Mister Nifty » Graphic Design

The Cardinal Sin of Design

Brian Fegter — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 07:54:21 +0000

About ten years ago, I was sitting in a graphic design class and the teacher asked us to present a composite image for a mock ad campaign. The first image presented was of a skyscraper and was stretched disproportionately vertically and horizontally. I’ll never forget the look of disgust on the teacher’s face as he lit into us about maintaining proportionality and ratio aspect. Our show-and-tell turned quickly into a diatribe that lasted the remainder of the class. He repeated “Stretching an image disproportionately is the cardinal sin of design” so many times it burned in our brains. We dared not present an image that looked to be stretched or skewed in any shape, manner, or form.

Since that unforgettable mental lashing, I’ve always been keenly attune to aspect ratio in typography and photography, especially in the church world. If you’re not familiar with aspect ratio, it is simply the relationship of the width of an image to its height. For typography (fonts), each letter must be treated as an image and maintain the ratio of height to width. When the width of an image or font is increased, the height must also be increased to maintain aspect ratio and vice versa, or else it will appear skewed and awkward. There is never an instance when fonts or images should be proportioned outside of their original aspect ratio. This is the cardinal sin of design.

Here are some examples of skewing an image.

Original Image – I shot this at my brother’s wedding last month
Skewed Horizontally
Skewed Vertically

There is a cognitive dissonance that is created when looking at the last two images. Even though, at a glance, the images look fine, the mind red flags the image and says “There’s something not quite right here.” There are three things that happen when you present a skewed image in print or on screen:

You distract from the message as the mind will try to reconcile the proportional offense
You do a disservice to the photographer and present their work inappropriately
You lessen the quality of your production

Certainly, completely untrained eyes will miss a slight skewing of an image, however, most people will catch it either consciously or subconsciously. The bottom line is that someone worked hard to create a beautiful photograph. Don’t diminish the quality of the photo by stretching it. The two ways to properly resize a photograph are cropping and maintaining aspect ratio while resizing.

Cropping means you cut away parts of the original image to fit the dimensions of your project. Cropping is perfectly acceptable and a frequent practice in design. A cropped image might not be the original image size, however the subjects still maintain their proportionality. If you must resize an image, the rule-of-thumb is always downsize, and never upsize (unless you are using an algorithmic software such as Genuine Fractals). When downsizing an image, grab a corner of the image and press either the SHIFT or CONTROL key (possibly the COMMAND key for Apple users) while dragging the transformation handle toward the center of the image. If the bounding box adjusts the width and height automatically and the image stays intact, you’ve succeeded. If not, try again or read the application’s help section to find the keystroke assigned to lock aspect ratio. This applies to typography as well.

A few weeks ago I walked into the foyer of our church to find a sign company employee installing custom letters on the wall. Our church uses a script font for our taglines. I was horrified to see that the sign company designer had skewed the script font vertically and the letters looked absolutely stretched. I asked several people if they saw something wrong, and they replied “No.” I then held up a printed piece with the proper proportionality of the script font next to the lettering on the wall and their eyes opened wide. They could not believe how much of a difference it made.

The truth is, it’s a bit more difficult to spot stretched typography if you aren’t a designer. So, what’s the point? Why are you being so petty? I’m glad you asked. Font faces were created to be beautiful and portray a message with style and elegance. Skewing a font diminishes the quality of the font just as the integrity of the images above were harmed. If it’s a popular font, it certainly will be a recognizable error to the masses. Church identities are mainly communicated through typography. When a logotype is skewed and stretched, it directly affects the quality of the brand. We should always put our best foot forward when communicating the message of the Gospel to the community. Certainly, there are people who would be turned off by a cheap looking stretch job.

The number one reason why designers skew and stretch is to fill up white space. White space is a powerful concept that helps direct readers to key points and then directs them to a sub point. When you’re tempted to stretch a font’s height to fill up vertical space or make an image fit your project size disproportionately, remember that this is the cardinal design sin. There’s never a good reason to stretch images or fonts. Saints resize proportionately, sinners stretch and skew.

Go forth and sin no more.

The Cardinal Sin of Design is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Free Graphics For Churches

Brian Fegter — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:13:06 +0000

Vintage Church is an awesome site for free church graphic resources. The artists have graciously offered source files for Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and much more. These resources go beyond simple visuals, they also include reading plans, lessons, and bulletins.

Check out Vintage Church now!

(via Church Crunch)

Free Graphics For Churches is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Free Illustrator Alternative

Brian Fegter — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 19:03:05 +0000

If you don’t have Adobe Illustrator, and you’ve tried opening a .AI file, you know what a hassle this can be. Certainly, you can open it up in Photoshop, but it will convert your resizeable vector file (lines and fills) to a rasterized image (pixels and dots). Since most churches don’t have a person on staff who knows how to use a vector program like Illustrator, they don’t have anything capable installed on their computers. Also, Illustrator costs hundreds of dollars and is not worth the cost to be used a few times a year in most cases.

And now, after reading this paragraph, your life will get immensely easier. Enter Inkscape. This is an awesome free open source program that you can download without paying a dime. It import Illustrator, EPS, SVG, PDF files and allows you to work with paths, shapes, curves, lines, text, etc. It also exports in all of these formats as well. If you have a logo you need to convert to an editable format, they have a fantastic trace option that will convert your image to a vector shape. Inkscape is a great tool to add to your arsenal for vector editing on a tight budget. Inkscape is available on PC and Mac!

Here are a few screenshots from Inkscape;

Go to Inkscape

Free Illustrator Alternative is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Creative Profile: Wendell Fernandes

Brian Fegter — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 02:46:46 +0000

From time-to-time we highlight the creative Christian talent on Mister Nifty and today I want to introduce my friend Wendell Fernandes. Wendell loves God first and foremost and has devoted his life to following Christ. He uses his talent to bless the Kingdom of God. Wendell is a prolific dreamer and an accomplished illustrator, UI and web designer. He has worked for Monster.com, Dell, and many other large corporations. His work has been featured in the prestigious Smashing Magazine and the very popular Colorburned.com, and most notably his custom icons are part of the core of Dell’s latest smart phone, Aero.

Today, I’m excited to help him announce the launch of a huge project, Printed Piece. Here is a little bit about Printed Piece from the Wendell himself:

Have you been frustrated in your search for high quality print designers and providers? What if there was a place online where you could search for inspirational material for your next printed project and then find a designer and printer to do the work? This is the idea behind Printed Piece.

Printed Piece is a website where you can find print design inspiration from everything from corporate identity, collateral, apparel, posters, banners, logos, brochures, postcards, mugs, mouse pads, and much, much more! Once you’ve found what you’re looking for, Printed Piece goes one step further and helps you locate a designer or a printer in your area to help you get the project done.

Printed Piece is an all-in-one, flavored, creative-driven community. It allows you to set up a profile, send messages, apply for jobs, and even rate and review companies and designers.

If you’re looking for a print designer, this is the place to find one. If you are a print designer, surf on over and open a free account to post some of your work or just browse for some inspiration.

Here are a few screenshots of Printed Piece.

If you would like to hire Wendell for your next project visit him at Dellustrations.com

Visit Printed Piece

Creative Profile: Wendell Fernandes is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Dear Church Designer – Part 2

Brian Fegter — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 20:57:21 +0000

If you haven’t read Dear Church Designer – Part 1 – you should probably read it (along with all the comments) before you read part 2.

This is a tongue-in-cheek piece, so my point is not to offend anyone, I’m just having a little observation fun here.

Photoshop by hook, crook, or legit means is in the hands of most church designers. The one thing that hastens to me to write this post is the onslaught and might I say slaughter of the layer effects palette. I’m not against using the native effects in Photoshop. In fact, I find them very valuable to create really nice looking designs. The key is moderation and most of the time, sparsity.

If you’ve ever done anything remotely similar to the following -> You’re an Effects Abuser.

Bevel is one of the most overused effects in the history of Photoshop. The use of bevel should be used sparingly and with caution. A slight, soft bevel can be good for your design. Too much bevel and you’ve bloated your text to typographical obesity.

WHOA THERE MR. GRADIENT. You’re hurting my eyes! If you’re going to use gradients, please take a look at color theory before mixing two colors together. There is a science behind color that reflects in human behavior. When two adjacent colors are mixed in a gradient, it’s not so good to the eyes or the attitude. I’m a big fan of gradients, when used with care. Gradients can make your designs go from good to great, but they must be ever so unobtrusive that the audience doesn’t even notice them.

Our earth is filled with gradients, but they are not harsh. The sky is a beautifully simple gradient that reflects many shades of blue. We’re used to subtle gradients in nature, and we can please the eye of the audience by using subtle gradients in design.

Too much stroke (outline) can murder a good design. If you are trying to make text pop from a similar colored background, chances are you should rethink your design or text color. If you have to use the smallest stroke possible or the slightest drop shadow to pop out your text. If you’re shooting for a bold design, it’s OK to outline your text, just keep the rule of moderation in mind.

Shadows, shadows, shadows, how I love thee and loath thee. The most awkward thing about shadows in design is they usually do not follow the physics of reality. The shadow is supposed to appear opposite the direction of the light source. If you create a beveled text with a light source from the top, and put your shadow to the left, it defies our subconscious understanding of light. It creates a subliminal confusion in the mind of the viewer. They can’t put their finger as to why this doesn’t look right, but they just know it doesn’t.

When using drop shadows to create depth in your design, manage your light source across the entire design. Also, look outside and see how shadows actually work. Shadows are stretched and elongated even more the closer the light source is to the objects baseline. If you’re doing a design that requires shadows, do some extra work to make the shadows actually look real by creating a second layer underneath and stretch and smudge that layer for added effect. Proper shadowing doesn’t come from simply checking the drop shadow box.

If you’ve ever used all the effects at once, you’re definitely an EFFECT ABUSER! Three words I must now write on your forehead, “Less is more.”

Using Default Settings Can Be Toxic To Your Design

If you are determined to create designs with the effects palette, please alter the default settings. By using the default settings you are not only being lazy, but you are killing your design. Photoshop effects either develop or destroy your design.

Homework For Effect Abusers

Create a design with no effects whatsoever
Create a design with no effects whatsoever
Create a design with no effects whatsoever
Repeat Assignment #1

If You Have Missed The Point

I’m not trying to demean anyone with this post, but I am trying to awaken some good sleeping and lazy designers. The “Dear Church Designer” series is a way to shake people trapped in the rut of the normal and get them to do great things with their talent. You have all the educational materials at your fingertips to learn how to properly use the above effects. Here are some suggestions to take you to the next level:

Look at popular websites like Apple to see how they use gradients
Google “Photoshop tutorials” to get a better grasp on how to control the effects palette
Go to Barnes and Nobles or any other chain book store, sit down and READ READ READ for free
Check out books at the library
Study famous designers and their works
Analyze designs that please your eye and see how they have/haven’t incorporated effects
Study minimalism and see how it can increase the impact of your message exponentially

Dear Church Designer – Part 2 is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Dear Church Designer…

Brian Fegter — Wed, 26 May 2010 13:30:49 +0000

I love you, but I can’t let you use these fonts any more. This is an intervention.

Scriptina was sooooooooo 2008. It was cool for the very first project you used it on, but it’s not cool now. Also, every nail salon in America has contemplated using it for their logo.

If you don’t think Papyrus is outdated and overused, please look up the meaning of Papyrus at Wikipedia.

Ministry Font Spotlight

OK, now I’m being serious. Please forgive me if I’ve offended you. It wasn’t my purpose, but the fact that you’re reading this far down means I piqued your interest.

You don’t have to use default fonts for everything. There are a ton of great quality fonts that are free to download. Take some time to learn to install them and use them in their appropriate place. If you are a church designer and don’t know about fonts and typography, go to Lynda.com and take their typography course, or go to Barnes and Nobles and read up on the subject.

If you don’t know the following terms, you might need to take a typography course:

Serif
Sans-serif
Oblique
Monospaced
Kerning
Leading
Tracking
Baseline

Here are some advanced structural type terms to get your feet wet:

Counter
Bowl
Ligature
Ascender
Terminal
Spine
Descender
Stem

Here are a couple Mister Nifty links to help find free alternative fonts:

Dear Church Designer… is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Create Your Own Magazine For Cheap

Brian Fegter — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 16:14:38 +0000

MagCloud is a sweet, novelty service that allows you to create a real magazine. The process seems pretty straight forward.

Create your own document in whatever program you wish. The file dimensions need to be 8.5″ X 11″. If you want photographs to bleed to the edge, create your document at 8.75″ X 11.25″. You can easily create this file in Microsoft Word, Photoshop, or other layout programs. If you use InDesign grab their template here.
Export your layout to a multi-page PDF. You can use PrimoPDF to create a multi-page PDF from any program. It works as a secondary printer that prints to a file.
Upload your PDF and they send you a proof in the mail.
Once approved, your project gets published and others can go online and purchase your magazine. You can even make a profit on your

The pricing is very reasonable – .20 per page. A 50-page magazine would cost $10.00 + shipping. You can add up to 100 pages and a minimum of 4 pages. Page counts must be a multiple of four.

Ideas For Your Own Magazine

Annual Church Event Calendar / Directory
Yearly Student Curriculum Book
Student Trip Memory Books
Wedding Albums For Family Members
Collaborative Stories (Each student submits their own page)

These are just a few ideas to get your brain gears turning. I’m sure you can come up with something awesome for your ministry. If you create a magazine, send me an email and I’ll post it below for others to see.

Go To MagCloud

Create Your Own Magazine For Cheap is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Cool Sermon Media Idea

Brian Fegter — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:36:15 +0000

I just saw this really nice Photoshop tutorial at Creative Overflow. This would be a nice sermon series image effect. By the way, this is the best way to learn Photoshop – by trying out step-by-step tutorials. This helps you learn about features you have never used before and create some really nice looking stuff.

Go To Creative Overflow

Cool Sermon Media Idea is a post from: Mister Nifty

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Creative Profile: Joe Cavazos

Brian Fegter — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 15:49:15 +0000

If you’re looking for some creative Christian inspiration, Joe Cavazos is the guy. Joe is from Mission, Texas and is a full-time graphic designer for the Palm Valley Church. He regularly creates sermon media as well as print collateral for his church. His work oozes with creativity and attention to detail. It really speaks for itself. Here are some of the images he’s released for public use on CreativeMYK.

All of these images are available for download to use in your church. Some are flattened images, others are PSD files you can edit. If you like Joe’s work give him a shout and tell him what you think. You can find Joe here on Twitter – @joecavazos or on his website. Beware: Following Joe on Twitter will push you out of your design comfort zone.

Creative Profile: Joe Cavazos is a post from: Mister Nifty

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More Awesome Free Fonts

Brian Fegter — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:40:21 +0000

This is a great resource for web designers who want to embed nice fonts in their web designs without infringing on the EULA agreements of popular fonts. Font Squirrel provides a list of dozens of free fonts to use on commercial websites. There is a nifty generator that helps you embed the fonts in your site as well. If you’re not a web designer, you can obviously use these fonts on print collateral as well. Enjoy!

Go To Font Squirrel

More Awesome Free Fonts is a post from: Mister Nifty