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The Perfect Colors For Your Website

Oct 082012

Success or failure of your website depends on a few factors. It is clear that the primary role belongs to the building of a website and its content. But what can be even more important – the colors used in the design of your site.
Designing a site is more about wise selection of colors, because they are the first thing that users respond to. Color has a strong psychological impact, subconsciously affects our choice, and in the case of the proper choice may cause the desire to return to the resource and use a suggested service or a product.

The importance of a competent selection of color scheme for a website escapes the attention of a vast number of designers. Color scheme is one of the main components of a website and it is simply obliged to reflect the features of your brand. Colors may keep your visitors on the website as well as make them leave. There are a lot of websites with excellent design and perfectly chosen content, but even an average user immediately feels that something is wrong when he sees a site with the wrong color scheme.

That’s why a designer should always be very attentive to the color scheme. The first impression which your web site will create depends on it. If you feel that the color scheme is not entirely successful, you need to reconsider it as soon as possible. If you do not like it, so your visitors will not like it too. Different colors have different effects on our emotional and physical conditions. They can cause both positive and negative emotions.

It’s obvious that the final decision to buy a product or a service is made under the influence of the properly chosen color as well as of other site features. So every website development company should put its eyes to the implementation of design with understanding that color is a powerful marketing tool. A designer who can manage colors and understands how color affects the emotions and feelings of a person, is able to develop a truly successful website design, which will make the right impression on the user even in his first visit.

To help you correctly navigate in the world of colors, we want to recall the values and properties of the primary colors:

Red is the most eye-catching and attention attracting color. It is active, energetic and aggressive, associated with fire, passion, life and activity. It can be frustrating as well as exciting; it can give strength, but may cause concern. Everyone sees a different red. It is better to use the red color with cool shades (blue, green, etc.) in the website design.

Red color urges people to make a quick decision. So if you need quick results, it’s good to use red. This color will be great for male site.

Orange color helps to get rid of unpleasant emotions, helps in communication, and gives buoyancy. Orange has some properties of red and yellow as it is located between these two colors.

This color is usually used on websites for young people and teenagers. Orange also fueling the appetite of the person, so it is perfect for cooking resources or website that promotes a restaurant. Slout people do not like this color, so better don’t use it for portal about diets, weight-loss etc.

Yellow is the color of the sun, fun, ease and freedom. It improves mood, helps to generate new ideas. The site with the yellow color creates an ease and lightness in the visitor’s mood.

Yellow motivates to communicate, meet new people and journey. It is best to use on portals about dating. Married and pregnant women like this color so it will be great choice for female website.

Dark blue – is a calm and wise color. It creates the feeling of security and stability. It helps to focus and realize the ideas. Do not tire your eyes. In the site’s design it is recommended to combine the blue color with other colors and more neutral shades.

The blue color of any shade is perfect for informational, educational, financial and legal sites. Dark shades of it can be used in the sports and political projects.

Blue – is the color of sincerity and peace. It gives creativity and helps you to get used to the changes.

Light shades of blue will be the great choice for sites about health or leisure (as this color symbolizes the sky, air, water and cleanliness).

Green – is the color of nature. It embodies harmony, goodness and naturalness. It has a relaxing effect.

Green color is often associated with money and power. So, it is used on corporate sites and sites related to the financial sector.

Gray – is a neutral color. It causes no strong emotional reactions. It is respectable, cold and formal. Usually gray is used for information portals and social networks.

Black – is associated with some mystery and conservatism. It commands respect and gives you a feeling of dignity and authority.

If you decide to use in site design this rigorous, conservative color, it will emphasize the seriousness of this resource, which is recommended for the so-called business sites.

A few tips on color mixing:

The main requirement for a pair of colors for text and background is enough contrast between colors for comfortable, fatigue-free reading.

Usually colored web-pages can be divided into two groups: those with a dark text on a light background and a light text on the dark background. The latter is much more popular than the first (if we ignore the traditional black and white pages that have a significant majority).

An example of a typical solution is dark text on light background.

The second type of colors refers to the light text on a dark background. In this case, it will be advantageous to choose a bright and rich tone of the text, which, of course, requires a dark background. An example:

And a site that compiles both approaches at once:

Colors in web design is an extensive, multifaceted and even paradoxical theme. Any talented web designer has a distinctive, recognizable “color style”. It is shown up not in a commitment to certain tones, but in the relation to colors, individual manner of contrast and harmonization of similar colors. That is why it is very important to be ensured that website development company that is working on your site is highly professional and has a number of skilled designers.

Any website development company should take into account all the nuances to provide the visitors of their websites with the most magnificent, stunning and memorable design. Properly chosen color scheme will create a favorable atmosphere, encourage visitors to certain actions, or will create the necessary feeling and impression.

About the Author

Zfort Group is an exclusive software outsourcing company based in Ukraine, Eastern Europe. Zfort Group delivers premium IT outsourcing services for clients from all over the worlds since 2000. All kinds of web development, consulting and B2B solutions were implemented in numerous successfully developed projects. Zfort Group is an excellent IT outsourcing service provider for the businesses of any kind and size.

Men Holding Signs

Design, Stock Photography No Responses »

Dec 232011

Just admit it. You love men holding signs!

One of the easiest ways to get your custom message in front of customers is to place text on a blank sign in a stock photo. It’s a popular graphic design task, and for good reason. All you need is a fun stock photo, a sense of humor, and some text in your head.

The task can be completed in minutes, and voila! Instant Message!

What could you put on the clipboard of LisaFX’s Man Holding Sign photo? How about:

Happy Valentine’s Day

Mother’s Day is coming!

We Want You Back

Your Bill is Due – Love, the Cable Company

Sorry I ran over your cat with my Volkswagon

It might not be fine art, but it sure is a lot of fun. And good luck finding a stock photo which fits your exact message. You won’t find it. So that blank sign rules the school.

Adding Text

The default font is probably not going to fit the theme of your message. And if you are “writing” on a blank piece of cardboard, you will want to choose a realistic looking font.

"I Blame Society!"

There are plenty of websites to download fonts from, but to get you started check out these abstract fonts.

Good choices for fonts include paint swaths, magic marker, thick pencil lead, and so on.

After you add your custom text, it’s a good idea to play around with layer blending options and filters in Gimp or Photoshop. Adding a little noise, or a touch of shadow, can make for a more convincing and visually appealing layer of text. Blending options can preserve the underlying pixels to a certain degree, adding to the texture of your message.

Chicken Man Holding a Sign

Sometimes a man holding a sign just won’t do.

In times like these we need the Chicken Man! Chicken Man is one of my favorite “stock characters.” Okay, so sue me. He makes me laugh.

"Eat Mor Turkeez."

If you are going for a fun themed message, you can find some pretty entertaining characters holding signs in the wild world of stock photography. And that includes…Chicken Man. Chicken Man holding a sign isn’t for jive turkeys.

Sorry about that.

The point is we all need to laugh. Your customers love to laugh too. If you can entertain your customers, you are a step ahead of your competition. One big chicken sized step.

Men Holding Other Signs

The word “sign” is used rather vaguely here. A lot of times we need our message to go on a clipboard, or a business card.

It’s easy to find these specific items at Warmpicture or any stock photos agency. When you enter your search query, be specific. For instance, “Man Holding Cardboard Sign” or “Man Holding Business Card” is likely to zero in on your target image.

A Great Stock Photo is

…one which you can use again and again. With your favorite image editing program, it’s easy to get extra mileage out of your blank sign stock photo.

Just save your text and the original image to separate layers in Photoshop or Gimp, and you can re-use the image whenever you want to change the text. This is perfect if you have recurring messages which you need to get out to the world.

Conclusion

Finding a man holding a blank sign may not be Van Gogh, but it’s one of the most flexible ways for a designer to insert a custom message using a stock photo. Keep the project lighthearted and fun, and do your best to entertain your customers!

Did you enjoy our article today? Please share it with others by using the Social Sharing Icons below.

5 Tips for Graphic Design Students

Design No Responses »

Dec 202011

Considering an education in the world of graphic design? Great! This wide open field combines artistic flare and technological savvy in ways which no other field does. In this article we will offer helpful advice for students interested in choosing an education in graphic design.

The term “graphic design” can be used to describe everything from drawing a corporate logo, to creating a magazine layout, to designing a website, to creating a road sign. Because hey, kangaroos need publicity too.

Almost every application of graphic design will require knowledge of computers, and possibly programming. Even if you don’t foresee a life in web design, expect that your layout tools will be computer oriented.

With that in mind, let’s get into our five tips for students interested in pursuing a career in graphic design.

1. Increase Your Computer Fluency

You may have mad skills when it comes to updating your Facebook status and Tweeting what you had for dinner, but how much experience do you have in Photoshop, Illustrator, and Dreamweaver? Can you program CSS or PHP? If you cannot program for the web, we recommend W3Schools.

Any of these software tools or program languages could be necessary depending on the concentration you wish to pursue. If you are interested in web design, you should take the time to learn some basic CSS. If you envision yourself drawing a lot of vectors in your future, get a copy of Illustrator or see if your high school has it on their computers for you to use.

Start now. Don’t wait to head off to college before you learn about these programs and languages. Many students will have familiarity when they arrive at college, and you don’t want to start behind the competition.

2. Consider a Four Year School

Technical colleges offer a shorter path to a career in graphic design. You can often finish up a program in less than two years, and be ready to enter the work force.

The problem with this approach is that it assumes we all know what we want to do with our lives at the age of 18. I changed my major during college and completely shifted my career direction. I have friends who switched majors more than once. Many of them are very happy in their current careers, which are completely different from the careers they envisioned as college freshmen.

The great thing about a Bachelor’s of Arts program at a four year school is if you suddenly realize graphic design isn’t for you, you won’t have wasted a few years of your life. You can switch majors, and still have many important credits under your belt that can be applied toward your new degree.

Keep your options open. You will be surprised by how many changes you will undergo between the ages of 18 and 22.

3. Consider a Community College

For the same reason we recommend a Bachelor’s program instead of going straight to a Technical School, a community college keeps your options open.

Community colleges offer the ability to obtain an Associate’s degree in two years. The Associate’s degree is generally not considered as prestigious as the Bachelor’s degree, but it is much faster to obtain.

You can also take the credits from a community college and transfer many of them to a four year school, if you eventually decide you want to go for the Bachelor’s. This is often a less expensive option too, as community colleges are typically great bargains.

If you decide after two years that you wish to hit the Technical College regardless, you can still accomplish everything in about four years.

4. Mix in Business Courses

This is an often overlooked opportunity. Your future could entail running your own studio. Many of you will do freelance work.

No matter how strong your artistic skill set is, you risk wasting it if you do not have basic business skills. In fact, if you envision yourself running a graphic design firm, I would go as far as to suggest a minor, or dual major, in business.

At the very least you want to pad your knowledge with some business courses which will prepare you for balancing your books, managing finances, and properly promoting your brand.

5. Have a Web Portfolio

Begin creating a portfolio of your best work on your own internet website. Expect prospective employers will require your portfolio to be available online. This allows them to quickly see your work, and get an idea of your capabilities. Plus, it is possible employers will find you before you find them!

As you go through schooling, regularly update your portfolio with your best work. Cull the work which no longer meets your increasing standards. Don’t wait until your senior year of college to put together your portfolio. Start immediately, and update it frequently.

Conclusion

There are a myriad of other tips we could give, such as learning how to network and learning how to write a killer cover letter. But these five tips are the most important to consider immediately, before entering college.

What degree did you pursue for your career in graphic design?

Interview with a Lead Artist in Graphic Design

Design No Responses »

Dec 122011

Lead Artist Combines Passion and Practicality in His Career

This interview will take you through the ups and downs you can expect as a lead artist, what it takes to land the job, what you can expect to earn and more.

If I had a title at my job, it would be Lead Artist, but we are pretty casual about labels. We produce t-shirts and other items such as caps and bandannas. I have been with the company for over ten years; currently, however, I only work part time. Being easy-going, good-natured and dedicated helps me get along with my co-workers and bosses.

Though many people would think I had it easy, even a white guy can catch a little attitude when he insists on wearing his hair long and prefers blue jeans and t-shirts. But I stuck with it and in the end found a job that was a near perfect fit.

My job is mainly completing designs that are sketched out by others, but my creative input is always encouraged. There are rarely any misunderstandings as everyone is committed to cooperation.

I never thought I would have a job that I could rate a 10, but here I am. I could knock off a half point because the pay could be better, but I have food, shelter, health insurance, and a decent car, so I cannot really complain about the money.

Earlier in life I was certain I would be a comic book artist, but my father encouraged me to choose a more traditional career. While I occasionally think it would be enjoyable to work in comics, ultimately I believe I ended up in the right place.

Of course, not everyone will be as lucky as I have been. It is a pretty unusual situation when you can make your own hours, dress how you like, be creative and work with such a great crew.

I have always loved art and short of being an artist making a living painting masterpieces, this is about as good as I could ever expect it to be. If I could do it over, I do not think I would make any changes, though there were a few bumps in the road I might be tempted to smooth over. But in the end I learned when to keep my head down from hitting those bumps.

One bump that left a nasty bruise was learning that when you are part of a cooperative effort, others really do depend on you. When you do not get your job done, they cannot get their job done. So someone relying on them gets let down and then it goes on and on until you are wondering why everyone else is slacking.

The most important thing I have learned since leaving school is that being part of a team is so much easier than working alone. In school, it always seemed an individual effort was expected. There were study groups, but when it was time to take the test, there was no sharing of answers. Now we seek the answers together.

When I first took this job and was working full time, it seemed strange that everyone was always encouraging me to come to them for input even when things seemed very simple. I soon learned this was the norm here. But that did not prepare me for the strangest thing of all — the mixture of joy and sadness when I announced I was leaving.

It really made me feel good and made it easy to accept the owner’s offer to stay on part time. It is that camaraderie that makes it so easy to come in each day and work.

I might get frustrated when a project will not come together and think that since I am making decent money elsewhere, why go through the aggravation when I could just sit home and paint. But then that family vibe fills the air, the boss puts aside the problematic project, and we all find a way to unwind together.

That is about the limit for stress at this job. Of course, I cannot say the same for my primary job. I often long to return to the days when this was my only job, but unfortunately I still like making better money.

At full time, my salary here was just over $28,000. But I also received dividends from sales that could sometimes equal half my salary amount. But that might fluctuate with the seasons, the economy or even for no apparent reason.

Certainly the flexibility in scheduling was nice. Vacations were often extended and once my boss even sent me work at the beach so I could extend my vacation with two extra weeks of “working vacation”. This, of course, was another advantage I knew I would not find elsewhere.

I have a masters degree in graphic design but I did not need it to get this job. But that is very unusual in this industry. The man who owns the company is a self-taught graphic artist, so he does not put much stock in a college degree. Here you need the talent to be creative, the skill to recognize what will sell, and the discipline to blend the two without sacrificing either.

I would happily recommend this job to my closest friends. It can be a vibrant work environment when working with the right company. But I would not want them to have false hopes that every company out there is like this one.

Maybe five years from now I will be making money as a painter who is exhibited in fine galleries and reaping the benefits of that fame, but for now, working here seems a pretty good deal.

- Erich Lagasse

Warmpicture Team Contribution

This is a true career story as told to JustJobs.com and is one of many interviews with graphic design professionals, which among others include a graphic artist.

Education in Graphic Design

Design No Responses »

Jul 072011

If you are interested in entering the field of graphic design, the good news is the field is expanding. Education choices are varied, and largely dependent on what other skills you wish to learn along the way. In this article, we weigh the positives and negatives of education choices for graphic design students.

Four Year Schools

The traditional path to education involves a four year Bachelor’s of Arts program. Many universities now offer graphic design programs, and you won’t have difficulty in locating numerous choices across the country.

The main question you need to ask yourself is how well rounded you wish your education to be. Bachelor’s of Arts programs require students take many courses outside of their major. This will allow you to enjoy an enriching educational experience. But the drawback is obvious – less concentration on graphic design.

For students coming out of high school, I recommend the Bachelor’s of Arts approach. The main reason is simple. We often are sure we know what we want out of life at the age of 18. But by 22, our dreams and goals are often much different. It is not at all uncommon for students to completely shift career paths and majors during college. A Bachelor’s program at a university offers the student the opportunity to explore her options.

Community Colleges

Many community colleges can prepare you for a career in graphic design. The advantage is your path is more concentrated in graphic design, instead of outside coursework typical of a Bachelor’s program. This allows you to finish a program in two years or less.

Should your dreams change two years into college, it will generally be easy for you to change programs and potentially transfer your credits into a four year Bachelor’s program.

Community colleges are not considered as prestigious as larger universities by the general public, but this is a minor drawback. Many advantages abound, including a typically lower tuition cost than a large university. Community colleges often allow a student to stay close to home (or even at home), which allows a huge cost saving by eliminating room and board expenses.

Technical Colleges

A technical college prepares a student for a career without requiring coursework unrelated to the student’s major. Therefor the path is much more focused. There are many excellent technical schools for graphic design, and many have large networks for helping graduates find work after school. Cost is much more variable than a community college, so be sure to consider the expense.

The hands-on experience offered at a technical college often cannot be met by a university. For an adult returning to school for a career change, a technical college is often the best choice.

However for students exiting high school, a technical college can be risky. As outlined earlier, students often change majors in college due to changing interests. If you decide graphic design is not for you after a year, you may wish you had started at a university or community college for an easy change of your major.

- Dan Padavona, Warmpicture

Introduction to Graphic Design

Design No Responses »

Jul 012011

The field of graphic design is expansive and ever growing. In this article we provide a quick introduction to the field of graphic design for aspiring artists interested in participating.

Graphic design is divided into two fields – print and digital. Skills required for these fields overlap quite a bit, though each has defined skill sets. Both use many of the same tools, such as the usage of royalty free images, computer technology, and software platforms like Photoshop and Illustrator.

Print Design

Print designers create layouts for magazines, brochures, posters, business cards, products, packaging, and so on. Although graphic design has rapidly expanded into digital mediums over the last two decades, this traditional form of graphic design is huge. Print designers measure space in inches.

The biggest advertising challenge for the print designer is the need to instantly capture a reader’s attention and keep it. This may be the front cover of a book, which needs to evoke enough interest to get the potential reader to consider purchasing it. It may also be a large display ad in a magazine which needs to draw the reader in and convince her to read more about the product’s usefulness.

Print designers should have a clear understanding of DPI and Resolution, so they know how large an image they require for their print projects.

Digital Design

Digital designers create websites and blogs, and digital advertising such as banner or sidebar advertising. It is often helpful to have knowledge of Flash and Java, as well as HTML if one desires to work as a designer of websites. XML and PHP are also languages which website developers should understand. Digital designers measure space in pixels.

The web surfer tends to move even faster than the print reader, so it is paramount to grab his attention as quickly as possible and keep him on the web page. Or in some circumstances, to direct the surfer toward additional content.

In our next article we will look at schools which prepare students for a career in graphic design.

- Dan Padavona, Warmpicture

To help you correctly navigate in the world of colors, we want to recall the values and properties of the primary colors:

A few tips on color mixing:

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Lead Artist Combines Passion and Practicality in His Career