What is Graphic Design?
2007 at 05.48 pm posted by Veerle
It seems to be embedded in human nature to try to label things to identify it. Labeling itself is not bad, but I’m talking about making things sound more fancy or smart. It’s already hard enough to get everybody on the same line when using well known terms. It’s all subjective and everybody has a different vision or interpretation.

Over exposure
We get bombarded with terms and definitions on a daily basis and new wordings are popping up regularly. That's why I want to focus on something that has been around for quite some time. Since it's been around that long it should be easy, right? So instead of reinventing new buzzwords, let's try to understand, define and describe those that have been around. Let's take Graphic Design for example.



What is Graphic Design?
My guess is that there will be many different interpretations. That's why I would like to run a little experiment here to see if I am right. What I am asking is to write down your thoughts of what Graphic Design is and means to you. However, there are a few rules: don't go Googling the term or look it up in a dictionary. I want what comes up in your mind without any influence from an outside source. So don't go cheating or looking at what others wrote :) I think when we compare it to the official definition it could prove to be interesting.

ADLABS

Adlabs is by far the largest entertainment conglomerate in the country. Thought leaders in every sense of the word, we are the defining force in every sphere of the entertainment industry - production, distribution, processing or in cinemas - having started as a laboratory for processing ad films over three decades ago. Be it pioneering the concept of multiplexes, giving a corporate face to movie making, or introducing the IMAX experience, it has always been Adlabs first - in short, 'never a dull moment' for the industry.June 2005 marked the milestone in Adlabs when Reliance ADAG stepped into the company and became majority promoter shareholders. With this move Adlabs was catapulted to being part of one of the leading business groups in India with a combined market capitalisation exceeding one lakh crores.In 2006 Adlabs forayed into television content creation by becoming majority stakeholders of Siddhartha Basu's Synergy Communications, a leading player in quizzes and game shows in India for almost two decades. The new entity Synergy Adlabs continues to create exciting and varied fare in new genres for the exploding television industry in India.Management expertise and resources acted as catalysts in synergising various interrelated businesses: animation, distribution, radio and digital cinema to name a few. Today we are the entertainment hub for top notch talent and cutting edge technology.Founder: Adlabs was founded by Manmohan Shetty, widely accepted as a visionary in the Indian film industry. In 1978 along with Vasanji Mamania, he started Adlabs a small film processing unit that catered to ad films. In 1989, the firm entered mainstream cinema processing and has never looked back since. Today, we process around 70 percent of all Hindi films produced in India.Mr. Shetty pioneered many technological advances at Adlabs, including blowing up 16mm film to 35 mm and introducing advanced colour correction processes in India.An ardent film buff, he believed in nurturing talent and this led to a separate division for movie production. With the economy on the upswing, and fast-changing lifestyles in the metropolises, he also anticipated great scope for the multiplex business and made a timely entry into this segment in 2001 by launching India's first IMAX theatre in Mumbai. Today, Adlabs Cinemas are some of the country's most popular and premium entertainment destinations.

Photoshop Basics - Tutorials for Photoshop Beginners

Get started learning Adobe Photoshop with these beginner tutorials on tools, features, and basic techniques every new user should know. Learn how to crop, rotate, resize, create basic shapes, add text, understand layers, and more.
Photoshop CS2 Basics @ Shapes / Pen Tool / Paths (12) Painting Tools & Brushes (11)
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Use the Pattern Stamp Tool in Adobe Photoshop - VideoPhotoshop's pattern stamp tool lets you paint with a pattern in one of the Photoshop libraries or with a pattern that you create. Learn how to use the pattern stamp tool to edit your photos.
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Adobe Photoshop Magic Eraser Tool[Video Tutorial] Adobe Photoshop's Magic Eraser Tool provides you with a quick and easy way to change a picture's background or other color area with just a few clicks.
Adobe Photoshop Dodge Tool Brightening[Video Tutorial] Are some of your most precious memories stored on pictures that look too dark? Brighten or highlight parts of your digital pictures using the Adobe Photoshop Dodge Tool.
The Photoshop CS2 WorkspaceExplore the Photoshop CS2 workspace in this illustrated tutorial.
How to Straighten a Crooked Image with the Crop ToolHow to straighten a crooked image using the crop tool in Photoshop.
Adobe Photoshop Basics - Online CourseA series of self-paced online lessons for learning the basics of Adobe Photoshop version 5 through 7.
How to Fix Problems With Photoshop, ImageReady & ElementsIs Photoshop doing something strange that you just can't figure out? Then it may be time to trash your preferences! This simple procedure cures a good portion of Photoshop problems.
Rename Files With Adobe Photoshop or Photoshop ElementsHow to rename a series of files with the file browser in Photoshop 7 and up or Photoshop Elements 2 and up.
Rotate Crop ResizeThese basic functions are the first steps for preparing your photos for the Web. Learn how with step-by-step instuctions from your Guide.
Measure ToolThe measure tool provides information on distances and angle. Learn how you can use it to rotate images precisely.
Outline BorderSeveral techniques for adding a simple outline border to an image or selection. From the Graphics Software forum. Know a better way? Share it!
Add Custom Patterns and Save them as a Set Photoshop 6 ships with two sets of patterns that work with the fill tool and layer styles. But did you know you can add your own patterns and save them as a custom set? Here's how...
Customize the Picture Package Layouts in Photoshop 6 & 7I was always baffled by the fact that Photoshop's Picture Package command did not offer an option for three 4x6's on a page. Little did I know, it's extremely easy to customize these layouts and create your own just by editing a plain text file. These instructions also work for Photoshop Elements and Photoshop Album.
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Transformations in Photoshop 5.5An overview of the new path and selection transformation features and the 3D Transofrm filter in Photoshop 5.5.
New Tools in Photoshop 5.5Take a look at the Magic Eraser, Background Eraser and Art History Brush in Photoshop 5.5.
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Beginners' Guide to Adobe PhotoShopA thirty-minutee tutorial covering the very basics of what you need to know before your start using Photoshop.
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Channels: What, When and Why?A closeup look at channels in Photoshop and Paint Shop Pro. Learn what a channel is, and how you can use channels to enhance images and create special effects.
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Understanding Alpha ChannelsLearn about Photoshop's alpha channel for saving selections.
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Understanding Image ChannelsFrom Designer-Info: "Tom Arah investigates

Learn HTML

8 Cheap and Easy Ways to Learn HTML
From Jennifer Kyrnin,Your Guide to Web Design / HTML.FREE Newsletter. Sign Up Now!
1. Take an Online Class: An online HTML class is an easy way to start learning HTML. This HTML class lets you learn at your own pace while still covering everything you need to know to create a great Web page.
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3. Study the HTML Tags: I learned HTML by reading as much as I could about the tags that I found on other people's Web pages. I studied tag libraries like I had a test the next day, and I learned HTML.
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8. Read a Book: Books can be expensive, and Web design books can be very expensive, but they are a great resource for learning HTML. My favorite book for learning HTML is Learning Web Design by Jennifer Niederst.
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History of Animation

ART IN MOTION

The desire to animate is as old as art itself. Early man drew pictures on cave walls, attempting to depict motion by showing animals with multiple superimposed legs. The vases of ancient Greece with their gods and heroesand the friezes of Rome with their battling warriors and galloping steeds, also sought to capture, in static images, the dynamics of action. It was only in the 19th century, in the years leading up to the invention of the motion picture, that animated pictures became a real possibility.

Here is an extract from the book "Animation Art" that sums up the origin and evoltion of Animation as we know it now.

The early days of animation were filled with invention and novelty - on screen and behind the scenes. This was an era of experimentation, where techniques being created and refined. Brave newspaper cartoonists attempted to adapt their pen and ink creations to the moving screen - and most of them succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

Standardization of production methods was quickly established, and then the storytellers, artists and film-makers took over. At first they told jokes, then proceeded to telling stories with original characters, classic fables and comic-strip adaptations. They tried live-action combined with animation, stop-motion, pixilation, silhouette animation, sound cartoons and colour. They then made documentaries, instructional films and pure visual art. But it was not easy...

Winsor McCay drew complete scenes - background settings and moving characters - for every frame of motion-picture film, and there were 24 frames per second. Earl Hurd improved upon this by drawing characters individually on celluloid (cels) over static background paintings. Raoul Barre created registration pegs so animator's drawings would align under the camera. Otto Mesmer animated characters that could think, while Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks gave their cartoon drawings real personality.

It was the beginning of a new visual medium where anything was possible. In thse pioneer days before sound, the artists sharpened their skills and created an industry.

OPTICAL TOYS - the precursor to animation

In the 17th to 19th centuries, simple animation devices were invented long before film projectors: the Thaumatrope, Phenakistoscope, Praxinoscope, Zoetrope, Stroboscope, Magic Lantern and Mutoscope. These were more complex versions of the flip book, often using drawings, paintings, photos, or slides on rotating card/s or cylinder. These "optical toys" tricked the eye into believing that the images were moving. The light source was often an oil lamp, light bulb, or none (natural light).

The Magic Lantern (1671)
The Magic Lantern was classed as the ancestor of the modern day projector. It consisted of a translucent oil painting and a simple lamp. When put together in a darkened room, the image would appear larger on a flat surface. Athanasius Kircher spoke about this originating from China in the 1600’s.

Thaumatrope (1824)
A Thaumatrope was a toy used in the Victorian era. It was a disk or card with two different pictures on each side is attached to two pieces of string. When the strings were twirled quickly between the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single image. The creator of this small but yet important invention is clouded. People believe that John Aryton Paris was the creator whereas others believe Charles Babbage was.

Phenakistoscope (1831)
One variant of the phenakistoscope was a spinning disc mounted vertically on a handle. Around the center of the disc a series of pictures was drawn corresponding to frames of the animation; around its circumference was a series of radial slits. The user would spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the disc's reflection in a mirror.

Zoetrope (1832)
A Zoetrope is a device which creates the image of a moving picture. This contraption was produced in 1834 by George Horner. The device is basically a cylinder with vertical slits around the sides. Around the inside edge of the cylinder there are a series of pictures on the opposite side to the slits. As the cylinder is spun, the user then looks through the slits producing the illusion of motion.

Praxinoscope (1877)
The Praxinoscope, invented by French scientist Charles-Émile Reynaud, was a more sophisticated version of the zoetrope. It used the same basic mechanism of a strip of images placed on the inside of a spinning cylinder, but instead of viewing it through slits, it was viewed in a series of stationary mirrors around the inside of the cylinder, so that the animation would stay in place, and also provided a clearer image. Reynaud also developed a larger version of the praxinoscope that could be projected onto a screen, called the Théâtre Optique.

Flip book (1868)
The first flip book was patented in 1868 by a John Barnes Linnet. This was another step closer to the development of animation. Like the Zoetrope, the Flip Book creates the illusion of motion. A set of sequential pictures seen at a high speed creates this effect.

and finally...

Film animation
The history of film animation began in the 1890s with the earliest days of silent films and continues through the present day. The first animated film was created by Charles-Émile Reynaud, inventor of the praxinoscope, an animation system using loops of 12 pictures. On October 28, 1892 at Musée Grévin in Paris, France he exhibited animations consisting of loops of about 500 frames, using his Théâtre Optique system - similar in principle to a modern film projector. This day is now observed as International Animation Day around the world.

The first animated work on standard picture film was Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) by J. Stuart Blackton. It features a cartoonist drawing faces on a chalkboard, and the faces apparently coming to life.

Fantasmagorie, by the French director Émile Cohl (also called Émile Courtet), is also noteworthy. It was screened for the first time on August 17, 1908 at Théâtre du Gymnase in Paris. Émile Courtet later went to Fort Lee, New Jersey near New York City in 1912, where he worked for French studio Éclair and spread its technique in the US.

The first puppet-animated film was The Beautiful Lukanida (1912) by the Russian-born (ethnically Polish) director Wladyslaw Starewicz (Ladislas Starevich).

The first animated feature film was El Apóstol, made in 1917 by Quirino Cristiani from Argentina. He also directed two other animated feature films, including 1931's Peludopolis, the first to use synchronized sound. None of these, however, survive to the present day. The earliest-surviving animated feature, which used colour-tinted scenes, is the silhouette-animated Adventures of Prince Achmed (1926) directed by German Lotte Reiniger and French/Hungarian Berthold Bartosch. Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937), often considered to be the first animated feature when in fact at least eight were previously released, was the nevertheless first to use Technicolor and the first to become successful within the English-speaking world.

Definitions of animation

Related phrases: flash animation gif animation suspended animation keyframe animation pixar animation studios original video animation toei animation dreamworks animation kyoto animation nippon animation
Definitions of animation on the Web:
the condition of living or the state of being alive; "while there's life there's hope"; "life depends on many chemical and physical processes"
the property of being able to survive and grow; "the vitality of a seed"
quality of being active or spirited or alive and vigorous
vivification: the activity of giving vitality and vigour to something
the making of animated cartoons
liveliness: general activity and motion wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. It is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision. This could be anything from a flip book to a motion picture film. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animation
A set of pictures simulating movement when played in series.www.eggheaddesign.co.uk/glossary.aspx
Originally, creation of the appearance of movement, such as in a cartoon, by flipping a series of gradually varying drawings in rapid sequence. Today, creating animation and cartoons is done more effectively using computers with appropriate graphics software and genlocking* hardware. ...www.kramerelectronics.com/glossary.asp
Animation is the creating of a timed sequence or series of graphic images or frames together to give the appearance of continuous movement.www.smallbiz.nsw.gov.au/smallbusiness/Technology+in+Business/Information+Technology/IT+Glossary/
a sequence of frames that, when played in order at sufficient speed, presents a smoothly moving image like a film or video. An animation can be digitized video, computer-generated graphics, or a combination.www.digitalsignagetoday.com/glossary.php
A collection of static images joined together and shown consecutively so that they appear to move.ahds.ac.uk/history/creating/guides/gis/sect101.html
Television cartoon is one example of animation, which is a simulation of movement created by displaying a series of pictures. Computer animation has become one of the most popular assets for multimedia presentations.www.veassociates.com/cpg--Terminology--659.aspx
display a series of still images in rapid succession to create the illusion of movementwww.unitedsd.net/uhs/Departments/Business/vocab.htm
It is referred to an image that changes over time. A simple example is Abacus logo where the red dot is moving up and down every several seconds.www.emerge-solutions.com/learning_glossary.htm
The use of computer instructions to simulate motion of an object on the screen through gradual, progressive movements.members.tripod.com/~rvbelzen/c128sg/glossary.htm
not more than 3 loops; refresh time not less than 2 secondswww.copewithcytokines.de/flyer.htm
Using single-frame filming of objects to create the impression of movement. Most animations will also belong to other categories – for example, drama, pilot.www.afc.gov.au/gtp/definitions.html
Automated visual movement created by and under the control of the software application that is displayed on a user interface. Note this definition does not include video, which is the result of differences in the images within individual video frames, and is not created by the display application.www.uspto.gov/web/offices/cio/s508/qrg_glossary.doc
(an·i·ma·tion) (an”ĭ-ma´shən) 1. the state of being alive. 2. liveliness of spirits.www.mercksource.com/pp/us/cns/cns_hl_dorlands.jspzQzpgzEzzSzppdocszSzuszSzcommonzSzdorlandszSzdorlandzSzdmd_a_42zPzhtm
Any change of a parameter over time. Generally refers to a change in position of the video frame, moving the video over a background while it plays.www.digitalpostproduction.com/Htm/Features/DigitalVideoGlossary.htm
Any process where multiple images are presented rapidly, giving the illusion of motion.www4.dogus.edu.tr/bim/bil_kay/pak_prog/shockwave/ch23.htm
Special treatment, such as moving units, flashing lights, rotations, etc., used to gain added attention.www.denow.com/6gloss/index.html
Use for person(s) responsible for the arts, techniques, and processes involved in photographically or electronically giving apparent movement to inanimate objects or drawings, often by means of photographing the objects or drawings one frame at a time, each time so slightly different that, when ...www.cinema.ucla.edu/CPM%20Voyager/relatorterms.html
A sequence of static images, once put together one after the other, form a moving image. There are normally 24 frames per second.www.stiltonstudios.net/glossary.htm
The process of combining images to give the illusion of movement. Anti-Aliasing- Smoothing or blending the transition of pixels in an image. Anti-aliasing the edges on a graphic image makes the edges appear smooth, not jagged.www.adigitaldreamer.com/2/graphicdesignglossary.htm
The creation of moving pictures in a three-dimensional digital environment. This is done by sequencing consecutive images, or "frames", that simulate motion by each image showing the next in a gradual progression of steps, filmed by a virtual "camera" and then output to video by a rendering ...www.motioncapturestudios.com/mocap_glossary.htm
The process of photographing drawings or objects a frame at a time; by changing a drawing or moving an object slightly before each frame is taken, the illusion of motion is realized.www.psu.edu/dept/inart10_110/inart10/film.html
Any process whereby artificial movement is created by photographing a series of drawings, objects, or computer images one by one. Small changes in position, recorded frame by frame, create the illusion of movement.www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/a/c/ach13/Asia/Glossary.htm
Technique by which inanimate objects seem to come alive by flashing a series of minutely changed images, called “cells,” at a rate which the brain interprets as movement. See also, Cell and Persistence of Vision.www.pbs.org/weta/myjourneyhome/teachers/glossary.html
A technique where successive still frames of a particular object appear to constitute a seamless sequence of movements.www.dartschool.com/mod/glossary/view.php
The process of taking a series of slightly different individual pictures or objects and stringing them together in sequence to give the appearance of continuous motion.www.cosi.org/files/File/press-releases/PK-Animation-Glossary.doc

How Top Bloggers Earn Money

Eric Nakagawa, a software developer in Hawaii, posted a single photo of a fat, smiling cat he found on the Internet, with the caption, "I can has cheezburger?" in January, 2007, at a Web site he created. It was supposed to be a joke. Soon after he posted a few more images in the same vein: cute cats with funny captions written in a silly, invented hybrid of Internet shorthand and baby-talk. Then he turned the site into a blog, so that visitors could comment on the postings. What happened after that would have been hard for anyone to predict.
"We just thought, O.K., they're funny,"Nakagawa says. "Suddenly we started getting hits. I was like, where are these coming from?"
An Accidental Entrepreneur
He saw traffic on the blog, I Can Has Cheezburger, which he runs with his partner, "Tofuburger" (she refuses to disclose her real name) double each month: 375,000 hits in March, 750,000 in April, 1.5 million in May. Cheezburger now gets 500,000 page views a day from between 100,000 and 200,000 unique visitors, according to Nakagawa. The cheapest ad costs $500 for a week. The most expensive goes for nearly $4,000. Nakagawa, an accidental entrepreneur who saw his successful business materialize out of the ether, quit his programming job at the end of May: "It made more sense to do this and see how big it could get."
Cheezburger's story is unusual in the upper reaches of the blogosphere in that the time between launching and reaching a critical mass of readers who sustain the site is so compressed. But many of the most popular bloggers have similar tales of starting out with a niche idea—an inside joke, a particular obsession—and watching it explode. Of course, most blogs linger in obscurity and are read by only a handful of people, and few ever reach the level Cheezburger has. What about a blog like Cheezburger lets it break away from the pack?
The initial appeal of the blog may have been a fluke, but its growth since then has been part of a tightly controlled experiment to help answer that question. Nakagawa and his partner constantly tweak the site to see what draws readers and what leaves them cold.
"We basically have a playground where people keep coming to play, so we're trying to create new games all the time,"Nakagawa says.
Building a Community
To drive traffic, they try to time their new posts with when people are most likely to be reading: in the mornings, on their lunch breaks, or in the evenings. Early on, when Nakagawa saw the site getting 1,000 page views a day, he added a widget that allows visitors to rate each post on a scale of one to five cheeseburgers. That helped boost traffic to 2,000.
Readers don't just rate or comment on the posts. They create them. Cheezburger depends on its fans to submit pictures, write funny captions, and send them in. Nakagawa has built a tool to let readers select a ready-made photo or upload their own, add and position captions, choose font styles, and submit a finished product. Any visitor can vote on the submissions, and the most popular ones make it to the main page. The function saves Nakagawa from having to find funny captions for photos, and it creates a lasting bond with readers.
That kind of interaction helps make I Can Has Cheezburger as much a community as a blog. A post by one user will inspire another to play off the theme, forming a narrative. "It's like you're creating a story supplied by people in the community, and then the people in the community supply the next part of the story,"Nakagawa says.
From Inside Joke to Job
The idea of building a community around content supplied by users sustains several top blogs, and most put the idea of community ahead of making money. For Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan, who lampoon celebrity fashion on their blog, Go Fug Yourself, the fact that ad sales on their blog now pay their salaries has not changed what they set out to do from Day One: have fun. "It was one of these inside jokes that we thought was going to just stay an inside joke,"says Cocks.
Part of it has to do with the nature of the medium: Blogging creates a direct connection between authors and readers, a conversation with distinct voices carried out in comments and e-mails and other blogs. Nakagawa wants to see how big that conversation—not to mention his business—can get. "It's kind of like, how far can you take it?" he says.
To see a slide show on how top bloggers earn money, click here.