SAVE SPACE
in tiny images for phones or icons

When you make very small images for picture phones, icons and other tiny graphics, you need to fit a lot in a little space.

Use an age-old trick. The part-for-whole technique.

There's no need to cram your whole subject into a tiny frame. Did the Romans show the whole Caesar on their coins? No. Just his head.

This technique may seem obvious. You probably do it naturally anyway. Think about it a bit more. It can come in very handy when you're trying to save space in very small images for picture phones or icons.

Film directors use the part-for-whole trick to say a lot in a little space. They show a significant object or a telling detail, and leave the rest to the viewer's imagination.

You certainly need to save space when sending pictures from your camera phone. Overweight image files can cost an arm and three legs to send by phone. Why not use this approach for a photo message? Take a tiny closeup of something telling. Or why not do a symbol drawing?

Look around and you'll find all kinds of objects that tell a story. A pair of sandy trainers, say, a door key or an abandoned coffee cup. If you can't find anything, try a facial expression.

One picture could take the place of several - and without the need for words.

Using a symbol like this can often have more impact than spelling everything out

When you make very small images,
you haven't got room for a stuffed shark.

I'm proud to say, however, that I did stuff a shark into an animated banner - with the part-for-whole technique. At the time I thought I was short of room at 468 x 60 pixels.

Like older cell phone screens, the banner format was originally intended for text. It's a long narrow strip. Fitting in graphics is like working in a long, low tunnel. Straighten up and you bang your head.

One fin of one fish was enough to symbolise both.

In addition, just two tour destinations had been chosen to stand for the whole of Florida.