Makeup in Photoshop

Not everybody is gifted to have a beautiful picture perfect face that we most certainly want. Good thing there is Adobe Photoshop, a simple editting tool that we can use to enhance the picture that was taken. In this tutorial, we will be enhancing the face of Scarlett Johansson. Read on to find out how.

JQuery Scroll to top plugin

I am using this template at work and I find this plugin to be cool and useful. It's a JQuery Scroll to Top Dynamic Plugin by Matt Varone! It is a good UX design especially when you have a lengthy website and it is very easy to use.

Fig 1: Screen shot 

STEP 1: DOWNLOAD FILE

You may download file by clicking this link or manually download it by visiting Matt Varone's website

STEP 2: INCLUDE JAVASCRIPT AND CSS FILES

STEP 3: ADD THE MAGIC WORDS

Easy right? Try it out!

Reference: UItoTop jQuery Plugin - Matt

Typography

Imagine a world where writing does not exist. Where people rely on the human senses to remember things, to pass on the knowledge and explain what is seen. The world would have been a chaotic world. But when writing started to exist, everything seem to change; There was order; There was peace; Technological advancement and sharing was possible. Writing came in different form also known as Typography. Wikipedia defined it as:

"Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible."

A simple change in spacing and sizing could make a huge difference in your art work. What differenciates a professional looking work to an amateur work boils down to the typography used. Here are some pointers to remember:

• Mix Seriff and San Seriff. (I used Arial and Georgia in the example below.)

SmallVille

• When using two or more fonts, match the max height of small letters. (I used Verdana and Georgia)

ScriptCity

If you will compare both examples, You will notice that "ScriptCity" doesn't feel right, as in there is something off.

POINTERS TO REMEMBER:

• Make use of font face that are meant to be used for each other. Some of the font face that are meant for each other are Arial and Georgia. 

• Instead of placing letters vertically, just rotate the letters 45 degrees

• Lastly, mind the spacing. Left-align is the best option for readability.

Any other opinion regarding typography? Pitch in your ideas at the comment section.

User Design Experience

I was browsing and reading random IT-related websites I bumped to this article "The Role of Design in the Kingdom of Content" by Smashing Magazine. It talks about the importance of user design experience. Fascinated and curious of its contents, I started reading it. Here's what I learned:

PERSONAL ENGAGEMENT

Act on the opportunity the right way by using design to highlight the site's most valuable content. Build designs suitable with your content. Use visual tools like lines and shapes not just for decorating but also use it to support the conversation of a goal or the delivery of a message. Comments helps in gaining credibility and insights from users.

FIRST IMPRESSION LASTS

The world of websites is a world of first impression. A good design is important, even when the page is loading, or how the content is presented, users will judge it the minute they see your website. Take for instance adding a background image of woods, It gives the user a feeling of being at a relaxed and common place. It makes the user comfortable at the site and begins browsing around.

SET THE TONE RIGHT

We all know that in designing, every line spacing, typography used or even how elements are grouped are important in giving an impression to your users what your website is. For a professional theme using wrong typography like Comic Sans will ruin the look and feel of the site. Consistency is important. Just be sure that if you want to look different, be different.

USER REACTION

The web is so vast. Numerous sites and information is readily available in the web. The question is, how will your website outstand? Answer: Make your site reactive. Take advantage of social networking, share your site to your friends and let them leave comments in your site. The degreee of how viral your site will be depends on how the user feels and how easy it is to share.

UX design is about developing a road map for the user, encouraging certain actions, and developing a user base that wants to engage with your content. We make design to make the page more memorable and meaningful. We do this by laying a foundation of good impression by enabling smooth and meaningful reading and encouraging user engagement. This will make the user experience harmony in content.

Reference: The Role of Design in the Kingdom of Content

Basic Typography for reports

Last Tuesday, We had a design class. I learned something about cheats regarding making your reports. The instructor said that if you want to make your report look very presentable use 10 or 12 font-size because that is the font size that people are familiar with. Size 11 is like torn between two numbers so it wont be that effective.

In choosing your font face:

If all else fail, use Arial.

You ask why? There was a time that Times New Roman was said to be the most legible font face, but really it is Arial and it is the safest font to use for web interfaces. Also, If you want to make your report look studious, use the font face Helvetica. It has this feeling of being a book-like font.

For powerpoint presentations, add images after 3-4 slides and never forget to put a graph! Just make your presentation in bullet format. I remember the time back in High School where the students uses Cartolina just to have a visual presentation for the audience, now, powerpoint presentations are what's in!

With this simple things, you can create a great an impression that you are prepared and well-equipped even though you're not. Haha! I wish I had known this things while I was doing my book reports back in college.