More and more people will connect to the internet in 2016 using smart phones and tablets as PC sales continue to drop owing to preference for smaller devices. That is specifically why in this article the focus is on specific trends that could influence mobile or tablet web design in 2016, so that you can start future-proofing, and designing for the coming trends. Melbourne Managed IT Services Company can definitely assist or guide you for achieving good web designs.
Split Screens
According to small business web development Utah, split screens are becoming very popular especially as homepages. These screens are quite easy to design and generally use the principle of one large card divided into proportional sections. Each section is active and acts like a button that responds to a single click.
For the best responsive web design you should contact web design norwich. They provide split screens which can help with color blocking to improve visibility. Website design Toronto prices will surprise to the upside. This is very useful with the tiny cursor on small screens when hovering over split sections. It is also very important to keep the screen simple though as too complex split screens make the interface appear messy and cluttered. Digital engage provide the best web design services in Nashville.
Tools help us create the things we need, like, or dream about. A chef uses fire to make culinary magic. Musicians use instruments to play a tune. Engineers need the right equipment and set of materials to construct a bridge people cross from one point of suspended space to another.
Similarly, graphic designers need more than just talent or skill to create visual art. To produce compelling visuals, graphic designers use simple and sophisticated graphic design tools that capture the ever-shifting shapes and colors in their mind. You can find some of the tips at Gallery-k which can make graphic design work more easier.
From Renaissance-era brushes to the electronic stylus, the tools of graphic design continues to evolve dramatically. And so do the audiences and market for visual art. To be a successful graphic designer in the digital age, you have to learn multiple skills and become proficient in a wide array of graphic design tools that help you create much, faster, easier, and with more impact.
There are many to choose from, but graphic designer birmingham listed here are 16 essential tools for graphic designers aiming to unleash the next generation of visual experiences.
Hardware
1. Pen and paper
The fastest, cheapest, and easiest way to transfer design ideas from your head to the real world is to use good old pen and paper. Besides giving you a chance to stay off the grid for a few moments, analog sketches also serve somewhat like the sacred link between the great graphic artists of the past and the new tech-enabled designers of today. Josiah Rock always guide all artist in a unique manner.
More importantly, using pen and paper allows you to “intuitively draw” the design concepts in your mind, and quickly discover problems and solutions as your sketches take rudimentary shape. Research even shows that taking notes, doodling, and writing by hand enhances focus, creativity, and openness to learning.
If you’re passionate about this creative method, then go all the way by investing in iconic pencil (Rotring, Faber-Castell, etc) and notebook brands (Moleskine, Field Notes, etc.).
2. Computer
For digital creatives, this is the ultimate tool that performs all the heavy lifting in the profession. If you can afford the best and most powerful — the iMac Pro or the Surface Studio, for example — do so by all means.
The iMac sustains a loyal following of hardcore designers largely by including coolness in its core features. But branding is hardly the whole story. The latest iMac Pro is considered overkill by any standard: having a 27-inch 5K Retina Display, 32-GB memory, a 16-GB graphics card, and an 18-core processor for the high-end variant.
Meanwhile, Microsoft Surface Studio is a worthy rival capable of shifting the balance by giving PC loyalists major bragging rights for (finally) owning something remarkably sleek, powerful, and agile — all in one surprisingly elegant package. You can use it in its traditional desktop mode with a stylishly thin 28-inch PixelSense display; or transform it into a large, touch-screen tablet — an instant digital drawing board — for fast and intuitive designing, especially with the responsive Surface Pen thankfully thrown in to punctuate the statement.
However, if just salivating over these dream workhorses makes your wallet groan, there’s no shame in making do with what the rest of humanity uses. Any decent computer that can adequately handle graphics software and reliably connect to the cloud can sustain your life as a modern-day graphics designer.
3. Stylus and graphics tablet
Creatives who have a dominant tech gene in their DNA will likely prefer the digital equivalent of pencil and paper for their sketching and doodling tasks. When it comes down to it, even their more traditional cousins who sleep with analog pens in hand sometimes seek the souped-up functionalities of an electronic pencil and paper.
So if you find yourself craving a hybrid tool that allows you to continue making hand drawings like a classical artist but using the tools of a tech geek, don’t be embarrassed nor feel that you are betraying the trade. Instead, check out state-of-the-art tools such as the industry standard Wacom tablet/Pro Pen and the versatile iPad Pro in tandem with the Apple Pencil.
Either could simulate the authentic feel of drawing sketches or creating wireframes, in addition to giving you some wicked capabilities (instant color, filters, eraser, storage, superb editing, etc.) that you just can’t execute using ordinary pen and paper.
4. Smartphone
This gadget helps us connect with peers, customers, and the world wide web. It also hosts your favorite apps — including really handy on-the-go drawing and image-editing tools. Plus, the smartphone doubles as a decent camera for unexpected moments when you need one and your sturdy Canon or Nikon is snug as a bug inside its case back at home.
For Website Designers Fresno, a smartphone on hand is also the easiest way to find out whether a specific web page design properly renders on small screens. As can be expected, graphic designers don’t agree on which smartphone model is the best for their profession, but you’ll find loud voices supporting either Samsung’s flagship Galaxy S phones as well as Apple’s latest iPhone iteration.
5. Camera
For creatives who need to take, edit, and manage hyper-precise photos and videos, nothing but a decent DSLR (Digital Single Lens Reflex) will do. And when DSLRs are concerned, two iconic brands — the Canon EOS and Nikon D-series — lead the pack. Both are pricey of course and if budget is a big issue, there are more affordable alternatives in the market that are also capable of capturing pixel-perfect shots.
6. Color space reference
Never settle for counterfeit colors. For the uninitiated, a shade of color that resembles blue might as well be blue, but for design professionals, color accuracy and rendering precision matter big time.
If your work has a significant print component, having a color space reference is a must. The Pantone Matching System is recognized as the industry standard and you can invest in the Formula Guide for nearly 2000 spot colors, the basic Color Bridge Set, or mini Color Swatches depending on your client portfolio and design focus.
7. Monitor calibrator
Another way to control runaway colors is to use monitor calibrators. These devices ensure that the colors you see on your screen will be exactly the same ones that come out in printed outputs such as posters, brochures, and magazines.
X-Rite and Datacolor are the leading monitor calibrator brands, with ColorMunki Smile and Spyder5EXPRESS as their respective entry-level models.
8. Storage
While cloud storage is already available, many graphic designers still opt to have backup physical storage devices close at hand. Because entire libraries of images and videos can easily eat up storage space, you may want to invest in high-capacity, portable models such My PassPort series from Western Digital and MiniStation Extreme NFC from Buffalo.
Choose models with at least a terabyte of storage. Designers who have larger budgets and prefer super-fast plug-and-play processing will likely go for solid state drives (SSD). If you belong to this group, then Samsung’s T3 SSD — which comes with 1-terabyte of storage space — is a good option.
Software
9. Graphic design applications
This is the largest and arguably most important part of a digital artist’s tool stack. Whether installed to run from a desktop computer or offered as a cloud-based service, these software applications enable graphic designers to create, edit, store, and manage their creative output: photos, images, videos, presentations, brochures, and other visual formats.
The Adobe Creative Cloud sets the standard for this tool type, providing a full suite of applications for creating and manipulating raster graphics (Photoshop), vector images (Illustrator), videos (After Effects, Premiere Pro), and different desktop publishing formats such as posters, magazines, brochures, and ebooks (InDesign).
Paid alternatives to specific applications in Adobe’s subscription service include Serif’s Affinity Designer (vector) and Affinity Photo (raster), CorelDRAW (vector), and the macOS-exclusive Sketch (vector).
Free tools with similar capabilities include GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) for authoring and manipulating raster images and Inkscape for creating and editing vector graphics.
10. Online graphic design services
With the advance of cloud computing technology, several companies started offering web-based graphic design services that primarily target general consumers (i.e., non-professional/occasional designers). Seeking professional expertise of a custom wordpress website designer is also ideal if you want your site to be revitalized.
Foremost among these providers is Canva, a simple drag-and-drop online tool that allows anyone to quickly author, edit, and share images. The website is perfect for non-designers as well as hardcore creatives occasionally looking for a quick way to create images for various purposes (e.g., blog illustrations, social media posts, etc.) and in various formats (e.g., infographics, presentations, header images, etc.). Snappa offers a similar service and interface, or you might consider Design Wizard to quickly create both images and videos.
Another option is Venngage, a template-based design tool that lets anyone create professional content like business presentations, white papers, reports, marketing materials and more. The tool provides users with access to over 10,000 icons, thousands of stock photos, and tons of customizable charts and graphs.
Additionally, you can use Pixlr for simple photo-editing online; Invision for collaborative screen prototyping; and Artboard Studio for quickly creating product mockups.
Minimalist Design
Content is the most important concern in 2016 and beyond. Based on this all graphic screen layouts that increase or improve visibility are making a comeback. The minimalist design is one of these and aims to strip away all distractions and draw attention to the content.
As per The Digital Swarm company, great minimalist designs are very easy to use, have little background color or images, an contain easily accessible menus. The removal of clutter eventually makes the website visually appealing and reduces eye strain and effort in finding information – like a breath of fresh air. Best wholesale local websites are generally characterized by minimalist design.
The minimalist design is advantageous as it improves access to information and location of navigation elements. This is achieved by increasing emphasis on essential visual elements that may include images and logos. The design generally reduces loading time, creates a sophisticated appeal and improves legibility.
Best Practices and Responsive of the website design
Slideshows and Galleries: For many websites especially those that contain plenty of graphic or visual information the minimalist design is ideal. The minimalist design in this case can be enhanced further using slideshows and galleries.
With advanced touch screen technology being used in many of these devices these bring significant improvements to scrolling back and forth through catalogs of products, showcases and portfolios. Nothing compared to website design columbia sc that makes sure your business gets more customers.
Another web design trend that is gaining popularity in 2016 is the increased use of hidden navigation panels and hover animations. Hidden panels make much better use of the small screen space on mobile devices and hover animations help keep track of the cursor. Hover animations work especially well with pair colors that make for an aesthetic display. If you don’t know how to do this yet for your own site, you can always contact professional website designers like web design agency hampshire.
Card layouts are also very instrumental as they allow you to display several bite sized chunks that are ideal for scrolling. Each card can be used to identify a unified concept given they act as content containers. Often designers prefer rectangular shape that makes the layout easy to rearrange. Customizable layouts are good for different viewers with different devices.
Given the small screen size on many mobile devices it is always advisable to use progressive content density to reduce clutter. On each page begin with less clutter and links at the top and more as you scroll deeper. These are just a few of the important aspects you may want to consider as you design for the web on 2016, and remember don’t hesitate on hiring website designers if you need to.
