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Excerpt: Following on from previous posts and continuing our design journey, this week we´ll examine the principles or rules of graphic design. Being of the creative sort you might feel shackled by rules but like all rules they can be broken, but you must first understand these principles before breaking them. If you take the time, follow and apply each of these principles your work will begin to function effectively and communicate. Although each principle is individual in its purpose, they are all interconnected and work together to achieve effective design. I repeatedly refer to the term ¨design elements¨ throughout, for a…

The Rules of Graphic Design is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: So, I awoke to a flurry of activity yesterday (delicious home page, numerous Tweets in my stream) around one of smashing magazine’s alarmist post entitled “The death of the blog post”. The article showcased a few graphic designers from around the web, who had designed completely custom, graphic heavy designs for each post. They are magazine like in style, and leave the visitor with the wow factor.  I’d seen this myself, and I’m a big fan of Gregory Wood and Dustin Curtis work. As per usual the design community jumped up and down with excitement with war crys such as: “Holy shit!…

The blog post isn’t dead. is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Exactly, who needs designers when you can purchase this set of instant design solutions. The attached video is a break through for all the ¨know it all¨, ¨do it yourself¨, ¨add a turkey fart¨, business owners. These sprays and creams let you take control of your companies communication output, no need to hire a professional and endure their educated advice, save money and do it yourself, you know best, the results are instant, see for yourself. Why pay to get it done professionally when you can get it done for three easy payments of 29.99, thats good business if you…

Who needs designers??? is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Welcome to part two of understanding color. We’re going to look at each individual hue and what they communicate. Each color has its own unique qualities that resonate with certain personality types, and when trying to design for a certain market this information can be invaluable. Sometimes, colors can mean different things to different cultures but generally they share common meaning. For example, traffic lights throughout the world use green for “GO” and red for “STOP”, these colors, establish an instant connection so understanding and establishing the right connections is critical when using color. Interestingly, scientists believe, our brain perceives…

Understanding Color and Color Theory in Graphic Design Part 2 is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Following last weeks post outlining the elements of graphic design, this week we´re going to take a more in depth look at the element of color. I’ve dedicated two posts to color because its such an important and fundamental part of design and its needs serious attention. Color creates mood within a design and contributes to the overall experience for your audience. Human emotions are very often triggered by color and you need to know what colors trigger which emotions. Cool colors like blue and green can evoke a sense of tranquility and calm, while warm colors like red or orange can…

Understanding Color and Color Theory in Graphic Design Part 1 is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Continuing our Graphic Design journey, this week, we’re going to have a look at some design basics and highlight some of the elements that help create effective Graphic Design. These elements are considered the building blocks of visual communication. The information below outlines briefly each one and should only be treated as introduction to each element. So, off we go: 1 – Line Lines are everywhere, straight ones, thin ones, fat ones. curved ones, and even diagonal ones. So what’s the big fuss? Well, strangely enough, lines can communicate all sorts of things. Lets take for example a curved line, when a curve…

The Building Blocks of Graphic Design is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: What does Graphic Design actually do? So, we have an idea where it came from, what it is (see my previous posts) and now the big question is ¨WHAT DOES IT DO?¨. I could rattle off a few more definitions or write some more ¨Industry talk¨ about what it does but for the sake of common understanding, lets have a look at a real world example of the power of Graphic Design and what it can help achieve. The 2008 American Presidential Election. Really, this was one enormous marketing campaign with a budget in the millions and graphic design not only…

What does Graphic Design do? is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: I’ve now reached the grand total of three posts, I’ll have a mini stroke when I reach four. Ok, down to business, having discussed briefly some of the origins of Graphic Design in my previous post, lets now look at what the profession has become, in the 21st century. As much as the industry has tried to educate the business world, unfortunately few people still understand fully the work we do and this still remains one of the challenges this profession faces. I often wonder why this is the case and then I ponder to myself, do I know the ins…

Graphic Design for a New Century is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Being completely honest, this is the only the second post I’ve ever written anywhere online, so please be gentle. Although I read blogs regularly, I’ve never felt the need to blog myself, that is of course until Justin opened my eyes to whole social media/blogging thing. Where once I was lost, now I’m found. As I mentioned, I visit a lot of different blogs sites and although the information is mostly top drawer, my personal experience has always been that most blogs contain random posts sometimes with little order or structure. So in an effort to bring some structure to my…

A Brief History of Graphic Design is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas

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Excerpt: Hailing from the Emerald Isle (Ireland) and now resident and living in Marbella, Southern Spain, Peter´s background is mainly Design for Print, although in recent times Web Design has tickled his interest, specifically Flash and CSS. He studied ¨Design for Print¨ in Cork Institute of Technology between 2000 and 2003 and barely a month after graduating, he was offered the opportunity to come and work in sunny Spain. Without a second thought, a bag was packed, a plane ticket bought and the rest, as they say, is history… In his nearly 7 years of professional experience, he has designed, developed and…

Introducing Peter Goulding – Cloud Mixer Author is a post from: Cloud Mixer - Mixing New Media Ideas