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About web Design
Clipart, stock Images, and groovy fonts:
Use the free images in your comp, and if the client likes one, go back to the site and buy the real image, without the watermark logo.
You can down load free comping versions of stock photos and graphics at these sites:
Photodisc.com
eyewire.com
comstock.com
Try the stock image lightboxes
If you haven't yet had the sort of client who says, I don't know what I want, but I 'll know it when I see it, you will. The stock image sites are great boons for this challenge.
At most of these sites you can set up your lightbox, you choose images and put them into your personal lightbox. you tell your client how to get to your lkightbox and they can go see the images and fonts you recommend. this is a great resource that can help a client decide what sort of look they have inmind for their site. The client can also addimages to the lightbox to give you ideas for directions to pursue. Some sites let you add notes to the images so your client can send feedback.
Stock images for buttons
Very nice, but Today's imaging software can make such beautiful buttons automaticallythat it's very tempting to decorate a site with gorgeous navigation buttons. What usually happens next is you realize that the buttons need to be large to really show off their beauty, not to mention your artistic skill, before you know it, you've designed a page that looks amateurish, with real pretty buttons.
Don't be seduced by the beauty of a single element of the page, You and I may appreciate the beauty of an embossed, drop-shadowed button, but must people are looking for relatively simple navigation and information. A link does'nt have to look like an actual button. Experiment with un-buttony buttons, try using
clipart or stock photography as links.
Inthese two variations, stock images were used as buttons, but they also serve as content images. In the design stage of this project, the designer developed this layout variation in which the descriptive navigation text was hidden until a moused over a photograph.
Clipart or picture fontscanlead to fresh ideas when you lay out web pages or designnavigation buttons.
Like most designers, we like to collect fonts, even with these many fonts within mouse reach, we love to experiment with new typefaces,of the many resources for font shopping: eyewire.com, garagefonts.com, p22.com
we're never disappointed with the large selection of fantastic designs from these vendors, ranginf from beautiful to innovative to just incredible cool. A unique typeface canc reate tremendous visual impactand contribute to a unique personality for your site.
Picture fonts
But when you're looking at typefaces, don't forget those picture fonts that give you anywhere from dozens to several hundred images that canbe usedas clipart.
A picture font is a fabulous way to create innovative buttons with lots of variety, or to use as spot illustrations to create a theme in a site, as background images, or to liven up a text-heavy page.
Thebestthing isyou don't have to spend more than the price of a typeface, usually from 20$ to 50$, yet you get a whole package of pictures ina similar styles.
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