Online Seminars from Photoshop Tips & Tricks...

Leading to conclusions.

We're going to start today with two very different treatments of photographic images which share a common goal: to communicate -- to lead the reader to literal or subconscious conclusions. Both photos were utilized for very important reasons, an ad and an annual report cover. They had to do a specific job for their clients, and the designers knew this.

They both utilized two very simple techniques:
1) extreme or unusual crop, and
2) very simple graphic modification, or disturbance.

__ There are hundreds of ways you can utilize a photograph to build your message into a single, cohesive gulp. The designers in today's exercise could have handled the same image matter in dozens of different ways. So why did they chose this particular way to communicate? In reality we don't know -- but the process of analytical investigation reveals very strong reasons why these concepts work -- and work beautifully. Through the analytical process of understanding why good design works, we, as designers, can arm ourselves with the ammunition we need to take aim, shoot and hit that illusive target.

Notice in this booklet cover from Apple Computer that not only has the image been disturbed to give a feeling of real motion, it's also a very strong pointing device.

The readers' eye is compelled in the direction to open the booklet... note that even the white space across the whole photo gives a left to right energy to the overall scene.

The fact that the whole layout has been centered pulls the readers eye to the logo... down through the stack of typography... into and across the photo... and into the book.

This is powerful stuff. Elegant typography aside... the reader doesn't even have to hesitate... doesn't even have to read for that matter... they're into the book. Presto!

The goal of the designer

... is to arrange and organize the visual elements in order to purvey a message. Be it a poster, an ad, a book cover, or a web page, visual elements will fall together into a composite visual gulp. This WILL happen. You (designer) are in control, and what you do will either succeed or fail. The ideal situation is to design your visual arrangement (we'll call it a layout) so that the message is conveyed instantaneously upon the arrival of your viewer. Each moment it takes the viewer to achieve revelation is a strike against you.

Each second's delay in getting the viewer into the information is a moment closer to failure.
Well known and celebrated designer, thinker and visionary Jan White has taught us that "Every reader is first a looker, quickly scanning the pages to find that nugget of information that is valuable to that individual. The looker becomes a reader when the designer persuades him or her that there is something in there worth bothering with." Jan calls this "The First-glance Value" concept. Photographs are one of the very best tools you can use to optimize that "First-glance value."

If you will thumb through the pages of your favorite magazine, you can demonstrate to yourself which designers have actually succeeded at this challenge. They'll captivate your attention. Let's look at the underlying techniques at play.

<-Back, or next: Image Positioning ->

Thank you for visiting the Photoshop Wing in The Design & Publishing Center ,
at http://www.graphic-design.com/Photoshop/ Contact The Design Center design team for web page critique, makeover clinics, or website design, production and hosting. Copyright 1996, The Design & Publishing Center, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Photoshop is a registered trademark for Adobe Systems, Inc. Mountain View, CA.