The Computer Revolution/Computer Graphics/Great Designs
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So when you are finished doing the layout and format of everything or you are sent a pre-existing design the customer is unhappy with and wants to prove, your job is to make the design from good to great. There are lots of ideas and ways to make some design look. For example, the use of pictures instead of clip-art is a great trick. It is statistically proven that consumers respond more to pictures then words. Real life pictures that represent the idea create a mainstream view of the product use of its objectivity. People draw from visual senses then. If a design is lacking pictures, suggest pictures to be placed instead of clip art. For example if you are a designing for a computer technician or a network support analyst then the key is to use a picture of person who is frustrated from computers, i.e., he is piled with work and shows an expression of frustration. Consumers draw from that as an actual situation that they themselves might be in. Moreover if you are using pictures of a person with just a white background then it is important to make a shadow for him. This really adds to the realistic view of the person as he is in this virtual cyber existence.
Check spacing between the information and make it constant. This means line spacing, between paragraph, between headings, between the top and bottom of pictures. Complete centering of all the information on the page so there are no uneven ends. This process really cleans up the artwork making it easier to understand what it needs and what it doesn't. Most of the time, the lesser the information which leads to more white space leads to a more soothing effect. Try to keep every information concise and leave plenty of room around the sides. Information that creeps to the edge of something looks overcrowded and inefficient.
Colour constancy. Use as few as 2 colors between information or sometimes 3. It is hard to create information as 4 colours. Things just start to look like a rainbow and it hard to get the viewers attention to any one colour since he/she is looking all over it.
Text formatting: Bold, italic and underline are all ways to differentiate and create emphasis. Try not to use bold, italic, and underline very frequently within the same paragraph it is cheesy, and since everything is important underlines, bolded, etc will take the importance out of everything. Try different ways, for example using colours to differentiate, size of the font, knockouts, which means creating a background of the colour to be used and making the information white.
