My Thoughts

A little world I made in Photoshop

Graphic design is one of my most loved “hobbies”. I find it very rewarding. There is nothing like creating something from nothing. I understand what an artist must feel when looking at a blank canvas or piece of stone.

I believe that anyone can create rewarding designs. There are so many tools and tutorials available, that if you can follow directions, you can successfully create almost anything you can imagine! You just need a little inspiration!

Graphic design starts with inspiration, and then an idea of what you want to create. Get a plan together before you start. Do a little bit of research to be sure that you understand the design elements you want to use. Once you have a plan, start playing with your favorite design program. I prefer Photoshop. It is fairly easy to use, and there is not much that you can’t do with it! If you need help, there are more tutorials than you can read! You can find some very specific help topics to create what you need.

One of the most important things to remember if you are creating designs for a web page is to make your pages as “thin” as possible. If you use images that are very large, the page will take longer to load and you are likely to lose visitors. Most of us are impatient, and want to see it now. You can accomplish this by saving images to a web format such .png or .gif. You need a format that gives you a quality image at a small size.

Flash is another design element that I love. However, I have noticed that I lose visitors before the animations load. To assist in keeping visitors, I recommend using a pre-loader for your major flash animations. A preloader lets your visitors know that something is on the way and that it is loading. Without it, it may appear that something is missing, or that it just isn’t loading.

If you need assistance, use a good search engine to search for what you are trying to accomplish. Be specific in your search and don’t be afraid to use an image search. You can also post comments or questions here and I will more than happy to offer my best reply or point you in the right direction.

Have a wonderful day!