Author: steve

A somewhat bland webpage: BEFORE screen 8K page weight. You may say, “Fast. Yes. But it’s pretty boring.” It’s DELIBERATELY boring. But there is no waiting. NOTE: The background color is not “black” but #333333, a very dark gray. Using black on screen produces a color that isn’t naturally seen in nature. It can appear…

Try publishing a “product or service positioning statement” on the cover with minimum decoration. The user wants to know immediately what the point is of your ebook. “What’s in it for me?” “Why should I care?” There must be instant recognition, simplicity, and clarity of why to read or explore. Most book covers have too…

Theming is orchestrating color combinations, type selection, symbols, etc) but I learned something new about “proportioned palettes”. A new perspective on color. The author of Handout (PDF) demonstrates his method for developing a consistent and large color palette for branding. Great stuff. I can also vouch his basis of predicting “future color trends” really works.…

The world of type is huge. From my studies, most professional designers have their favorites. And it is not necessarily a large library. I’m a font collector and have far more than I need. Eventually, you find classics that you love. This takes time and also studying the work of others. So there isn’t necessarily…

Here’s a trick to see faults in a design. Check the grayscale conversion. All touching colors should have a 30-percent differential – especially for text. If something can’t be read in grayscale (no color cues) adjustments need to be made. There are various ways to convert to grayscale. In this case, I used GIMP (for…

MARKETING ADAGE: e2 = 0 means Emphasizing Everything equals Emphasize Nothing. Page’s have a hierarchy elements. This affects placement, size, visual weight, color density, and more. No emphasis creates confusion and visual noise. Obviously, two things cannot be dominant or emphasized at the same time. The page needs a hierarchy of dominant, subordinate, and accent…

THE GRID CONCEPT is from the German Bauhaus design school (1919-1933) The Bauhaus believed industrial potentials were to be applied to satisfactory graphic design standards, regarding both functional and aesthetic aspects. The Grid concept affected all design fields from architecture to product packaging. This invisible grid is consistent from page to page and consists of…

Photography is a window to the readers imagination. –Steve Teare PHOTOGRAPHY IS A PRINCIPLE communication device for design. Good photography generates interest and curiosity. It has energy. The most powerful or novel words in the body text, when converted to images, enable the viewer to quickly fill in the blanks. Photos frequently influence the theme…

LIKE HUMAN BODY LANGUAGE, graphic design expresses similar implied non-verbal attitudes or values. Graphic design is a method of differentiating business or products in the market. Graphic design is considered of equal value to other intangible assets like special customer offerings or an in-house mailing list or goodwill. Design builds a sense of community or…

Positioning the Battle for Your Mind. Positioning Wiki Designers usually say, “The business owner is always right about naming and logos – and art direction.” That is false. No marketing person would back up such a haphazard method. Especially for niche markets. In marketing, the customer [buyer], not the business owner, is always right. If…