Color Theory

Tony Soh — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 10:12:09 +0000

Here is a short article on color from iStockphoto. Recommended reading for beginners learning about color.

Excerpt: When creating a very dense composition with lots of elements stuffed into a single image, it’s easy to let color overwhelm the viewer. The trick is not to use as many bright colors as possible, but to use color to draw the viewer’s eye to whatever you want to in your composition.

One easy way to do this is by mixing different color combinations in your foregrounds and backgrounds. Try using ‘cooler’ colors in the background of your image, and making the focal points ‘warmer’ colors. The eye will automatically be drawn to the warmer, brighter bits in your image. You can also reverse this combo by using warmer colors juxtaposed by a cooler shade up front…

Read full article on Color

10 Mistakes in Icon Design

Tony Soh — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:35:49 +0000

Turbo Milk wrote a nice article on the common 10 mistakes of icons design. GUI lovers be sure to check it out!

Here is the extract:
It is much easier to criticize somebody else’s work than to create something cool yourself. But if you apply a systematic approach to criticizing, make a numbered list and prepare illustrations, it will be regarded as a fully-fledged analysis! In my opinion, icon design is undergoing a transitional period. On the one hand, screen resolutions are increasing, hence enhancing icons. On the other hand, we still have good old pixels. Icons sized 16×16 and even smaller are still widely used. And so, here are the most commonly observed mistakes in icon design… Read full article

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Color Theory

10 Mistakes in Icon Design