MAKING A LOGO OR BANNER
Save space with an age-old trick
FACES . EXPRESSIONS . SYMBOLS . ICON-SIZED GRAPHICS
DRAWING . New addition:- PAINTING on tablets and smartphones
Logos and Banners
are always hungry for space
When you make very small images for logos, banners and other small graphics, you need to fit a lot in a little space.
Make the most of a very old trick. The part-for-whole technique.
There is 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 ridiculously obvious. We all do it naturally. Think about it a bit more. As well as saving space, showing a part for the whole can often be more telling than showing the whole thing.
Film directors use the part-for-whole trick to speak volumes with a picture. They show a significant object or a telling detail and leave the rest to the viewer's imagination.
Look around and you will find all kinds of objects that tell a story. A pair of sandy trainers, say, a door key or an abandoned coffee cup.
One picture could take the place of several - all without the need for words.
When you make very small images there's no 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.
The banner format was originally intended for text. You are confined to a long narrow strip. Fitting in graphics is like working in a long, low tunnel. Straighten up and you bang your head.
The animated GIF banner, for a travel company, had to feature two Florida attractions: Universal Studios and Sea World. What had these two venues in common? Sharks . 'Jaws' at the Studios. The real thing in Sea World.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 .
Making an animaed logo or banner.
Save space with an age-old trick.
CUT PIXELS, CUT EXPENSE Email big photos . Cut gallery costs
HANDLING ICON-SIZED IMAGES Sharper pictures . Nano images
Icons from photos . Photoshop icons . MS Paint . Graphic Converter
DOWNSIZE GIFs Photoshop GIF optimizer . Rainbow ride . GIF secret
SAVE SPACE Use a pun . Animate . Anagrams . Part for whole
AGENDA ICONS Beat information overload . Calendar icons
(c) Valerie Beeby 1998 - 2011
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