Mar
06
Graphic designers, photographers, publishers and computer users at large: they all rely on their digital equipment being capable of rendering colors right. But the sad truth is your colors will differ depending on the output device. A monitor’s red is not the same as an inkjet printer’s red. Besides, what is “red”?
Here are 11 things you can do to make sure red is red, no matter which device has to render it.
1. Buy a good monitor.
OK, this is an open door, but by “good” I mean a monitor that you can calibrate. That rules out all the office monitors, the Apple Cinemas and leaves you with LaCie 300 range and Eizo ColorEdge products.
2. Buy a good calibration and profiling application.
Even if you can’t afford an Eizo ColorEdge, buy Color Solutions’
basICColor Display. This software comes with a high-quality GretagMacbeth Display 2 colorimeter (called the “Squid 2″ by Color Solutions), and has a feature called “software calibration”. The latter calibrates any monitor by storing the calibration data (the Tone Response Curve) in the video card’s lookup tables. The only requirement: your video card should support it. ATI’s Radeon range supports this.
3. Calibrate and create a color profile for your monitor once a month.
Calibration is different from profiling. Calibration means the colour lookup tables in the monitor are put into a known state, while a profile merely describes the monitor’s perception of colors. With calibration you tell the monitor that it must render “pure red” by setting its color channels in a certain manner. The profile you create will tell your image editing software, or graphic design application that pure red for this monitor means a specific mixture of its color channels.
4. Buy an inkjet printer which has non-clogging printheads.
Ideally, printheads should never clog. If they do, you can rest assured your colors will come out awful. If they don’t, you can still have bad colors, but now at least you can do something about it. Good printers are a bit more expensive than the bottom-price inkjet printers you can buy these days. Think of paying something like $200 at a minimum. For top-notch printers like the HP Photosmart Pro B9180, expect to pay $700.
5. Drive your inkjet through a Raster Image Processor.
Many high-end printers support a RIP, but not all RIPs are created equal. EFI makes good RIPs, as do the vendors that develop more expensive RIPs for large format printers. EFI has a decent RIP, with support for ink limiting, black start setting, etc, for a very decent price. It’s the EFI Designer Edition.
6. Profile your printer and use that profile with your RIP to get accurate colours, and save money on ink consumption.
Through the profile settings, you can actually determine how much ink gets sprayed onto the page. For some paper types, you can save a lot of money by setting ink limiting optimally for your printer.
7. Use established equipment such as X-Rite/GretagMacbeth or Barbieri to generate your CMYK printer profile.
You should create a profile for every paper not supported by your printer manufacturer. If you must use your printer in RGB mode, you can do with less expensive profiling systems. The best way to ensure a good quality profile is made when you don’t have the budget to buy a system that costs a few thousand dollars, is to appeal to a remote service such as Thinck.com’s.
8. Use an image editing application such as Photoshop, which has a “softproof” feature.
To softproof means that you’ll be able to visually determine an image‘s colors on-screen with enough accuracy to be confident the colors will match the printed output. Softproofing is never one-on-one, but can come very close, and is another way of saving money by saving on both wasted paper and ink.
9. When editing your image, set the grey balance first.
Select a neutral grey area in your image (if you took a photo, you’ll remember what was grey, and if you don’t, there are almost always objects that must be grey) and set this area as your neutral grey tone. In Photoshop or Photoshop Elements, you do this by selecting the Levels or Curves tool, selecting the grey eyedropper in the dialogue window, and clicking with this tool in the neutral area of your image.
10. If your image has a warm tone to it, e.g. because it was shot at dusk or with tungsten light and no flash, you can neutralize color casts somewhat by choosing an area that is not exactly neutral but more towards the warm tone of the image.
As long as the area is greyish by nature, the image will adjust accordingly.
11. Be careful with setting Saturation levels too high.
If you boost saturation, you’re also bossting color inaccuracies. You can boost the saturation of your image when you’re sure it is color-accurate.
These and many more tips, tricks, and tutorials, but also product reviews and in-depth technology and methodology background information is available on IT-Enquirer.com. IT-Enquirer is an online magazine aimed at creative professionals. It contains articles for beginners all the way up to experts in the field.
[info_box]About the Author
Tony Mack is an award winning graphic/web designer and internet marketing expert that operates One Source Graphics, Inc. He works with small local businesses and large internet based companies to create dramatic marketing material that they use to get more sales and more clients. In addition, he has a highly successful internet business that publishes e-products, learning products, iPhone and windows software, and has helped thousands of people learn and improve their own internet marketing strategies.
800-974-5580
TonyMack@OneSourceGraphics.org
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Feb
23
Business Card Design for Bland Construction and Remodeling LLC
Business Cards / collateral material / promotion / Photoshop Design / Portfolio / Stationery Posted by Tony Mack
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The Methods and Movements of Business Cards:
Etiquette
When it comes to business card etiquette there are a handful of simple principles to keep in mind.
Have your business cards with you at all occasions. There is no point in creating business cards if you do not give them out at each and every possible situation be it professional or personal.
Do not give your business cards to a 3rd party to give out on your account. This tends to make you appear extremely lazy. Consider requesting happy customers if they would get an additional card or two for future recommendations.
Don’t forget your business card is not a note card. Writing information, instructions or anything at all not related on your business card is never ever a great strategy. It reveals a shortage of esteem for your self and the unsaid rules of business.
Only leave a stack of business cards someplace if you have authorization to do so. Sneakily putting a handful of cards at the cash register or sign up counter of a business or organization is certainly not good and will most likely result in the cards getting put in the trash.
Under no circumstances write on the front side of somebody’s business card particularly not in front of them. Any recalling information ought to be on the backside.
If you just can’t say hi you cannot give them a business card. Under no circumstances use a business card as a dialogue substitute. Its just impolite.
Generally take a business card given to you. Its rude or obnoxious not to and it tends to make you seem extremely inexperienced and not professional.
Generally look at the business card when it is given to you to verify it has the details that you need to have and slide it into a proper location.
When you disrespect somebody’s business card they normally think you are disrespecting them. What might appear like a little piece of card to you is essentially a great deal of challenging work and effort. If you have fashioned your very own business cards you know this. Respect the artistic process as you respect the prospective business relationship.
creative business cards your customers will keep
Your business cards are in competition with all the other cards that potential customers and investors collect throughout the year. To make sure your cards don’t get thrown out, a good impression matters.
with One Source Graphics, you’ll get:
- Custom-designed business cards with any stationery package.
the design
The One Source Graphics stationery packages we offer ensures that your custom business card design displays your logo to its best advantage, and matches the design of your letterhead and envelope. We also offer business cards related informational resources.
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Feb
03
By: Nicholas LaPolla
“Content is King! If you want a website to generate back-links and have quality content the search engines love, be sure to make it readable by both people and search engines. Search engines are working to give people quality results. Thus, they are looking for sites with quality content. So – by building site content for people, not only are you getting back to basics (information dissemination to people via the Internet), you are creating a site search engines will love. So, build sites for people – and the search engines will come.
When creating a new website or redesigning an existing site, there are four critical rules which should be followed to make the site effective, functional, loved by search engines – and successful.
1. Easy to Read
When building a website, the first thing you need to be sure of is that your website is easy to read. When you write content, remember that most web site visitors don’t read every word of a page – in fact, they only scan pages to find what they want.
Break up Your Content
Break up your pages and use headers between major ideas so people scanning your site can find what they want quickly. Use meaningful headers between each paragraph or major idea – this helps with SEO. Headers should be created with the H1 through H4 tags for SEO. Always use good writing structure. Additionally, avoid long paragraphs that run on. You should break up any long paragraphs.
Color and Fonts
To help readability, use high contrast colors between font and background. Black text against a white background may seem stark, but it is very readable. To make a website easy on the eyes, try an off-white background and a dark gray (almost black) text color.
Things to avoid with content color:
- Avoid vibrant background colors like purple or yellow. Such back colors make text difficult to read.
- Avoid using an image behind your text.
- Avoid using bright text colors on bright backgrounds.
Fonts Matter
One simple statement covers the font issue:
Simple fonts are the best; the more fancy the font, the harder it is to read.
Since many browsers only have the standard font set, use standard fonts. In reality, there is no “standard”, but there are certain fonts that are installed on most browsers. These include Arial, Verdana, Tahoma and Times New Roman. Your readers will see something different than you see if you use other fonts.
Standard Compliant Browser for Development
When developing and testing your site, use a Standards compliant browser like FireFox. If you develop your site to be standards compliant, it will work in most browsers, including MS Internet Explorer (IE). It is recommended that you test your site using the latest and last browser versions of IE (IE6 and IE7). To run multiple versions of IE on the same machine, TredoSoft.com has a free installer that will install multiple versions of IE. It works great!
Keywords in Content
Of course, when writing content, not only should it be formatted to be readable, but it must also be consumable by not only people, but by search engines. One way to make the subject of the content known to search engines is to use the keywords that people use to search for your site in your content. Be sure to use keywords in your header tags, your first paragraph and throughout your text. The keyword density should be between 4% and 7% – but any more than that could 1) be hard to read and still make sense and 2) be considered spam by search engines and banned. Keywords should also be used in your TITLE tags and your Meta description.
2. Simplify Navigation
The menus and links make up the navigation that the visitor uses to get from page to page in a site. Always plan a site around how people will get from page to page. A visitor to your site should be able to get to what they want within three clicks of their mouse.
Multiple navigation points makes it easy to find things. Repeat the top menu and at the bottom. Also create a left or right menu.
Using links within your text to other areas on your site. You can create links so that they are good for search engine optimization (SEO). There are generally two ways to create links within your text:
- The wrong way: “For search engine optimization techniques, click here.”
- The right way: “Good techniques for search engine optimization are important to use.”
Using link text (anchor text) that describes what the link is about is the best way. Search engine web crawlers (programs that automatically index the contents of websites) visit your site, they “read” links. Spiders can index descriptive links into a subject or keyword category. Spiders have nothing to work with when reading a “click here” until it reaches the linked page.
This is Cross Linking – use it as much as possible when it makes sense to do so when writing your content.
3. Consistent Design
At most, one or two layouts should be used in your site design. As a reader browses your site, they should be able to get used to looking in the same place for your navigation, for your sub-navigation and for your content. That’s all there is to say about that.
4. Lower Page Weight is Better
Page weight is the total size of a page on your site in bytes – code, text and images. Your site’s page weight makes a big difference to your viewers. Lighter page weight is better for your readers because the page will download faster. The faster a page downloads, the faster they will get to the content.
What is Means to be Light
- No large images.
- Fewer images are better.
- Optimize images for the web at no more than 72 dpi
- Use as small an image dimension as possible for the given design.
- Use a table td bgcolor attribute or a background-color style attribute for solid color backgrounds.
- Make gradients horizontal or vertical (not diagonal) so that you can use a small image “strip” and repeat it.
How “Heavy” Should a Web Page be?
Certain studies show that 64K is a good maximum webpage size. 64K is a maximum, however it is still, in my opinion, really big! The smaller the page, the better. 25K is good, 15K is even better. There is a balance between design and function. It is a good idea to focus more on function.
Try putting pages on your web host server as you build your site so you can test it as you go. For pages online, you can test the page weight at www.quasarcr.com/pageweight/ to be sure you are on track.
Ways to make pages lighter:
- Use linked style sheets
- Use DIVs instead of TABLEs where possible
- Use simple repeating backgrounds for effect
Summary
Visitors to your website should be able to find what they are looking for within about three clicks. Search engines should be able to navigate easily through your site. Making a site easy to read with consistent page design, and easy to navigate will make it easy to find information. When people can find information, they are more likely to refer your site or link to it – which is exactly what you want to encourage. You will be on the way to building a readable and hopefully successful website that is loved by search engines if you follow these principals.
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Author Bio
Nicholas LaPolla has been a web applications developer for 11 years. He created AcmeWebResources.com to help others build or improve, market, and monitize their websites with a focus on web design, website seo / internet marketing, and working to make money online.
Article Source: http://www.ArticleGeek.com – Free Website Content
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Aug
01
We all are very well aware of the benefits of logos for any brand or company. It helps in establishing any brand in the market and creates a unique identity of its user. Companies globally have been using professional logos to create distinctive image of their business and market identity of their own. A logo might seem to be very small and simple thing, but in reality it requires extensive research, hard work and continuous process to come up with perfect logo design. In other words don’t take logos as just images but they are symbols that represent a company globally. Logos are always designed in customized manner.
Expert logo designers always suggests their clients to get their logo designed in vector graphics as this technology can decrease or increase the size of an image keeping the quality part intact. It makes easier to use same logo on different mediums like small business cards, billboards, websites, magazines, etc. Color selection in logos should be done properly, avoid using too many colors altogether. If you use an array of many colors it creates bad impression especially when you go for corporate or customized logo designing. Maximum of 2-3 colors that complement each other is better option.
For logo designing also there are some basic rules that needs to be followed to produce desired designs. Never put an image of a person who is alive, symbols that have social or cultural sensitivity and don’t be dependent on clipart for its creation. You should remember that ultimate goal of a logo is to form positive brand identity and its awareness among the target customers. Logos are responsible for giving a unique identity to a brand among the competitors. Logos are often associated with any organization by customers. If we notice, it would be clear that all brands that are famous among the masses have a logo that gives identity.
A logo need not be complex in its designing to get recognition. Keep it simple yet attractive that can easily symbolize your business. Do not copy it from any sources, it should be original in its design otherwise it creates very negative impression. For successful logo designing maintain uniformity in taglines and also the design. Don’t believe in false claims given by some logo designing companies to design high quality of logos at very cheap prices. Therefore research a lot before giving your project to any logo design company.
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SPINX Los Angeles Web Designers, offers custom website design services, Print Design Los Angeles, Film Web Design Los Angeles, flash Web design. Check Graphic Design Portfolio for more information.
Source: http://www.freeezinearticles.com/2010/07/27/catch-hold-of-audience-interests-with-effective-logos/
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Take a look at our “Summer Website Design Specials”
Fill our our “Logo Worksheet” and a design consultant will contact you!
Tags:Graphic Design, Web Design, Design Services, Website Design, Logo Design
Jul
31
Recent Project: Redesign of Full Page Ad for Ready Writer Communications
Design & Media / Illustrator / Photoshop / Photoshop Design / Portfolio-Logo Design Posted by Tony Mack
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Ad Re-Design
Designer: Tony Mack
Software: Photoshop, InDesign and Illustrator
This was a collaborative process between a client and a designer — to convey a specific message to a targeted audience. Various methods were used to create and combine words, symbols, and images to create a visual representation the ideas and messages of Ready Writer Communications. Typography, visual arts and page layout techniques were used to produce the final result.
Nov
18
What goes into making a great brochure
Brochure Design / collateral material / promotion / Portfolio-Logo Design Posted by Tony Mack
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2 comments
What is a brochure?
A brochure is a high-quality pamphlet, with specially planned layout, typography and illustrations. It is a booklet of printed informational messages used for advertising and promotional purposes. Brochures are generally used to give clients or customers necessary information regarding the products, services or events of a business or company. It gives business owners a chance to sum up everything customers need to know in an easy-to-read, eye-catching piece of paper. Similar to the other advertising materials, they are also designed to generate more sales and profits for a business, and create interest among consumers. But it considered as the most economical way to get company message into the hands of prospective clients. A brochure serves as a handy marketing representative in behalf of a company so it is important to focus on the quality.
Functions of a Brochure:
>Provides product and service information
>Support trade shows and conventions
>Provide news (about products, services, company, industry)
>Build company identity
>Educate prospects and customers
What to consider in Planning a Company Brochure:
> Think about your brochure objective and function.
> Stand out one of its functions, like informative, advertising or identification functions.
> Check if those functions are in the brochure, even though one stands out and the others don’t.
> Choose the right brochure format based on its objective.
How to Design a Brochure:
Planning a brochure depends on the decisions of the business owner and the design companies. But this plan is not only based on those decisions but also in the relationship between the two. Before starting, the design company will listen to the ideas of the client, and then provide recommendations. The client then could decide whether to take it or not. A constant and dynamic relationship is important that will allow both parties attend to any changes if necessary. The brochure has several qualifications that require having this type of relation. For example, choosing a type of paper for the brochure won’t be probably a problem, but is has to be chosen before continuing with the designing work. It has to be chosen depending on it convenience. But the brochure concept is something that would be more difficult, and that couldn’t be solved in the first interview. It is difficult because it is hard to explain in a few words how the owner wants the brochure to be. The graphic designers will start working on the brochure and after finishing they will be getting in touch with the owner to show the brochure draft to see if it satisfies their expectations. Sample brochures will be shown then so the client can choose the one that fits their needs. Having a good relationship with your design company is important because it will give efficient and effective results.
Contents of a Brochure:
Photos Photos of eye catching photographs of products, services or location of business are important in a brochure.
Target Groups You should know the typical consumer of the business product or service, what age group the brochure should be focused on.
Message The brochure should have a clear, precise and interesting business idea and message to convey the business objective.
Appearance The brochure should have an easy-to-read and eye catching concept that will grab the potential customer’s attention.
Description It should have a description of the company product or service. A good brochure will describe what the business has to offer in a way that makes a potential customer believe that he needs it. Location The brochure can have information with an address or map to guide that customer to the business location or website.
Types of Brochures
>Bi-fold Brochure Letter or A4 size
>Leaflet Letter or A4 size
>Bi-fold Brochure A3 size
>Tri-fold A3 size
>Folder with flap and inserts
Request a Custom Brochure Quote
Get started now by filling out the form.
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Sep
05
How to Create a Hover Effect Using CSS
CSS / Design & Media / HTML / Web Pages & Web Graphics / Websites, IT & Software Posted by Tony Mack
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Hover effects, rollovers, super-fancy link styles — regardless of what you call them — are a great way to get extra bang for your buck when putting together a website.
Today we’ll be learning how to add a unique and creative feature to your website’s links using CSS. Using CSS Pseudo Classes, we can alter every aspect of a link when a visitor “hovers” over it, or puts their cursor over the link.
Change a Hovered link’s background color with CSS:
a.link1:link { color:black; background-color:white; }
a.link1:visited { color:black; background-color:white; }
a.link1:hover { color:white; background-color:black; }
a.link1:active { color:black; background-color:white; }
In the above example, the link class is set to “link1.” Text with this class will appear as solid black text. Once the link is hovered, it will appear as white text with a black background like so: my super awesome class link1.
Using CSS to change the background of hovered links can have a striking effect. Try setting the background-color to “yellow” for a CSS highlighter effect, or using two different background colors like so: my super awesome class link2
You can create CSS hover effects using just about any combination of CSS styles you can imagine. Pure text effects can take advantage of “text-decoration” effects such as strikethrough and underline; or change the font color, font-family, or font-style.
More advanced CSS hover effects can also be used to simulate buttons without having to create image rollovers or using any javascript.
Other CSS Hover effects to try:
a.link3:link { text-decoration: line-through; }
a.link3:visited { text-decoration: line-through; }
a.link3:hover { text-decoration: none; }
a.link4:link { font-family:Georgia; font-weight:bold;}
a.link4:visited { font-family:Georgia; font-weight:bold;}
a.link4:hover { font-family:Georgia; font-style:italic;}
a.link5:link { padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #2F818D; }
a.link5:visited { padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #2F818D; }
a.link5:hover { padding: 2px; border: 1px solid #efefef; background-color:#2F818D; }
And here is how each link class will look with the hover effect in place:
The “a.link3? class will output the text with a strickthrough effect when a user hovers over it. The “a.link4? class will change the font face entirely to Georgia (or any other web font you specify).
And finally, “a.link5? is a more advanced CSS hover effect that combines borders and background-colors to simulate a simple button.
One thing to keep in mind when creating a CSS hover effect for your links is that unless your new link class specifically overwrites the styles of your global link class you may have some unexpected effects.
You will notice that each of the above sample links has an underline when you hover over the text even though an underline is not specified in the link class a:hover style. This is because the global link style of TutorialBlog.org has an underline applied to the psuedo class a:hover.
In order to remove global styles from your new link class simply over ride the original CSS. For instance adding “text-decoration:none;” to the CSS will remove the underline from any of the above hover effects like so:
a.link6:link { font-family:Georgia; font-weight:bold;}
a.link6:visited { font-family:Georgia; font-weight:bold;}
a.link6:hover { font-family:Georgia; font-style:italic; text-decoration:none;}
my super awesome class link6
Any of these CSS hover effects can be applied globally to all of your links sitewide by using the standard a:link, a:hover, etc. instead of creating a specific link class. These styles can attract a lot of attention to your links or add some extra style just where it’s needed. Be creative!
Now, that you know how to use CSS to create hover effects, next time we’ll talk about styling your “unordered list” elements (ul and li) to create drop-dead gorgeous navigation without a lick of javascript.
Source:How to Create a Hover Effect Using CSS
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Jul
22
Website design is not ‘One size fit all.’ Rather, for different genres and industries, website design needs to vary accordingly. Website design and development is a customized procedure and the design needs to vary and conform to the nature of the websites and requirements of the industry.
Moreover, website design is not only about visual presentation but it also has a great deal to do with planning and strategizing to achieve website goals and objectives. In fact, online success of a website depends on its design as well its marketing strategy. Therefore, corporate website design is a very crucial process. Here are 5 crucial considerations that you need to keep in mind.
Typography
If content is the king, then fonts are what illustrates the king. Typography of a website plays a crucial role in defining its look and feel. Moreover, it speaks a great deal about your professionalism. Good typography has a positive influence on people and gives a positive impression about your organization.
It should also be noted that print typography and online typography have a high degree of variance. What works in print does not work well online. In view of this fact, some of the best online fonts are Helvetica, Sans-serif etc.
Also, fonts can convey company beliefs to the audience. For companies that are conservative in their approach, serif typefaces would work well and so on. Another prime consideration governing the choice of fonts should be its easy rendering across web browsers.
Colors
Colors of a website influence the mood of visitors and actually trigger of specific responses in them. Moreover, for corporate website, the choice of colors provides the visual identity of company or business.
Colors should emphasize the philosophy and ideals of the organization. While choosing colors for your corporate website design, take into consideration different color combinations, meanings of colors and theories based on them.
Logo
A logo is the brand identity of a company or business. It acts as an immediate recognition tool for the audiences. In fact, in the corporate world logos are so popular that it does not even have to be accompanied with the company name. People just know by looking at the logo.
However, though a logo is a very crucial aspect in the brand strategy of a company, it seldom works without mettle. It does allow people to differentiate the company from it competitors but it needs to be backed with enough brand potency. Corporate logos should be clean and simple and carry the brand value along with it.
Brand Value
Corporate websites are the online face of the organization. Therefore it should reflect and promote the brand value of the business. How a website looks and performs on the World Wide Web often decides the way it is perceive in corporate circles. It is very important for websites to create brand recognition for the business and promote its prime aims and objectives.
Quality
As mentioned before, corporate website design should illustrate the quality of the organization and business and portray it as an industry leader. Apart from promoting the products and services of the company, website design should also seek to showcase the quality of the same.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Maneet Puri is an eminent IT technician and owner of LeXolution IT Services, a leading web design company based in India. With over 10 years of experience in the industry, he leads his team of custom web designers to create powerful web solutions for his clients.
