Graphic design is the art and process of putting together text and graphics to be able to effectively communicate a message. Companies usually hire a web solutions company which provides graphic design services. These graphics firms are knowledgeable on the elements and principles of graphic design and can churn out professional-quality websites, logos, brochures, newsletters, posters, signs, and any other type of visual media.
There are quite a handful of graphic file formats that are available but internet browsers only support a few of them. This article discusses the different graphic file formats that can be used when building a web site.
Presently, the most common graphic file formats that are supported by most popular web browsers are: Graphic Interchange Format (GIF), Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG), Portable Network Graphics (PNG) and vector graphics.
These kinds of graphic files have gained enormous usability because ofthe following properties:
Transparency – allows the image to be varying degrees of opaqueness from solid to completely transparent or see-through.
Compression – allows images to be stored in a much smaller file by using a mathematical algorithm to handle groups of pixels as a single item.
Interlacing – allows an image to be loaded by first drawing the odd rows and then going back and drawing the even rows. It allows the visitor to see the picture sooner.
Animation – gives the appearance of movement by using a series of successive still pictures. Animated gifs do not require a browser plug-in and can work on almost all devices.
Progressive loading – similar to interlacing in that it only loads a portion of the picture initially but is not based on alternating rows and allows the user to see the picture quicker.
GIF
Developed in the 1980s, GIF was adopted by web designers in the early 1990s as the preferred graphic format for web pages. GIF files use a compression algorithm that keeps file sizes small for fast loading. Because of its smaller size compared to a JPEG file, most web designers use the GIF format for backgrounds, boxed, frames and any other graphical element that look fine using 8-bit color. These files also support transparency and interlaced graphics but are limited to 256 colors (8 bits). GIF also received immense popularity because it can be used to create animation: by using a series of successive still pictures. Furthermore, All browsers can display GIF files.
JPEG
JPEG files are the preferred formats as far as good image quality is concerned. These type of files are compressed and support “true color” (24 bit), allowing faster download speeds.
PNG
PNG is the newest in the game. It was introduced as an alternative to GIF files. Just like JPEG, PNG supports up to 24 bit color, transparency, interlacing plus it can hold a short text description of the image’s content for use by search engines. However, most browsers do not support PNG yet. Web design companies offering graphic design services believes that time will come when PNG gets fully supported by most web browsers. By that time, PNG will probably replace GIF as the web designer’s choice for non-photographic page elements. But GIF will still be used for animation.
Vector Graphics
Vector graphics are created by using programs such as Adobe Illustrator and Macromedia Freehand. Vector drawings must be converted to either GIF, JPEG OR PNG format to be used on a web page.
Web solution companies like New Harvest Design offers cost-effective graphic design services that can help a company, big or small, get the graphics they want at a price they can afford.
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miércoles, 10 de marzo de 2010
martes, 9 de marzo de 2010
Color and Custom Web Design: Using the subliminal effects of colors for maximum impact
It is a scientific fact that colors can have psychological effects on people. Properly used on a website, colors can go hand in hand with graphics and well-written content to effectively communicate to your target audience and even compel them to make the desired call to action. Colors can be a great design element that can help visitors with site's navigation, the grouping of content and their relative importance, relationships, etc.
It is, thus, important for web designers to know the subliminal effects of different colors and their combination can make. The colors they choose can either work for or against them, depending on how a visitor unconsciously reacts to them during that critical first few seconds.
Below is a list of color qualities that can have both positive and negative meanings:
Red is commonly associated with love, passion, danger, warning, excitement, food, impulse, action, adventure and is, thus, good in attracting attention. In it's negative side, red evokes aggressive feelings, and can suggest anger or violence.
Blue has a calming effect on people. It evokes a sense of belonging and trust, reliability, coolness, peacefulness, tranquility, security and is often associated with high quality, faithfulness and dignity.
In its negative side, it can imply alienation, sadness, passivity, or depression.
Yellow evokes feelings of happiness, warmth, and sunshine. But in its negative side, over-use of yellow can cause eye-strain and vague feelings of irritation.
Orange evokes feelings of playfulness, pleasure, approachability, informality and warmth. Orange and black together are often associated with ambition and drive. in the negative side orange may imply a lack of discrimination or quality.
Green is easiest on the eyes. It is usually associated with feelings of growth and abundance. Also, depending on the shade, green can bring to mind nature, healing, freshness, money and freedom. Some shades of green, on the other hand, suggest decay, fungus, mold, toxicity, etc.
Purple is the color of royalty, dignity, sophistication and spirituality. Purple can evoke feelings of luxury and abundance.
Violet evokes feelings of playfulness, impulsiveness, and fantasy. In its negative side, it can suggest nightmares or madness.
Pink evokes feelings of being nurtured or pampered. It is also associated with sweetness and femininity.
White is most often considered pure, innocent, clean and mild.
Black evokes feelings of elegance, authority, sophistication, and power. Black is often associated with mystery, sobriety and seduction. In its negative side, it represents evil, sorrow and death.
Gray evokes a sense of solidity and reliability. Grey is associated with authority, creativity and practicality.
Brown evokes feelings of masculinity, reliability and affectivity. Brown is associated with dependability and affluence.
Gold evokes feelings of prestige, influence and money.
Silver evokes the same feelings as gold, but silver can also be perceived as cold, hard and distant.
Tips for web designers on using colors for websites:
Use colors that would match the overall theme of your website and the impression you want your visitors to get. Avoid choosing colors based on what you like.
Use a color scheme that would enhance your website and your content not distract or confuse your users.
Colors can have different effects on people. For example, men prefer blue to red, while women prefer red to blue. Also, men prefer orange over yellow, while women prefer yellow over orange. Furthermore, a website designed for a younger audience should use brighter colors than a website for an older audience, which should use sober and restrained colors. web designers should take these are facts backed by academic studies into consideration when picking colors for their websites.
Different cultures have different meanings for colors. Keep your target audience in mind when you choose a color scheme. Choose two or three main colors and one or two secondary colors, and stick with them throughout your entire website.
For consistent colors across different monitors and browsers, Use web safe colors. Employ colors that come from the 216 colors that can be displayed on every type of monitor in every web browser.
Make sure to use uniform color scheme all throughout your web site. This is essential to create a “brand” for your site and prevents your visitors from getting "lost".
Use lots of blank space between design elements and content elements. Blank spaces act as a wonderful balance between your other design elements. You can also make your web pages easier on the eyes by leaving blank space between blocks of text.
If you are planning of building your website or updating an old one, it is ideal to rely on the help of experienced designers and developers who are knowledgeable in all aspects of custom web design - including the use of colors. This will ensure you and your company that no time and resources are wasted on creating a website that best represents your company and sells your products and services effectively.
It is, thus, important for web designers to know the subliminal effects of different colors and their combination can make. The colors they choose can either work for or against them, depending on how a visitor unconsciously reacts to them during that critical first few seconds.
Below is a list of color qualities that can have both positive and negative meanings:
Red is commonly associated with love, passion, danger, warning, excitement, food, impulse, action, adventure and is, thus, good in attracting attention. In it's negative side, red evokes aggressive feelings, and can suggest anger or violence.
Blue has a calming effect on people. It evokes a sense of belonging and trust, reliability, coolness, peacefulness, tranquility, security and is often associated with high quality, faithfulness and dignity.
In its negative side, it can imply alienation, sadness, passivity, or depression.
Yellow evokes feelings of happiness, warmth, and sunshine. But in its negative side, over-use of yellow can cause eye-strain and vague feelings of irritation.
Orange evokes feelings of playfulness, pleasure, approachability, informality and warmth. Orange and black together are often associated with ambition and drive. in the negative side orange may imply a lack of discrimination or quality.
Green is easiest on the eyes. It is usually associated with feelings of growth and abundance. Also, depending on the shade, green can bring to mind nature, healing, freshness, money and freedom. Some shades of green, on the other hand, suggest decay, fungus, mold, toxicity, etc.
Purple is the color of royalty, dignity, sophistication and spirituality. Purple can evoke feelings of luxury and abundance.
Violet evokes feelings of playfulness, impulsiveness, and fantasy. In its negative side, it can suggest nightmares or madness.
Pink evokes feelings of being nurtured or pampered. It is also associated with sweetness and femininity.
White is most often considered pure, innocent, clean and mild.
Black evokes feelings of elegance, authority, sophistication, and power. Black is often associated with mystery, sobriety and seduction. In its negative side, it represents evil, sorrow and death.
Gray evokes a sense of solidity and reliability. Grey is associated with authority, creativity and practicality.
Brown evokes feelings of masculinity, reliability and affectivity. Brown is associated with dependability and affluence.
Gold evokes feelings of prestige, influence and money.
Silver evokes the same feelings as gold, but silver can also be perceived as cold, hard and distant.
Tips for web designers on using colors for websites:
Use colors that would match the overall theme of your website and the impression you want your visitors to get. Avoid choosing colors based on what you like.
Use a color scheme that would enhance your website and your content not distract or confuse your users.
Colors can have different effects on people. For example, men prefer blue to red, while women prefer red to blue. Also, men prefer orange over yellow, while women prefer yellow over orange. Furthermore, a website designed for a younger audience should use brighter colors than a website for an older audience, which should use sober and restrained colors. web designers should take these are facts backed by academic studies into consideration when picking colors for their websites.
Different cultures have different meanings for colors. Keep your target audience in mind when you choose a color scheme. Choose two or three main colors and one or two secondary colors, and stick with them throughout your entire website.
For consistent colors across different monitors and browsers, Use web safe colors. Employ colors that come from the 216 colors that can be displayed on every type of monitor in every web browser.
Make sure to use uniform color scheme all throughout your web site. This is essential to create a “brand” for your site and prevents your visitors from getting "lost".
Use lots of blank space between design elements and content elements. Blank spaces act as a wonderful balance between your other design elements. You can also make your web pages easier on the eyes by leaving blank space between blocks of text.
If you are planning of building your website or updating an old one, it is ideal to rely on the help of experienced designers and developers who are knowledgeable in all aspects of custom web design - including the use of colors. This will ensure you and your company that no time and resources are wasted on creating a website that best represents your company and sells your products and services effectively.
miércoles, 3 de marzo de 2010
Filipinos Adaptation to Western Culture
The Philippines was colonized by Spain for four centuries. Discovered by a non-Spanish but Portuguese navigator named Ferdinand Magellan in March 16, 1521, the country was named after King Philip II of Spain. The influence of the Spaniards in the Philippines is tremendous and that western culture wraps the culture of the capital and urban cities- from politics, literature, architecture, language, religion, fashion and arts. Great Filipinos writers and artists like Dr. Jose Rizal, the Philippines’ national hero and Juan Luna, painter of the famous Spolarium went to Madrid to compete and brought home the bacon to their motherland. Even if there’s a high discrimination among Filipinos that time, Dr. Rizal, Luna and other intellectual heroes didn’t hide away their talents and even used them as means to freedom.
Though the Spanish reign in the Philippines was gone to dust for more than a century, the Spanish influence still runs in culture of Filipinos. Most of the historical places in the Philippines will lead you to Manila. Intramuros or city within walls is among the famous locations that you can fully trace Spanish architecture. Churches and basilicas also portray how the friars designed the Catholic religion in the Philippines.
More than the physical remnants the Spaniards left in the Philippines, the Spaniards have modified the mentality of Filipinos as well. No wonder that the Filipinos interest and taste are very western. This colonial mentality was made even stronger when the Americans came and educated the Filipinos with English language. In relation to arts, you can see that lots of art themes in the Philippines, both literary and visual are western. Novels are written in English and classic paintings display characters that are Greek, Roman, Spaniards or rich Filipinos wearing gowns for women and American coat and tie for male. Even the themes of Philippine movies and soap operas have resemblance with that of the Mexican romance, action, betrayal and from rags-to-riches stories.
With the Philippines’ long history of being colonized by other nations, adaptation to other culture became part of Filipinos attitude. This can be proved at present time with the success of Filipino employees working for business process outsourcing or “bpo” companies. Among the jobs outsourced in the Philippines are web and graphic design, software development, game development, and customer service support. Filipinos can easily get along with foreign employers because of their good English communication skills both verbal and written. Even graphic designers must possess this skill in order to talk to their clients. Having poor communication may result to delays and difficulties on projects. Graphic design in the Philippines is very progressive since Filipinos have both artistic and advance technical skill to use the required graphic software. Career in graphic design in the Philippines is promising that’s why more and more Filipinos are traveling into this prosperous path. Graphic design in the Philippines was resistant even during the global economic recession since the demands for design never cease. Though some industries were hurt by the crisis, they are now recovering.
Tracing a nation’s history will better explain its culture. Some books may contain negative impressions about the Philippines being colonized by Spain or US but somehow, the Philippines has tons of benefit resulting from its great history. If the Philippines was not colonized by these nations, the present condition in the Philippines maybe different. Bpo industry will be stranger to the Philippines.
Spolarium by Juan Luna
Though the Spanish reign in the Philippines was gone to dust for more than a century, the Spanish influence still runs in culture of Filipinos. Most of the historical places in the Philippines will lead you to Manila. Intramuros or city within walls is among the famous locations that you can fully trace Spanish architecture. Churches and basilicas also portray how the friars designed the Catholic religion in the Philippines.
More than the physical remnants the Spaniards left in the Philippines, the Spaniards have modified the mentality of Filipinos as well. No wonder that the Filipinos interest and taste are very western. This colonial mentality was made even stronger when the Americans came and educated the Filipinos with English language. In relation to arts, you can see that lots of art themes in the Philippines, both literary and visual are western. Novels are written in English and classic paintings display characters that are Greek, Roman, Spaniards or rich Filipinos wearing gowns for women and American coat and tie for male. Even the themes of Philippine movies and soap operas have resemblance with that of the Mexican romance, action, betrayal and from rags-to-riches stories.
With the Philippines’ long history of being colonized by other nations, adaptation to other culture became part of Filipinos attitude. This can be proved at present time with the success of Filipino employees working for business process outsourcing or “bpo” companies. Among the jobs outsourced in the Philippines are web and graphic design, software development, game development, and customer service support. Filipinos can easily get along with foreign employers because of their good English communication skills both verbal and written. Even graphic designers must possess this skill in order to talk to their clients. Having poor communication may result to delays and difficulties on projects. Graphic design in the Philippines is very progressive since Filipinos have both artistic and advance technical skill to use the required graphic software. Career in graphic design in the Philippines is promising that’s why more and more Filipinos are traveling into this prosperous path. Graphic design in the Philippines was resistant even during the global economic recession since the demands for design never cease. Though some industries were hurt by the crisis, they are now recovering.
Tracing a nation’s history will better explain its culture. Some books may contain negative impressions about the Philippines being colonized by Spain or US but somehow, the Philippines has tons of benefit resulting from its great history. If the Philippines was not colonized by these nations, the present condition in the Philippines maybe different. Bpo industry will be stranger to the Philippines.
Spolarium by Juan Luna
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