Design Yeses and Noes
I just saw the thread railing against mirrored logos and went :eek: The last header I designed used not only a reflection but also bevelled corners and (oh, the shame! ) a drop shadow! So I plead, beg and beseech you all to give me a list of "bad" design elements and, if you can put your disgust into words, explain why they're bad.
It would also be very helpful if you could give examples of "good" design. It's important to know what I should be doing, too.
Megan posted this at 13:46 — 25th July 2007.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
I think the big danger is just having too many effects at once. Keep it simple and clean and use some restraint when it comes to any special effect (gradients, reflections, shadows, bevels, or anthing that requires a filter).
Megan
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Roo posted this at 23:48 — 25th July 2007.
She has: 840 posts
Joined: Apr 1999
'Flat' designs, that is ones with no strokes, drop shadows, bevels, mirrors etc, really are just so much more clean and professional looking than ones that have all of those effects.
Compare some well known logos to ones that have effects applied to them and see the difference.
That is not to say that effects can't be used...sometimes they can work well...it depends on what the brand is and who it's target group is.
That said...effects should be used sparingly and lighting even when they are called for.
Roo
JeevesBond posted this at 02:35 — 26th July 2007.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
No element in design is bad (mmm-kay) per se, but there are lots of effects that have been overdone on the net. We aren't railing against reflections by themselves: we're railing against all the Web 2.0 fans badly overdoing reflections on everything! Particularly where they're not very appropriate.
It's all about using the right design to solve the right need. If you get a chance, pick up a copy of Elements of Graphic Design. Am reading it at the moment and it's well worth getting.
a Padded Cell our articles site!
Magenta posted this at 07:25 — 26th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
Thanks so much! I've been looking at lots of different sites while keeping in mind what you've said, and I think I'm slowly learning what looks professional and what to avoid.
Roo, I checked out the logos of several big, famous companies and you're right!
So clean, simple and just 'cause Photoshop can do it doesn't mean it has to be done.
Oh, and thanks for the link, JeevesBond. I googled the author and have found some incredibly useful articles.
Megan posted this at 13:06 — 26th July 2007.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
And, really, you should be creating logos in a vector drawing program so that they can be easily scaled for different media. And they should work in black and white or 2-color printing etc.
Megan
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Magenta posted this at 07:40 — 27th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
OMG thank you for this advice!!!!! I know I seem a bit over-excited but I think it's solved a problem that's had me tearing my hair out!!!! I resized the text from a scanned business card as part of a header for a site but it ended up blurry and no matter what I fiddled with, it was never quite right. I'm going to give myself a crash course in vector graphics and have another go!
( ...and, no, I'm not charging for my inept webdesign services. A small local business is getting a website at cost in exchange for allowing me to develop my ,err, skills. :blush: )
Megan posted this at 13:06 — 27th July 2007.
She has: 11,421 posts
Joined: Jun 1999
Inkscape isn't in the league of Adobe Illustrator by any means but it should work just fine for you right now. It works fine for me right now actually!
This is a really common problem in web design! You ask the client for their logo and they either don't have it at all or don't remember where it is or only have it as a small .gif. You ask who created it and they've lost track of the designer, or it was their wife with a bad photo editing program or something like that. What a pain!
Megan
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Magenta posted this at 09:12 — 28th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
LOL. Perhaps in cases like that you should just create a new logo for them. Something simple, like golden arches or a swoosh.
JeevesBond posted this at 00:38 — 27th July 2007.
He has: 3,956 posts
Joined: Jun 2002
Good point! Give Inkscape a try, it's Free software and won't cost you a penny either!
a Padded Cell our articles site!
Magenta posted this at 07:47 — 27th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
Oooo, free stuff! I have Photoshop CS2 ( don't tell Demonhale
) but I think it would be worthwhile having a specialised vector graphics editor for making more professional designs ( and to play with! 
) Thanks for the link.
webwiz posted this at 04:18 — 27th July 2007.
He has: 629 posts
Joined: May 2007
You may be interested in reading Web Pages That Suck -- "Biggest Mistakes in Web Design 1995-2015"
Warning - the page takes four minutes to load on dial-up!
Cordially, David
--
delete from internet where user_agent="MSIE" and version < 8;
Magenta posted this at 07:28 — 27th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
I came across that site a while ago and it's great, isn't it?! One of the sites linked to as a "bad" site has a statcounter that shows far more visitors than would be expected for the small site it is. I wonder if they check out where their visitors came from or whether they just think they have a particularly attractive site.
demonhale posted this at 06:23 — 27th July 2007.
He has: 3,278 posts
Joined: May 2005
One thought, the current standards in software for logos ie Adobe Illustrator, and most Graphic Companies want you to have Photoshop, I feel quite monopolized by adobe that I seldom use their products anymore to show I can still make great designs with any other graphic software and vector tools...
demonhale posted this at 09:52 — 28th July 2007.
He has: 3,278 posts
Joined: May 2005
or have them recreated by professionals like me...
Magenta posted this at 07:25 — 29th July 2007.
She has: 47 posts
Joined: Jul 2007
Why pay someone for a logo when there are already so many good ones out there? I have a gallery of swooshes in 256 websafe colours, ready for future clients to add to their page. Put a dropshadow on it and Nike will never guess. ( Anyway, my job is to make websites, not solve client's legal problems. )
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