When you look at a web design or a photo that has been manipulated it’s hard to see the time and dedication that goes into it.

I thought I would share a tutorial with you that I found on abduzeedo on creating a Milk Typography. You can imagine the time and dedication that goes into creating a website just from looking at the time and dedication that went into creating this one small aspect of a site.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, if you’re a designer then you have to be able to manipulate photos.

The term graphic design can refer to a number of artistic and professional jobs which focus on visual communication and presentation. Various methods are used to create and combine symbols, images and/or words to create a visual idea and message.

A graphic designer uses typography, visual arts and page layout techniques to produce the final result. Graphic design often refers to both the process (designing) by which the communication is created and the products (designs) which are generated.

Common uses of graphic design include magazines, advertisements, product packaging and web design. For example, a product package might include a logo or other artwork, organized text and pure design elements such as shapes and color which unify the piece. Composition is one of the most important features of graphic design especially when using pre-existing materials or diverse elements.

All that being said I found some phots from Josh Sommers who is a very good photo manipulation artist and has even done work for companies like playboy. Checkout some of his work below.

Quality Web Designs

Quality is one of those words you hear used a lot when someone is describing their services or products. And I’ve heard it used a lot in the web design industry.

I believe that there has to be a third person in the designing of a website to make it a quality website. You have your web designers, your programmers and then you have your quality control guy/gal.

I’ve got a client we design between 10 to 15 websites for every year. Once the graphical part of the website is approved he always says, “Okay, now I need the Janeth touch”.

The Janeth touch is where I or someone who works for me comes and looks the site over.
We look for things like;

1. Conversion; is there a call to action and does it look like it will convert the traffic? Does it stand out?

2. White Space; yes, one of the most important aspects to a quality website design is text that has enough white space that it makes me want to read it. I look throughout the design for the spacing within all the elements of the design.

You have look at the whole design, the big picture, and decide where you have too much and not enough white space.

3. Pixel Detail; when designing a website it’s important to understand how important it is to add a little shadow here or there to bring out the details in the design itself.

However, the correct use of shadows can also draw attention to certain areas of the page that you want a site visitor to take note of. Borders, lines and shadows don’t have to be huge to be affective.

4. Typography; Header tags need to be big, bold and lots of space while site content needs to be smaller but still using larger sized fonts because they help to create and open space.

And keep in mind that white space is very important.

If you want a truly great website, then remember, the Devil is in the details.