JUST4KNOWLEDGE

Choosing color combinations

noreply@blogger.com (TukangPosting) — Mon, 11 May 2009 20:45:12 PDT

All important but often elusive: tips on creating your next color palette

Color is a subjective experience, it is a mental sensation, a reaction of our brain. We say that an orange is 'orange'. But is it really orange? How do we know? We cannot get outside of our eyes or brain to find out, but we do know that when the sun or light disappears; color vanishes. We take colors for granted. It's only when we are actually drawing or painting that we realize how much value color brings to our daily life.

Color theory in a wrap

To learn about color, you first need to understand the structure of color. A color wheel shows us how color is structured. We start with the three primary hues: yellow, red and blue. These are the basic building blocks of color. Next we have the three secondary hues: orange, violet and green. Then follows the third generation or third level: yellow-orange, red-orange, red-violet, blue-violet, blue-green, and yellow-green.

The color wheel (See Figure 1) shows us which colors are opposite to each other on the wheel. Blue is the opposite of orange, red is the opposite of green, yellow-green is the opposite of red-violet. These are called complements. Furthermore, we can divide colors into warm or cold colors. The colors on the bottom right, derived from blue are cold colors, those derived from red are warm colors.

Which color is suitable for which purpose?

Sometimes finding the right color combinations can be really hard, especially if you have to start a project from scratch. If your client already has a logo, a house-style or branding guidelines, you have a starting point. But if it’s your job to design that house-style, the first thing you should do is decide which style the logo should reflect. And with style comes typefaces and colors. Color plays a major part in all this. It symbolizes a certain mood. Does your house-style need cold or warm colors?

Colors reflect a certain personality. They also have several meanings, most of which are closely connected to each other. For example, blue stands for sky, heaven and water. It reflects freedom and peace, but it can also mean cold, protective, authoritative or technical. Red is the color of blood, it reflects courage, romance, but it also means hot, dynamic, vital, commanding or alert. All these symbolic connotations are perfectly visualized by Claudia Cortes in her Color in Motion, a real treat for the eye (the eye has its claims too).

You may not be superstitious or believe that colors have actual meanings, but you ought to consider them. Whether consciously or unconsciously, we consider those meanings when we judge an artwork or design. These generally accepted meanings often play a role in determining whether we like or dislike what we are looking at. Darkness will always suggest danger and mystery.

Colors effect us psychologically regardless of any symbolism, because in some cases they don't apply; it all depends on the circumstances. For example, black may signify mourning, but a tuxedo is also black and it signifies elegance. We all prefer bright vibrant colors over dull grey, but sometimes grey can be stylish too; it all depends on how we apply it in our design, it depends on the circumstances. But we should also be aware of the fact the meanings of color are different depending on the culture. For example, in most Western cultures, white symbolizes purity and elegance, cleanliness. However, in many Asian countries, white is also a color for death and mourning, and used for funerals. As with any design endeavor, make sure that you don’t only understand the psychological effects of colors but that you also know the nuances of the culture and audience you are designing for! This way you’ll have a better chance of success in achieving the emotional impact you want.

What makes a nice well-balanced color combination?

To define the colors for your project, choose a set of colors that fits with your client's logo. This color set should be limited. This way, you get a stronger brand or identity. The overall use of too many colors could result in chaotic and unintended effects. It can get your design totally out of balance. In other words, it will loose its style and personality.When you choose your shades, there are a few things you should keep in mind. First, there should be enough contrast, and secondly, it might be advisable to have one complementary color. For instance, if you have a set of three colors, Color One should be in contrast with the Color Two and Color Three. Alternatively, Color One could be a complement of Color Two or Color Three. Using complements is not exactly necessary but it can help you achieve nice results. (See Figure 2) Using contrasting colors is important to achieve an interesting well-balanced design. For example, try to have two light colors and one darker color. Or you can have a light color, medium light color and a dark color.

Too much contrast can result in a restless or even aggressive design. (See Figure 3) It might of course be your intention to achieve this effect, but if so, make sure that the eye has some resting place in your layout. A rest-point is (I believe) necessary to keep it all in balance. You see, besides using the right color combinations, you should also think on how you dose these colors. Try using them in the right proportions. For example, use the lighter color for the bigger areas like the background and the most vibrant color on the items where you want to attract the attention to, like the logo or title. The middle colors can be used for the text and other items.

Using one complementary color can even increase the ultimate effect, but there’s a bit of a catch to this method. You have to be sure to apply them in a subtle way. If you excagerate and get it out of proportion things will get too overwhelming (See Figure 5). If colors are wrong applied or don't go nicely together, they can make your design rather unharmonious. It's up you to find out what is suitable or not, after all, colors are a subjective experience. One might like the combination while another doesn’t. So what makes you have 'good taste' in colors? Tastes differ, we all have different meanings of what is attractive and what isn't. Yet still, the world would be unbearable if there wasn't some general agreement. Luckily, by following these simple guidelines, you’ll have a better chance of achieving the optimal result. If you get stuck, you might find Adam Polselli's Get The Look a nice source of inspiration on the latest color trends and styles.

Color inspiration

It's been said before, but bears repeating: inspiration can come from anywhere. Always keep your eyes open for color combinations that you like. Examine photographs, pay attention to the vibrant colors of nature, and most importantly, keep experimenting!

Photoshop Facial Photo Retouching

noreply@blogger.com (Dedicate 4 Knowladge) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 17:02:47 PDT

This tutorial will show you how to create beautiful model face from ordinary girl photo. I will show you an easy method on how to create a nice looking effect in just a few steps.

First of all I’ll make the pickles and blemishes to disappear. I will select Spot Healing Brush Tool, and i will make small drawing over each imperfection of the face.

The result is very good. It will take you some time, but I assure you will have the same result as mine. I will select eyedropper tool, and I will choose the color for the eyebrows. With a smooth round brush, I will try to accentuate a little the eyebrow. Try to set the brush opacity to 30 %.

You can see my result in the following image

I will select a eyelash brush from deviantart.com. You can use any of the following brushes

Eyelash Brushes
Eyelashes Photoshop Brushes
Make Up Brushes

I will add the eyelash on a new brush, and I will go to Edith > Transform > Warp.

In the following image you will see how I will manipulate the eyelash with warp tool.

I will place the same eyelash brush also on the other eye.

The image with the girl looks already good.

I will make a selection with Pen Tool around the girls face. I am doing this step because I want to add some simple makeup.
I will right click on my canvas and I will chose make selection.

Then I will go to Select > Inverse ( SHIFT+CTRL+I ).
Create a new layer ( press CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+N )
I will select Brush Tool, and with a smooth round brush (opacity value 20 %) I will draw over the cheek

I will create 4 small shapes with Rectangle Tool.

I will select all the layers with the rectangles, and I will click on CTRL+E to merge all the layers into a single one. The next step is to use Warp tool, to modify the aspect of the shapes.

This is my result. As you see I try to add some light in her eyes.

I will use Dodge Tool to add some lights over the eyes. This is my final result.

source and author : http://www.grafpedia.com/

CSS Box To Write Code for Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Dedicate 4 Knowladge) — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 02:19:58 PDT

Sometimes we must write down some code to our blog. Like HTML code or Css code or another program codes.
First if the code use < or >, we can change with < for < and > for >.
Before you post on blogger, copy paste your code to word or other program then click replace for < with < and > with > to minimize broken tags.

if only one line you can use <blockquote>..the code..</blockquote>.
But if you wanna write about 200 lines you can do some code write on your css blogger.

First after log in to your blog click edit html

Then write this code : before

]]<>/b:skin<

.csscode {
margin : 15px 35px 15px 15px;
padding : 10px;
clear : both;
list-style-type : none;
background : #333333;;
border-top : 2px solid #AAAAAA;
border-right : 2px solid #AAAAAA;
border-bottom : 2px solid #AAAAAA;
border-left : 2px solid #AAAAAA;
}

just like this exsample below.

Now if you wanna write some code you can use <div class="csscode">.... your code...</div>

Tag Clouds Widget for Blogger

noreply@blogger.com (Dedicate 4 Knowladge) — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 01:33:29 PDT

Here is the code and setup information to use the Label Cloud in New Blogger.
First you obviously have to have a blog on New Blogger, and you MUST be using the layouts templates, (this isn't available for classic templates, or FTP published blogs ) and you must have some posts labeled already. (There needs to be at least ONE label with more than ONE entry or the scripts hit a bug - so have at least one label with more than one entry before starting).

Make sure you backup your template before making any changes!

If you already have a Labels page element installed, skip to step 2.

Step 1: Log into Blogger and go to your layouts section. On the 'Page Elements' setup page make sure you have a label widget already installed where you want it (it can be moved around later).

Click "Add a Page Element" in the column you wish:

Then find the Labels page element and click "Add to Blog":

Step 2: Now the code comes in 3 parts. A section for the stylesheet, a configurations section, and then the actual widget itself.
First navigate to your templates source under your template settings:

Then check off "Expand Widget Templates":

The first part to put in is the stylesheet section. The following code needs to be copied and inserted into your stylesheet, which in the layouts is marked out by the <b:skin> tags.
Easiest thing to do is find the closing skin tag

]]>

and place the code right BEFORE that.
Here it is, copy and paste without modification right now. I'll explain what can be tweaked later.

Replace the Labels page element widget code with the custom tag cloud code above.

* Label Cloud Styles
----------------------------------------------- */
#labelCloud {text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;}
#labelCloud .label-cloud li{display:inline;background-image:none !important;padding:0 5px;margin:0;vertical-align:baseline !important;border:0 !important;}
#labelCloud ul{list-style-type:none;margin:0 auto;padding:0;}
#labelCloud a img{border:0;display:inline;margin:0 0 0 3px;padding:0}
#labelCloud a{text-decoration:none}
#labelCloud a:hover{text-decoration:underline}
#labelCloud li a{}
#labelCloud .label-cloud {}
#labelCloud .label-count {padding-left:0.2em;font-size:9px;color:#000}
#labelCloud .label-cloud li:before{content:"" !important}

This next section is the configuration section for the Cloud. It also goes in the head of the template, but outside of the stylesheet part. Easiest thing to do again is to find the closing stylesheet tag

]]></b:skin>

But this time place the code right AFTER that line, but BEFORE the tag. Here it is.

All of these settings can be changed but I'll explain them in a moment. The defaults will work for now.

Now the widget itself. Scroll down and find the label widget in your sidebar. It should look something like this.

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Labels' type='Label'/>

Copy the following code (from beginning widget tag to ending widget tag) and replace
the line above with it.

<b:widget id='Label1' locked='false' title='Label Cloud' type='Label'>
<b:includable id='main'>
<b:if cond='data:title'>
<h2><data:title/></h2>
</b:if>

<div class='widget-content'>
<div id='labelCloud'/>
<script type='text/javascript'>

// Don't change anything past this point -----------------
// Cloud function s() ripped from del.icio.us
function s(a,b,i,x){
if(a>b){
var m=(a-b)/Math.log(x),v=a-Math.floor(Math.log(i)*m)
}
else{
var m=(b-a)/Math.log(x),v=Math.floor(Math.log(i)*m+a)
}
return v
}

var c=[];
var labelCount = new Array();
var ts = new Object;
<b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>
var theName = "<data:label.name/>";
ts[theName] = <data:label.count/>;
</b:loop>

for (t in ts){
if (!labelCount[ts[t]]){
labelCount[ts[t]] = new Array(ts[t])
}
}
var ta=cloudMin-1;
tz = labelCount.length - cloudMin;
lc2 = document.getElementById('labelCloud');
ul = document.createElement('ul');
ul.className = 'label-cloud';
for(var t in ts){
if(ts[t] < cloudMin){
continue;
}
for (var i=0;3 > i;i++) {
c[i]=s(minColor[i],maxColor[i],ts[t]-ta,tz)
}
var fs = s(minFontSize,maxFontSize,ts[t]-ta,tz);
li = document.createElement('li');
li.style.fontSize = fs+'px';
li.style.lineHeight = '1';
a = document.createElement('a');
a.title = ts[t]+' Posts in '+t;
a.style.color = 'rgb('+c[0]+','+c[1]+','+c[2]+')';
a.href = '/search/label/'+encodeURIComponent(t);
if (lcShowCount){
span = document.createElement('span');
span.innerHTML = '('+ts[t]+') ';
span.className = 'label-count';
a.appendChild(document.createTextNode(t));
li.appendChild(a);
li.appendChild(span);
}
else {
a.appendChild(document.createTextNode(t));
li.appendChild(a);
}
ul.appendChild(li);
abnk = document.createTextNode(' ');
ul.appendChild(abnk);
}
lc2.appendChild(ul);
</script>

<noscript>
<ul>
<b:loop values='data:labels' var='label'>
<li>
<b:if cond='data:blog.url == data:label.url'>
<data:label.name/>
<b:else/>
<a expr:href='data:label.url'><data:label.name/></a>
</b:if>
(<data:label.count/>)
</li>
</b:loop>
</ul>
</noscript>
<b:include name='quickedit'/>
</div>

</b:includable>
</b:widget>

Now if all has gone well, and you have posts already labeled, then if you preview the blog you should see some form of the Cloud appearing. If it doesn't appear, then something went wrong. You should probably back out and try it again from the start.

Update : I've found 2 things to check for first if the label cloud isn't showing. First make sure that at least one of your labels has more than one entry. A bug in the script causes it to fail when all the labels have only one entry.(As soon as any label has more than one entry, then it should be ok from then on) Also, make sure that none of your labels contain quote marks " . Apostrophes or single ticks ' are ok. ------

Most likely the cloud with it's default settings won't be what you ultimately want. But all the colors and sizes are configurable to match your tastes. If the cloud is appearing in preview then you can go about changing some of the variables so they suit.

The settings in the Variables section will be where you make most of your adjustments. Here I'll explain what each setting does.

var cloudMin= 1;

This setting you can use to limit the number of labels shown (for example if you have a lot of labels). Leave the setting at 1 to show ALL labels. If you enter in a higher number, then only labels that have at least that number of entries will appear in the cloud.

var maxFontSize = 20;

var maxColor = [0,0,255];

var minFontSize = 10;

var minColor = [0,0,0];

var lcShowCount = false;

The lines for

maxFontSize

maxColor

do what you may think they do. The first one sets the size (in pixels) of the label with the most amount entries. The maxColor sets the color of that entry (in RGB format). Similiar with the next two

minFontSize

minColor

Just these are for the label with the least amount of entries. Again the size is in pixels, the color is in RGB format. Any labels between the two will get their color/sizes based on how many labels they are, and where their entry count falls, giving the much desired cloud effect.

From my experimenting, there are many factors that make up a pleasant looking cloud. From color/size choice, to the number of actual labels, to how well dispersed the entries are amoung the labels. 3 Labels don't make a good cloud as there isn't much to work with. You just have to experiment around to see what looks good with your setup.

IMPORTANT, when change the color settings, Keep them in the format supplied. In between the [ ] and the numbers separated by commas. The default colors are BLUE for the max and BLACK for the min.

You can select any valid RGB color combination. If you don't know what RGB colors are, don't worry. It's just a way of defining a color. You can use many charts on the Internet to get the correct RGB value for the color you want to try. Here's one that is fairly good.

The last variable there is

lcShowCount

This can either be false (default) or true. All this does is turn off/on the post count displayed next to the label. Usually in a 'traditional' cloud the count isn't used. But if you go to a 'flat' listing then it's sometimes useful to turn it on.

Now to the CSS section. Most people won't need to tweak these much, and it's not necessary to understand what all those entries are for. Most are just to make sure that other styling elements from the rest of your page don't inherit in and ruin the cloud. But there are a few that you may want to change to suit.

The first line

#labelCloud {text-align:center;font-family:arial,sans-serif;}

You could change the fonts used in the cloud here if you wanted.

Also, the text-align statement can also be changed. I have it set to center by default but you could use

text-align:justify;
text-align:right;
text-align:left;

If those suit better.

The next line

#labelCloud .label-cloud li{display:inline;background-image:none
!important;padding:0 5px;margin:0;vertical-align:baseline !important;border:0 !important;}

Well don't worry about most of it unless you are a hardcore CSS'er. The only one of real importance is the first entry

display:inline;

You can change that to

display:block;

To get the 'Flat' (each entry on it's own separate line) listing of the weighted entries.

Usually if that is set to block you would probably want to change the sort frequency from alphabetical to frequency. You do that by editing the widget from the Page Elements tab in Blogger.

And the last bit I'll mention is the line

#labelCloud .label-count

If you set the lcShowCount variable to true to show the post counts, you could change the color/size of those numbered entries with that line.