitors who get confused or frustrated leave.

Make Your Web Site A Funnel

You want visitors to decide that they want to get to know you. Give them easy ways to learn that you can meet their needs.

Let me give you an example. If you provide health-related services, guide them to content that gives them health tips they can use. Then let them know that they can receive this kind of information regularly through your monthly e-newsletter. Give them an opportunity to subscribe. Then lead them to content that talks more directly about your programs, services or products and the benefits of what you offer.

Draw your visitors into the work of your organization.

Use Testimonials

Word of mouth is one of the best ways for people to learn about you.

You can get the same result with testimonials.

Ask your clients what benefits they got from participating in your services or activities. Ask board members to tell you why they chose to become involved with your organization. Ask your volunteers what benefits they get from working with you. Then ask their permission to use what they said as a testimonial and put those testimonials on your site.

Testimonials help visitors feel more comfortable with you.

Make Your Site Interactive

Use short assessments and other feedback mechanisms to engage your visitors. Offer opportunities to attend events or to volunteer. Make sure that visitors can easily contact you - both online and offline.

Interaction starts building a relationship.

Take a fresh look at your web site. Look at your site's organization and content in terms of these strategies. What action can you take right now to encourage your web site visitors to stay?

Judith Rothbaum's passion is helping nonprofit organizations thrive. She gives seminars, workshops, presentations and coaching programs nationwide with one key message - think boldly about who you are and the impact you have in your community. Visit http://www.datafordecisionmaking.com to learn more.

By: Judith_Rothbaum

Tuesday, May 15, 2007

The Role of Typography

Graphic Design is a very challenging creative and artistic job. Graphic designer has to be able to solve the task given and comes up with the idea of visual communication which not only attractive but yet persuading the viewers/readers to grab the message behind it and arouse the emotion, logic and certain needs. Generally, graphic designer use a lot of pictures, symbols, letters and any other graphic elements.

Sometimes, Graphic Designer is assigned to do the lay out or composition of many words or long sentences on many pages. In this case, letters or typography is no longer as an additional element but they are the main element of the graphic communication known as books, brochures or catalogue.

Either as an additional or main element, typography has a very important role to determine the result of visual communication. Many designers think that the most important in design is the thought or the idea and how it would be executed. They consider typography as an additional element.

The truth is that typography could be the main idea of the graphic communication and could be the only effective visual communication. In some cases, we found that the mistakes of the typography usage could ruins the whole design no matter how good the design is. The result is that the viewers/readers couldn’t get the message that we try to deliver. Some designers, especially the beginners don’t have the sense of harmony (yet) which is one of the graphic design principles. They were inclined to use fonts based on what they like, even more, they use them almost in same size, without considering the harmony, balance and yet headlines, sub headlines and content.

Choosing the type of fonts has some consideration, which are:

- the style of design (classic, modern or futuristic style)
- what design is about (the product)
- the size of the media
- how much information to put on

Try not to use too much kind of font on 1 page, 2 different types of fonts is the best. You can play around by make it bold, italic, use different size or different colors to make them looks vary.

Anton Ardjanggi :: Jakarta-Indonesia based freelance graphic designer, graphic design articles directory

Monday, May 14, 2007

Ten Design Mistakes to Avoid

Avoid these mistakes and your site will be steps ahead of your competition.

1. Not planning your site
Before you even have a website, you must have an idea, a focus. Why do you want a website? What are your plans and goals for the site? Sit down and draw out a map of possible pages and ideas for your site. Include your site's purpose --whether it is to sell more product or make the public more aware of your issue -- whatever it may be. Build your site from it's strong foundation (your goals) and you'll have a better, more solid site.

2. Failing to put contact information in a plainly seen location.
This could be disastrous. If a customer doesn't see this information, they can't contact you. You should consider a 'Contact Us' button or link from your Home page. Even better, make a link to your email address in your header or footer, somewhere that will show up on every page. Even if no one ever contacts you this way, just the presence of this information comforts edgy customers.

3. Broken Links
Do you enjoy clicking on a search result only to get a Page Not Found Error? No one likes them. Check your site statistics at least once a month (if not more) to make sure you don't have bad or broken links.

4. Outdated Information
A sure turn-off to a potential customer is the presence of old information. If it's July and your website is announcing the 'new' products available in February, your site just lost major credibility. Make sure your information is up-to-date. Consider adding a 'Whats New' button or a Business Blog.

5. Too Many Font Styles and Colors
This is a huge pet-peeve of my company. I've had people ask me to review their website and the first thing I notice is 4 different fonts. It looks bad, unorganized and unappealing. Different colors may attract the eye for a short time, but constant flashing or otherwise bright fonts (and graphics!) become annoying. Beware, this is a sure-fire way to scare people away from your site!

6. Orphan Pages
Every website has a heirarchy, a sort of tree that branches out from the Home Page. While most of your visitors visit you through your home page, there are times when a page further down interests someone, and they may copy that link and send it to a friend. This is where you need to pay attention. That friend may like what you have to offer, but they can't find out how to contact you, or how to get back to your Home Page. That's an orphan page. Every page on your site should, at a minimum, have a link back to your Home page. I would suggest adding a contact link at minimum.

7. Frames
Frames at one time were the talk of the industry. They were the original Content Management System (CMS) for your site. Nowadays they are few and far between. If you are designing a site, don't use frames. Newer technologies such as server-side includes are much more common and accepted. Your pages look fresher and those silly bars don't get in the way.

8. Disabling the BACK button and excessive Pop-Ups
Have you been to a website and decided that it wasn't the information you were looking for? When you clicked the BACK button, did you suddenly get a barrage of windows (or, pop-ups) to your dismay? These things rarely actually work, and worse off, the reason you hit the BACK button is because you DIDN'T want any more information from that site. Don't break the BACK button. There are other ways to get your user's attention.

9. Slow loading pages
While personal and hobby sites may normally be slow, there should be no reason for your business or other professional website to be slow loading. Today's Internet surfer won't wait long for information from your site - there are too many others with the same thing! Make sure your pages load quickly. If the server is slow, consider a different host. If your webpages are full of applets or large graphics, consider a page/site redesign.

10. Using Leading-Edge Technology
While the Internet is all about new and fancy stuff, don't be the first to do it. While it may 'look cool' to you, you ultimately need to decide if it actually enhances your user's experience. Do the flashy cartoons make your customer more apt to buy from you? Probably not. How many of your customers have to install a Plug-In just to see your page right? Do they have to upgrade their browser to contact you? Not good. Wait until the technology is either more of a standard or gone - you'll save face with potential and future customers.

About the Author

Will Hanke is a self-proclaimed geek who owns and operates Lighthouse Technologies (http://www.techlh.com), a web development and hosting company based in ArnoldMissouri. For questions or comments, email him at will@techlh.com. And buy yourself a good virus program so he doesn’t have to fight your emails with anti-virus spray.

By: William Hanke

Friday, May 11, 2007

Graphic Design Can Make or Break Your Web Site

We all want high impact graphics for our Web sites - Right.

Sometimes it is easy just to pick a template that comes included with a site builder and or hosting package.

There are also thousands of Free templates that you can download from the Internet.

But for those of us who want full control of our design and graphics, it is first a matter of sitting down and choosing your site design and color scheme.

Your site theme, design or layout will play a major part in the size and number of graphics you will use on your site. Somewhere along the process you will have to decide on how many and the quality of your graphic images.

Images used on websites are usually Gif and jpg or sometimes png and the odd bitmap image. Gif and Jpg images can be adjusted in quality and size to be a smaller file size to strike a balance between quick loading and image quality.

You may have an awesome graphic but if it takes 2 minutes to load on your page, you will notice by checking your Web site stats you will notice a difference between the number of page requests and pages viewed.

As the purpose of your Web site is to attract visitors and for them to make a positive decision either to request more info, join your Newsletter or to make a purchase, every lost visitor is a lost potential customer.

The header at the top image on a page often includes a logo or the name of the company or website. This is usually the largest image on a page. So if it is the full width of the page of 760 pixels wide, and depending on the height it may be worth considering cutting it into two pieces.

There are two reasons for dividing an image into smaller pieces, firstly having your image load faster as two separate pieces and secondly as many browsers load 5 images at one time, your header should load faster.

There are also webmasters who prefer all images to preload before displaying the complete page and some sites have two images for the one button, the image you see on first viewing the page and the image you see when you hover the mouse, cursor over or click on the button. Often with buttons that use two images these will be set to preload with the page so that they are loaded or stored ready for when you click the button.

Note that different browsers may load pages in a different order. as a webmaster it is good practice to check your page in Netscape, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox and the Browser that Google is possibly going to introduce soon.

Your site layout may differ in appearance in the different browsers and some of the latest http versions and scripts will possibly not work in older versions on certain Browsers.

There is a balance to make your page quick to load and to be pleasant to the eye.

Many sites are using a very small image as a background image, for example if you are placing your buttons across the page you can create an image that looks like a raised bar but only one pixel wide. As an image of say 25 by 1 pixel it will load very fast as a background, once the browser loads this image one time, it then multiplies the image across the page.

Many sites use this background approach for their header, side bars and or their buttons and insert the logo as a normal image and the buttons are added as text links over the top of the background image.

Backgrounds are generally a small image that when loaded by your browser sits at the top left of the web page and multiplies itself across and down the page. A background image can be as small as 2 or 3 pixels square and up to full screen size.

The simplest are the thin lines usually of two colors. The more complex may include a water mark of the company logo.

TIP, The fewer colors or shades used in any image either as a background, header of banner the faster it will load.

Here is a list of images that form the first impression of anyone who visits your Web site. Make that first impression count.

* Header

* Logo

* Buttons - bar

* Side panels

* Bottom bar

* Background image

* Product images

* Banners

These images can be for decoration or they can tell a story. The old saying is still true in that a picture can tell a story that would normally take a thousand words to express.

Create an overall color scheme for your site, one that uses contrasting colors where text is used and a theme where images are used.

With Web site templates you can easily change image color and add text in many basic graphic editing programs, but to create your own images you may require a more professional program.

Adobe GoLive Web site editor and Adobe Photo Shop allow you to build your site and edit images. There is an Adobe package that includes other Adobe products, a very good package.

Macromedia also have a Web site and image editing package in Dreamweaver and Fireworks.

But there are many free Web site and image editing software available. I find that when editing images I use Adobe Photoshop and Fireworks for adding and embossing text.

Different software give different results. I use a Sony camera, when I compared the software supplied by Sony and Adobe I found that a photo downloaded to the Sony image editing software where an area of a photo 3 pixels wide was displayed in Adobe Photoshop it appeared at 7 pixels wide. I don't have any idea why this is but I now edit all my photos in Photoshop.

Here is a Template Directory listing free site templates, buttons, backgrounds, 3D text creator, clip art and scripts.

http://www.itsyournet.co.nz/free-web-templates.html

If you are using a template or image downloaded from the Internet check to see if there is a copy right or if the template or image is supplied for personal use only, i.e. not for commercial use as a business Web site.

When considering creating a Web site you also need to give some thought to the hosting. If your site is a graphics intense site and people are going to download lots of images you need to consider the hosting package as there are so many different sizes and band width packages supplied.

Your finished Web site must be appealing to your target market. If you are marketing products or services to Businesses your site should reflect a business atmosphere, as opposed to a gardening site where you can display images of garden gnomes, bags of fertilizer and flowers.

Remember every Pixel counts when editing quality images. But the opposite is true for quick loading Web sites.

May your week be a highly graphical one.

PETER GREEN.

Editor of ~ The INDEX ~ ezine.

Editor@Internet-income-index.com

http://www.Internet-Income-Index.com

Your Free Weekly Internet Marketing News, Ideas, Resources and Sources Ezine.

By: Peter Green

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

5 Ultimate Graphic Design Mistakes - Things That Graphic Designers Should Avoid At All Costs

1. Using web graphics on printed material.

With many young designers coming from a pre-dominantly web design background the transfer over from web design to traditional design for print can bring with it a multitude of design sins. Images supplied at 72dpi and crunched down to load fast on a website are going to reproduce very badly in print you can get away with small thumbnails but blowing things up to any appreciable size is going to be pushing your luck. There are a number of online sites offering free or very cheap quality hi resolution images which are a good source for suitable imagery.

2. Forgetting about or not allowing enough bleed.

A very common error is to send to print a document or flattened image that has no bleed at all. Generally speaking you should allow at least 3mm around every cut off edge. Failing to do so will give the printers no leeway and will either crop off the side of the page or give you a white border. It is always a good idea when supplying image files to save layered psd files then if things need extending or cropping you can do this on the background layer and hopefully cut down your work

3. Using obscure fonts and not embedding or outlining them for output.

We've all been guilty of this at some point and things are generally fine if you are going to be the only person accessing your artwork or documents. However if someone else needs to amend the files or use your vector logo on one of there publications. Unless you package up the used fonts, they are not going to be able to open the files correctly and some software programs may replace any unknown fonts with a default. This is a particular problem when you need to dig out stuff that was created several years previously and you no longer have your old fonts installed.

4. Supplying print ready artwork using spot colours or rgb

There are valid reasons for using spot colours in artwork, logos that need to reference particular pantone colours for example. In general design work however most print is sent through on 4 colour presses CMYK with occasional 5th colour for luminoius or metallic colour or for spot UV varnish. It is very common for lazy designers to just place rgb images into files and expect the vibrant colours seen on screen to reproduce in print.

5. Allowing design illiterate clients to lead you round the houses

The customer is always right, goes the old adage. However it is often said with gritted teeth and a sense of patience that recognizes that these morons will at some stage be handing over a fat cheque for your troubles. It is often a good idea when first submitting visuals to throw in a couple of stinkers to hopefully get them to appreciate the design you would like them to accept. There is the very real danger of course of them loving the piece of absolute arsewipe that you knocked up in five minutes to make them think you've been earning your money. Still it's a living.

Mindtap http://www.mindtap.co.uk is your single point entry into the UK creative industries. We are looking to create a unique site where you can access information on UK graphic design http://www.lunatrix.co.uk

By: Horatio Farquaar

Tuesday, May 8, 2007

Optimal Website Design

Optimal website design is the art of logical navigation.

It will offer consistency while providing useful, quality information that is attractive to the eye and easy to understand. A well designed site will lead your viewers to the starting point and direct them through your site without confusing them.

While there are many ways to design a website there are a few basic design principles that will help you create a site that is user friendly and attractive.

1. Use lots of white space.

Don't feel that because you have a whole screen you need to fill it up with 'stuff'. Your page should follow a clean outline. Include your site name at the very top. Below that, list the subject of your page followed by information on your topic. Leave adequate space between each section.

Don't cram a lot of pictures and ads on your site. If you have an ad, keep it off to the side or subtly intersperse it between your text. The idea is not to overwhelm your reader with a lot of advertisements.

It's best to keep your text on a white background. If you do choose a colored background be careful that your text doesn't blend into the background making it difficult to read.

2. Don't use animation and flashing objects.

As advertisers we feel the need to get our viewers attention. This is important but we need to do it gracefully. Flashing objects and scrolling images distract your visitors and take away from the content. If your product is better demonstrated with animation, music or some other multi-media, allow your viewer to select the option. Don't force it on them.

3. Include an 'about' link.

Allow your viewers to find out about who you are and what you are about. Include a biography and some background on why you are in the business you're in or why you created your website. By helping them to get to know you, they will find it easier to develop a trust. If they can like you and trust you, they will feel a lot better about doing business with you.

Always include your business address, phone number and email address. This also lets viewers know that you welcome contact and are serious about your business.

4. Include a 'Privacy' Link

Reassure your visitors that you follow privacy guidelines by including a 'Privacy' page. This is particularly important if you are collecting names and email addresses. Visitors want to know that you will not sell or give away their information.

In these days of rampant spam, your privacy policy needs to be prominently displayed. Many viewers and business partners won't do business with you unless you have it.

5. Always keep your links in blue.

Internet surfers have long been accustomed to seeing links in blue. It's simply an expectation that viewers have. There's certainly no law that says your links must be blue, but people prefer consistency, therefore it's good practice to keep your links consistent and recognizable. If they're not, you may lose out on clicks.

6. Keep navigation consistent

The navigation scheme you create on your index page should be done the same way throughout your site. Don't force your viewers to relearn each page of your site. Keep your navigation bars, colors and fonts consistent for each page.

7. Use Understandable buttons and links.

Title your links appropriately. Don't use cute or misleading names. For example, if you have a link to 'cameras' don't label the link 'hotshots', label it 'Cameras'. Your viewers don't want to waste time figuring out what things are. Be clear with your text or you could risk losing your visitor.

8. Focus on the 'YOU', not the 'ME'.

Make it obviously clear to your readers that you are in business for them. Encourage feedback, provide useful information and keep advertisements to a minimum. Your objective should be focused on what you can do for your reader? Convince them that your main interest is how you can deliver what it is they're looking for?

9. Make sure your page loads fast.

If viewers have to wait for a page to load they will click elsewhere. If a page doesn't load in 8 seconds you could lose 1/3 of your visitors. Here's a great free tool to help you check your website's load time:

http://www.1-hit.com/all-in-one/tool.loading-time-checker.htm

10. Use a site map.

A site map will give visitors a "guide" on viewing your site, especially with larger sites. it's a road map for your visitors to follow. Sitemaps are also popular with search engines and are often recommended to help ensure indexing.

About the Author

Elizabeth McGee has spent 20 years in the service and support industry. She has moved her expertise to the world wide web helping businesses find trusted tools, enhance customer service, build confidence and increase sales. You can contact Elizabeth at mail@pro-marketing-online.com or visit her website at http://www.pro-marketing-online.com

Copyright © 2004 Adlite Enterprises http://www.pro-marketing-online.com

By: Elizabeth McGee