Graphic Greats: Production Graphics with Wendy Peck at webreference.com | 2

Graphic Greats 2: Subtle Shading

Designer: Michael Channing Wilson of Sigmapath.

Dover Mortgage Company
You will have to visit this site to see the full impact of this simple but effective menu. The compression I have used to make this a reasonable size does not do the subtle effect justice. I noticed this menu because it looked so ... lively, maybe. At first glance it is just a simple rectangle, with a little dimension and a gradient fill.

So why is it not just boxes in a row? First, the left side fades into the background. Note that there is only a bottom line on the left. But the brilliance to this graphic presentation (and you really must go see the original) is that the graduated shading ends in a different spot on each menu item. A little more work, but that is what gives the menu the exciting look and breaks the regiment.

There are three different sizes of menu buttons on this page, but all follow the same pattern.

Designer: Amy Kristensen for Form Media Technologies

City of Nanaimo (British Columbia, Canada)
I have had this site bookmarked for a while. This menu (size reduced) is created in Flash, and has terrific mouseovers. The colored segments change to a photo with a description of the information in that selection appearing in the lower rectangle (cut off in this sample).

The other navigation graphics on the page are not exact duplicates of the main graphic, but represent the same visual idea. (The quick links shown here actually appear to the right of the main menu on the site.) The main graphic would not reduce to the bullet size well. It is often necessary to design a variation of a graphic when extreme enlargement or reduction is needed.

The designer has taken a very simple shape and created an entire look for the site. (This could be done with a dingbat - see the dingbat tutorial.) Construction is really quite simple - a little depth and a graduated fill to a simple outline, but the effect is beautiful, full of life and very effective as a navigation tool.

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Graphic Greats Index

Graphic Greats Start
Subtle Shading
Bright and Fun
Photo Presentation