Graphics and Design Software for Your Web Design

by Uche Ugo - Graphic Director/Web Designer

Before anyone designs a website, he/she must be familiar with at least two to three software design programs like Adobe Photoshop, Fireworks, Illustrator, Corel draw, etc. We will look at such software from the Adobe family.
.

Adobe Fireworks:

From Adobe’s website: “Rapidly prototype websites and application interfaces with Adobe Fireworks software. Create and optimize images for the web more quickly and accurately than ever before with an enhanced toolset.”

Adobe Fireworks is meant for web graphics alone, purely web graphics. But to an extent, it can be used for print design depending on the nature of your project.

Pros of Adobe Fireworks :
Very easy to use
Very very Flexible
Very easy to understand
Very Good in creating Brand Identities
Fireworks gives you the freedom to exploit your creativity
It is regarded as the best for web graphics
With Fireworks you can create a Gif Animation

Cons of Adobe Fireworks :
Not meant for print design
Lacks the power of photo enhancement
Not suitable for typesetting / print out jobs on manual printer machine


Adobe Photoshop:

From Adobe’s website: “The #1 selling consumer photo-editing software*, Adobe Photoshop combines power and simplicity so you can make ordinary photos extraordinary; tell engaging stories in beautiful, personalized creations for print and the web;”

Adobe Photoshop is all you need for print design and image manipulation..

Pros of Photoshop :
Inbuilt filters and plug-ins are very good for print design
Best for photo enhancement, retouch, skins effect, etc
Also good for web graphics because of the vector image quality
Allows you to create unrealistic designs

Cons of Photoshop
Time consuming
It works with a lot of layers and get quite irritating
Working in the environment can be pretty confusing sometimes
It's very complicated

Adobe Illustrator:

From Adobe’s website: “Adobe Illustrator software is a comprehensive vector graphics environment with new transparency in gradients and multiple artboards that invite you to explore more efficient ways to design”.

Illustrator is also okay with print and web design, however it has it's own limitations

Pros of Illustrator.
It's very good for drawings for Cartoons, Comics, etc
It works well for modeling 3D objects for Ipod or 3D text
It's very easy to export your design with other Adobe programs
Flexible
Good for product packaging design ( 60% of Ad Agency use it )

Cons of Illustrator
It’s not really meant for Design for web


More Tips

These are just a few pros and cons I have listed here. By assessing the the pros and cons of each software, you can easily figure out which software is appropriate for your website design.

A lot of designers get it wrong by using a design software in creating the whole website design. They don't consider what we call SEO ( Search Engine Optimization ).Take Google for instance...Google can't read through your image designs. It’s always good when designing, to make use of CSS ( Cascading Style Sheet ) even if you want to use an image as a design on your website, 20% should be for the image and make CSS 80%.

For designs, some designers prefer Adobe Fireworks while others use Adobe Photoshop. Note however that while Fireworks does most of the job of Photoshop, it doesn't have the photo enhancement features of Photoshop and fireworks also lacks the use of brushes which is in Photoshop.


Creating Logos for Website.

Here are some things you need to know before designing a logo for website or print.

Many always ask questions on how to create a good branded logo. Well from my experience in creating branded identity, I think you need to have an idea of what the company really specializes in. And you should have a brief history of their company, their company corporate colours, as well as slogan to be able to achieve your goals.

You can't just start designing a logo on your own simply because someone said you should design a logo. The final say lies with the client and so there must be input from the client.

To create a good logo design for a company you will need to do the following:
1. Get a paper and a pen
2. Sketch out your drawings
3. Show it to your client
4. Let him/her criticize the sketch and make corrections
5. Finally put that to work


Conclusion

Obviously quite a lot of what has been said requires a flair and interest in drawing and design. However, the points I have noted come from what I do all the time to achieve good design results. You should try it out yourself and you will be amazed at your results.

Thank you for granting me the audience

 

Uche Ugo

Uchechukwu Ugo is a Graphic Director/Web Designer who has been involved in numerous Web projects
 

What Do you Have to Say? Post Your Comments about this article Here 

COMMENTS for "Graphics and Design Software for Your Web Design":

Build Your Web Design and Development Career

Your Guide to taking the Right IT Career Decisions 
 

Page Top

HOME	ABOUT US	COMMENTS	CONTACT US	BOOK SALES
HELP	E-LEARNING	CERTIFICATION	TRAINING	PREVIOUS JOBS
	PRIVACY	DISCLAIMER	SITEMAP

Subscribe to the FREE IT Career Newsletter with valuable information bringing you practical, how-to tips and articles. 

Practical IT Entrepreneur

FREE Information Technology Career and Certification Seminar

Interesting page? Then Send this Page To a Friend

Know what it takes, focus on substance, make your own choices, prepare yourself – make sure you’re in control