Let There Be Lines: Production Graphics with Wendy Peck at webreference.com

Let There Be Lines

“Simplicity is the core of good art. But achieving simplicity is very difficult. I tell my students that if they came to my studio and saw all the sketches I throw in the garbage, they'd realize how difficult it is to create something simple.”

Luba Lukova, winner of the 1999 How International Design Competition Best of Show award, as quoted in How magazine, April 2000.

For the past few weeks we have been concentrating on messing things up. First we mangled our text placement, then we moved to roughing up text, lines, photos ... nothing was safe.

This time we are headed in the opposite direction. Rough is not always right. Sometimes neat, clean and straight is the only answer. But that does not have to mean dull or standard.

The April 2000 issue of How magazine (a well respected and popular magazine for the design world) features the winners of the How Design 2000 International design competition. A surprising number of the category winners were dead straight, clean and plain. Of course, that is not to implicate that the designers spent less time creating such perfection. Clean and simple design is often tougher than any other. Color becomes much more important and balance is crucial.

Take a look at the very simple examples at the left. The first sample is very plain—quite acceptable. But in the second sample, with the simple addition of a faint hairline under each menu item, notice how the list of words becomes a unit. Add hairlines to topic headings on the same page and you have created a style. Frame your photos with the same line, divide text with vertical hairlines, direct visitors with faint directional lines, and you have a complete look that can unify an entire site.

I have gathered some ideas and techniques to help you work with straight lines without sacrificing design originality and energy. As with any style, "straight style with life" takes time to master. But the reward is delivering a product that makes your most conservative clients comfortable yet allows you to weave your style into the work.

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Wendy Peck is a working Web designer and writer living in NW Ontario, Canada. https://wpeck.com

Let There Be Lines Tutorial Index

Let There Be Lines Start
PhotoShop Lines
PhotoShop Lines (part 2)
PhotoShop Quick Grids
PhotoShop Scan Lines
PaintShop Pro Lines
PaintShop Pro Grid/Scan/Dots
CorelDraw and Freehand Lines
CorelDraw Grid Tool
Gallery and Resources