Houston Graphic Designer

Did you ever feel like your loosing ground? I do! Sometimes - all of this new technology get’s me down. I try to keep up - getting new books, new software, trying new techniques - unfortunatley we all get bogged down eventually with our new stuff.

 Stuff everywhere - seems we never get enough stuff to keep up.  I have noticed lately that I am not alone. Large companies like Microsoft, HP, Adobe - seem to always be at the for-front of making our technical lives miserable - yet most folks are still in the early 90’s when it comes to updating their stuff.

I am a webdesigner and find that websites are changing faster then the technology these days - however many sites out there still have that look and feel as though they were created over an hour in someones garage.

Now I am no different then the next Joe (bob, charley, or whoever that is) when it comes to regretting updates to things gone old - but it really is important to “freshen up” things a bit on the web.

What I mean by that is - get another opinion, look around, see what the neighbors (the whole world) are doing and clean up your act!  The best way to begin is get a web design team to work on it!  May cost a few bucks but it goes along way in the web world!

Keeping up the the Jonse’s is important when it means business!  Your business needs to grow and your customers will never find you without some great SEO services too!  Can you imaging how many businesses are on the web by now? How will anyone find you if you don’t have something great in place to grab their attention.

Do - me a favor too - think about some of your favorite web sites and go browse them. Then look at yours. Do you think your customers like what they see?  If not - let us help make it enjoyable, informative, and most importantly - a profitable business web site for you!

A shape in the design world is basically a geometric or organic form, when created will also display both positive and negative aspects in the work.

For example if I draw a box and place a circle inside the box - I have 3 shapes. I have the box, the circle and the shape in the middle or the negative shape.

Those shapes also create Leading Lines!  See where this is going? Interesting how multiple elements of design work together. The lines that the shapes make keeps our eyes on the canvas, and draws our attention around and back again. Does not move us off of the page or the subject.

We can use lines and shape together - and those 2 elements are found in many types of design. Artists utilize them everywhere.

In this example,  The road sceen, we also see shape used. The shape of the road as one, the shape of the sides, the mountains multiple shapes in this image.

Line is a very important element. Without it we cannot see where the beginning and the end are, how the piece flows, how large, small, textured, grouped it is.

Line helps walk our eyes across the page and creates the shape on the image. It helps maintain balance, and pulls the whole image together.

 When we speak of line we are not talking about just a line on a page or canvas but also what we might call the “leading line”.

Take a look at the image below.

This image is a perfect representation of lines that “lead” our eyes to the subject of the image. Lines can lead us to the subject - through the image and off again, out of the image. What we would not want would be lines that lead us off and away from the subject - keep us away from the ”matter” of the image.  This image has muliple lines, the road, the trees, around the mountains all leading our eyes to the center of the photo. We don’t want leading lines to take us away from the subject or avoid it all together - we want it to lead us to or though it.

A line can also represent a path between two points, curvy, straight, thick, thin, going in any direction, up down and around.  It helps us see where the artist wants us to go. This is also true with web design as well as art - any visual design should have line as part of the elements of design that make up the page.

In designing a peice of art there are 7 Basic Elements.

LINE
Line can be considered in two ways. The linear marks made with a pen or brush or the edge created when two shapes meet.

SHAPE
A shape is a self contained defined area of geometric or organic form. A positive shape in a painting automatically creates a negative shape.

DIRECTION
All lines have direction - Horizontal, Vertical or Oblique. Horizontal suggests calmness, stability and tranquillity. Vertical gives a feeling of balance, formality and alertness. Oblique suggests movement and action

SIZE
Size is simply the relationship of the area occupied by one shape to that of another.

TEXTURE
Texture is the surface quality of a shape - rough, smooth, soft hard glossy etc. Texture can be physical (tactile) or visual.

COLOUR
Also called Hue

VALUE
Value is the lightness or darkness of a colour. Value is also called Tone.

Artists use some or most of these elements when designing a work, and if NONE of them are used - it is not considered a sound design.  Simply using them is not always key - using them properly is best.  We should examin each one individually so we can understand their importance.

When we look at a work of art - it should flow well visually - move our eyes across it properly. It should also entice us to feel, touch, remember, acknowledge what we see as something meaningful in some way to us, whether we like or dislike it makes no difference.

Take a look at each element in this blog to gain a better understanding of the elements.

Since I was very young I’ve had that instinct - I see design.  Light, color, balance, a theme, a feeling… I suppose that is why photography has always been my favorite media. Photography made it easy for me to try to capture that feeling before the image in my mind faded away.  When I design websites or print media - I see these elements and create it with the same enthusiasm I have when I see a photo.

It’s really all about design. The world around us is full of it. Look around and pay close attention. The patterns on your clothing, the way they hang, how the sunlight gently lights a pond with the fog rising. A distinctive logo that is always recognizable as a brand - a company - you always know what it is - and who it is.

Design can be expained as an art form, generally utilizing the 7 elements that make it up. When it is visual media  we see or touch, those elements are used as parts or as a whole and not all of them need to be used at the same time. Sometimes we only use a couple of elements, but without them the design has no order.

Design creates an impression, an emotion, a feeling or a recognizable theme that has some kind of meaning to us. It makes us like or dislike a product. We tend to use those designs we like and ignore the others.

At Blue Sand Design - that’s our main function. Design is what we do best. Wheather we are creating a powerful website, a fantastic logo, a stunning brochure, we use design elements to make sure your image reaches your customer. We want your company to stand out among the rest.

We create your image to speak to your customers and say - “That’s it” That’s the one I want to use! They must be the best!

In this blog I hope to convey the importance of all the elements of design to help you make and informed decision so you can make that choice. Yes - Blue Sand Design is the one to use to make that image for you!