CHAPTER 7

7.1

7.2

IMAGES

Images are undeniably powerful part of the page designers

palette. Images add impact on your pages by making them
more visually appealing by evoking reader curiosity or
communicating important information.

Inappropriately chosen images confuse and distract from the

message. For example, using images of bluebirds and
ladybugs on a computer equipment flyer distracts a reader to
think more about spring than of computer equipment.

The images you choose influence the mood and visual style
of your page. Images may be purely decorative or
communicate information. They can be there for fun as long
as they related to your message or they can be there to
communicate information that the text may not adequately
explain.

The types of images you pick for your pages depend on your
concept and what kind of visuals you have available.
Depending on your concepts and resources you might use
illustrations, photographs, charts or diagrams or clip art.

In general, photographs, illustrations and clip art set a visual

style, whereas graphs, charts and diagrams are better for
communicating complex statistical or numerical information.

Photographs

Photographs can inform, convince, evoke an emotion, sell a

product or attest to facts. Photos are powerful visual images
that can evoke strong emotional responses in people.

Photographs seem more credible than illustrations or clip art

because most people assume the camera does not lie. You
can get photos from a number of sources. Stock photography
houses such as Image Bank and Comstock Photos archive
vast amounts of quality photos in numerous different
categories. Another resource for photographs is clip art CDs
that include ready-to use photographs.

7.2.1 Criteria for choosing photographs

Choose photographs for your page design based on the

following criteria;
1. Quality of the photograph
2. Does the photograph communicate the message you
need?
3. For one or two colour designs, choose photos with wide
range of tones.
Some photographs however may be improved with the selective
removal of some of their height and width through cropping. The
term cropping refers to the removal of some of the horizontal or
vertical edges of a picture.

Cropping out unnecessary portions of a photo focuses attention

on the remaining portion. Cropping is also used too better fit a
photograph into available layout space on a page. With skilful
cropping, you might be able to harvest more than one usable
picture from photographs.

Beware of cropping a picture too tightly because it can totally

disrupt the mood of the photo or even change its meaning
entirely.
Other visual techniques for photographs are flopping,
silhouetting and if you have photo-editing program, you can
manipulate the photo.

Flopping simply changes the direction of the image in a photo

from side to side to make it mirror image of the original. The
advantage of the flopping a photo is that you can use the image
to point towards other text or graphics on the page.

For dynamic and informal effect, silhouetting might be the

answer. Silhouetting photos have portions selectively removed
(not strictly horizontal or vertical portions as in cropped image).
Images may be partially or fully silhouetted.

Photo imaging programs such as Adobe Photoshop or Corel

Photo Paint are strong tools for customizing photographs. Some
of the special effects you can apply to photos in these programs
are;
1. Distorting all or part of the image
2. Colorizing parts of the image
3. Adding customs type to the image
4. Outlining the edges
5. Posterizing an image
6. Placing a drop shadow
7. Lightening all or part or the image
8. Applying a special filter to the image

9. Inverting a positive picture to a negative

10.Adding the border
When a photograph is extensively altered in a photo-imaging
program, it is more properly considered a photo-illustration.

7.3

7.4

7.5

Illustration

Most pages benefit from the inclusion of illustration in a page

because good illustrations open up another channel of
information and communication. This channel reinforces,
explain and emphasis the text.

Illustrations perfectly complement the text and readers can

look at the text or the illustration or both to get the whole
story. Combining the visual with the text, help people pick
out the message quicker than if thee page use only text or
only images.

Illustration can be diagrams, maps, charts cartoons or

drawing. They are useful for telling a story or showing
complex and detailed information that is otherwise difficult to
show in any other way.

Illustration can bee humorous, decorative, factual, or serious.

Match the tone of the illustration to the tone of your text;
humorous illustration with humorous text, factual illustration
with factual text and so on.

Clip Art

Clip art is pre-drawn artwork that is sold on book, disk or CDROM. It includes clip art CDs that are for use only in Web
pages, clip art CDs for use only in flyers, newsletters and clip
art CDs that have no limitations on use.

Many software packages are sold bundled with clip art

software such as Corel Draw that offers literally thousands
and thousands of images.

Type as Image

There are many decorative, special fonts available that fit a

wide range of styles and motifs. If you cant find a suitable
font, consider modifying an existing font to enhance your
message. Ways to modify a type are;
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

Use size contrast between woods or letters

Use a drop shadow
Flip the text
Vary the grays or colors in words
Duplicate and rotate the text
Emboss the text
Outline the text