Graphic design can be a boon for your website or curse if done wrongly. Visual pleasure is the strongest asset and quality of any website which makes them a visitor attracting medium. No matter how good your online content and information is useful for the end user, if it is not presented well and have unattractive graphic design, visitors would not devote enough time to see your website and would exit it quickly. Graphic designing is an art it is the designer’s job of combining art with technology for better functionality. A website has only few seconds to impress the site visitor, an image conveys thoughts and can be a substitute for thousands of words too. Therefore graphics on the home page has to be eye-catching and sensible enough to keep the potential customers hooked to your website for long. For better website speed try to stick to graphics of lower resolution, you can have high-resolution graphics if it’s necessary for the website. In case your graphic image is too big, it can be broken down to small modules so that loading is faster. The graphic that is being used should be related to the website and its content and should not look out of place. Not all computers of the target customers are equipped with faster downloading speed and better connectivity, so keep the graphic design simple that can be assessed by simple connection as well. Before designing the final graphic, consider the dimension of the graphic images, and then these images are assigned sizes by specified width and height during the process of tagging. This procedure makes sure that exact position of the graphic image placement is known to the browser. It helps in instantaneous displaying of text along with graphics that is being loaded. So that the site visitors can read the text and see the graphic image simultaneously. Assigning all images description is essential which can be done by alt-tag function for each image separately. This option is extremely useful in times when a visitor is not able to view the graphic image for some reason, here they can at least have a short description about the graphic design. Good content and graphic design go hand-in-hand for website success, putting up images where content is required would not serve the purpose. Well-designed graphic design can form long lasting positive impression on the visitors motivating them to come to your website again and again. The home page is the most important page of your website, so make it attractive and information source giving a gist about what your website is all about.
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In this Adobe Photoshop graphics tutorial I will be teach you how to add a backdrop to a rendered/selected image. Just like a greenscreen effect where you can place someone in front of a backdrop or use it for website design banners. This tutorial is compatable with Adobe Photoshop CS1, CS2, CS3 & CS4 versions. Difficulty Level: Medium/Intermediate If you have any problems or need help with any of this tutorial please leave a comment below or message me on YouTube.
Website graphics definitely play a major role in marketing your website and are therefore, a very efficient and effective way of boosting your sales. It is very likely that your graphics give the potential customer their first impression of your site and it is very important that a consistent overall image of your site is created. The quality and positioning of the graphics contained in your website are essential for it to look both attractive and professional. If all else fails in your website design, using professional looking graphics can only serve to enhance your site.
Positioning
Obviously, in launching a website, you are trying to get a message across to the public, whether it be informative or strictly sales. In either scenario, the content of a website must be easily read. One way to achieve this is by breaking up the text with well positioned and relevant graphics, ensuring that the viewer’s interest is held while you get your message across. The graphics should be complementary to the text and aid in conveying the message. The visitor should be able to look at a web page and instantly know what to expect from the rest of the site, remember that first impressions only count once, so make it count. Website graphics and their positioning play a vital role in website design to the point where they could either make or break your website.
Image Formats
Generally, the formats used for website graphics are either JPG or GIF, as they load quicker than most others. The JPG format is mainly used for photographs and the GIF format is mainly used for buttons, logos or menu bars. A word of warning regarding working with graphics in JPG format. This format is a lossy compression, which means that every time the image is edited and saved, it loses a small amount of quality. The best way to avoid this is to edit the image in the native format of the image manipulation software you are using, and then save the final version in JPG format.
Size Does Matter
Whenever someone visits a web page, that web page is downloaded onto their computer, which means that your graphics are downloaded as well. There are two very important factors that come into play here if the site contains large graphic files. The first being that if the viewer is using a slow internet connection, the graphic will take a very long time to download, causing the viewer to lose interest and probably leave the site. The second being that graphics can use a lot of bandwidth, which means that if there are alot of very large graphic files on the site, and that site becomes popular, then the cost of running that site may escalate. Therefore, if your graphics are more than 50kb, then seriously think about reducing their size. I will cover this in more depth in my next article, but there are two points that you should consider. One, stop thinking about inches or centimetres and think in pixels, as this is what your web page is measured in. Two, screen resolution wont be much better than 96 pixels/inch on most computers, so why use a graphic that has a resolution of 600 pixels/inch and therefore six times bigger?
Summary
Professional website graphics are attention grabbers and will make your site stand out in the crowd. They can enhance your website and increase it’s popularity and thus generate revenue. Good website graphics add professionalism to your website, which will in turn entice viewers to return. On the flip side of the coin, poor quality or badly positioned graphics can cause your site more harm than good. Large graphics files can cause web pages to load slowly, potentially losing viewers and damaging your business. Working with graphics is very time consuming and an art form in itself. It might therefore, be more practical/economical, at times, to pay a professional to alter/construct the graphics you require.
Characteristics
Graphic designs are both decorative element and necessity for website designing. Graphic Designs can make creative graphics that suits your web design project. Hundreds of companies have accepted that graphic designing is an excellent feature to enhance the visibility and creditability of their website. They can also be deployed for framing eye-catching online promotional tools. In graphic designing apart from creating images their placement in right manner is also important.
Apart from delivering online information in catchy manner, it has to be appealing to eyes as well. The information that is being used is mainly for advertising or publicizing the products, services or the company itself.
Limitation of graphics is dependant on the imagination of the web designer that implies it has no restraints. Where to use it, how to use it and what type of designs to use are decided by the graphic designer along with their clients.
Where to look for it
The graphic design companies have professional knowledge about the works of graphic designing. An excellent graphic service provider employs designers who are trained and hold required educational training in this field. Graphics is a very vast field requiring understanding of various technical and designing aspects.
If the professional graphic designers want to stay ahead of competition, they have to keep themselves updated with latest offerings and technology in graphic designing. It is done through graphic design magazines, books, online tutorials and so on. Whenever any new technology is invented, it gets published online in the form of news or graphic design stories.
Internet is being trusted as the most updated media that publishes fresh stories and news in comparison to other media. If you want several very good graphic design references, then again turn to World Wide Web for it. Online courses are also available to polish the graphic designing skills. Also various discussion forums are present online, where you can look for valuable tips, suggestions, and solve your queries.
Uses
Graphic designing apart from being used in business websites, is useful for education purposes too. Hundreds of children around the globe are referring online tutorial websites to enhance their knowledge and learn new things. The illustration with animation, text, moving picture and static images, create interest and better understanding. Effective presentations and business cards can also be made using graphics with text. Their application is carried out in various forms of media like newspaper, magazines, internet, TV, films, advertising hoardings, etc.
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