Monday, February 28, 2011

Line Icons - The Beauty Of Website Design

We usually use lines for emphasizing edges as well as outlining the contours of objects. Line icons can be the wonderful decoration of any web page design, certainly if you have a talent to design them thoroughly.

Line Icons - what do you know about them?

What's actually a line? The shortest definition is the next: line is a form that contain both width and length but eliminating depth. We are accustomed to the fact that the line is usually straight. Newertheless the line is more often curved. The lines can render some appropriate mood or feeling of a movement. Being static shapes, Line icons can create a kind of illusion of the dynamic objects. The mood depends on the lines direction. Horizontal lines in Line icons express calmness, harmony and also stability while the vertical ones strive for the light movement. Energy and stronger dynamic feeling pertain to the diagonal lines. If you want to develop refine and ultra-modern line icons designs you should use mix of straight lines and curves.

Emergence of line art.

Certainly the 1st type of line art that familiar to a great amount of artists is curve stitching. It's carried out with threads of different colors and also needle. Originally the canvas was a cardboard. This movement is also well-known as "String Art". Originally it was found out by Mary Boole as the accessory material for children to help them study geometry of angles and spaces.Spirelli is a type of string art that's been usually applied to scrap-booking and making cards. Before the photography appeared line art lived also in the form of illustrations for print sources and included only black and white colors. A few shades of gray were also acceptable and imitated.Appealing to both technical and creative sides of human nature, line art combines geometry and art. If you desire to become a Line icons designer keep in mind that this process may develop imagination and creativity and also calculation skills.Line art has an ability to be printed to the halftone picture with no extra conversion. Thus it is different from photography or multi-color painting.

2d Web Icons Information And Facts

2D web icons as well as other objects are well known for their flexibility. This flexibility is reached by rendering them at various resolutions ideal for various output devices.

2D Icons items:

  • raster pictures (digital graphics);
  • styled text as a typeset for 2D Icons;
  • vector models (geometric graphics).

These items can be managed by 2D transformations for example rotation, scaling or angular position etc. Meshing simple models you may get more complex ones.

As a result of layers technique 2D icons can create the illusion of all 3D characteristics like shadow, reflection or highlighting. The layers should keep the definite hierarchy and order carefully. This makes editing 2D icons and similar objects simpler.

2.5D Icons as the pseudo 3D sort of 2D Icons

2Dicons also are well-known as 2.5D models. This technology allows web-site designers to work with any layer without the need of touching the others. This kind of 2D object creation is liked by the most of the well known graphics editors.

2.5D is a synonym to pseudo 3D. It means "two-and-a-half-dimensional" graphics. Models that were developed with a help of with 2.5D technology appear to be tridimensional while in fact they're not. The featured projection represents both front and side views.

This technology used for designing 2D web icons is often attained by the special lighting effect. 3D illusion is achieved due to the virtual light source to the left or to the right side and above the users monitor.

Sunday, February 27, 2011

Vintage Icons

Retro takes over the modern internet site design industry. Vintage web icons symbolizing the old-time styling are the message of classic beauty and noble taste, Vintage design trend evoke gentle feeling in the visitors hearts.Nowadays modern day web-site style usually comprises some vintage twist. Retro and Vintage are becoming the widespread trends in the present day digital art. Vintage icons, textures, patterns and clip-art are so fascinating and mysterious. They make you plunge into the atmosphere of the old happy times, when everything seemed to be so simple, innocent and noble. People usually associate childhood or youth with good times. As a result psychological peculiarity of people vintage style is so popular.

Retro style and the present day webpage design industry

In today's art retro becomes some conscious norm. Having emerged in the post-modern art, it penetrates into the present day internet page design in the form of vintage icons, old-styled backgrounds, aged photography etc.

Usually the new retro style consists of the Web 2.0 look with a vintage twist. It requires to combine the present day clean blocks and the outdated ones. Also there's a necessity to mix aged design elements like Vintage web icons, styles and color palettes.

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Simple Icons And Web Site Design

Simple icons are designed to join forces of minimalism and modern trend. Excellent and light-weight Simple web icons are aimed to increase website user interaction.

Minimalistic webpage design - prevalent trend

Let's find out what minimalistic webpage design means. Definitely the first features are simplicity and lightweight elements. Simple web icons involve all of this. This kind of icons does not have complex wordings, figures, textures and patterns. Sometimes less even means more. It depends on areas and extent. Web design is just that area.

Minimalistic design is quite an unexpected trend at present. So far as you know high present day technologies have one great weakness - usually they lead to the loss of simplicity. These days the modern trend is to mix minimalistic web page design with CSS3 and HTML5. Simple does not necessarily mean primitive. Web-site with simple design often contain brave and off-color effects and actively use CSS and Ajax.

Among significant features of the present day simple web design are the following:

  • grid based design;
  • simple icons;
  • light shading and reserved color transition;
  • light texture of patterns and backgrounds (often transparent like);
  • more empty or white space;
  • simple shapes and figures, clear lines;
  • less amount of various bright colors;
  • clear and readable typography;

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Advantages Of Using And Sources Of Getting Realistic Web Icons.

Realistic web icons are important elements of the modern pieces of software, applications and add-ons.

Web pages are a special niche requiring special ways of representation and promotion. One of these techniques is including realistic icons into your web site design. Certainly icons will help users of your web site to get a quick initial impression of your online business as well as products that you offer. If you need to make icons noticeable - place them on the web-site's home page.

Of course if you want to have icons that fulfil all your requirements you need to hire the experienced designer who can create some exclusive set of icons. But such custom orders of realistic icons are very expensive and take significant amount of time. After all the results of custom order usually are not clear. Even professional web-site designers fall short of the mark known as non-uniqueness. Sometimes many of web-designers simply take icons that were created earlier and vary colors and shades, use some other effects and then sell realistic icons as exclusive items. Though in fact they aren't.

Another source of getting awesome web icons is finding authoritative icons resources. You can easily find a great amount of numerous Realistic icons stocks and providers on the internet. The great benefit of this kind of of getting web icons is that you see what you buy. The price may be less than in case with custom orders. Also you save your valuable time. So as far as you see now - stocks are much more preferable for finding well designed and inexpensive realistic icons . All these positive aspects make icon stocks the great deal.

Realistic Icons Tips

If you decide to create a realistic icon first of all you should build the basic pictograms. Also it should look vivid enough if being shown at worse resolution. The person should be able to recognize the icon meaning just by looking at its outlines for a short time period. How to check your icons? If it's possible to discern the icon within just one second - it is well done.<\p>

The next step is to make realistic icons more eye-catching with a help of decorative elements. Icons really should not be overloaded with the details and color tints. Design should look integral and reserved. You can also make the edges anti-aliased. The decoration shouldn't detract from the icons essence and functions.

The icons are usually stored in vector format that makes it pretty simple to edit. It enables you to resize, rotate, adjust the edges and edit outlines. You can even change the color scheme and add more details etc. And don't be worried - you don't need to have extra knowlages in web site design.

Realistic icons may be helpful in case you need to design the interface layout of the new software or IT services. But remember if you'd like to develop top quality and eye-catching realistic icons you should be patient because it's not easy. Truly realistic images may be created only if you take and modify the high-resolution photos. So keep this in your mind.

Realistic Icons Important Information

Realism traces back to the 1850s when this movement spread in French art. Over the years it came through all kinds of art and design. Realism in internet site design is effectively represented by Realistic icons.

The historical past of realistic icons

Simple Icons Characteristics

Simple icons are among the principal features of minimalistic design. Do not forget that simple icons and also other design elements should be used moderately. One of the secrets is minimizing icons use in general. Reduce the amount of simple icons. Use them only where it is essential. Refrain the optional simple web icons.

Simple web icons design includes limited amount of color, reserved shades, clear elements, soft lighting. Simple icons are created out of elegant and simple elements which really don't distract site visitors from the main navigation and webpage idea.

Rules for simple icons design:

  • minimal usage of duplication
  • less amount of graphical elements
  • maximum intuitive clarity
  • clear typography in simple web icons
  • less icons

Minimalistic design with simple web icons

Additionally to simple icons themselves lightweight background textures and patterns are essential for the design and content perception. The background pattern or images shouldn't catch all the attention of your visitors. The eyes should focus on the website content or some main blocks. So the background needs to be of a light simple shade making it secondary compared with the foreground items like simple web icons.

Another well known feature of the lightweight and clear design is without doubt clear typography. Simple icons names (if there're any) should be precise, meaningful and equivalent to their function. Also use readable as well as enough large font for headings on simple web icons.

Also for developing a great clean simple icons design you may use enough white or empty space. Extra spaces keep elements individual and thus much more readable and easier to work with. Some extra space between simple web icons will do your design no harm at all.

Speaking about the minimalistic trend in general it isn't totally minimal. In spite of its large amount of white space there are still some simple icons, light textures, neat styles and bold fonts. Keep in mind that minimal isn't exactly the same as simple. Initially minimal meant plain typographic excluding images and styling. Nowadays there is a great amount of various websites over the Internet. Thats why modern design demands something more than black text on white background. Reducing elements of design to the most essential items you can add much more zest to your site layout with some unusual coloring, catchy simple icons, half-transparent and light-weight textures and patterns.

Simple equals smart. While creating the modern web site design you should bear in mind the eternal truth stating that genius is based on simplicity. Simple web icons look fantastic and professional especially for a clean business style design.

Wednesday, February 23, 2011

Vintage Icons As A Part Of Vintage Design

In case your want your internet-site looks archaic - use Vintage icons. They're probably the most noticeable and easy-to-apply graphical elements. With a help of vintage web icons you can certainly create the vintage atmosphere at your web site Also use vintage typography, less-saturated colors and retro textures. Antique air is going to charm and brings unconscious smiles to the faces of your website visitors.

Retro trend is all about the styles of the70s and 80s. Retro advertising art from the 1950s is bold and eye-catching. Computer technologies enable to put a new face on this type of art using its characters in internet page design and printing. These faces outlined in the vintage web icons are more often retro cars, pin-up girls, soldiers and politicians of the former times.Without doubt among the most frequently used retro cars are Fiat 500, the 1970 Dodge Challenger, the 1969 Chevrolet Samara, the 1964 Ford Mustang etc. Vintage web icons may contain hints to retro cars concepts for attracting more interest to your site layout. This is the great idea for websites that have a deal with auto sales, transporting services, tour sites etc. Also you can face a such popular character as a pin-up model that is used in vintage icons design as well as other web site graphics styling. It often depicts exaggerated, idealized images of how the really beautiful and attractive woman should look like. Pin-up images are great for vintage web icons or clip-art designed for the model agencies, websites regarding health and beauty areas.

In case you have a site that is connected with military and security guard you may successfully use images of soldiers and officers with outdated appearance to attract much more interest and win the visitors trust.

Usage of specific characters is not limited to the above-mentioned ones. Apply your creativity and use them as you wish. This will make people surprise and thus memorize your site.

Patterns and Typography for vintage icons and other graphics

Recommended Vintage patterns in vintage icons design:

  • patterns containing vintage papers;
  • with vintage frames;
  • with outmoded florals;
  • paper and bagging, gold-cloth as the texture fabric;
  • wooden or bronze textures for vintage icons.

For producing vintage icons titles, content headings and texts you can use such authentic fonts as Matchbook, Bazar Medium, Embossed, Hill House,-Fontleroy Brown, Fusty Saddle, Just Old Fashion, Goudy Bookletter 1911, Rocket Script, Parisian, Star Avenue etc. You are free to find and purchase the fonts to match your design on the internet.

If being relevant to the topic, general style and idea of your internet site vintage-inspired layout is supposed to look modern and appropriate, but no old-fashioned. The goal is to create the warm and noble, antique feel using Vintage web icons and also images and styled blocks for the webpage design. Undoubtedly your visitors will come back to your web-site with a happy smile over and over again.

But try not to make your vintage design look too stuffy, it is best to be aware that professional design is formal-looking and the major emphasis should be made on the products, services or content material your web-site offers.

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

2d Icons Facts

Today 2D web icons is a wide spread trend in the modern web design. Being two-dimensional, they are well known for their flexibility and comparative simplicity. 2.5D Icons is the type of 2D Icons that is closer to pseudo 3D representation.

Being initially based on vector graphics devices 2D computer graphics traces back to the 50s. 2D web icons are among the most essential two-dimensional digital design items.

Today I want to find out what in fact 2D is.Usually it is being connected with computer graphics and determined as the two-dimensional way of digital images generation. Two-dimensional models are mostly 2D geometric ones, digital images and texts. The term 2D includes not only the models themselves but the techniques and tricks specific to them at the same time.

2D web icons and objects are independent objects with their own semantic value. 2D graphics makes it possible to get more direct control of the image than 3D technology. This one of the main reasons why they're so preferred in the world of modern web design. 3D graphics is more effective realized in animation or photography than typography and sometimes even internet site design.

Monday, February 21, 2011

Various Techniques For Line Web Icons Design

Usually Line web icons are the objects with the outlined contours. Such design elements are called contour drawings. It's also possible to find another kind of icons: the items are without some strict outlines. They are often known as gesture drawings. Experienced artists often use such sort of drawings because they're able to repeat the outlines of the object just after seeing it. It's not a complete piece of art but rather a sketch which needs 20-30 seconds to be drawn.

One more technique is adding various halftones and shades to the object with the help of short lines and crosshatching. Don't afraid to vary their frequency and also pencil pressure. This variety creates more three-dimensional look to the object. So this technique is definitely helping in designing of awesome Line icons, logos and buttons.Also lets get info about open lines. It is such type of the lines where the dots not combining the singular elements. The lines can be gesture-like, parallel, contour etc. as well. Contour drawing consists of superb simplicity and refinement of line design. The curves which are essential for creating complex line shapes are called Bezier curves in computer graphics. These curves are handy small features important for producing the vector shapes like line icons, unusual buttons etc.Today computer technologies reached such a level when it becomes possible to reproduce exactly the same designs or even build new shapes that based on some older ones. The wonderful thing - it can be done without extra efforts and time. Furthermore, it is easy to go back to the previous adjustments due to the history panel. So you do not have to design Line web icons from scratch after you've made some mistakes.