Class message board

Note this is is a moderated message board. That means you submit class-related comments to the instructor, who will post them daily (Monday through Friday, except breaks) on the class web site. It goes without saying that obscenities or libel won't be posted. Nearly everything else will, however, including criticism of the class or instructor, no matter how gratuitous. Say what you wish, or what you dare.

Message Board
Fall Semester 2007

Posted by Ross Collins (ross.collins@ndsu.edu) on September 7, 2007:
I hope to use this bulletin board in a different way this semester, by giving students the opportunity to gain extra credit points responding to questions I post on the board. One point extra credit for correct reponse; two points if you include a web URL for more information on the topic.

Question of the week: Based on the text chapter one, explain TWO of the six design principles in your own words, and give an example.

Aarika Michel (aarika.s.michel@ndsu.edu) on Monday, September 10: Emphasis is the most important section or object of your document that you want to stand out or to be seen first.
I.E - A headline or title on the front page of the newspaper. Alignment is the organization of elements within your document. When everything is aligned it is easier to view, process or read.
I.E. - Text around an object is much easier to read when its text wrapping is aligned.

Heather Gale (heather.martel@ndsu.edu) on Monday, September 10: I think two important design principles are balance and flow.
Balance is the way items on a page are distributed so that it is appealing to look at and understand. For example, a page that has too many ads or colored boxes may be hard to read if there is also text from a story. An example of good design can be found http://www.visualeditors.com/jackson/index.php?tag=newspaper
Flow is similar to balance but is more along the lines of the path the reader's eye follows. The layout of the page must be arranged in a way that is easy to read. An example of how a page directs people's eye can be found at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

Carmen Schatz (carmen.j.schatz@ndsu.edu) on Tuesday, September 11: Contrast seperates different catergories of words and graphics (p. 12 of our textbook). An example of contrast can be found under the NDSU undergraduate page http://www.ndsu.edu/undergraduate/ - the catergories of links (i.e. "Academic and Student Resources", Safety and Security") is a larger and darker colored font than the links themselves (i.e. "Campus Connection", "Dates and Deadlines"). This helps the site visitors by visually grouping like items (also an example of repetition).
The principle of emphasis tells us we should make sure the most important part of the work should be the first thing a viewer notices. The second most important item should be seen next, and so forth (also found on pg. 12 of our textbook). An example of this can be found on the CNN website's home page http://www.cnn.com. CNN accompanies their top story with a large photo or graphic relating to their story. They also display the top story in the upper left corner. We read left to right, so the placement of the top story on the left hand side also works as a way to emphasis its importance. In order to read miscellanous stories, a viewer would have to scroll down and click on oen of the smaller links.

David 'Tyler' Andrews (david.andrews@ndsu.edu) on Tuesday, September 11: 1) Emphasis: making the most important / key information about your design stand out. This can be done with type selection, changing the scale, or focusing the whole ad around the emphasized object. A great site on Emphasis: (http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/emphasis.html)

2) Repetition: repeating design elements to pull a design together. With modern technology it's easy to repeat elements while designing, but unfortunately, it's easy to over repeat elements. Here's a tutorial on creating a repeating design. (http://www.computerarts.co.uk/tutorials/2d__and__photoshop/design_a_repeating_pattern)

Anna G. Larson (anna.g.larson@ndsu.edu) on Wednesday, September 12: 1. Balance is how elements are evenly distributed on a page. It doesn't mean the page has to be symmetrical. Asymmetrical balance means small elements like text are balanced with large elements like photos. I think it's easy to understand the page design concepts if you are familiar with photography "rules." View this example of an asymmetrical page: http://desktoppub.about.com/library/01art/s2c2-asymmetricalbalance2.gif
2. Alignment is what makes a page look "right." It is what makes everything (lines, words, photos) look connected. For example, when I made my certificate for the assignment, lines of text were shifted down and it didn't look right. Check out this example: http://www.memphisflyerstore.com/product_images/generic/7/K/7KMS0T99ANGU8MAWME6J389VQPK6D094.jpg

Amelia Felz (Amelia.felz@gmail.com) on Thursday, September 13: 1) You use alignment to make a VISUAL connection among words, or other things on your page. http://www.thegreasergarage.com/old%20ads/50f2big.gif is a good example of this, if you notice all of the cars are aligned with a car that they are describing. More information of this can be found at: http://desktoppub.about.com/od/designprinciples/g/alignment.htm
2) Emphasis is used when you make what is the most important thing on the page the most eye catching. an example of this is: http://www.thegreasergarage.com/old%20ads/50f2big.gif
when you look at it, none of the people in the background are directly looking at the camera, so the you are more drawn to the words "Equality Wear" rather than the people in the background. Additional Info can be found at: http://desktoppub.about.com/cs/designprinciples/a/emphasis.htm

Catherine Daugherty (Catherine.Daugherty@ndsu.edu) on Thursday, September 13:
1.) EMPHASIS: This principleis used to show what features are the most important. The #1 item should be the most blatent, then the #2 and so on. this site (http://daphne.palomar.edu/design/emphasis.html) gives examples and shows ways of using the principle of Emphasizing.

2.) CONTRAST: This is used to distinguish one object from another. You don't want everything on your page, or picture to look exactly the same. This website (http://www.bluemoonwebdesign.com/art-lessons-6.asp) gives some examples. Like the painting of the hosue and contrast of light an dark. or the Modern painting of the teapot.

Keith Dickhudt (keith.dickhudt@ndsu.nodak.edu) on Thursday, September 13: Emphasis - Adding substance to make a particualar point of the document, typically the most important, stand out. An emphasis website: www.emphasisdesign.co.uk/

Balance - How abjects stand on a page to create a sense of equality or contentedness. The balance can be off and weigh down one side of the page. Check out this site on balance: desktoppub.about.com/od/balance/Balance.htm

Ross Collins (ross.collins@ndsu.edu) on Monday, October 1: Question of the (more or less) week: What are progressive margins, and when were they first used?

Catherine Daugherty (catherine.daugherty@ndsu.edu) on Monday, October 8: Progressive margins are margins that are NOT equal on all sides. When publishing a book for magazine the inside margins will be narrower than the outside margins.They were first used in Gutenberg's Bible and Aldus Manutius in the 15th century also used them.
As said on this site (http://des(ktoppub.about.com/od/glossary/g/creepallowance.htm)
it is "Adjusting the page layout of inner spreads to maintain a constant outer margin when the saddle stitched booklet is trimmed to counteract creep" Progressive margins may also be called creep allowance or shingling.

Ross Collins (ross.collins@ndsu.edu) on Monday, Oct. 29--What is the difference between dpi and ppi, and how are they related?

Heather Gale (heather.martel@ndsu.edu) on Wednesday, October 31: Dpi is dots per inch and ppi is pixels per inch. These refer to the resolution of an image. Pixels are used for the computer screen and dots are used for printing an image.

David 'Tyler' Andrews (david.andrews@ndsu.edu) on Thursday, November 1: DPI = Dots per inch, relating to printing. The higher the DPI, the better tonality of the image. The colors should look better and the blending between colors should be smoother. PPI = Pixels per inch, or pixels per inch in your image.

Angel Ray (angel.ray@ndsu.edu) on Wednesday, November 14: DPI and PPI are different because DPI is dots per inch (used for printing) and PPI is Pixels per inch( used for images on computers). They are both used for quality in resolution.

Catherine Daugherty (Catherine.daugherty@ndsu.edu) on Thursday, November 15: DPI means Dots per inch, PPI is pixels per inch. PPI is used on a computer screen, where DPI is for printing. They both have to do with the quality and resolutiong of the image.

Danica Rifleman (danica.rifleman@ndsu.edu) on Monday, November 19: dpi= dots per inch, ppi= pixels per inch. both are measurements of the resolution of an image. Dots are used for printing, pixels for web or just on computer screens.

Allison Achtenberg (allison.achtenberg@ndsu.edu) on Wednesday, November 21: dpi is dots per inch and is used in printing, ppi is pixels per inch and is used in on computers. they are related because they both refer to the quality of an image.

Danielle Troske (danielle.troske@ndsu.edu) on Thursday, November 29: Dpi stands for dots per inch, while ppi stands for pixels per inch. Dpi is a term used in printing while ppi refers to images on a computer screen, but both signify the quality and resolution of an image. The web site http://www.tildefrugal.net/photo/dpi.php includes more information about dpi and ppi.

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COMM 260, Intro to Web-Based Internet design
COMM 362, Principles of Design for Print

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