Online directory of links to art related sites. Find information about galleries, art education and browse art reproductions.
  Home | About  
 

Learning Graphic Design – The Errors of Novice Designers

May 15th, 2010 7:11 am

Not making their concepts diverse enough
Creating a few ideas that are very similar by just slightly varying layout or fonts. The problem here lies that all of the design options may be rejected if they are not along the lines of what the client was looking for. If you present very different ideas it is far more likely that one will be chosen. This is one of the first lessons every designer will discover while learning graphic design.


Making design concepts too complicated
There is an overwhelming urge for many new designers to over complicate their designs. Good design is generally very simple. Remember – less is more.

Concentrating more on beautiful styling than about how the product benefits the end user. When designing something like an advert or brochure, the graphic designer needs to focus on selling the things that matter to the potential buyer. It is great to make something look beautiful but it also needs to connect and entice the end user.

Targeting the wrong demographic
Not targeting the right target audience with the right type of design. Taken to extremes a young funky style would probably be unsuitable to promoting a retirement home.

Not making the the most of their design presentation skills
A small amount of extra time allocated to design presentation can make the difference between a design being accepted or not. For example if a label design was actually applied to a photo of a bottle it, the client can get a true feel for how the finished design might look.

Starting designing straight on the computer
Starting to design on the computer in my opinion limits your ideas. By turning off the computer for a while and grabbing a pencil and paper ideas can flow more freely. A designer is not limited by technique or filters or “what they know the computer can do” when drawing up rough designs.

Not charging enough for their design work
When a designer starts out it is difficult to judge the worth of their work. What they need to remember is that the clients commissioning the work are generally using their design work to increase their income. A logo can help raise the profile of a company, a piece of packaging can help sell more product. There are many freelance rate calculators available on the web than can help give a guide to the amount a freelance designer should be charging.

The Beginning of the Body Art

March 26th, 2010 3:25 am

Tattoos on human are a type of decorative body modification while tattoos on animals are most commonly used for identification or branding. For Polynesian, Samoan, Tongan, etc. it is called tatau. In Tahitian, tatu. The word tatau was immediately adapted into English, the pronunciation was changed to conform to English phonology as tattoo. Sailors later introduced both the word and reintroduced the concept of tattooing to Europe. Tattoo fanatics may refer to tattoos as ink, tats, art, pieces or work. The tattooists can also be called as Artists.


Tattooing has been practiced worldwide. It has been a Eurasian practice at least since Neolithic period. Otzi the Iceman was found in the Otz valley in the Alps, dating from the 4th to 5th millennium BC, had more or less 57 carbon tattoos consisting of small dots and lines on his lower spine, on his right ankle and behind his left knee. Other mummies like the Mummy of Amunet from ancient Egypt was found dating from the end of the 2nd millennium BC bearing tattoos.

Pre-Christian Celtic, Germanic and other central and northern European tribes were often heavily tattooed, according to surviving accounts.

Tattooing in Japan is thought to go back to the Paleolithic era, some ten thousand years ago. Plenty other cultures have had their own tattoo traditions, ranging from rubbing cuts and wounds with ashes, to hand-pricking the skin to insert inks or dyes.

In the Western world today, tattooing has originated from Polynesia by 18th century explorers. It became popular among European sailors, before it became popular worldwide.

Despite the growing fascination with tattooing of the social sciences as well as the people worldwide and the immense popularity of body tattoos themselves, the practice has not left much of a historical record.